Prophecies were never intended as predictions of the future. At least not in the Jewish texts from which we have the vast majority of prophets considered as such today.
There, a prophecy always follows a formula which is in the logical format - IF you (individual/group/ or society) do not do this (X), THEN this (Y) will happen. It was predicated on the simple understanding that disobedience of the laws instituted by God are bound to have consequences on the same level as the notion that traffic lights are there for a reason, and crossing the road on a red light will eventually cause a pedestrian to be hit by a moving vehicle. It is therefore not a prediction of future, but an attempt at change in behaviour, such as the "If you shall lie on your loan applications, and this practice will spread among the people, the society shall suffer because lying is against the law, and eventually the cumulative effect of lying will have repercussions on the society as a whole". Or, it could have said, "If your leaders tell big lies, then the individuals will see nothing wrong with little lies, and eventually the society will be corrupted, and this will have appropriate consequences". This is not forecasting the future, but extrapolating statistical probabilities. The only requirement is to listen. The word for a prophet in Hebrew is novi, and this was taken in to Latin as nova, while in Slavic languages it is unchanged as the word for new. The meaning is that of a news, i.e the immediate past recently revealed, not the far future. In the Hebrew Bible the form is often 'novi et' which can also be said as 'novi es', and by someone repeating it with no knowledge of Hebrew, such as Old French speakers (Nostrodamus time), as 'neuf', a word that eventually became 'news'. The idea that prophecy was a forecasting of the future was in fact an early Christian understanding in strictly religious application based on the Greco-Roman oracular tradition of fortune telling methods such as bone casting, interpreting the innards of slaughtered animals, observed signs and other 'portents'. The proverbial 'lost in translation' effect. Nostradamus was not of course a scientist. He may have been at best an alchemist since that was the other occupation many apothecaries dabbled in. Among the 'disciplines' of study was also the kabbalah. The site posted here is one of many that seek to interpret Nostradamus. However, they all seem to forget that he used a variety of languages, all well known at the time, to write his quatrains. This would have made interpretation difficult, but not impossible, and accusations of heresy could easily have been concocted from them as much as those of prophecy. However, the vagary of the text was also a protection from claims of heresy that would have been the greatest of considerations for Michael. What most tend to forget is that Nostradamus was from a Jewish family that converted to Christianity; Guy Gassonet, his grandfather, had converted to Catholicism around 1455 as Pierre Nostredame, before they were forced to do so during the time of Inquisition against the Jews from Spain and Portugal (expulsion in 1492) . Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, his birthplace, was closer to Spain than to Paris. His family according to one source came from Carcassona, even closer to Spain*. *It is very likely that his family became the French version of Spanish Morranos, practising Judaism in secret, and thus Nostradamus would have known both the Hebrew language and the Hebrew Bible. Nostre Dame means Our Lady, and could as easily refer to the Shekhinah from the kabbalistic teachings so prevalent in Spain at the time. Pierre is the French version of Peter, derived from the Aramaic 'stone', a reference to the Tablets of Law. This he chose a new name that both reaffirmed the Jewish identity as well as provide it with a very convincing 'cover' in the eyes of the Church where the locals were unlikely to understand the finer points of the choice. There is further evidence for the above in that the family's patriarch was Arnoton De Velorgne, that name being a rather bad Provencal corruption of their original de L'Orne, clearly showing a northern origin, and a desire to suppress previous identity, probably due to the persecution of Jews there after it increased following the burning of the Talmuds in Paris in 1242, forcing Jews to migrate towards the politically powerful Iberian communities. Arnoton is also a corruption by adding the Latin ar- (to) to the Hebrew Noton (Nathan, a gift) to make it sound more French. Hebrew however was virtually unknown outside of the Vatican, and it was only at about this time that Pico dela Mirandola (1463 - 1494) was beginning his early work on its understanding by the Christians. What better way to hide the meaning of his writings then through a double translation, first writing in Hebrew/Aramaic, and then translating it into a jumble of French, Latin and other common European languages, destroying the Hebrew version as he wrote. The missing key text was, and remains, a common simple technique in cryptography (Polyalphabetic cipher) that for some reason evaded attention of the many who have tried to make sense of Nostradamus' texts. It is probably for this reason that the Portuguese site makes no more sense than the rest. Cheers Greg On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 6:00 AM, <brin-l-requ...@mccmedia.com> wrote: > Send Brin-l mailing list submissions to > brin-l@mccmedia.com > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > brin-l-requ...@mccmedia.com > > You can reach the person managing the list at > brin-l-ow...@mccmedia.com > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Brin-l digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Nostradamus predictions (Ronn! Blankenship) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:06:42 -0600 > From: Ronn! Blankenship <ronn_blankens...@bellsouth.net> > Subject: Re: Nostradamus predictions > To: "Killer Bs \(David Brin et al\) Discussion" <brin-l@mccmedia.com> > Message-ID: > <mailman.4.1236106806.15220.brin-l_mccmedia....@mccmedia.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed > > At 08:06 AM Monday 3/2/2009, Alberto Monteiro wrote: > >If this is not a humour site, it's even more funny: > > > >http://hospedagem.infolink.com.br/nostradamus/eindex.htm > > > >BTW, why they are called "The Prophecies of Nostradamus"? "Prophecy", > >in its current use, is the revelation of the future to gifted people > >by a supernatural entity. Nostradamus was a Scientist, and made accurate > >predictions using the One and Only True Science, Astrology. He is > >as "prophet" as someone who predicts a solar eclipse or that oil > >prices will get back to 140 $/bbl. > > > >Alberto Monteiro > > > > 'Cuz to at least a certain segment of the population > "prophet/prophecy" sounds more credible than "astrology/horoscope"? > > > . . . ronn! :) > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Brin-l mailing list > Brin-l@mccmedia.com > http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com > > > End of Brin-l Digest, Vol 2, Issue 3 > ************************************ >
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