CENTURIES
1999
19/05/1999.
Report for Committee investigating website at http://members.tripod.com/AlynPtdLtd/nd .
Over the time I have spent talking with Thomas he has explained much of the reasoning behind his approach. I have gathered these thoughts together to make a more cohesive whole. In the main they are his words but I have joined a few segments by paraphrasing ideas derived from him.
Thomas:
"The central core to my approach is to try to understand Nostradamus’ way of thinking. I believe this is an aspect overlooked by many analysts. Some try to understand his language but they transpose his writings into settings that have no reasonable context.
"There is also a tendency to impose upon Nostradamus an illogical rationale. Doomsday theories are one example of this for when examined closely they are implausible motivators.
"If a wrong motivation is assumed then the interpreted meaning of the work is likely to be wrong.
"Many interpreters have freed themselves from any connection with Nostradamus’ motives and read into his work such silliness as predictions of Monika Lewinsky’s affair with President Clinton.
"My approach has been to acknowledge Nostradamus’ intellect and to seek the purpose of his writings. The core result of this is that the surface messages are seen as merely ‘interest holders’. These messages are necessarily distorted and convoluted because they result from code. But it is unlikely that Nostradamus really meant these to be totally accurate prophecies.
"I will take you through one pattern of thought to illustrate some of these points.
"Within the historical context of his life the plague known as ‘The Black Death’ was crucial. He was a doctor, an isolate man with views different from the mainstream. He worked with the victims of the plague and developed cures that were purportedly successful. He was famous for his work and this preceded any fame regarding his prophetic ability.
"Yet within Nostradamus’ Prophecies there is no professional reference to the plague, its source and its treatment. There can be no doubt that if Nostradamus could see into the future he would have taken a keen interest in the science of the disease, its causes, its physical explanation and the manner of its transmission.
"In the surface writings plague is a generic term lacking focus but I believe he did write more than this.
The Black Death.
"Consider the following verse:
| L’Oriental sortira da son siege | The Oriental one will come out of his seat |
| Passer les monts Apennins voir la Gaule | Crossing the Apennine mountains to come into France |
| Transpercera le ciel les eaux & neige | Through the sky, the seas and snow it will come |
| Et vn chascun frappera de sa gaule | And everyone will be struck by his rod. |
Nostradamus’ Centuries II Quatrain 29 |
"This is not a bad modern description of the plague.The Black Death started in the Gobi desert and was transmitted after local events forced the people from their homelands. Nothing stopped its spread and in 1348 it came into south west France via Italy. All of France was struck by the bacilli, the rod-like bacteria, ‘Yersinia pestis’ that is known to have caused the plagues. The idea of bacteria and their shape was not known in the 16th Century.
"But of course this relates to a time two centuries before Nostradamus which may seem unreasonable. There is however evidence to support this dating in another quatrain.
| Du pont Euxine & la grande Tartare | Bridging the Black Sea and the great Tatars |
| Vn roi sera qui viendra voir la Gaule | A king will come to visit France |
| Transpercera Alane et l’Armenie | Through Alane and the Armenian |
| Et dans Bisance lairra sanglante Gaule | And in Bisance leaving his bloody rod. |
Nostradamus’ Centuries V Quatrain 54 |
"Alane et l’Armenia contains an anagram of Tamerlane, a Tatar king born in the same year as the plague first struck in Asia (1336) . He was born in Transoxania, a land near the Black Sea. The words ‘pont Euxine’ used for the Black Sea together with ‘transpercera’ are evocative of his homeland. Tamerlane’s armies captured much of Persia, India & Asia. Europeans feared he planned to invade Europe but he stopped at the edge of the Mediterranean.
"This verse again identifies a rod, a bloody rod. The plague was an infection via the blood.
"There are other good reasons to believe these two verses belong together.
"These two verses are the only ones in the 942 of Nostradamus’ quatrains to contain the word ‘transpercera’. Both contain ‘gaule’ twice.They are the only two verses to do so. The word ‘gaule’ is only used another ten times. It is as though ‘transpercera’ is deliberately linked with ‘gaule’ . These words may be deliberately chosen to establish the association of the verses. They may then be some sort of ‘identifier of their meaning’.
"It may be coincidence but the letters ‘transperceragaule’ contain the English anagram ‘Arcane secret: rats can create plagues’
"Therefore in these two verses we have linguistic connections and we are able to date these quatrains to the time of the origin of the plague. We are able to see a reliable origin and an epidemology of the disease. This is the sort of prophecy that I think would have motivated Nostradamus. It fits so very neatly into what can be discovered about Nostradamus but even in its presentation of a historical event does not detract from his ability to incorporate the future.
