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La Lune au plain de nuit sut le haut mont,
Le nouveau sophe d’un seul cerveau la veu :
Par ses disciples entre immortal semond,
Yeux au midy, en seins mains, corps au feu.
Though this is likely something that will not happen in our material age, in a more spiritual age something like this could happen. The sophist is one who argues. Sometimes they are called sages.
Es lieux & temps chair au poiss donrra lieu,
La loy commune sera saicte au contraire :
Vieux tiendra fort puis oste du milieu,
Le Pánta choina philòn mis fort arriere.
Normally the first line refers to the time of Lent, the period where Catholics eat only Fish on Fridays (Spain and Spanish colonies excepted by papal decree). However, here it refers here to a place far from Catholic control: Wintertime in the Soviet Union.
In December of 1990 during the winter months (when fish on the table was increasing), some members of the Old Soviet Guard signed an accord by which the Soviet power (Communal Law) would be re-established, even in the face of the acts of Mikhail Gorbachev (whom they were opposing). The old ones acted on August 19th of the next year. Gorbachev was a prisoner in his own home; the conspirators tried to get Gorbachev to either resign or grant them emergency power, yet Gorbachev refused. By the 21st, it was all over. The coup had failed, Gorbachev was free and the conspirators were arrested, soon to be tried and executed. Communism (Everything in Common) was doomed.
Jupiter joinct plus Venus qu’a la Lune,
Apparoissant de plentitude blanche :
Venus cachée soubz la blancheur Neptune
De Mars frappée par la grandée branche.
The first line gives what seems to be an astrological (or astronomical) configuration: Jupiter conjoined to both Venus and the Moon but closer to the Moon than to Venus. But as an astrological aspect, it is ludicrous. The reason for this is astronomically Venus, being close to the sun, can never be on the side of the sky that is opposite the Sun, as the Moon can. Therefore, we are talking about non-astronomical meanings.
Nostradamus has given the moon the meaning of the republic, the people and the masses. It is the only meaning that fits the contect of this quatrain.
Venus rules love and passion, devotion and fickleness. The most gentle of the gods, the goddess is all sweetness and feminine softness. The goddess also represents our lusts and desires.
Neptune is the most mysterious of the gods. Lord of the Seas, duke of the tides, giver of the bounty that comes from the seas. Mystery is part of his realm. So is deception.
Mars is war, aggression, anger, fury and battle lust.
Jupiter is the chief of the gods. He is existence. Without existence, nothing can be.
Jupiter joined more to Venus than to the Moon is a statement about the people of a republic putting more reality to their lusts and desires than to the need of the whole population. It is a statement about the selfishness of the people. With this in mind, the quatrain becomes quite apparent. Nostradamus is talking about our own times. Lusts and instant gratification has become more important to us than the principles of the republics that we live in. The driving force behind this is Consumerism. The United States is where consumerism was born in the late 1930’s and given full life in the 1950’s. The European Union was created to improve trade and to build consumerism in Europe. It has presented itself, quite forcefully, in Russia, China, India and almost everywhere else in the world. It even has reared its head in the Middle East and the Islamic world.
Consumerism is the great lie we live under. Nostradamus recognized this when he pointed out that the lusts (Venus) would be hidden under our self-deceptions (Neptune). But inevitably, it will be only able to sustain itself by one means – war, represented by Mars in the fourth line.
Le grand mené captif d’estrange terre,
D’or enchainé au roy CHYREN offert,
Qui dans Ausonne Milan perdra la guerre,
Et tout son ost mis à feu & à fer.
Chyren is generally accepted to be an anagram for the future King Henri. The great one of the foreign land must be the Islamic Ruler. It sounds like there will be key battles towards the end of this future war in Ausonia and Milan, battles that the Muslims will lose.
Le feu estaint, les vierges trahiront
La plus grand part de la bende nouvelle :
Fouldre à fer, lance les feluz Roy garderont
Etrusque & Corse, de nuict gorge allumelle.
Etruria is the Po River Valley and the northern part of the Italian Peninsula. Corsica is the isle of that name. The part of the virgins probably refers to one of the temples of the Vestile Virgins that were situated throughout Italy – it was the one temple in ancient Rome where women had real power. The lightning in iron seems to indicate a future energy type weapon, probably placing this in the future. This is beyond my ability to understand. I will leave this to the ingenuity of the future reader.
