Since writing the previous blog post about Nostradamus two years ago, I've discovered that Peter Lemesurier in his book The Unknown Nostradamus (2003) provided an English translation of a letter in Latin by Nostradamus to Francois Bérard dated August 27, 1562. An online Lemesurier translation of this letter may be read at alt.prophecies.Nostradamus. The book translation includes the following passage.
Be advised therefore that for nine nights in succession I have sat from midnight until about four o'clock both with my brow crowned with laurel and wearing the skyblue stone and, as it were on the tripod, have wrung out of that good spirit about your ring. Therefore, having plucked a swan's quill (for he thrice refused a goose one), and with the spirit dictating to me, as though carried away by a poetic frenzy I launched myself into the following lines:
In the letter "Michael the Archangel" is referred to as "my invincible patron."
In 1995 I found that Nostradamus had presented a “Preface to First Edition” introducing his quatrains with a document from Salon dated March 1, 1555 described as “A Letter of Dedication to his son, Caesar Nostradamus” (a dedicatory preface to the first edition of Les Propheties). Another letter known as the "Epistle to Henry II" (1558) was another document offering commentary about his work. In this blog article, I am quoting from the Peter Lemesurier translations of letters and quatrains that can be found in his Nostradamus: The Illustrated Prophecies (2003).
In the 1555 letter, Nostradamus mentioned “that about which the Divine Being has granted me knowledge through astronomical cycles.” He explained, “. . . I had determined to go as far as declaring in abstruse and puzzling utterances the future causes of the 'common advent,' even those truly cogent ones that I have foreseen . . . By the grace of immortal God and the good angels these [prophets] have received the spirit of prophecy, by which they see distant things and succeed in foreseeing future events, for nothing can be achieved without Him. So great is Their power and goodness to their subjects that all the while they abide in these two — while still subject to all other influences — that prophetic heat and power visits us in the similitude of the essence of the spirit of goodness, just as the rays of the sun reach us, casting their influence over elementary and non elementary bodies alike . . . But thanks to some indivisible timelessness via epileptic trance, things are known through the movement of the heavens . . . intellectually based understanding is incapable of seeing occultly in what direction things to come will tend — other than through the voice with the aid of the hem, and through the tiny flame . . . Nevertheless, whether by vague hunches that exceed all natural reason or by inspired dreams, it also happens from time to time that God the creator, through the ministry of his messengers of fire, proposes in the form of the flame that he sends, even to our eyes, the causes of future predictions signifying the future events that are to appear to the one who prophesies."
Upon reflecting about the work of Nostradamus, one of the things that became evident to me was that there was no connection to be found between the individual known as 'Mabus' in Century II, Quatrain 62 (a translation is included below) with the 'Antichrist' mentioned later in Century VIII. At the present time, the 'Mabus' pattern can be found as an anagram within the name of United States President Barack hUSsein oBAMa II while the U.S. Secretary of the Navy is Raymond Edwin MABUS, Jr. In Nostradamus: The Illustrated Prophecies Lemesurier wrote that anagrams were "a fashionable device at the time, especially for encoding sensitive proper names."
The second letter included as an appendix to the book is entitled "Translation of Nostradamus's dedicatory foreword of 1558 to the final installment of Les Propheties, addressed to 'Henri King of France the Second.'" In the letter to Henry II (killed while jousting shortly afterwards), statements about multiple 'Antichrists' are associated with unchristian beliefs and the resultant evils and wars.
Nostradamus explained: ". . . it is to a Prince most prudent and wise that I have dedicated my nocturnal and prophetic computations, put together by natural instinct, accompanied by poetic frenzy, rather than by poetic rule, for the most part composed and harmonized with Astronomical calculations . . . and which I have composed in an instinctive manner."
Here is another informative passage —
But the violence of the times requires, O most serene King, that such secret events be expressed only in enigmatic terms, having but one sole sense and single meaning, free of ambiguous or equivocal reckoning — nay, rather under a cloudy obscurity in the form of an instinctive inpouring akin to the utterances of the one thousand and two prophets that have been since the world began. As the reckoning and Punic Chronicle of Joel has it, Effundam spiritum meum super omnem carnem, et prophetabunt filii vestri, et filiae vestrae. But such prophecy proceeded from the mouth of the Holy Spirit, which was the sovereign eternal power, in conjunction with the celestial, and some of this number predicted great and marvelous happenings; for me, I in no way attribute to myself such a title here. God forbid! I confess truly that the whole of it comes from God, and render him thanks, honor, and immortal praise, without having adulterated it with any of that divination that comes a fato, but a Deo, a natura, and most of it confirmed by the movements of the celestial round, rather like seeing it in a burning mirror, as though with clouded sight, the great and ominous events and the calamitous happenings that loom at the hands of members of the major religious groups.
