All is not roses in the world of Nostradamus “scholarship”. Writing on his blog, the President of the Nostradamus Society of America, Victor Baines, accuses Dr Michael Rathford, author of a new book entitled The Nostradamus Code: World War III 2009-2012, of being a charlatan.
At first this seems to be a case of the tarot reader calling the astrologist unscientific, or at least a predictable squabble between two merchants of counterknowledge in a market not big enough for both of them. But a closer look shows their fraudulence isn’t even in the same league.
Baines’ website is a fairly ramshackle affair, replete with badly punctuated blog posts that usually end in a plea to buy his book. He rarely sticks his head above the parapet, save to make the controversial prediction in January 2008 that a Democrat would win the White House (that he predicted it would be Hillary doesn’t stop him from giving himself a pat on the back). His work seems mainly to consist of watching history go by and then scurrying off to prove, retrospectively, that the 16th century Frenchman had already predicted it.
But for all that, Baines is at least transparent. His website includes an “about the author” section and he’s been regularly featured in the media, including the History Channel’s overwrought documentary on Nostradmus. In the wake of 9/11, he was actually quoted in an article helping to debunk the hoax emails claiming that Nostradamus had predicted the attacks.
Dr Rathford is quite a different story. Where Baines is content to pull together tenuous shreds to show Nostradamus predicted everything from Hitler to Desert Storm, Rathford claims to have “sifted this complex word puzzle searching for significant patterns and relationships. Almost immediately, he came up with the predictive model known as The Nostradamus Code”. The code, we are told, was cracked by “combining traditional analysis techniques with state of the art data mining algorithms,” apparently allowing Rathford “to search the equivalent of the entire library of congress in less than ten minutes”.
Rathford is now happy to share his prophesies with the rest of us in the aptly-titled The Nostradamus Code: World War III 2009-2012, available for a modest $14.99. In the sample chapter, Rathford confidently predicts a string of papal assassinations, as well as nuclear war in which a bomb “will land in the Mediterranean instead of the land, poisoning all the fish”.
The slickly designed Nostradamus Online claims that “Dr. Michael Rathford has studied the Quatrains of Nostradamus for over thirty years, both in an academic and professional environment”. Yet, despite this apparently lengthy career, there is no trace of Dr. Rathford’s academic associations or anything he has published. The title of doctor is also omitted from the front cover of the book, where the author is listed simply as Michael Rathford.
Multiple calls to the book’s New York-based publisher, Truth Revealed Publishing, all ended with a polite voice mail informing me that all the company’s representatives were currently busy speaking to customers. When I called another business in the same building as Truth Revealed, the manager I spoke to had never heard of the company nor seen any of its employees in the building.
This was apparently also the experience of the endearingly naïve sounding Horsemonkie88, who complained on Rip-Off Report that they bought the book expecting it to be “about 1.5 to 2 inches thick” but when it arrived it was less than “.5 inches thick”. If the book’s insufficient girth, and not its content, is the only reason Horsemonkie felt cheated, then allow me to recommend Victor Baines’ apparently excellent (and thick) Remembering the Future: The Prophecies of Nostradamus.
As for you, Mr. Baines, I wouldn’t worry too much about Rathford crowding you out of the market. It doesn’t sound like he, or his predictive models, exist.
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6 responses
Such is the nature of reality, that anyone can experience that which is least understood….
In 1558., Nostradamus, writing to King Henry,
mentions the Chaldean Alphabet, (numerology).
This system produced extraordinary results, which
were verified by senior researchers at Princeton
University, as an ultimate example of number symbolism,
i.e., synchronicity….
Article: http://www.webspawner.com/users/cosmic/
Also, this quatrain appears to be connected to
the events described above.
Century 5 #53
“The law of the Sun, (a star) contending with Venus,
(the feminine) appropriates the spirit of prophecy.
*Neither the one nor the other will be understood.
The Law of the great Messiah will hold through a
Star, (sun)….
The star Kochab has a long history in mythology,
with references dating to 2467 b.c.e. It, and
a companion star are known as the Guardians
of the Pole.
For many years, Dr. Carl Jung, and the Nobel laureate
physicist, Professor W. Pauli, discussed the nature
of reality. Their final conclusions relate to the
nature of “acausal events” i.e., that which acts as
a balance to cause and effect. They indicated that
number appears to be a tangible connection
between the spheres of matter and psyche. And
that it is here that the most fruitful field of further
investigation might be found.
