An Alien Battle — or Something Happening in the Atmosphere?

The famous woodcut has become particularly important in modern UFO culture. Looking at the image today, it is easy to imagine spacecraft, flying objects, or even some kind of battle taking place above the city.

The illustration contains numerous spheres, cross-like forms, elongated shapes and a large dark object. Because of this, some modern UFO researchers have interpreted the event as evidence that people may have witnessed unidentified flying objects centuries before the modern UFO phenomenon became popular.

But there is another possibility.

Some researchers have suggested that the event may have involved atmospheric optical phenomena, particularly halos, sundogs, or other effects created when sunlight passes through ice crystals high in the atmosphere.

These phenomena can look surprisingly strange.

A sundog, or parhelion, for example, can appear as a bright spot of light to the left or right of the Sun. Halos can create rings around the Sun, while sun pillars can produce vertical columns of light. These effects are caused by sunlight interacting with ice crystals in the atmosphere.

And there is something especially interesting about the 1561 description: the phenomenon was reported around sunrise, exactly the kind of time when certain atmospheric optical effects can become particularly visible.

This does not necessarily solve the mystery, however.

A simple sundog does not neatly explain every detail of Glaser’s description. The original account describes many different shapes, apparent movement, objects entering and leaving the area around the Sun, and a dramatic sequence lasting approximately an hour. The surviving document also combines a written description with a highly stylized woodcut, making it difficult for us to know exactly what the witnesses saw in physical terms.

There is also another important question:

Was Hans Glaser describing exactly what he personally saw, or was he recording and interpreting reports that had reached him?

The surviving broadsheet does not give us a modern-style witness list, photographs, scientific measurements, or independent reports from named observers. What we have is a fascinating historical document describing an extraordinary event.

That means we should be careful about turning the image into something it was never intended to be: a precise scientific diagram.

How Long Did the Phenomenon Last?

According to the broadsheet, the strange movements in the sky continued for about an hour.

The account describes the objects moving back and forth and appearing to interact with one another before the phenomenon eventually disappeared. It then describes the strange dark spear-like object that appeared afterward.

This estimated duration is particularly interesting because it suggests that this was not simply a momentary flash of light.

At least according to the historical account, people had enough time to observe the spectacle, interpret what they were seeing, and describe its different forms.

Of course, more than four centuries later, we cannot independently reconstruct every second of the event.

What we can do is examine the evidence that survived.

What Did People Think It Meant?

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the original document is not even the strange objects.

It is the meaning Hans Glaser gave to them.

At the end of the broadsheet, the phenomenon is interpreted through the religious worldview of 16th-century Europe. Glaser presented the strange signs in the sky as a warning from God, encouraging people to repent, change their lives, and take the signs seriously.

In other words, the event was not presented simply as:

“Something strange happened in the sky.”

It was presented as:

“Something strange happened in the sky, and it may have a message for us.”

That distinction is important.

People in the 16th century naturally interpreted unusual celestial events through the beliefs and knowledge available to them. A strange phenomenon could be understood as a divine warning, an omen, a miracle, or a sign of coming danger.

Hundreds of years later, we have developed completely different frameworks.

Some people see the Nuremberg event as a possible UFO encounter.

Others see an atmospheric optical phenomenon.

Others believe the original account may have been exaggerated or shaped by the religious and sensational nature of early printed news.

And some simply admit that we do not know.

Perhaps that uncertainty is what makes the story so fascinating.

We have an actual historical document, an extraordinary illustration, and a description of a strange event — but we still cannot say with certainty what the people of Nuremberg actually witnessed that morning.

And that leaves us with a very interesting question:

What if we approached the mystery from a completely different direction?

Instead of asking only what historians, UFO researchers, or atmospheric scientists think happened, I decided to ask something else.

What do the Tarot cards say about it?

A Tarot Reading About the Nuremberg Phenomenon

Before we continue, I want to make one thing very clear.

This Tarot reading is for entertainment purposes only.

The cards cannot scientifically prove what happened over Nuremberg in 1561, and I am not presenting this reading as historical evidence. My interpretation is based on the historical information I found about the event and on the symbolic meanings of the Tarot cards.

In other words, this is an intuitive and symbolic experiment.

I asked the Tarot:

“What might have really been happening during the strange celestial phenomenon reported over Nuremberg in 1561?”