Cases of what is today known as 'channeling' show correlations of great complexity. As I’ve mentioned before, Elizabeth Fuller in Poor Elizabeth's Almanac (1980) chronicled that during an expedition-research trip in the Himalayas in 1979 with her husband John G. Fuller (a metaphysical author himself), she found herself engaged in what parapsychologists have called 'automatic writing' and was confronted with 121 proverbs "reminiscent of Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac." Some other documented channeling cases include that of 'the invisible author' who became known as 'Patience Worth', Chico Xavier, Jane Roberts and 'Seth', and Rosemary Brown, to name a few.
The use of the word 'channeling' expresses an awareness of an inspiration or creativity beyond oneself. This is certainly applicable to the case of Nostradamus as chronicled in his writings. Conscious creativity can be a form of channeling with examples provided in the blog articles "Some Reflections about Channeling and the Creative Process", "Hotel California" and "Case Study: Philo and Elma Farnsworth". Therefore, It is worthwhile to observe correlations between what is written in the Nostradamus quatrains with known occurrences, as many authors have done over the years.
Regarding an all-knowing transcendental source reflected through the writings of Nostradamus, translators present differing English wordings so intrinsic meanings are perhaps what should be contemplated. Peter Lemesurier noticed what he described as "the positively kaleidoscopic nature of the whole work." The work of printers would influence the published editions of Les Propheties as printing-house disparities resulted with textual variations among copies of any given edition.
In The Unknown Nostradamus, Lemesurier reported about astrological lore published in books in the years prior to Les Propheties. One 'framework' or 'model' "claimed to cover the 'four seasons of the world' that allegedly made up the 7000 predestined years of its existence . . . world history, on this model, was said to comprise three great celestial cycles of 2480 years each," with constituent ages each ruled over by a different planet and archangel. The current 'third cycle' would be finished after the age ruled over by the Archangel Michael and the Sun (starting in AD 1887 and concluding in 2242). Lemesurier wrote that Richard Roussat in a 1549/50 book broke new ground by hinting that there could be a following cycle and "possibly a golden age this time." The 'fourth cycle' would eventually conclude in 4368.
Although Lemesurier's opinion (from The Illustrated Prophecies) is that Nostradamus "was, in effect, merely reinterpreting whole rafts of ancient end-time prophecies by prominent saints and divines . . .," this perspective discounts the comments by Nostradamus suggesting he was some manner of amanuensis. The spelling of some names in the quatrains could reflect phonetic variations. I, myself, experienced incidents of clairaudience (or 'ghost voices') while investigating a 'talking poltergeist' haunting in Oklahoma encompassing an enigmatic entity known to the family by the name 'Michael' — a relatively 'safe' situation for someone to hear disembodied communication when considering some of the beliefs of contemporary mental health practitioners.
That summer of 1995, upon my return to my native Los Angeles ('The Angels') only to find the paranormal phenomena continuing to occur in my presence, there was at least one instance of clairvoyance that I experienced (seeing a missile ascending in the sky in the vicinity of Dodger Stadium). My metaphysical research was motivated by the diverse unexplained events in my life that included two bushes outside my condo going up in flames on different occasions the previous year. I found myself in a relationship with an unseen being named 'Michael' so I could easily accept that Nostradamus had also been involved in a similar relationship although in 1995 I didn't know that there was actual documentation for this. My decision then was to try to learn as much as I could about other cases of paranormal phenomena, including Nostradamus; and also to see what I could discover about the history of beliefs concerning the Archangel Michael. Gustav Davidson in his book A Dictionary of Angels Including the Fallen Angels (1967) began his article about the Archangel as follows:
Michael ("who is as God")—in Biblical and post-Biblical lore, Michael ranks as the greatest of all angels, whether in Jewish, Christian, or Islamic writings, secular or religious.
