Thursday, January 8, 2009

Nostradamus Revisted

We've become familiar with this name from all angles of history. Michael de Nostradamus, a physician and seer, whose quatrains of predictions never cease to startle the world. I love a good mystery, love to plunder into the paranormal, and one of the reasons is to try and get at the true heart of what I'm questing about. I don't want to believe just because it's more seductive and defies logic or science, and I do love science.

Think upon this a bit: Nostradamus wrote his many quatrains, or 4-line paragraphs of prediction (some say warning) and modern man looks to them for explanations for so many historical events. But all of his predictions happen after the fact. People only look back to them after something has happened. If indeed he predicated 9-11, where were the true believers on 9-10? The Nostradamians, they're called. I proffer my respect but truly, if I had a book foretelling the coming of Napoleon, the birth of the Anti-Christ, the burning of cities and the horrid deaths of millions, I think I'd tell someone. Why are his quatrains only valid after the fact??

In specific, on 9-11-01 many saw his predictable hand in one of the quatrains which talked about "towers of the new city falling in blood and terror" etc., as in the picture above. There were hits all over the net, and people read the quatrain and said "Yeah look at that! He knew it would happen!" This really could have so many other explanations, many cities have crumbled in firey defeat, even a Major Arcana tarot card bears that picture. This is an image from an old deck of tarot cards and clearly it's a tower afire. Even without it's meaning in tarot, it could be any event, anywhere. But I want to be fair, let me examine something I'll never understand about Mon. Nostradamus.

In a very famous quatrain, he tells of a man who will come to destroy millions, a man of great power and persuasion, who he names Hister. How many times have people assumed this certainly must be Hitler, with his name disguised? Rewind: Nostradamus had to write his predictions in grimoire or "hidden" fashion so as not to anger the powered nobles of his time, those who threatened to imprison, probably kill him for practicing witchcraft. So he wrote in "riddle" and disguised many names, places, events, leaving just enough to encourage thought. Here's my problem with that:

No one in his time ever heard of Hitler, why didn't he just write HITLER? Who would be angered? Did he just get the spelling wrong? If he wrote "Hitler" no one would've known who he meant, hence no danger. What's the reason?
He is said to predict the oncoming of Napoleon. He wrote the name as "Nau - po - leon".
Not hard for you and I to distinguish, but for contemporaries of Nostradamus a complete mystery. So why not just say "Napoleon"? His quatrain on this prediction says that "a small soldier shall rise from the ranks to become king and ruler". Doesn't that describe Harry Truman too? Truman was a soldier who rose to become president and the first human to drop the A-bomb on other humans. It could also describe JFK, a PT boat pilot who went on to become a great ruler. It's just a small ripple in my thoughts on this man, one I realize was gifted, but I caution those "Nostradamians" to be alert and aware. It's so easy and seductive to be carried from logic into the hazy zones of mystery, just because it tickles our fantasy.


14 comments:

Amelia said...

You brought up some good points here Luddie. As much as anything can be verified it can also be disqualified.. lol.

I believe there are people who know more than others. I do believe that people can see into the future as well. It's such a big universe, why couldn't it exist? How do you explain intuition anyway? I know I've had it. Maybe some people just have a lot more of it.

I don't know much about Nostradamus so I can't really say for sure if I believe what he has said or not. If not him though, there are others.

*M*

Lisa said...

I can't believe you wrote about this tonite. Why....well just the other day I was reading about Mayans (since their calender ends 12/21/12 some people think that is the end of the world) which through them I was led to Nostradamus and read alot of his predictions, past & future. You raise very interesting & valid points, who would have known the names he was writing about? Some of his writings are so vague in my opinion they could really be anything and you almost have to work to put them into something - in some cases he is really off by a good many years as well. I think he tinkered with mind altering drugs in his spare time. I was surprised to reach he was a "devout" catholic by day and then a prophet by night. He was definately interesting. My mom & I were just talking about him & the mayans today. They are pretty interesting too. Seems Nostradamus has somewhat of a cult following from what I've read - it's fun but I don't take it too seriously.

emikk said...

I'd say Sylvia Brown is the modern day Nostradamus.

DB said...

Excellent entry. Nostradamus, like sacred scripture and other mystic writers can be interpreted anyway one wnats to. An open question is just how specific was he being. There have been many burning towers. I also wonder if some of his prophecies were self fulfilling. I read him and many other esoteric writers. I also read scientific books and journals, and I believe there are no unsolvable mysteries, as delightful as they may be to comtemplate.

I got your journal from your comment in Mark's in which you say that misery does NOT love company. So true. I hope that you will visit mine.

http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/ DB

Cathy said...

EMIKK: Your opinion is very welcome. I'll give mine: Ms. Brown is no different from you or I, she just knows how to use certain parts of the brain others don't, hence they atrophy. I applaud her ability to make money.

Jude said...

I don't even know how to comment on this. I bought a copy of his quatrains back in the mid '80's, and I did read them. I don't think I still have it though. Damn if I could make heads or tails out of the future quatrains. They were written with so much poetry, nuance, whatever, it is almost impossible to pick out their meaning before hand. In fact, I can't remember any of the future quatrains with the exception of one that claimed the Papacy would end in 1989 or 90. That was about the time Pope John Paul II was shot. It's seems one can only deciper the meaning after the fact, and that makes me wonder if what he said could have other meanings. At the time I read the book, I had no idea what 'New City' meant, and it wasn't until after I saw it on the web that I related that to 9/11. I know I read elsewhere of how Nostradamus had made predictions about the far future only to have people about his time take his writings and apply them to their present. I wish I could believe one way or the other. Although after reading of wars, famine and birds from the sky destroying cities, I'd rather believe it was fiction rather than prophesy.

One more time, thank you for making me think.

Jude

Saltydawg said...

Very thought provoking for me early on a Friday morning and after only one coffee too!
I love everything you write, we have more in common than you'll ever know. My love for the stars has been with me since a child, I suspect yours has too.
Gaz xxx

Cathy said...

LISA" Ah the Mayans what brilliant time-keepers using the Long Count, what a loss to intelligent evolution of man. The Dresden Codex certainly has the world divided eh? Don't you think Chicenitza was an observatory, at Caracol? Check out "The Mayan Prophecies" by Gilbert & Cotterell, it's an amazing read.

Cathy said...

JUDE: Why couldn't the "new city" have meant New Orleans? You make intelligent points and I'm so pleased ppl are questioning what may seem mystical when in fact the credit might just be the miracle of the human brain itself. Nothing magical, just giving credit to the ppl who built the pyramids: us.

Jenny said...

Interesting. I follow the one who created the supernatural and tells me everything i need to know and more.
Jenny <><

Texas Truth Teller said...

Cathy, There's an excellent book on this subject that you should read. It's called "The Secrets Of Nostradamus Exposed" by Ray Comfort. Go to www.livingwaters.com and you'll find out how to obtain it there. OR you can write to Living Waters Publications PO Box 1172 Bellflower, CA 90706. Nostradamus is as fake as a $3.00 bill! A FALSE prophet if there ever was one! And ignorant uninformed fools in our day believe all the "tabloid trash" that promotes his junk as if it were gospel truth! Thanks for having the guts to write what you did here!

Unknown said...

When it comes to seeing the future "yet to come" I prefer Dickens, "Why show me this, if I am past all hope!... Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!"

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick
http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/

ADB said...

Cathy,
I am very pleased to finally read someone debunking all that wisdom-after-the-event nonsense surrounding Nostradamus. It is like fitting a foot to a shoe, if you follow me.

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