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Le changement sera sort difficile,
Cité, province au change gain sera :
Coeur haut, prudent mis chassé luy habile,
Mer, terre, peuple son estat changera.
When the Americans and British invaded North Africa in 1942, an unexpected bit of luck fell their way, though at the time they did not realize it. François Darlan, the commander in chief of the French armed forces, just happened to be in Algiers due to the illness of his son who was hospitalized there. Talks were immediately opened up with Darlan, who initially opposed the invasion on grounds that it violated French integrity and moved to have all French troops fight against the landings. The American general at the scene, Mark Clark, moved to place Darlan under arrest. Passions were high and it looked as if the French were about to fight the Americans and British – French troops were actually shooting on the Allied troops in some places, calling them (with some justification) invaders. But Hitler sent troops to occupy mainland Vichy territory. Faced with this German invasion into the mainland of France, and having received a coded message from Petain, Darlan prudently reasoned that Petain, the president of Vichy France, was no longer in control of the situation there and that the armistice between Germany and France was over. Feeling free to act, he immediately ordered the French troops in North Africa to resist the invaders of the French Homeland (the Germans) and signed a temporary accord with the General Clark to support the liberation of France, an accord agreed to by Eisenhower and (reluctantly) supported by Roosevelt and Churchill.
It was the best possible scenario for the United Nations, even though the events were very difficult and everything almost went the other way. The French colonialists, having changed their state from servitude towards Germany to active opposition to the Reich, were now fighting for the liberation of their homeland. Within a few years, the downfall of the German Reich had all Frenchmen rejoicing.
Le grand copie qui sera dechassée,
Dans un moment sera besoing au Roy,
La foy promise de loing sera faulcée,
Nud se verra en pieux desarroy.
Louis Stanislas Xavier de France was the future Louis XVIII. This quatrain occurred during the time of the revolution, after Louis XVI had been executed. It was his actions and declarations that would lead to the saying that the Bourbons had learned nothing and remembered everything.
After Louis XVI was executed in 1793, Louis, then the Compt de Provence, declared himself King Regent for his nephew, styled Louis XVII. In 1795, when the uncrowned boy either died or was executed, Louis declared himself Louis XVIII of France. This he did in spite of the fact that his brother, Louis XVI, had written a paper accusing the future Louis XVIII of treason, of plotting his downfall and barring him from the throne of France. At the same time he issued a declaration, rejecting all of the changes made by the revolution. In doing so, he simply made himself a duplicate of Louis XV who also rejected the good of France. For the rest of the Napoléonic wars, he was an exiled wanna be monarch who traveled from country to country without any real court, until he finally settled down in England to await the end of the Napoléonic wars. He was “naked in essence.”
La legion dans la martine classe,
Calcine, Magnes soulphre, & poix bruslera :
Le long repos de l’asteurée place,
Port Selyn, Hercle feu les consumera.
Port Selyn is Crescent Port, a clear reference to the future Islamic advance through naval means. Hercules here refers most likely to the Pillars of Hercules, known today as the Strait of Gibraltar. The use of magnetics seems to indicate some form of new weapon, though it could be magnetic mines. Whatever it is, it spells doom for a fleet, most likely a European or American one.
Ouy sous terre saincte d’ame, voix fainte,
Humaine flamme pour divine voyr luire :
Fera des seulz de leur sang terre tainte,
Et les saints temples pour le impurs destruire.
Note on Original: The Bonhomme and Du Rosne editions had the first line as I wrote it. However, the Rigaud edition has dame instead of d’ame, rendering the line: Yes, underground the saintly lady, faint voice. This is a major change of meaning.
The Christian clergies have been persecuted several times since the late 1700’s. Nazi Germany saw a massive persecution of the clergy, but though Herr Hitler intended to eventually eradicate Christianity, he limited it to only those who spoke out against his racist and inhuman policies. The Communists also persecuted the Christian Churches, but their persecution was more in the line of attempts to make the religion subservient to the state and to starve the churches into non-existence. However, during the French Revolution, the religious life was actively banned, persecuted and forced underground, all in the name of reason. Many priests, monks and clerics, both Catholic and Huguenot, were executed by revolutionaries. The impure ones refer to the followers of the Cult of Reason and the Cult of the Supreme Being.
