3. Alleged Nostradamian connections
A postscript by Carthusian librarians states that the book had been presented by one Brother Beroaldus to cardinal Maffeo Barberini, who would later become Pope Urban VIII (1623–1644). A further covering note suggests that the images were by the French seer Nostradamus (1503-1566), and had been sent to Rome by his son César de Nostredame as a gift.
The Lost book of Nostradamus
There is, however, absolutely no contemporary evidence that Nostradamus himself was either a painter or the author of the work, whose contents in fact date from several centuries before his time – nor, indeed, that he had ever heard of it, given that it did not finally appear in print until after his death.
The postscript is in fact dated ‘1629’, and the covering note (not in Nostradamus’s hand) from which the Nostradamian title derives cannot, on the basis of its contents, date from earlier than 1689 – though an internal note does refer to a source dated 1343.
There is a letter by Cèsar de Nostredame (Michel’s first son), written to the French scientist Fabri de Peiresc, in which mention is made of several miniatures painted by Cèsar, and of a booklet that was destined as a gift to King Louis XIII in 1629, but there is no evidence whatsoever of any connection between these and the Vaticinia.
The images contain symbolic objects, letters, animals, crossings of banners, bugles, crosses, candles, three writing styles, etc., some of which seem to some to form figures similar to Roman numerals, or veiled references to personal names.
As suggested by the various added inscriptions, they are supposed to have been inspired by the celebrated papal prophecies of Abbot Joachim of Fiore, a 12th-century Cistercian monk from Calabria. The origin of the work is clearly the fourteenth century Vaticinia de Summis Pontificibus, in which most of the images (including Image 23 opposite) are to be found. By way of example, its Image 12 corresponds to the latter’s Image 9, Image 18 to 15, Image 23 to 20, Image 24 to 21 and Image 29 to 26 (note, too, the similarity of sequence).
A work similar to this is Marston MS 225, which can be found in the manuscript and rare-book library of Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. This manuscript comes from the German areas of Bavaria and Bohemia, probably from within the courts of emperor Frederick III and Maximilian I.
Michel de Nostredame (14 or 21 December 1503 – 2 July 1566), usually Latinized as Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties, the first edition of which appeared in 1555. Since the publication of this book, which has rarely been out of print since his death, Nostradamus has attracted a following that, along with much of the popular press, credits him with predicting many major world events.
Most academic sources maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus’s quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power. Nevertheless, occasional commentators have successfully used a process of free interpretation and determined ‘twisting’ of his words to predict an apparently imminent event.
In 1867, three years before it happened, for example, Le Pelletier did so to anticipate either the triumph or the defeat of Napoleon III in a war that, in the event, begged to be identified as the Franco-Prussian war, while admitting that he could not specify either which or when.
Nostradamus enthusiasts have credited him with predicting numerous events in world history, including
the French Revolution
the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
the atomic bomb
the rise of Adolf Hitler
the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center
the last pope …
Indeed, they regularly make similar claims regarding each new world crisis as it comes along as there is a tendency to claim that “Nostradamus predicted whatever has just happened.”
4. From Nostrasdamus – The New Revelations
(John Hogue, Element Books 1994)
Among many books on Nostradamus, this book particularly attracted my attention, not by it’s many fine pictures (although they make the book highly readable), but by it’s plain language and thorough analysis and interpretation.
The following are directly from the book that I believe are revelations about Falun Dafa. (Parentheses are my own interpretation) Italic letters are direct quote of Nostradamus.
Chapter 15 A New Religiousness
The Man from the East at Home in the West
He will appear in Asia and be at home in Europe (could mean West in general)
The man from the East will come out of his seat
Passing across the Apennines to see France
He will fly through the sky
1. Great Hermes’s Rod
He will fly through the sky, the rains and the snows
And Strike everyone with his rod
2. The Outlawed Teacher
A man will be charged with destroying the temples and religions altered by fantasy
He will harm the rocks rather than the livings.
Ears filled with ornate speeches
3. Diana (The Moon) and Dhyan
Sooner and later you will see great changes Extreme horrors and vengeances,
For the moon is led by its angel,
The heavens approach the Balance
The moon in the middle of the night …
The young sage alone with his mind has seen it.
His disciples invite him to become immortal…
His body in the fire
Gautama the Buddha proclaimed that the ‘Wheel of Dharma’- the dynamo for human spiritual evolution _ would be turned once every twenty-five centruries by a world teacher to generate man’s rise to new states of consciousness. A new turn comes at the end of this millennium (Indication to Falun Dafa couldn’t be more clear)
4. Diana (The Moon) and Dhyan
He will take Diana’s day as his day of silent rest.
He will travel far and wide in his drive to infuriate, delivering a great people from subjection.
Clue 5 also refers to a ‘people’ linked to Hermes, the moon and meditation and the coming to the West of an Eastern teacher. Perhaps the teacher travels, or will travel, around the world? Maybe the controversial message of his ‘drive to infuriate’ orthodox belief will keep the teacher on the move. Nostradamus implies that he will only rest on Diana’s day, which would be Monday, the moon’s day.
5. The Coming of Maitreya
The soft voice of the sacred friend is heard under holy ground.
The human flame shines for the divine voice.
It will cause the earth to be strained with the blood of the celibate monks,
And to destroy the sacred (or false) temples of the impure ones.
Gautama, the Buddha, taught that the Wheel of Dharma — the teaching of truth, is like a great wheel which, 2,500 years from its first revolution, runs out of momentum. The next great world teacher, who is given the name ‘Maitreya’ meaning ‘friend,’ would appear around the year A.D. 2000 and will restore momentum and power to all those seeking after religious truth….
This quatrain predicts that organized religion will be destroyed by words of truth spoken by the ‘friend’ through the ‘human flame’ of a new religion. Madame Blavatsky, one of the leading psychic seers of the 19th century, predicted that the Maitreya would appear in Asia around the year 1950.
(The author John Hogue listed ten possible candidates of Asian origin for this world teacher. Most candidates, however, had been deceased at the time the book was published (1994). Among the living are India’s Swami Maharishi Mehesh Yogi(1911 -), founder of Transcendental Meditation Movement, and Sun Myung Moon (1920-), founder of Unification Church of Korea.
Mehesh’s cozy relationship with organized religions and Moon’s political involvement are questioned by the author and they are believed unlikely to be the world leader described by Nostradamus.
No Chinese are included in the list. The book was published in 1994. The writing could have been one or two years early, namely in 1992, the year Master began to teach Falun Gong in China. If John Hogue were to write the book today, it would be hard for him not to include Master Li Hongzhi and Falun Dafa).
