Nostradamus
I listened with great interest about someone speaking on a radio station about 666 - the number of the beast. Of course, this was in relation to the Omen, which inauspiciously opens on the 6/6/06.
As the Glass House (a TV series) puts it, doom-sayers are predicting the end of the world come Tuesday, but it's actually not "six six six", the numbre of the beast but "six six... oh six", the number of the beast who hesitates.
So this person was speaking about the use of 666 over the ages, and talked about the Nostradamus' Great Fire of London prediction - "twenty three the sixes", which is taken by Nostra-believers as being 20x3 = 60+6 = '66 - the year 1666, in which 4/5ths of London burnt (And yes, it appears to be a very convoluted reasoning to arrive at the year '66).
A little investigation (courtesy of Google) was in order. Here's what I found:
The literal translation from the French in this quatrain is indeed "twenty three the sixes". However, some translations conveniently just say "in the year 66".
The literal translation also speaks of an old lady falling.. this was taken as being the statue of Mary in St Paul's cathedral. Interestingly, several sources says that no statue of Mary existed atop the Gothic cathedral.
A more plausible explanation would be that Nostradamus was speaking of Bloody Mary in 1555, where protestants were trialed and burnt at the stake in groups of 6. Mary, barren and broken, would herself die sometime after the atrocities. This did not stop the already condemned to continue burning. This wouldn't actually have been a prediction given that this Century was published in 1555, the same year Mary began the Protestant witch-hunt. This leads onto the next point...
It appears that many would believe that Nostradamus, instead of predicting the future, was actually writing in code about what was happening both before and during his time.
Almost all of Nostradamus' quatrains in his Centuries texts could be bluntly called vague. And his seeming allusions appear to be of similar vagueness too.. here's a few ways to make Nostradamus-esque quatrains as observed by me :)
1) Use natural elements. Fire, water, earth, air. This is universal and applies to anything. For instance, by saying fire, you could refer to natural disasters, man-made disasters, wars etc.
2) When referring to places of events, keep it vague or use natural landmark names. For instance, "a new city", "an old city", "a big city", "a great mountain", "a great lake", "the Danube", "the Thames", "the Yellow". When naming natural landmarks, greater coverage areas would give you more room for interpretation. Think mountains that border 6 countries rather than a hill that sits on top of Nottingham.
3) Think about Shakespearean english, think about romantic poetry. Think about the Renaissance. Imagery at the best of times, is open to interpretation. There's always a literal interpretation, but there's almost always a somewhat more insuccinct and deeper meaning. There has to be right?
4) Use Mythical allusions. Things like the pheonix and pegasus where there are greater levels of depth behind them are gold.
So now you're equipped to write your own Nostradamus-esque quatrains :) You can try it too, here's some that I've come up with in the ungodly hours of the night...
Quatrains:
(i)
In the night of the great unrest,
a great flame will befall the earth,
Then shall a great pheonix take flight,
and challenge the many men of east.
(ii)
When the new city is wanting to restore,
a wave of horror will undo its fortunes,
The great king of old will find a new star,
and the Normans will be forced to succumb.
As the Glass House (a TV series) puts it, doom-sayers are predicting the end of the world come Tuesday, but it's actually not "six six six", the numbre of the beast but "six six... oh six", the number of the beast who hesitates.
So this person was speaking about the use of 666 over the ages, and talked about the Nostradamus' Great Fire of London prediction - "twenty three the sixes", which is taken by Nostra-believers as being 20x3 = 60+6 = '66 - the year 1666, in which 4/5ths of London burnt (And yes, it appears to be a very convoluted reasoning to arrive at the year '66).
A little investigation (courtesy of Google) was in order. Here's what I found:
The literal translation from the French in this quatrain is indeed "twenty three the sixes". However, some translations conveniently just say "in the year 66".
The literal translation also speaks of an old lady falling.. this was taken as being the statue of Mary in St Paul's cathedral. Interestingly, several sources says that no statue of Mary existed atop the Gothic cathedral.
A more plausible explanation would be that Nostradamus was speaking of Bloody Mary in 1555, where protestants were trialed and burnt at the stake in groups of 6. Mary, barren and broken, would herself die sometime after the atrocities. This did not stop the already condemned to continue burning. This wouldn't actually have been a prediction given that this Century was published in 1555, the same year Mary began the Protestant witch-hunt. This leads onto the next point...
It appears that many would believe that Nostradamus, instead of predicting the future, was actually writing in code about what was happening both before and during his time.
Almost all of Nostradamus' quatrains in his Centuries texts could be bluntly called vague. And his seeming allusions appear to be of similar vagueness too.. here's a few ways to make Nostradamus-esque quatrains as observed by me :)
1) Use natural elements. Fire, water, earth, air. This is universal and applies to anything. For instance, by saying fire, you could refer to natural disasters, man-made disasters, wars etc.
2) When referring to places of events, keep it vague or use natural landmark names. For instance, "a new city", "an old city", "a big city", "a great mountain", "a great lake", "the Danube", "the Thames", "the Yellow". When naming natural landmarks, greater coverage areas would give you more room for interpretation. Think mountains that border 6 countries rather than a hill that sits on top of Nottingham.
3) Think about Shakespearean english, think about romantic poetry. Think about the Renaissance. Imagery at the best of times, is open to interpretation. There's always a literal interpretation, but there's almost always a somewhat more insuccinct and deeper meaning. There has to be right?
4) Use Mythical allusions. Things like the pheonix and pegasus where there are greater levels of depth behind them are gold.
So now you're equipped to write your own Nostradamus-esque quatrains :) You can try it too, here's some that I've come up with in the ungodly hours of the night...
Quatrains:
(i)
In the night of the great unrest,
a great flame will befall the earth,
Then shall a great pheonix take flight,
and challenge the many men of east.
(ii)
When the new city is wanting to restore,
a wave of horror will undo its fortunes,
The great king of old will find a new star,
and the Normans will be forced to succumb.