[I believe many on the committee hold similar views to those presented above but they will not have seen these particular interpretations. It is hard to know what to make of the ‘transpercera’, ‘gaule’ references. I would appreciate John running a check to see if they are numerically as significant as Thomas states. No one else has suggested Nostradamus was interested in Tamerlane and much more evidence would be needed before I was personally convinced that this was the case. I would like to hear back from members whether they have seen interpretations relating to the ‘Black Death’ because Thomas’ point seems valid; Nostradamus would have been interested in the topic. ]
"We should expect to find the subjects of great interest to Nostradamus embodied in the quatrains. The plague is one aspect of his life, others are the development of astronomy, the impact of religion on people’s thinking and those earlier writings that acted as his source but which he did not dare openly reveal.
"There is some evidence of his interest in the social history of the time. It is contained in the quatrains that are dismissed by most analysts as being ‘alchemical mysticism’. There are good reasons that these thoughts would be disguised for they are criticisms of the church. There are several verses where Nostradamus looks favourably on the old religion with its female centred knowledge and contrasts it to the masculine views of the dominant western religions.
The Old Religion
| La Lune au plain de nuict sur le haut mont, | The Moon in the fullness of night is over the high mountain. |
| Le nouueau sophe d’un seul cerveau l’a veu: | The new goddess of wisdom, Sophia, a single brain sees. |
| Par ses disciples estre immortel semond, | By her disciples seen to be the reprimanded view of god , |
| Yeux au midy, en seins, mains, corps au feu | Eyes to the South, hand to the breast, body to the fire. |
| Nostradamus’ Centuries IV, Quatrain 23. |
"This verse names Sophia, goddess of wisdom, as the vision seen in Nostradamus’ mind. There is a distinct reference to this female aspect of religion attracting disapproval to the point where its adherents are burned. In this verse it is presented as though his visionary powers are in some way connected to this old religion.
| La loy du Sol, et Venus contendens, | The law of the Sun in rivalry with Venus. |
| Appropriant l’espirit de prophetie: | Appropriating the spirit of the prophetic mind. |
| Ne l’vn ne l’autre ne seront entendus, | Neither one nor the other will then be heard , |
| Par Sol tiendra la loy du grand Messie. | {When] by the great Messiah’s law only the Sun-God is retained. |
| Nostradamus’ Centuries V, Quatrain 53. |
"This verse comments that the Church’s impact on the feminine aspect of God is detrimental to prophets. The feminine aspects of religion had undergone severe repression from his grandfather’s time up to the time of his writing. The Sun is the Church, Venus is the old ways.
| Lors que Venus du Sol sera couuert, | When Venus is covered by the Sun, |
| Soubs l’esplendeur sera forme occulte: | Under its splendour, occult figures will still practise: |
| Mercure au feu les aura descouuert, | Mercury puts them to the fire whenever their ’aura’ is uncovered |
| Par bruit bellique sera mis a l’insulte. | By strong quarrelsome people they are set up to be insulted |
Nostradamus’ Centuries IV, Quatrain 28 |
[Mercury=god of science and commerce] |
"Nostradamus here notes that despite persecution the old religion is still practised. It is the men of commerce as much as the Church that cause ‘witches’ and ‘sorcerers’ to be burned. This was indeed the case, for the men of commerce favoured less festivals and holidays in the pursuit of greater profit.
| Le Sol cache eclipse par Mercure, | The Sun-God will be outdone by the God of Commerce, |
| Ne sera mis que pour le ciel second: | It will only be placed second in the heavens: |
| De Vlcan Hermes sera faicte pasture, | Sorcerers will be burned, Hermes the fuel for Vulcan. |
| Sol sera veu peur, rutilant & blonde. | The Sun-God Church will then appear shining white and pure. |
| Nostradamus’ Centuries IV, Quatrain 29. | [Hermes Trimegistus=magician; Vulcan =burning] |
"Here Nostradamus notes that because the persecution by the Church seems less severe than that from the men of commerce they can achieve their end of suppressing the old religion without carrying the blame.
"So it is possible and quite natural that Nostradamus used the verses to express his personal feelings.
