Before we get to Nostradamus, I’d like to share the August edition of the Sivana Blog’s Ask Erik Column. It actually came out a few days ago, but I forgot to post it! Sorry about that. Click HERE to see if your question was answered, and even if it wasn’t, you’ll find this one full of valuable information.

Also, don’t forget that tonight at 7 PM CT is Erik’s Hour of Enlightenment radio show. Call 619-639-4606 15 minutes prior to talk to Erik. Click HERE for the link. 

Me: Well, what was your personality like? Tell us a little bit about yourself. It sounds like a job interview, ‘Tell us a little bit about yourself, your likes your dislikes.’

I smile.

Me: Just tell us about your personality.

Nostradamus: As a child, I was really confused because I felt like I was living a life that wasn’t mine. My grandparents and parents were Jewish and when they moved to Saint Rémy they had to change their last name to Le Nostradame. They also had to change their religion from being Jewish to Catholicism. And although they were “Catholics” they still would maintain the Jewish ceremonies and lifestyle in secret. So my whole life I was told, “Don’t do this; don’t say that, etc.” Everything had to look a certain way to the outside world because they wanted to avoid persecution during the Inquisition. So I was really messed up as a child. I didn’t really know who I was. I was a little bit of everything, and it was all for show, so that really confused me, but I went along with it because those were the times we lived in, and I didn’t know any better. That is also why I became a doctor because it would have a positive reflection on my family. I had eight siblings so you can imagine what a hectic home we had. So as I grew up and I was all over the place. I was a huge control freak because everything I did was made up so I had full control over the lies that I lived.

Me: Wow! Well when you are raised in such chaos, it’s natural to become a control freak, but did that make you not have a strong sense of identity? What was your personality like? Were you introverted?

Nostradamus: When it came to the real me, I was very introverted. When it came to the made-up me, I was very open about everything.

Emanuelle: It feels like he had a double personality.

Me: Well what were some of your interests as a child and as a teenager?

Nostradamus: I always loved the stars. I used to stare at the stars for hours out of my window.

Emanuelle: He is giving me an image of a bedroom with a tiny little window.

Nostradamus: I loved astrology and science, and I loved helping peoples although I couldn’t even help myself.

Me: Well you’re probably doing good right now!

Nostradamus: I try. I still help people right now.

Me: Well that’s good! Now what was your medical practice like? Or I don’t know, did you even have one? Because you did eventually get your medical degree.

Nostradamus: Well I didn’t really have a practice. I just went from door to door and treated people in their homes.

Me: Oh, okay.

Nostradamus: I did have a big influence during the plague. I discovered that hygiene was the answer and that the infected bodies needed to be burned instead of buried. They used to “bleed out” the patients letting blood out thinking it would take the disease with it, which only made it worse.

Me: Oh gosh

Nostradamus: I saved thousands of people. I invented a rose pill, which is an herbal remedy made from herbs and rose hips, later discovered to be rich in vitamin C.

Me: That’s amazing! What was it for?

Nostradamus: It disinfected them from the inside.

Me: Did it work?

Nostradamus: Yes, it did.

Me: Awesome! It’s like the first antibiotic.

Nostradamus: It did work. A lot of peoples were helped with it, but they were always fighting my methods, and as I was kind of a rebel.Whatever they said I couldn’t or wasn’t allowed to do, I did it anyway. I had to be careful, but when they saw the positive results, they had to accept it. Personally that was one of my greatest achievements, and I am proud of that. My beliefs could have resulted in charges of heresy, opinions that are against church teachings, and a sentence of death.

Me: Wow, that is awesome. And you should be proud of that.

Nostradamus: Unfortunately, while I was out trying to heal others, my wife and two young children died of the plague. When I heard the news upon my homecoming, my world fell apart because I really loved my wife and children.

Me: Is that when you decided to leave medicine and study the occult and begin your writings?

Nostradamus: Yes, I had to get out of there because the whole town looked at me with scorn since I wasn’t there to save my own family, and I had to deal with the huge amount of guilt that I felt. I went into a very deep depression, and I just ran. I traveled all over Europe, experimenting with all kinds of hallucinogens and whatever would take away those feelings of guilt. As I was experimenting, my visions became more clear and started coming not only when I was sleeping but also when I was awake. So I started to really look into that. I finally settled in Italy where I changed my name to Nostradamus, the Latin version of Le Nostradame.

Emanuelle: I kinda feel bad for him because he feels really sad.

Tomorrow, we’ll get into his prophecies! Here’s one of his drawings. He was a prolific artist.