The cards that appeared were:

The Dreamer, Six of Wands, with the Queen of Pentacles at the bottom of the deck.

And surprisingly, this combination gives us a very interesting story.

The Dreamer — Something Strange, Unfamiliar and Difficult to Understand

The first card, The Dreamer, immediately catches my attention.

Depending on the Tarot deck, The Dreamer may correspond to the archetype traditionally associated with The Fool: stepping into something unknown, encountering something outside ordinary understanding, and experiencing a situation without having all the answers.

That seems remarkably appropriate for this mystery.

If we approach the 1561 event from the perspective of the people who supposedly witnessed it, they were looking at something they did not have the scientific language to explain.

The Dreamer can represent the moment when reality suddenly becomes unfamiliar.

It can also symbolize imagination, uncertainty, curiosity, and the tendency to wonder:

“What am I actually looking at?”

From a Tarot perspective, this card would not immediately tell me, “Yes, this was extraterrestrial.”

Instead, it suggests something much more interesting:

The witnesses may genuinely have encountered something they did not understand.

The Dreamer leaves the door open.

It tells us not to assume that we already know the answer.

Six of Wands — A Spectacle That Became a Story

Then comes the Six of Wands.

This is a card of recognition, visibility, victory, public attention and something becoming known.

And this is where the reading becomes particularly interesting.

Whatever happened in the sky, it did not remain a private experience.

It became a story.

Hans Glaser’s broadsheet turned the strange event into something that could be seen, discussed and remembered by the public. Centuries later, people are still looking at the same image and asking what happened.

The Six of Wands could therefore symbolize the phenomenon becoming a public spectacle.

There is also another possible interpretation.

The Six of Wands can represent a dramatic victory or conflict in which one side appears to triumph. This could connect symbolically with the description of the strange objects appearing to “fight” in the sky.

But again, Tarot does not give us a literal historical translation.

It gives us symbolism.

The combination of The Dreamer + Six of Wands could therefore describe something like:

“Something strange and difficult to understand appeared, became highly visible, and was transformed into a dramatic story that people continued to remember.”

And honestly, that fits the historical record surprisingly well.

The Queen of Pentacles at the Bottom of the Deck

Now we come to the card at the bottom of the deck: the Queen of Pentacles.

Before interpreting this particular card, it is useful to explain what the bottom-of-the-deck card usually represents in a Tarot reading.

The bottom card is often treated as the underlying energy of the reading — something happening beneath the surface, an influence that may not be immediately obvious, or a hidden theme supporting the other cards.

It does not necessarily mean “the secret answer.”

Rather, it can function like the foundation underneath the rest of the spread.

And the Queen of Pentacles is fascinating here.

She is strongly connected with the physical world, nature, material reality, the Earth, stability, practical matters and things that can be experienced in the tangible world.

If I read this card symbolically in relation to the Nuremberg mystery, I would take it as a gentle reminder to bring the interpretation back down to Earth.

The Queen of Pentacles could point toward nature itself.

That could make the atmospheric explanation particularly interesting.

Perhaps the strangest part of the story is not that something came from somewhere beyond Earth, but that the Earth and its atmosphere are capable of producing visual phenomena that can appear almost impossible when we do not understand their cause.

At the same time, the Queen of Pentacles does not completely close the mystery.

She simply asks us to look at the physical world carefully.

So What Could the Cards Be Suggesting?

Taken together, I would interpret the three cards like this:

The Dreamer — something strange, unfamiliar and difficult to understand.

Six of Wands — something highly visible that became a dramatic public story and continued to attract attention.

Queen of Pentacles — underneath it all, there may be a connection to the physical world, nature, the Earth, or a phenomenon that has a more tangible explanation than it first appears.

Interestingly, this reading does not give me a simple answer such as:

“It was aliens.”

Nor does it confidently say:

“It was only a sundog.”

Instead, the cards seem to reflect the mystery itself.

Something was seen.

People struggled to understand it.

The event became a story.

And centuries later, we are still looking at the same evidence and asking the same question:

What really happened in the sky above Nuremberg in 1561?

Perhaps the most fitting message from the cards is not that they have solved the mystery.

Perhaps it is that some mysteries remain interesting precisely because we cannot completely solve them.

And sometimes, the most fascinating question is not simply “What was it?”

It is:

“What did people see — and why did it affect them so deeply?”

Was the Nuremberg Phenomenon Extraterrestrial?