[Thomas seems to have a greater fascination with these verses than is usual. It is likely they are code but I am not convinced that the planet references represent the Church and commercial interests. Other interpretations can be put on them and with no more fanciful connections than Thomas uses, quite different personal agendas could be supported. This seems a classical example of ‘vested interest’ interpretation as seen in many highly committed religious and political groups.]
"This makes the absence of obvious comment on the advancements in astronomy and science worthy of consideration. Each of these other intimate topics could well be encoded in the verse as I have just tried to show. I believe this is also true of astronomy. This is not an unusual historical practice. The Norse poets also did not write about astronomy even though it was so important to them, maybe for much the same reason, this information may have been carried in code. All of these ideas are consistent with those expressed by Nostradamus in key verses. Verse 100 from Centuries VI sums it up this way.
"Incantation against inept critics. |
May those who read this verse think upon it deeply. |
Let the profane and ignorant herd keep away. |
Let all astrologers, idiots and barbarians stay far off. |
He who does otherwise let him be priest of the rite." |
Nostradamus’ Centuries VI Quatrain 100 |
"But in saying that Nostradamus expressed his thoughts through his verse it does not mean he thought about them in a sixteenth century way.
"For example Nostradamus could not have looked into the future and retained misinformed ideas about the practise of astrology. The two things are contradictory. It is unlikely he was an alchemist, hermeticist or astrologer. If he could see into the future he had to be more in tune with science than magic. He had to be ahead of his time. This is again an important aspect to hold in mind when reading his work. A person either reads it believing he could not see into the future or realises that if he could there is a certain logic that must follow.
"This is not to say that all ancient practices are false, for if Nostradamus was a prophet it is unlikely he was the first or the last. Some writings would exist that carried valid techniques but again it is likely that he would not even hint at them in his surface writings.
[Thomas seems to be having a ‘bet each way’ here. ]
"Many of his verses appear to be astrological references but this is likely to be a deliberate deception that acts as a pointer to a more meaningful message. Take verse 59 from the second Century in Nostradamus work:
| Le parc enclin grande calamite, | In the feeble lists great calamity, |
| Par l’Hesperie & Insubre fera,: | Throughout the West and Lombardy: |
| Le feu en nef peste & captiuite, | Fire in the ship, plague and captivity. |
| Mercure en l’Arc Saturne fenera. | Mercury in Sagittarius, Saturn threatening. |
| Nostradamus’ Centuries II, Quatrain 65. |
"Above is Erika Cheetham’s representation of the verse and its meaning. Now consider these lines as sets of simple English anagrams.
Le parc enclin grande calamite, |
Circle replacing time in calendar almanac. |
Par l’Hesperie et Insubre fera,: |
Helps prepare sphere’s real entries these busier lines prefer |
Le feu en nef peste et captiuite, |
Neptune’s facet is left in as it unites place in space. |
Mercure en l’Arc Saturne fenera |
Star-name recurs as accurate astral references. |
"These lines now read as a set of instructions about placing astronomic references into the poetry. I do not know whether such an interpretation is valid but it is certainly the type of output that could be anticipated. It transforms astrology into a set of astronomic coding.
"There are many strange lines in Nostradamus’ work and it is surprising the number which can be given a clear meaning when interpreted by English anagrams. There are none more surprising than Quatrain 21, Centuries II for this implies an extraordinary relationship between Nostradamus and a third party. The first line of this verse talks of an ambassador and an unknown man. The second conceals the following:
A my chemin d’incogneus repoulsez. |
My machine encoding Michel’s poem uses unrecognised size rules. |
"And then line 4 adds:
Cordes et chaines au Negre pont troussez. |
Secret codes charting size usage Uuagner opera sets out. |
"This implies that in examining Nostradamus’ motivation we cannot ignore the concept he stated many times, he felt he was being influenced by a guiding force. It is as though Nostradamus penned his work in the full belief it would turn out right and that in putting it to paper he was fulfiling an obligation. This obligation was not to his generation or a future populace, but to a third party for whom he was a medium of expression.
[There are many other examples Thomas has shown me but the above are enough for the Committee to assess this rather unusual methodology. I do not like this introduction of English anagrams into the scheme. Until we have been able to see the inherent constraints and freedoms that this technique produces we should be very restrained in our assessment. My personal belief is that we will find that any one of us could come up with a good looking sentence if given enough time. Thomas, however, asserts that whilst other anagrams can be made it is the simplicity and their internal relevance that also has to be considered. I believe a specialist sub-committee should immediately take a scientific look at these aspects.]