The following are some selected Nostradamus quatrains for readers today showing some noticed correlations to occurrences in recent years. Some of the selected quatrains reflect my own introspection in relation to my unusual life experiences that provide insights about what might best be described as 'Christ Consciousness.'
Reading through the quatrains last week, I wondered if one could possibly correlate "the Easterner" of Century II, Quatrain 29—"with his rod he'll strike both one and all"—with the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the resulting radioactive contamination, although we don't know the extent of the damage to the global ecosystem. If we human beings collectively aren't able to prevent or deal with these disasters, one is left to wonder how many more 'Easterners' there will be.
I begin this selection of quatrains with Century I, Quatrain 87. Although there were some fabricated Nostradamus quatrains circulated following the events on September 11, 2001, one authentic translated quatrain shows correlations with 'center' (World Trade Center), 'New City' (New York City) and 'two nobles' (the USA and UK) waging 'a fruitless war' (translated from a sentence with the letter sequence USA in the word used by Nostradamus published as 'Arethusa').
Concerning the prophecies of a 'Grand Monarque,' a spiritually aware reader will associate contemporary parallels with what is expressed as 'Christ Consciousness' in the channeled reading transcripts of 'the sleeping prophet' Edgar Cayce.
Century I, Quatrain 87
Earth-shaking fires from the world's center roar:
Around 'New City' is the earth a-quiver.
Two nobles long shall wage a fruitless war,
The nymph of springs pour forth a new, red river.
Century I, Quatrain 95
Before the cloister is a twin child found
Of blood heroic by old, decrepit friar.
His fame, through every tongue, power, creed shall sound,
Such as that living twin to raise yet higher.
Century I, Quatrain 96
He who was charged with dashing to the ground
Churches and sects shall change upon a whim.
The stones more than the people he shall wound,
By flowery speech hearing restored to him.
Century II, Quatrain 10
Before too long shall all change for the worse:
We see ahead an age that's upside-down.
Of monks and whores they shall the roles reverse:
Few shall be pleased their proper state to own.
Century II, Quatrain 13
The soulless corpse shall no more suffering know:
On th' day of death it shall be born anew.
On it the Holy Ghost shall bliss bestow,
As soul th' eternal Word shall plainly view.
Century II, Quatrain 29
Forth from his seat the Easterner shall go:
He'll cross the Apennines, he'll see fair Gaul.
Onward he'll press through heaven's rains and snow
And with his rod he'll strike both one and all.
Century II, Quatrain 46
The woes once past, yet greater are at hand:
The Mover starts a new age once again.
Famine, war, plague; both blood and milk shall rain:
Fire seen in heaven, trailing its blazing brand.
Century II, Quatrain 62
Then, Mabus shortly dying, there shall be
Of man and beast a massacre most dread.
Then suddenly they'll awful vengeance see:
Thirst, famine, blood, with comet overhead.
Century II, Quatrain 70
The mighty comet o'er the sky shall sprawl:
Killed in mid-sentence, many shall have died,
Blasted the tree, the haughty race shall fall:
Brute human monsters, expiation tried.
Century III, Quatrain 94
After five hundred years more heed they'll take
Of him who was th' adornment of his age.
Then light effulgent suddenly shall break
Such as that time's great pleasure to engage.
Century V, Quatrain 96
At the world's center rules the mighty rose:
For projects new the state and folk shall bleed.
If truth were told, t'were best one's mouth to close,
Till comes th' awaited one in hour of need.
Century X, Quatrain 65
O mighty Rome, your ruin is at hand —
Not to your walls, but to your living part:
He of the harsh-writ name such woes has planned,
His sword [poinctu] shall pierce all to the hilt and heart.
Century X, Quatrain 72
When 1999 is seven months o'er
Shall a great King and host — on heaven's part, he —
Restore the King from Angoumois once more,
Ere, after March, he'll reign propitiously.
Century X, Quatrain 73
The present time as well as all the past
The mighty man of God shall judge that day,
And yet the world shall tire of him at last,
And priestly lawyers shall the man betray.
Century X, Quatrain 79
Old roads with new embellishments they'll fit:
As though to ancient Memphis they shall go,
As Gallic Hercules' mercurial writ
Earth, sea and all the land shall quaking know.
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