- Century VI-97, Nostradamus  

Quatrain VI-97 is one of the two quatrains (the other being IX-97) that I consider to be most relevant to this particular time period we currently live in - both quatrains having the number "97", suggestive of the year 1997, is a significant coincidence.  Both VI-97 and IX-97 can be strongly correlated with probes that are sent to the Red Planet, Mars (as explained in The Elysian Fields).  As I will discuss Quatrain VI-97 in depth here again, I'd like to point out that it is probably the most objectively convincing, and useful, case established, and presented to the public, for any of Nostradamus' individual quatrains.

The real purpose here, however, is not to illustrate the prophetic quality of the quatrain but to find the archetypal concepts or patterns the quatrain quietly bears that transcends the linear-time matrix, which would function as a sort of 'pathfinder' for the subsequent progressive analytical exploration that would uncover the 'big picture' of the 'Babylon Matrix'.  It is simply a way of introducing key concepts and connections, and therefore the validity of the quatrain/interpretation is of a secondary nature here.  By the end of this first Level/installment, a rough sense of the surreal scope of Babylon Matrix should be established.
 

Journey To Mars

 

The year 1997 saw a lot of significant activity in the heavens - most celebrated were Comet Hale-Bopp and Pathfinder landing on Mars.  It turns out that those two highly remarkable events strongly correlate with Quatrain VI-97, consequently suggesting the importance of those events and the period around the year 1997.  Here is a line-by-line interpretation of IV-97:

Line 1: "Five & forty degrees the sky will burn"

• During the climax points of Comet Hale-Bopp in '97 ("97" is also suggested by the quatrain #, VI-97), "forty-five degrees" (i.e. 5 + 40) was the prominent angular attributes of the comet, as it "burned" the sky.
• 40 N 5 W is a location within the Cydonia region of fiery ("burning") Red Planet Mars (the suspected artificial structures in Cydonia - "city", "Face", "D&M Pyramid", etc. - are located roughly 40.8 N 9.5 W) which one of NASA's Mars probes, Mars Global Surveyor, which arrived at Mars in '97 have taken new pictures of to answer the questions of the structures' artificiality.  Latitude '45 degrees' N. is also the latitude within Cydonia at which (44 deg. N. to be precise) NASA's Viking 2 probe was originally planned to land in '76.
  
  


Line 2: "Fire to approach the great new city"

On one hand, "fire" would be in reference to 'fiery' Mars. On the other, it would refer to Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor (and the earlier Viking probes) which were driven by 'fiery' rockets, and were to bring us more knowledge ('fire' esoterically symbolizes knowledge).  The "great new city" would be the "city" of Cydonia (of which MGS [Mars Global Surveyor] and Viking 1 took pictures, and at which Viking 2 was originally planned land), as well as Mars itself symbolically since "Cairo", the "great city" of Egypt, essentially means Mars.  (This Egyptian connection has deep implications as will be discussed later.)  The "new" part of the 'great city' is sort of a "hyperlink" that brings in a different association to establish a bigger historical picture.  It alludes to the relevance of New York City.  It is no coincidence that NYC is called the 'Big Apple' (apple or 'knowledge' that Eve "ate" / apple being red and circular like Mars).  It is also no coincidence that NYC is on exactly the same latitude as Cydonia on Mars (~ 41 N).



Line 3: "In an instant a great scattered flame will leap up"
 
Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4th '97 - Independence Day - the day Americans celebrate with fireworks (i.e. "great scattered flame" leaping up 'instantly' as Pathfinder landed on Mars).  This national holiday also alludes to NYC through the Statue of Liberty standing there to represent the spirit of U.S.  Viking 1 was also originally planned to land on Mars on July 4th, '76.


Line 4: "When one will want to demand proof of the Normans"

The "Normans" were also called the Vikings. "Viking" is the very name of the Mars probes (Viking 1 & Viking 2) that first took pictures of Cydonia in 1976 to create the controversy in the first place.  Therefore, the 'proof of the Vikings' would refer to the proof of artificiality of the structures of Cydonia, or more generally, proof of (ancient) life on Mars that became of great public interest since '96 after the NASA's "Life on Mars" announcement.
 

Here are high-impact events (events of significant historic or psychological consequences) that occurred during the period of the Mars Pathfinder mission ('96~'97):

Line 1: "Five & forty degrees the sky will burn"

Line 2: "Fire to approach the great new city:"

Line 3: "In an instant a great scattered flame will leap up"

Line 4: "When they want to demand proof of the Normans"

• The Shared Motifs

 
At this point, it is useful to break out of the context of IV-97 and organize all significant concepts or numbers that are shared by (the associated events of) Mars/Cydonia, NYC, and Atlanta, into a matrix:

• It should be noted at this point that the other significant events of '96-'97 (Hyakutake, Hong Kong, 'ID4', 'Titanic', Roswell) relate to the key motifs above:  "Hyakutake", a Japanese name, means 'a hundred warriors' (=> the 'centennial'/100 motif);  Hong Kong becoming independent of Britain (=> independent/liberty motif);  Movie 'Independence Day' opened on/near July 4th (=> independence & July motifs);  Movie 'Titanic', the stage being the Atlantic Ocean, disaster, the subtext of (spiritual) 'fire' and the NYC-connection (see 'Titanic: A Story To Remember' for in-depth explanation) (=> 'Atlantis', explosion/disaster, fire, independence motifs);  Roswell crash (~July 4, '97) 50th anniversary (=> July, independence motifs).  Curiously, there is a suggestion of involvement of extraterrestrial life in all this (Roswell crash 50th anniversary, 'Independence Day', NASA's 'life on Mars' announcement, etc.).
 
• What is revealing about the matrix is not so much the nicely filled cells as what the cells left blank imply.  Look at the blank cells of the Mars/Cydonia column - which are 'Atlantis' and 'explosion'.  Although we have no solid data to fill those cells at this time, the strong overall parallel between Mars/Cydonia, NYC/TWA 800, and Atlanta/Olympics suggests that the concepts of 'Atlantis' and explosion/disaster are also associated with Mars/Cydonia somehow.

So, it now seems that the hidden 'archetypal story' that is somehow relevant to our time period involves, at least, the following concepts:  40&5, 33, 72, centennial/100, July, Atlantis, 'fire', explosion/disaster, independence/liberty, Mars/Cydonia, and extraterrestrial life.  While it has become clearer, it is still too vague to derive a coherent 'story' at this point.