Corps sublimes sans fin à l’oeil visibles
Obnubiler viendront par ses raisons :
Corps, front comprins, sens, chief & invisibles,
Diminuant les sacrees oraisons.
Nostradamus is here commenting on aa current ongoing phenomena, the elevation of science to a religion. Any religion depends on beliefs that are not provable, beliefs that it depends on for its very existence. Most of them depend on the unprovable claim that some god or gods exist. Atheism, as a religion, also depends on several unprovable claims: That there is no god, that no god is necessary to explain anything around us, that we have no souls (and thereby rejecting the ancient definition of soul which is just another word for self), that we are nothing but our physical bodies. This quatrain is a lament by the very Christian Nostradamus as he sees the diminishment of the importance of prayer, the communion or communication with deity, in the minds of so many people.
Lou grand eyssame se leuera d’abelhos,
Que non sauran don te fiegen venguddos :
De nuech l’embosque, lou gach dessoubz las treilhos,
Cintad trahido per cinq lengos non nudos.
The symbol of Napoléon was a field of bees. This became his symbol quite by accident. When Napoléon became First Consul, he moved into the Tuileries. The drapes there had the fleur-de-lys, the symbol of the French Monarchy, embroidered on them. According to the story, Napoléon refused to have new drapes made. Problem was, he could not leave the drapes up as they were. So, he had the drapes turned upside down. The fleur-de-lys supposedly looked somewhat like a bee when upside down, creating the new symbol that remained with Napoléon to his dying day.
The last two lines refer to the coup of the Eighteenth of Brumaire. The five tongues not naked are the five directors of the Directorate. They literally handed over power to General Bonaparte. Some say they were bribed, others say they handed it over under compulsion; nowadays, who can say? The planning and the action began the night before. The sentinel could be no other than Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, one of the chief leaders of the French Revolution and in the end one of the five directors of the Directorate; he was also the chief opponent of the Directorate and was the chief proponent of the establishment of the Consulate. After Napoléon pulled off the Coup, Sieyès introduced a new constitution which lasted only as long as it took Napoléon to rewrite it. Sieyès, a sentinel of the republic, was literally fooled (under the vines) by his own desires and his unwillingness to see the nature of the desires of Napoléon.
Salon, Mansol, Tarascon de SEX l’arc,
Ou est debout encor la piramide,
Viendront livrer le Prince Dannemarc,
Rachat honny au temple de Artemide.
SEX is one of Nostradamus’ important words. Dannemarc is the old Germanic for the Dane Mark, or Denmark as it is known in modern English. The place where the pyramid is still standing is Egypt, even though there are pyramids in a few other places, most notably the Mayan pyramids of southern Mexico/northern Central America. The temple of Artemis on the fourth line gives us food for thought. Is it an actual temple originally dedicated to Artemis, or is it a building dedicated to what Artemis cared for – the wild things? If the latter, then we could be talking about a building that houses a major naturalist organization.
Nostradamus emphasizes the word Mansol in Quatrain 29 of the 10th century, so this quatrain is likely tied to it. It is also likely tied to Quatrain 57 of the 5th century, which likely refers to the Montgolphier brothers and their balloon. So, it is highly likely that this quatrain is already fulfilled. Considering that Napoléon traveled to Egypt, he certainly could have fulfilled this.
Lors que Venus du sol sera couvert,
Soubs l’esplendeur fera forme occulte :
Mercure au feu les aura descouvert,
Par bruit bellique fera mis à l’insultre.
With the possible exception of Mercury in Fire (Mercury in Aries) the descriptions are Greco-Roman, not Astrological. The Sun often represented the monarchy of France. It also refers to things that are plainly exposed for all to see. Venus, the goddess of love, lust and pleasure, would naturally represent love, lust and pleasure. Mercury in the fire, while it does have an astrological interpretation, most likely means warlike messages. Taken this way, it says that when lusts and desires are covered by appearances, however splendid the lusts will be there, hidden from eyes. Warlike messages will be discovered and through belligerent voices an insult will be made.
