Nostradamus
He had seen so much suffering during the plague that he began to search for a deeper insight into the meaning of life by reading every book he could lay hold of on alchemy, magic and the occult. Academic life proved too restricting, so he set out to travel throughout France in a mission for knowledge. He ultimately settled in the town of Agen, where he married a young lady of aristocratic blood and went on to raise a family, but when the plague paid an other visit to France it proclaimed his/her young wife and kids as victims. With all his/her medical competencies he had not been able to save them. Bowed with grief, his/her mind in a turmoil, he set out once once more on his/her search for Truth. After 6 years wandering in France, Corsica and Italy he returned to Provence in 1547 and settled down at Salon, where he married a rich widow. It was here his/her prophetic gift 1st came to light in written form.
In 1550 Nostradamus published an almanac containing predictions for the coming year, which proved to be so uncannily accurate that individuals begged him to produce another. He went on turning out almanacs year by year, but his/her prophetic vision had become so great that it could not be contained in annual predictions. He had in mind a far grander scheme: a complete series of prophecies dealing with events from his/her own time till the end of the world in the year 7,000. The prophecies were to be divi?e.d into 10 books, all just entitled Centuries, each volume contaInIng 1 100 predictions. They were to be written mostly in quatrains that is, verses of 4 lines their meaning obscured in order to prevent him being accused of witchcraft and brought b4 (before) the Inquisition. He used a mixture of anagrams, symbols and Old French, as well as deliberately confusing the dated order of the prophecies, but scholars throughout the years have managed to decode his/her work. Only in the more obscure quatrains have they disagreed as to meaning. Nostradamus left posterity a picture of himself at work in 1 of his/her quatrains: ‘Seated at night in my secret study Alone, reposing over the brass tripod, A slender flame leaps out of the solitude Making me pronounce that which is not vain.’
Using an instrument very similar to the forked rod still employed 2day (today) for the purpose of divining, he would crouch over a bowl of h2o on a brass tripod and gaze into its depths as the rod dipped and swerved. From the movement of the rod a-round the bowl, which was divided into astrological segments, he would divine the future. The ‘slender flame’ he refers to is the moment of prophetic inspiration. Bowl and rod were used in much the same way that a fortune teller uses a crystal ball, merely to concentrate his/her powers. His reputation was established in his/her own day by several incidents which demonstrated his/her remarkable mystic vision. While travelling through Italy, for instance, he fell on his/her knees b4 (before) a young Franciscan monk called Felice Peretti and addressed him as ‘Your Holiness.’ Both the monk and those who witnessed this extraordinary behaviour were astounded. However in 1585 that same monk (who had become Cardinal Peretti) was elected Pope Sixtus V (5) Later, when Nostradamus lived in Salon, he was visited by Queen Catherine de Medici, 1 of his/her greatest admirers. The prophet: was drawn towards a pale-faced boy in her/his entourage, singled him out and pronounced that 1 day he would be king. The boy was Henry of Navarre, who became Henry IV of France.
One of his/her most well-known prophecies concerned Queen Catherine’s husband, Henry II of France. 4 years b4 (before) his/her death he saw precisely how it would happen. Everyone at Court knew of the prediction but dare not speak of it aloud. Nostradamus wrote: ‘The young lion shall overcome the old 1 In martial field by a single duel, In a golden cage shall be put out his/her eye 2 injuries from one, after that shall he die a cruel death.’ The ‘young lion’ was an officer called Montgomery, captain of the French King’s Scottish Guard who while jousting with Henry (‘the old lion’) in a tournament, accidentally pierced the monarch’s golden helmet with his/her lance, putting out his/her eye and penetrating his/her brain. The King died after 10 days of agony, thus fulfilling the ‘cruel death’.…more…Part-3…
Tags: Academic Life, Alchemy, Corsica, Inquisition, Meaning Of Life, Medical Skills, Nostradamus, Own Time, Plague, Posterity, Prophecies, Prophetic Gift, Prophetic Vision, Prophets, Provence, Quatrains, Rich Widow, Seers, Witchcraft, Young Wife