“man has need of the word, but in essence number
is sacred” ….Jung
“our primary mathematical intuitions can be
arranged before we become conscious of them” Pauli
Other details in google search, “numomathematics”
Being a bit of a student in regard to Nostradamus, I notice you have chosen perhaps what may be described as two fundamentalists trying to make sense of something that is clearly above their capabilities.
Note for an expert you have to have convincing arguments to prove your case,
1) A good translation of really what is written.
2) A good interpretation of the said translation.
3) the Context of said subject.
The 3 criteria above are NOT included in said commentators output.
For a logic bypass try this from Baines:
http://www.nostradamususa.com/html/quatrain_10-72.html
The tragic events of 9-11 were truly foreshadowed here. Presently, we use the Gregorian calendar. But during Nostradamus’ lifetime they used the Julian Calendar. The seventh month on the Julian Calendar is September. {reference?}
The date 1999 provides a time clue of an event around the millennial change. However, the real clue is that the date 1999 is nothing more than a numeric anagram. If we reverse the order of the “1”s and “9”s, we arrive at the date 9-11-1 (the date of the 9-11 attacks).
Funny really a debt payer king coming from the skies in 1999 is represented as terror from the skies in NY in 2001?
Love that Rapture idea as well, LOL
This book is piece of sh..t, i looked into the sample chapter, it’s no different than journalist sh..it tv news, full of scary stories, predictions. Simply because “fear” sells better Rathford chose an easy way to get rich. DO NOT BUY IT!
Nostradamus was a simple scholar, though very smart, he understood human nature very well and used “fear” to get what he wants. He knew that people who are scared reject rational thinking and are more likely to believe in what such people like Nostradamus would tell them. What is significant it refers to people from any background - poor, rich and educated!
As strange as this is going to sound it shouldn’t surprise anyone. This book appears to be a new recruitment ploy for the greedy corporate cult of $cientology. The Co$ now appears to be predicting the new of the world via a supposed link between Nostradamus and L Ron Hubbard predictions. It’s beyond loony.
Strange I know, but they’re getting very desperate these days. I came to this page by doing a little Google research after I read this blog: http://anonymous-is-a-hategroup.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-anonymous-doesnt-want-you-to-know.htm
and watched this video mentioning Dr. Michael Rathford.
•Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tf55IgxHZk
•That video is hosted at a $cientology propaganda channel.
The so called “doctor” Michael Rathford has already been thoroughly debunked on the Internet and I don’t even think Anonymous has heard about this yet. I just learned about of this new scheme tonight. The Co$ is waging an information war on the Internet that a lot of people are not aware of. They’re outstretching their tentacles and in every direction, and setting their snares in order snag any unsuspecting person. These shenanigans APPEAR to be part of an information war. That’s what I suspect so far based on what I’ve seen.
I research a little further and this is what I’ve found. The book is sold at nostradamusonline.com and is published by Truth Revealed Publishing. The whois look- up information on nostradamusonline.com is secured so it doesn’t list the info on who owns/runs that website, and I can’t find anymore information. Truth Revealed Publishing is also an anonymous company with no physical address, or real owners listed. What are they hiding?
This whole thing still looks like a setup to me. I suspect that the publishing company, and their website is another Co$ front. Maybe someone else can find some information on who pseudonym “Dr. Michael Rathford”, and these people really are.
The first time I read The Nostradamus Code : World War III early this year, I thought it was sh*t! I never opened it till 2 months ago trying to understand why an 8 pointer earthquake in the South Pacific, a few kilometers north of Vanuatu, did not trigger a tsunami after the pacific region was warned. Maybe it is a testing of ETW? I came across a ”Spaceshuttle accident releases micro organisms into atmosphere…” What are the chances that some scientists left Earth last month to study micro organisms in space? I just find a few predictions are unfolding slowly one at a time. As for ”papal assasination in late Spring”, and the ”Middle Eastern Anti Christ”, I wouldn’t entirely write off Michael Rathfords book right now. Its worth keeping if you have other sources/books and the bible to compare, research and keep record. You just never know what you learn or find.