I:1
While sitting by night in secret study,
Alone, at rest on my brazen stool,
A small flame cancels solitude,
Ensuring my prophecies will not be disbelieved.
The Seer from the South
The history of prophecy is a long one, but one of its most famous practitioners is undoubtedly Michel de Nostredame (1503–1566), better known as Nostradamus. His collections of prophetic writings, originally entitled Centuries (Hundreds), which began to appear in 1555 and continued until 1564, have almost never been out of print, and more than two hundred “translations” and more than twelve thousand commentaries have appeared and been consulted by countless numbers of people since the death of their author.
During this time, the verses have been scanned, interpreted, reinterpreted, and found to contain references to virtually every significant historical event since Nostradamus’ time and well into the future. Thus, it is said that Nostradamus foresaw the coming of Napoleon, the rise of Hitler, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the destruction of the Twin Towers. The fact that almost no two translations read the same way, or even appear to refer to the same quatrains, might suggest that such interpretations are personal rather than universal. However, there is no doubt that Nostradamus’ writings, when faithfully translated, do suggest some remarkable parallels with certain events—and if only a few of the hundreds of quatrains that make up the complete collection of Centuries appear to be accurate, then we are forced to consider that the rest might be as well.
The life of Nostradamus
As to the man himself, his story is soon told—though it leaves almost as many questions unanswered as do his writings. Born at St Rémy in Provence on December 14, 1503 to parents of Jewish extraction, Michel received an excellent education and quickly showed himself to be of more than usual intelligence. After studying grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy at Avignon, he opted to study medicine, having been inspired by the wandering physician Paracelsus, who was only ten years his senior. His unique abilities and forward-thinking attitude is illustrated by the fact that he told several fellow students that the Earth resembled a great ball and that it revolved each year around the Sun—this at a time when the notion of a heliocentric universe was considered foolish in the extreme, if not heretical, and was not to be proved by the astronomer Galileo (1564–1642) for almost another hundred years.
In the autumn of 1520, Nostradamus’ studies were interrupted by an outbreak of the plague in the area, but rather than return home he set out on the road, putting his medical skills into practice by treating plague victims. He seems to have used largely untried methods, advising not only on treatment but on methods of prevention, hygiene, and diet far ahead of their time.
He remained a peripatetic figure for the next eight years, and to this day his exact route remains uncertain, but it was during this time that Nostradamus decided that medicine was of secondary importance to him. Another skill had begun to show itself—prophecy. Just how Nostradamus discovered his ability to foresee the future remains a mystery, but from 1548 onwards he more or less gave up the practice of medicine in favor of his new art, at which he was soon to prove himself extremely skilful.
In that year he visited Italy, and at some point encountered a young Franciscan named Felix Peretti. The story goes that Nostradamus fell on his knees before the friar and, on being asked why, he answered, “Because I am in the presence of the Holy Father.” Thirty-eight years later, the friar became Pope Sixtus V.
A year before he had set out for Italy, Nostradamus was in the town of Salon. There, he met a lady named Anne Ponsarde, the widow of a wealthy lawyer. They married and moved into a pleasant house on a street now named Rue Nostradamus. After his visit to Italy, Nostradamus added a third story to his house, consisting of what he called his astrologie room. There, on most days, he retired to write the Centuries.
How the man worked
How Nostradamus arrived at his visions remains as much of a mystery as the writings themselves. He left us with a glimpse of his method in the first set of quatrains (note: quatrains are numbered according to their Century, or set, indicated in Roman numerals, and the verse number within it):
Divining rod in hand in the tree’s heart,
He takes water from the wave to root and branch;
A Voice makes my sleeve tremble with fear –
Divine glory, the god sits near.
quatrain I:2
What exactly this means is open to interpretation. However, it seems likely that the seer was using a form of divination in which the viewer stares fixedly into a dish of water until pictures begin to appear. Elsewhere, in the quatrain which heads this part of the book (see page 9), he suggests that he stared into a candle flame until he went into a trance. He also refers to being seated on a “brass tripod,’’ which we may assume was a copy of that used by the ancient Greek sibyl of Cumae, who sat on a similar seat above a crack in the earth from which issued hallucinogenic fumes which caused her to see visions.
In an introduction to one of the editions of the Centuries, Nostradamus stated that he sometimes added pungent oils to the water and that, as he did so, “I emptied my soul, brain, and heart of all care and attained a state of tranquillity and stillness of mind which are prerequisites for predicting by means of the brass tripod.”
Later, when challenged that his gifts may have had a devilish origin, Nostradamus gave what may be the clearest statement of the means by which he entered into a trance, though even here he is enigmatic.
Although the everlasting God alone knows the eternity of light proceeding from himself, I say frankly to all to whom he wishes to reveal his immense magnitude—infinite and unknowable as it is—after long and meditative inspiration, that it is a hidden thing divinely manifested to the prophet by two means: one comes by infusion which clarifies the supernatural light in the one who predicts by the stars, making possible divine revelation; the other comes by means of participation with the divine eternity, by which means the prophet can judge what is given from his (her) own divine spirit through God the Creator and natural intuition.
That Nostradamus was also a skilled astrologer, astronomer, and alchemist is evident—all these skills are referenced in the Centuries—and reflected throughout The Lost Tarot. Indeed, he made it clear that he relied on astronomy a great deal, mentioning it several times in the Preface to the 1555 edition, which he addressed to his son.
Also bear in mind that the events here described have not yet come to pass, and that all is ruled and governed by the power of Almighty God, inspiring us not by Bacchic frenzy nor by enchantments but by astronomical assurances …
The importance of such planetary influences is reflected in The Lost Tarot by the inclusion of astrological reference, established over decades of tarot interpretation.
How the Centuries were received
Nostradamus published the first selection of Centuries in 1555, consisting of 350 quatrains. Despite the fact that they were written in obscure language (which has continued to baffle readers ever since), they were an overnight sensation, selling out in weeks. In 1557, the seer published a second edition, adding another 289 verses to the original number.
He dedicated this volume to the reigning French king, Henri II—and it may have been this which drew him to the attention of Queen
