Born December 14, 1503 at 12 noon in St. Remy, France, Nostradamus was both a physician and astrologer. While his reputation and contributions in both fields were exceptional, he often said many of his cures and predictions came through visions. In one account, he described it as such:
"As I lay, half asleep and half awake, a light from the stars fills my window, and then my entire room. I feel as if I were in the presence of angles* as the light begins to surround me. Then, as if I am pulled through a door by the strongest of winds, I am carried into a tunnel of light where the images of the future unfold. These images appear at a distance, so I am able to see several of the 'dreams' at once."
*Nostradamus was careful to say "as if I were in the presence of angles". The reason being at this time in history, the pope had a monopoly on 'communicating' with God, the saints, and angles - so anyone else who claimed to do so was usually put to death by the church. Nostradamus however, believed it was indeed the angles, and God, who were giving him these visions.
The "Black Plague" that destroyed nearly half of the population in Europe during the 1500's demonstrated an interesting use of both his talents. He correctly predicted the coming of the plague, 5 years before it began to spread across Europe, and began to work on a cure (which was called "Nostrus"). When the plague did arrive, amazingly, nearly all of his patients survived, giving him the reputation as one of the greatest physicians of all time. However, by an odd twist of life, the only lives he could not save are the ones nearest and dearest to him: his wife and two children.
With the notion that 'allowed knowledge' (that which was permitted by the church) could save others, but not his own, Nostradamus abandons the practice of medicine and becomes a wanderer. It is during these travels he starts the search for a new form of thinking, and new thoughts to explain the mysteries of life. He dropped his pursuits in the material and physical worlds, and entered a monastery known for it's tolerance and openness to study of the spiritual, metaphysical, and supernatural occurrences in life.
NOSTRADAMUS - 16th Century woodcut
It is at the Abby of Oreval that he writes "Prophetic Centuries", the book of rhymed prophecies that most of us all know Nostradamus from. For several reasons, it is very difficult to say how many of these predictions came true. Many of his descriptions are hard to understand, some even seem to be impossible, since they are expressed in very vague terms. (Which was done to dance around the laws of the church, since being too explicit could mean being arrested, and put on trial for sorcery).
Another problem in understanding Nostradamus comes from translating these curious cryptic verses. As you know, translating from one language to another often changes the context, even if only slightly. The translation alteration added with the fact that the original French verses are often very abstract makes for very difficult interpretation. One then can not say how many of his predictions came 'true', since it is not known what he is really saying in his predictions.
Actual passage
The following is what I feel one of his most fascinating passages. I have left it in the French original, so those studying the language can practice their historical French, and so others can see what one must start with to 'interpret' Nostradamus:
"Sept fois changer verrez gent Britannique, Taintz en sang deux nonante an, Franche non point par appuy Germanique, Aries doubte son pole Bastarnan."
The first line states that during the course of 290 years, Britain would change it's ruling dynasty 7 times. It did. The second passage translated reads: Aries will come between Germany and a German tribe which is protected by Britain. The zodiac sign of Baran (Aries) at that time suggested war, since Mars (the planet of war) was the ruler of Aries. In Nostradamus life time, there was a German tribe of Bastarnan, who settled on the east side of the Vistual river, which is present day Poland. We can say that Poland was protected by great Britain (well, SUPPOSED to be protected - after all, Britain didn't do much to stop the Hitler invading) since these two were allies before World War 2.
Although not specifically stated in this passage, one can find another interesting indicator from this text that suggests when the war will be. The first British ruler who came to power that 'changed the dynasty' after Nostradamus prediction was Charles I, who was executed in 1649. If you add 290 years to this date, you get 1939, the year Hitler invaded Poland. Nostradamus did not specifically say it would start on this year, but it seems likely that's what the 290 figure refers to - otherwise he could have said the amount of years when the dynasty had changed 5 or 6 times. Was he really able to foresee Germany invading Poland? That's up for you to decide....
The next prediction we can wait for to see if it comes true concerns Paris in 1999: "A king will come out of Asia and invade Paris, by means of frightful, fiery objects from the sky". Many during the cold war thought this might refer to WW 3, but the current situation could suggest an Islamic attack (which was attempted early this year, by Algerian highjackers, who wanted to blow their jetliner up over Paris, but were stopped in Nice. Will they try it with an atomic device later....?)
Astrology in the 1500's
Concerning your question as to what type of astrology he used, I assume you mean technically what kind of information he was working with, and what house systems he used for casting a horoscope. At this time in history it was very difficult to collect information on astrology, again due to the suppression by the church. Even though books were starting to be printed by the machine press (the Bible getting most of the publication priority), many books on astrology were still done by hand. Also, many books on astrology were kept by the author, and copies only given to trusted friends - which greatly hindered the flow of astrological knowledge.
Oddly enough, even though this suppression was going on, some of the greatest discoveries in astrology were going on at this time in history, among them by Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601), the Danish astronomer who vastly improved the art of observation, and his student Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630), who discovered the laws governing the elliptical orbits of planets. ( I point this out, for it seems interesting that whenever the church or a government seems to be at the high point of suppression, this is when the brightest and most enlightened revolutionaries are born).
Astrology in the 1500's also saw a rise in popularity among the common people. There was a great proliferation of astrological almanacs, including the famous and often reprinted "Great Kalendar and Compost of Shepherds", published in 1493. It was highly possible this was one of the books Nostradamus had access to, and used. At this time in history there were several house systems that Nostradamus had available - Equal House, since it is of course the oldest and best known in early times, and the not so well known Porphyry System, by the Greek Neoplatonist of the same name who lived from 233 - 303 AD. Both of these house systems are created by direct division of the ecliptic.
Actually, just before Nostradamus was born, a new house system was created, and was revolutionary to astrology since it divided the ecliptic by projecting lines from the earth to the stars, rather than directly dividing the stars. This is called the Campanus system, attributed to Giovanni Campanella ( ? - 1297). If Nostradamus was aware of this system, he surely would have used it, for it represented a 'giant leap' in dividing a horoscope to get house cusps. (House cusps, by the way, to those not familiar with the technical aspects of astrology, are an important part of predicting the future.
Nostradamus last prediction was written the night before he died, asking those to take care of his things, since he would not be returning to 'this world' the next morning....
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