For many of us, we'll be thankful 2022 is over. With rising inflation, growing geopolitical tensions, and multiple celebrity deaths - it's safe to say we are all looking forward to a new year.
However, we might have to take a rain check on that, after it was revealed that French astrologer Nostradamus' predictions for 2023 are pretty bleak and terrifying.
The reputed seer from the 16th century - who is most widely known for his 1555 book Les Prophéties that predicts 942 future events - reportedly predicted the September 11 attacks, Hitler's rise to power, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Nostradamus - whose real name is Michel de Nostredame - wrote his predictions in four-line stanzas but did not detail specific dates. Though, The Mirror reports that many predictions could happen in 2023.
One of those predictions in particular is a "Great War," which could be in reference to the Russia-Ukraine war.
That stanza reads: "Seven months great war, people dead through evil. Rouen, Evreux shall not fall to the King."
The seven-month timeline should be taken with a pinch of salt, though, as the conflict has carried on for close to 12 months. The mention of French city, Rouen, could potentially mean that it would stay safe should the conflict escalate to World War III.
Another Nostradamus prediction alludes to a "Celestial fire on the Royal edifice," potentially implying an end of the world type sitation, given that the Bible always references fire as a key doomsday factor, per Wales Online.
Following COVID, many countries have been experiencing a growing cost of living crisis, the Frenchman's prediction: "So high will the bushel of wheat rise, that man will be eating his fellow man," could be in reference to a significant economic crisis, potentially coming to a head in 2023.
But that's not all - a peak in the climate crisis could also be on the cards for us next year. Nostradamus wrote in his predictions that the fish in the ocean will "boil," writing: "Like the sun the head shall sear the shining sea: The Black Sea's living fish shall all but boil. When Rhodes and Genoa half-starved shall be, the local folk to cut them up shall toil."
Yikes. It looks like we won't be wishing anyone a Happy New Year... though, maybe it's best to take Nostradamus' predictions with a pinch of salt. After all, The Guardian did state that he reportedly predicted the end of the world in 1999 - evidently that never happened.