Les jeux nouveaux en Gaule redressés,
Apres victoire de l’insubre Champaigne :
Monts d’Esperie, les grands liés trouslés,
De peur trembler la Romaigne & l’Espaigne.
Note on the Quatrain and the Interpretation. One word is of critical importance here. It is Champaigne, Champagne, on the second line. Later originals would have it written as campaigne, campaign. Even the edition Theophilus de Garenciéres used had the word campaigne. Trouble is, the originals never had the word campaigne, all have the word Champaigne and have capitalized the C. I have, of course, opted to follow the true originals.
The new games are the Modern Olympic Games. They were played in Paris in 1900 and 1924. But note that Nostradamus did not say France, but Gaul; this opens up the Netherlands, Belgium and northern Italy. The games were played in Antwerp 1920 and Amsterdam 1928. So the three games from 1920 - 1928, the Antwerp, Paris and Amsterdam games, all in ancient Gaul, are key here.
The victory in Insurbia and Champagne refers to the First World War, which was won in 1918. Insurbia refers to northern Italy, where the battle of Vittorio Venato brought about the destruction of the Austrian Empire. Champagne refers to France, where the Offensives in the Marne and the Ariems brought about the destruction of the German Empire. The three Olympic Games followed after this war.
The last two lines refers to the rise of Benito Mussolini in 1922 and the Spanish Authoritarian Period of General Miguel Primo de Riveria (1923-1931) which would result in the Spanish Republic after 1931. King Alfonso of Spain discredited himself by siding so openly and completely with Rivera; he could not continue to govern and was forced to abdicate on April 14th, 1931, resulting in the Second Spanish Republic. This would soon result in the Civil War and the leadership of Franco.
Gaulois par saults, monts viendra penetrer :
Occupera le grand lieu de l’Insubre :
Au plus profond son ost fera entrer,
Gennes, Monech pousseront classe rubre.
The French, in this case, refers to the forces of Napoléon Bonaparte. He, Napoléon, led his forces and occupied Milan, the capital of Lombardy, known also as Insubria. As is known, he sent his army into the depths of Spain and Russia. The red fleet refers to the British fleet, red because the British army was known as the redcoats. Genoa and Monaco were occupied by Napoléon and were at that time part of the French Empire, so here they refer to Napoléon and all of France as they tried to push against the British blockade with the Continental system.
Pendant que duc, roy, royne occupera,
Chef Bizant du captive en Samothrace :
Avant l’assault l’un l’autre mangera,
Rebours ferré suyara du sang la trasse.
Byzantium is the modern city of Istanbul, one time Constantinople. It usually refers to the Turks. Samothrace is an isle in the north Aegean Sea, now part of modern day Greece. The last line is totally nonsensical to me.
Les Rodiens demanderont secours,
Par le neglect de ses hoyrs delaissée :
L’empire Arabe reualera son cours,
Par Hesperies la cause redressée.
The Knights of Rhodes are the people of Rhodes. The heirs of the first knights were abandoned by Western Europe when they had to defend themselves against hundreds of thousands of the soldiers of Soilyman the Great. But the forces of Soilyman were checked when ten nations, the Holy League, were finally galvanized into action. While Don Juan of Spain lead the expedition and Spain funded it, Pope Pius V was the one who organized it.
Les forteresses des assieged serrés,
Par poudre à feu profondés en abysme :
Les proditeurs seront touts ffisz serrés,
Onc aux sacristes n’avint si piteux scisme.
The sacristy is a room in the church where the sacred garments, sacred objects, church furnishings and church records are stored. It is the room where the priests and sacred attendants prepare for mass and, after the mass is over, divest themselves of their sacred clothes. By default, it therefore refers to the Catholic Church.
There are two schisms in the Catholic Church that has occurred since the days of Nostradamus. The first is The Old Catholics. They broke from the rest of the Catholic Church over the issue of Papal Infallibility, which is normally accepted by the rest of the Catholic Church. This split occurred around 1870, around the time of the Franco-Prussian War. The second schism occurred as a result of Vatican II. These Catholics consider all popes after John XXIII to be anti-popes. Some even consider John to be an anti-pope. They have elected their own popes and have continued to practice their brand of rigid Catholicism. A third schism seems to be brewing during the reign of Benedict XVI & Francis.
I do not think we have arrived at the schism that Nostradamus wrote about.