On Nostradamus’ motives.
Thomas went on, "It is also possible to draw conclusions about Nostradamus’ motivations.
"If we examine the psychological content of Nostradamus’ writing we can draw important conclusions about his reasons for writing. I begin by comparing his work to that of those who for four hundred years have sought to interpret his meaning
"If you look at today’s rash of interpreters you will see their focus is on the 1990s. Their predictions, based on Nostradamus’ work, are concerned with the span of their own lives. This has always been the case for any benefit from accurate prophecy needs to be immediate. There is no benefit in being right 100 years into the future. These interpreters are people seeking to prove they are right.
"By contrast Nostradamus acts as though he knew he was right and this is a significant difference. There is a very high degree of certainty required for a person to be able to ignore self- justification and concentrate on setting out material that brings him no benefit
"I attach great importance to the span of Nostradamus’ writings. It is as much a warranty that he was genuinely able to see the future as any proof of prophetic events. The breadth of his material dissociates it from normal motivations.
"Consider his letter to King Henry. Here is a letter to a worldly king that talks of the world’s events for hundreds of years. Such predictions do nothing for the King or for Nostradamus’ immediate needs. He is already famous because of his professional skills. He is already well off. He needs nothing that will focus the attention of the Inquisitors upon him. The King has no ability to substantiate the far distant claims and no interest in them. The King can hardly be excited by the bulk of the material he receives. This letter does not fall within normal parameters for those claiming to be prophets, much of it is too remote to be of use to Nostradamus’ reader.
"It is unlikely that Nostradamus sought either direct or indirect benefit from writing his letter to the King. His motivation had to lie elsewhere. This motivation needs to account for the actual content and its style.
[It is possible that Thomas is too ready to discount the ‘curiosity factor’ in people. This might well motivate Nostradamus’ readers interest in the longer term future but of course they could never have proof of its validity.]
"I think we can fairly conclude that Nostradamus’ motivation was not that of claiming the benefits of being a successful prophet. Rather, the evidence is he was a rather reluctant recorder of some unusual experience. His reluctance could well have stemmed from its lack of benefit to himself.
"I believe he was an observer setting down a broad span of events from which he could draw little benefit and upon which he could not have any impact. This also seems true of the prophecies. Their content and style is so obscure as to be of uncertain gain to his readers. He acts as a passive documenter of coming events and makes no suggestion that people will be able to prosper by their use.
"And despite continual criticism of their validity there are some quite exceptional instances of accuracy. One of the more recent is the break up of Russia. For the last fifty years or more C.III Q.95, and C.IV Q.32 were widely quoted as predicting the rise and fall of Communism towards the end of the century. There was no politically credible analysis that supported this view and even as late as 1989 it looked as though this prediction would prove false. So a prophet from the sixteenth century constructed a verse from which people, four hundred years later, could readily identify a communist state based in Russia (C.III Q.95) . This recognition of a future political force would be remarkable in itself but the events clearly associated with this quatrain did occur. Yet experts in the twentieth century who lived immediately before these events did not forecast the downfall of Russian based Communism.
Erika Cheetham’s 1989 version
| La loy Moricque on verra deffaillir, | The Moorish law will be seen to fail, |
| Apres vn autre beaucoup plus seductiue: | Followed by another that is less pleasing. |
| Boristhenes premier viendra faillir, | The Dnieper will be the first to give way |
| Par dons et langue vne plus attractiue. | Through gifts and tongues to another more appealing. |
| Nostradamus’ Centuries III, Quatrain 95. |
| Es lieux & temps chair au poisson donra lieu, | In those times and places that meat gives way to fish, |
| La loy commune sera faicte au contraire: | The common law will be in opposition. |
| Vieux tiendra fort puis oste du millieu, | The old (older?) order will hold strong, |
| La Panta chiona philon mis fort arriere. | Panta, chiona, philon put far behind. |
| Nostradamus’ Centuries IV, Quatrain 32. |
"I can add a rather colourful addition to this using a line from these verses. Note the peculiarly clear English anagrams within it.