After looking at the first three cards, I wanted to take the reading one step further.

The first question was intentionally very direct:

“Was what people witnessed over Nuremberg in 1561 connected to extraterrestrial life?”

For this question, I received the Chariot reversed.

And this is where the reading becomes even more intriguing.

The Chariot Reversed — Was It Extraterrestrial Life?

The Chariot is normally a card of movement, direction, control, determination and successfully moving forward toward a destination.

It can also represent vehicles, travel and something being directed from one place to another. Because of this, it is actually a very interesting card to receive when asking a question about strange objects apparently moving through the sky.

But mine appeared reversed.

A reversed Chariot can suggest a lack of control, conflicting directions, chaotic movement, something that cannot be properly directed, or a situation where it is difficult to determine where something is actually going.

In the context of the Nuremberg phenomenon, this could symbolically describe the strange movements reported in the sky.

Instead of showing a controlled journey or a clearly directed object, the reversed Chariot suggests confusion and a lack of clear direction.

That makes me hesitant to interpret this card as a straightforward “yes” to extraterrestrial life.

If I were reading the card literally, I would expect something much more decisive if the answer were supposed to be an obvious confirmation.

The reversed Chariot instead seems to say:

“Something was moving, but its direction and nature were unclear.”

There is another interesting possibility.

Because the Chariot can be associated with vehicles and controlled movement, its reversed position could symbolically suggest that whatever was perceived as something “travelling” through the sky may not have been a conventional vehicle at all.

Perhaps the witnesses interpreted movement as something being controlled when the underlying phenomenon was actually something else.

Again, this is Tarot symbolism, not evidence.

So I would not take the reversed Chariot as proof that extraterrestrial beings were involved.

If anything, I would read it as:

The cards do not give a clear confirmation of extraterrestrial life. They point more strongly toward confusion about what was actually being observed.

But I wasn’t satisfied yet.

If the answer was not a simple “yes,” I wanted to know more.

So I asked another question.

The Five of Cups — What Was the Explanation?

I asked the Tarot for clarification:

“If this was not simply an extraterrestrial event, what might explain what people experienced?”

The card that appeared was the Five of Cups.

The Five of Cups is traditionally associated with disappointment, loss, sadness, regret and focusing on what has gone wrong.

At first glance, this might seem like an unusual card for a question about something happening in the sky.

But symbolically, it becomes quite interesting.

The Five of Cups is often about looking at something through an emotional lens.

The event may have been frightening or deeply unsettling to the people who witnessed it. Instead of simply observing an unusual atmospheric phenomenon, they may have interpreted what they saw as a warning, an omen or something terrible.

This is especially interesting when we remember the religious worldview of 16th-century Europe.

The original account did not simply describe strange shapes in the sky. It interpreted the event as something that people should take seriously and connected it with a warning to change their ways.

From this perspective, the Five of Cups could represent the fear, anxiety and negative interpretation surrounding the event.

There is also something very important about the imagery of the Five of Cups.

The figure traditionally concentrates on the cups that have fallen, while other cups remain standing behind them.

Symbolically, this can represent focusing so strongly on the disturbing or frightening part of an experience that other explanations become difficult to see.

Could that be relevant here?

Perhaps.

Maybe the phenomenon itself was only part of the story.

The other part was how people interpreted it.

And that interpretation may have transformed an unusual event into a much more frightening and dramatic story.

But I still wanted to know:

Why did this happen in the first place?

The Nine of Cups Reversed — Why Did This Happen?

For the next question, I asked:

“Why did this phenomenon happen?”

The answer was the Nine of Cups reversed.

This is a fascinating card because the upright Nine of Cups is traditionally known as a card of satisfaction, wishes, pleasure and getting what one desires.

Reversed, that energy changes.

It can represent unfulfilled wishes, dissatisfaction, unrealistic expectations, something that looks desirable but does not actually provide the satisfaction expected from it, or an emotional desire that has become distorted.

In the context of this historical mystery, I would be careful not to interpret this as saying that the phenomenon happened because someone “wished” for it.

Instead, I see the reversed Nine of Cups as potentially describing the human desire for an answer.

When people encounter something they cannot explain, there is often a powerful desire to give it a meaning.

We want to know what it was.

We want an explanation.

We want the mystery to have an ending.

And sometimes, when the evidence does not give us a satisfying answer, we create one.

