2020 Nostradamus Page #2

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and so he obscured

what he was doing.

He mixed the languages,

using Greek, Latin,

Italian and Provencal,

and used word games.

In truth, he would have

had to have practiced magic

to upset the Inquisition;

prophecy and astrology

were permitted.

His book, The Prophecies,

had a mixed reception.

Some believed he was

a servant of Satan.

Others believed

him to be insane.

But others thought

him enlightened.

Many of these were from elite

families, such as the Medicis.

Catherine de Medici

summoned him to Paris

after she read about his omen

of threats to the

royal families.

(gentle music)

She had him draw up

horoscopes for her family.

She made him councilor,

and physician to her son,

who would be Charles

IX of France.

Nostradamus suffered from

gout, a type of arthritis,

and in 1566 it was making

movement problematic.

In June of that year, he

was drawing up his will.

By July the 1st, he

told his secretary,

"You will not find

me alive at sunrise."

The following morning,

he was found dead.

It seemed this was one

prophecy he did get right.

But the man left behind

a vast volume of work,

and it is to these prophecies

that we now must turn.

(contented music)

There are many problems

with the works.

Firstly, the typesetting or

printing in those early days

was done by word of mouth, and

so each no edition different.

We cannot assume

that the spelling,

of words for instance,

contain codes.

Since his death, there

have been over 200 editions

of his prophecies, and they

remain as popular today

as they were in

his own lifetime.

It has always been an easy task

to take the vague,

undated ramblings

and associate them with any

particular period in time.

He produced his

works, he claimed, on

astrological judgment,

or the possibility of events

such as births and coronations.

(insidious music)

There is evidence,

however, that he stole

and adapted collections

of ancient prophecies,

making them relevant

to his own time.

It is fact that he stole

from Livy, Plutarch,

Suetonius and more, and

much of it word for word.

Today we would call

this plagiarism,

but in the 16th

century it was common.

There is, in fact, a method of

prophecy called bibliomancy,

and it is believed

he practiced this.

All you do is randomly

select a book,

and whichever page it falls

open on gives you your prophecy.

It's all very scientific.

In fact, Nostradamus refused

to call himself a prophet.

He wrote, "Although, my son,

"I have used the word prophet,

"I would not attribute to myself

"a title of such

lofty sublimity."

And again, "Not that I

would attribute to myself

"either the name or

role of prophet."

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