Boristhenes premier viendra faillir, |
Boris is then seen, premiers varied and his liver fails. |
This is not the only topic that gives credibility. Consider the following quatrain, which seems to accurately describe the formation of a Jewish homeland. Nostradamus’ background was Jewish and it is not surprising that if he could see the future he would make this topic a focal point.
| Nouelle loy terre neufue occuper, | A new law will occupy a new land |
| Vers la Syrie, Iudee & Palestine: | Around Syria, Judea and Palestine, |
| Le grand empire barbare corruer, | The great barbarian empire will crumble, |
| Auant que Phebes son siecle determine. | Before the century of the sun is finished. |
| Nostradamus’ Centuries III Quatrain 47. |
"Its fits unusually well to the historical record of the last 100 years in which the Arab nations and the Jews sought to claim the regions around Jerusalem as their home land. Although both had historical claims neither group had been in possession of the region for many centuries. In 1948 the Jews successfully began the establishment of Israel.
"This verse has further unusual content when it is considered as a set of English anagrams.
Nouelle loy terre neufue occuper |
Now to tell you of correct future entry poetry occur. |
Vers la Syrie, Iudee et Palestine, |
Several years Israel Jews deplete Palestine. |
Le grand empire barbare corruer. |
Enlarged map a barrier, Arab prior rule recur. |
Auant que Phebes son siecle determine. |
A quaint use bases hope on silence to determine sections. |
"The first line in English states clearly this is a correct quatrain and the other lines name Israel as the new state and give insight into its problems in dealing with a displaced Arab nation. The fourth line could well relate to the British hope in the first half of the century that the problem would go away. Partition was one of the main options they pursued. It is totally consistent with the following statement at the end of Nostradamus’ letter to Cesar, 1555.
"There is enough without my extra input to suggest Nostradamus was not constructing an elaborate fantasy. His background did not imply this and the success of the work suggests he wrote from a position of authority, not speculation or self-aggrandisement.
[My earlier comments apply particularly to these analyses of modern material. One difficulty is that some of the anagrams look ridiculously plausible after they have been pointed out. I am increasingly interested to see whether members of the committee can take these same lines and come up with a diversity of valid meanings based on easily discerned anagrams reading from left to right. This would discount their worth.
I am also interested to know whether it can be used for events that are not yet known. This seems its greatest weakness that until things have happened you can’t know what names and places are hidden within each line. I believe this is an answer Thomas is looking for but has not yet found.]
"The great reach of the prophecies is therefore a significant aspect in understanding Nostradamus’ motivation and the obscurity with which it is written is another.
"In writing of a distant future Nostradamus reveals his detachment from personal benefit and in its obscurity he shows there is a purpose but that it is not to serve the populace or its leaders.
"Over many years it has been fashionable to see Nostradamus’ writing as a warning of a future disaster, motivated by his desire to prevent its happening, Nostradamus was highly intelligent and the contradiction in the ability to accurately see the future and change it was well known to him. Moreover this disaster was four hundred years or more into the future and well beyond his concern. His own age was beset by its own problems including the plague and to have proposed answers for these more pressing issues would have been more likely if Nostradamus was seeking to use his gifts to benefit mankind. There is no evidence Nostradamus saw his ability as being something he could use to influence the course of history.
"Yet in all of his writings there is a unifying purpose, an aim to keep his work alive. His prophetic ability is not aimed at the King, the people or future leaders but offers them enough to ensure his work survives. This seems to be the real purpose of the writings and it implies a logical goal.
"Nostradamus claimed his ability was brought to realisation using methods he had read. He burned the source of his knowledge. It is most probable that this knowledge was transferred into the prophecies via code.
"This makes the prophecies an instruction manual for the next in the ongoing line of prophets to which Nostradamus belonged. His motivations appear consistent with the perpetuation of knowledge and skills. The purpose of the documents is then a symbol of progress rather than a signal of disaster. There will be a decoder of these messages but he may not be the beneficiary of whatever is contained within them. His art may be incomplete and another may benefit from the steps taken to complete the task
"Their interpretation will then undoubtedly fall upon an individual capable of carrying the burden that such knowledge brings. The attributes of this person will be somewhat similar to Nostradamus and the world at large is unlikely to ever be in a position to exploit such a dangerous art.
[These last comments of Thomas are disturbing. They are not totally unexpected because at some stage he had to let slip his own part in all this. He is very cagey about his own role but he does make it clear that this is ‘secret knowledge’. It is also apparent that there is ‘special status’ attached to those involved. This does not sit easily with his own stated philosophies but he is well capable of laying a false trail. It may even be possible that he has achieved more than he has told me. If he has, then at the end of his statements given above he has basically said we aren’t going to be given much evidence of it.
I intend to suspend my investigation at this point because I believe we now have to do some research of our own so that we are in a better position to challenge the methods and results presented in this report.]