I do not know what event Nostradamus had in mind when he wrote this quatrain, but it is a quatrain that could be applied to many situations if the lusts and desires are not so secret. Still, one must keep in mind that the lusts and desires must remain secret as much as possible for this quatrain to be fulfilled.
Le Sol caché eclipse par Mercury
Ne sera mis que pour la ceil second :
De Vulcan Hermes sera faict pasture :
Sol sera veu pur rutilant & blond.
If we are talking about the literal planets, then this quatrain would be totally ambiguous to me. It is true that Mercury does occasionally eclipse the sun, however when it does eclipse the sun, both astronomically and astrologically, it never hides the sun. That said, when one considers it through the meanings and areas of the ancient Greco-Roman gods, more meaning can be found. I am therefore translating this in exactly that way
The sun, Helios, the lord of light, is most often a reference to the monarchy. It can also be Christianity, especially Catholicism according to the very religious Nostradamus. As Nostradamus was a strong monarchist and a devout Christian, as well as an adherent to Catholicism, one has to apply the illuminating aspect of Helios to the monarchy and Christianity which Nostradamus always did. In this translation, Christianity is the only translation that makes sense.
Roman Mercury and Greek Hermes is the messenger god. He is also the god of travel and thieves. He takes what is said and makes it sound fair, but can stab you and take what you think is due you, leaving you with much less than what you deserve. He is the great communicator and the great scoundrel.
Vulcan was the forger, the god of crafts. It is Vulcan who takes the crafts and forges everything that we have. He is the lord of making things, whether it is the simple artisan making a chair, the factory making an automobile, or the construction company building the Empire State Building. His influence is purely material. He is the great craftsman. He is limited only to the material, what is makeable.
Taken this way, the meaning of the quatrain become more apparent. Christianity is eclipsed, or hidden, by messages opposed to it. Religion is given “its due” and placed second in the sky of importance, second to talk about material things (Vulcan Hermes). However, the message of crafts, of material goods, while great, will eventually diminish, and the creed of crafted materials, aka. materialism, will recede (put to pasture). Then, the sun, the real focus on religion and the spirit, will finally emerge again, sparkling and fair.
It is obviously a reference to now. In this day and age, the message of mass goods is the dominant message. Religion, Christianity, is given its due, but is relegated into a position of inferior importance to the message of consumerism. However, Nostradamus is here saying that inevitably the message of consumerism will diminish and be placed where it belongs, in pasture. Then, the true spirit of religion or the creed of the spirit, will shine forth.
Plus unze fois Luna Sol ne vouldra,
Tous augmentés & baissés de degré :
Et so bas mis que peu on lon coudra,
Qu’apres faim, peste, descouvert le secret.
The first line is a definite pun that Nostradamus must have secretly loved. It is quite correct. The sun stands for monarchy while the moon stands for the republic. The first line is also a play on words. The moon does not want the sun, the sun also does not want the moon. When one understands the first line, the rest of the quatrain becomes quite understandable.
After the downfall of Napoléon III, the powers that be in France wanted to re-establish a constitutional monarchy. But there was much contention between the two parties whether it should be the Bourbon heir Henri, Comte de Chambord or the Orleanist heir Philippe, Comte de Paris. Henri was selected with Philippe being Henri’s heir. But Henri refused, demanding that the flag of the Fleur-de-lys be restored. He adamantly refused to even concede the tricolor flag to republican thought. So the Third French Republic was established as a temporary measure till Henri died and the crown could be offered to Philippe. The sun did not want the moon.
Unfortunately, Henri lived a long time. Within ten years, pro-republican sentiments ruled in France. Now the people, embracing the principles of republicanism, rejected the monarchists. When Henri finally died, Philippe and his descendants were not allowed to assume the throne. The moon did not want the sun.
In the end, there were twelve presidents of the Third French Republic, each president was a refutation of the Monarchy so the French did reject the monarchy more than eleven times.
The other three lines are much easier to describe. The republic would move from crisis to crisis, surviving many problems until it finally, as a result of its lowest point in Munich, it was ended by Hitler in 1940.