The reversed Nine of Cups could therefore be asking us to examine our own expectations.

Are we hoping the Nuremberg phenomenon was extraterrestrial because that would be a more exciting answer?

Or are we hoping it was a simple atmospheric phenomenon because that would make the mystery easier to solve?

Perhaps neither desire gives us the complete truth.

The card may be suggesting that the wish for certainty itself can influence how we interpret an unexplained event.

That made me ask one final question.

The High Priestess — Why Was There So Much Mystery?

I asked the cards another question:

“Why?”

Why was the event so difficult to understand?

Why has it remained such a mystery?

Why are people still discussing it centuries later?

The answer was the High Priestess.

And this card might be the most fitting one of the entire reading.

The High Priestess represents mystery, hidden knowledge, intuition, things that are not immediately visible, silence, secrets and knowledge that cannot easily be accessed through ordinary observation.

She does not rush to reveal everything.

In fact, she often represents the opposite.

She tells us that some information is missing.

And that is exactly the problem with the Nuremberg phenomenon.

We are looking backward more than 460 years.

We do not have modern photographs.

We do not have video recordings.

We do not have scientific measurements of the atmosphere from that morning.

We do not have a modern investigation at the exact moment the phenomenon occurred.

Instead, we have a historical written account and an illustration created in the 16th century.

The High Priestess therefore feels almost like a perfect symbolic representation of the historical situation itself.

There is information.

There is a story.

There is evidence.

But there is also something missing.

The complete answer remains behind the veil.

And perhaps that is exactly why this particular event has survived in people’s imaginations for so long.

Putting All the Cards Together

At this point, the Tarot reading contained several different layers:

The Dreamer
Something strange, unfamiliar and difficult to understand.

Six of Wands
A spectacular event that became public knowledge and was remembered.

Queen of Pentacles — Bottom of the Deck
The underlying energy points toward the physical world, nature, Earth and something tangible beneath the mystery.

Chariot reversed
When specifically asking whether the phenomenon was connected to extraterrestrial life, the card did not give me a clear confirmation. Instead, it suggested uncontrolled or confusing movement and difficulty understanding what was actually happening.

Five of Cups
The emotional reaction to the event may have been just as important as the phenomenon itself. Fear, uncertainty and focusing on the disturbing aspects could have influenced how the event was interpreted.

Nine of Cups reversed
A warning about wanting an answer so badly that we may unconsciously choose the explanation that satisfies us most.

High Priestess
Something remains unknown. There are missing pieces, hidden information and a mystery that cannot be completely solved from what has survived.

So What Do I Think Happened?

If I put the entire Tarot reading together, I would not interpret these cards as saying that the people of Nuremberg definitely witnessed extraterrestrial spacecraft.

The reversed Chariot is particularly important to me here.

It does not feel like a confident confirmation of a controlled vehicle coming from somewhere else.

Instead, the entire spread seems to describe a strange and visually dramatic phenomenon that people could not properly understand, followed by confusion, emotional interpretation and the creation of a lasting story around it.

The Queen of Pentacles underneath the deck makes me especially curious about a natural or earthly explanation.

Could atmospheric phenomena have played a role?

Could unusual light effects, halos, sundogs, sun pillars or other optical effects have contributed to what people saw?

Possibly.

But I also would not claim that Tarot has proven that explanation either.

The Five of Cups suggests that the emotional and fearful interpretation of the event may have become part of the story.

The Nine of Cups reversed tells us to be careful with the answers we desperately want to find.

And the High Priestess seems to deliver the final message:

There is still something we do not know.

Perhaps the most interesting conclusion is therefore not “aliens” or “weather.”

It is uncertainty.

The historical record tells us that an extraordinary celestial phenomenon was reported over Nuremberg in 1561. The people who witnessed it interpreted it according to the knowledge, fears and beliefs of their time. Centuries later, we are doing something remarkably similar — only with a different set of ideas.

Some see UFOs.

Some see atmospheric optics.

Some see religious symbolism.

And now, for the sake of curiosity, I have asked the Tarot.

The cards did not give me a flying saucer.

They gave me a mystery.

And perhaps that is the most appropriate answer of all.

Something was seen. Something was experienced. Something was interpreted. But exactly what happened above Nuremberg that morning remains hidden behind history.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1561_celestial_phenomenon_over_Nuremberg

https://uapcodex.org/cases/nuremberg-1561