What did Nostradamus Predict for 2012

Other than the alleged Mayan prophecy, wherein the Mayan Long Count Calendar end is interpreted as the end of the world, if anything has contributed to the 2012 end of the world phenomenon it's the predictions made by Nostradamus. Every time an earthquake or tsunami occurs, people relate it to his predictions about 2012 end of the world. Every time a war is waged between two nations, people relate it to his predictions on World War III which will allegedly bring the world to an end.

Nostradamus Quatrains: An Overview

Michel de Nostredame, aka Nostradamus, was a renowned seer (i.e. a person with unusual powers of foresight) hailing from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France. Even today, centuries after his death, the prophecies that he documented way back in the 16th century - many of which have allegedly come true, have kept him in the limelight. After practicing medicine for sometime, Nostradamus finally decided to shift bases to occult. Following a brief stint with annual almanacs and practicing psychic predictions for people, he began writing the thousand French quatrains which consisted of undated prophecies that have become widely popular as 'Nostradamus' predictions' today.

Nostradamus' Prophecies

In 1555, his first book Les Propheties (The Prophecies) - which was a compilation of his long-term predictions about some of the major events in the world, was published. The book is used even today by people who believe that these predictions were accurate to a great extent, and whatever he has predicted for 2012 will also come true. Those predictions that allegedly came true include the French Revolution, World War 2, Kennedy assassination, London fire, and - according to some, even the September 11 World Trade Center attack. Were these predictions really true? Not really! Basically, Nostradamus documented his predictions in form of quatrains - i.e. stanza of four lines, and a critical evaluation of these quatrains reveals that almost all of them are open to interpretations.

For instance he wrote:

Bêtes farouches de faim fleuves tranner;
Plus part du champ encore Hister sera,
En caige de fer le grand sera treisner,
Quand rien enfant de Germain observa.

The mention of word 'hister' have prompted many people to believe that Nostradamus was referring to the rise of Adolf Hitler, however the term 'hister' here refers to the Danube River - especially its lower course. (The term was also used for people living along the banks of this river.) It's the true believers like Erika Cheetham - who also happens to be the author of 'The Final Prophecies of Nostradamus', who misinterpret this quatrain as his prediction of the rise of Hitler.

What did Nostradamus Predict for 2012?

Now this may come as a surprise for many, but none of Nostradamus' works have any reference to the year 2012 - which is believed to be the end of the world. Interpretations of some of his predictions suggest that the world will come to an end when it will crash into another world. The 'another world' here, according to many, hints at planet Nibiru colliding into the Earth. If you are one of these people who are worried about this clash, you'd be glad to know that there is no such planet as Nibiru in the entire Universe and no planet (or asteroid) in our solar system is coming anywhere close to our planet in 2012.

Some people also argue that Nostradamus has predicted that the world will come to an end with the third World War. In support to these claims, they cite that all countries are armed with weapons of mass destruction today, and with these weapons a year would be more than enough to bring an end to the world. Most of the quatrains which are believed to be Nostradamus' predictions for 2012 hint at famine, plague and war - which are by no means catastrophic events that can bring about an end to the world. In fact, all these three attributes of destruction were much more common back in the 16th century, than they are today and that explains why most of his predictions and prophecies revolve around them.

As none of his quatrains have the mention of a date, self-proclaimed experts of his work are free to add any date that they believe in. First it was 1666, then 1999, now it is 2012 - and when nothing will happen in 2012, it will be 2096. At the same time, there also exist some prophecy experts who state that Nostradamus didn't predict the end of the world in 2012. They further argue that his prophecies go on till 3786 (some suggest 3797) which means that the world will not come to an end before 3786. Whether the world will really come to an end in 3786 or 3797 is something that is difficult to foretell, and even if someone does predict it we won't get to experience the same.