The Lost Tarot of Nostradamus Ebook. John Matthews

that year he visited Italy, and at some point encountered a young Franciscan named Felix Peretti. The story goes that Nostradamus fell on his knees before the friar and, on being asked why, he answered, “Because I am in the presence of the Holy Father.” Thirty-eight years later, the friar became Pope Sixtus V.

      A year before he had set out for Italy, Nostradamus was in the town of Salon. There, he met a lady named Anne Ponsarde, the widow of a wealthy lawyer. They married and moved into a pleasant house on a street now named Rue Nostradamus. After his visit to Italy, Nostradamus added a third story to his house, consisting of what he called his astrologie room. There, on most days, he retired to write the Centuries.

      How the man worked

      How Nostradamus arrived at his visions remains as much of a mystery as the writings themselves. He left us with a glimpse of his method in the first set of quatrains (note: quatrains are numbered according to their Century, or set, indicated in Roman numerals, and the verse number within it):

      Divining rod in hand in the tree’s heart,

       He takes water from the wave to root and branch;

       A Voice makes my sleeve tremble with fear –

       Divine glory, the god sits near.

      quatrain I:2

      What exactly this means is open to interpretation. However, it seems likely that the seer was using a form of divination in which the viewer stares fixedly into a dish of water until pictures begin to appear. Elsewhere, in the quatrain which heads this part of the book (see page 9), he suggests that he stared into a candle flame until he went into a trance. He also refers to being seated on a “brass tripod,’’ which we may assume was a copy of that used by the ancient Greek sibyl of Cumae, who sat on a similar seat above a crack in the earth from which issued hallucinogenic fumes which caused her to see visions.

      In an introduction to one of the editions of the Centuries, Nostradamus stated that he sometimes added pungent oils to the water and that, as he did so, “I emptied my soul, brain, and heart of all care and attained a state of tranquillity and stillness of mind which are prerequisites for predicting by means of the brass tripod.”

      Later, when challenged that his gifts may have had a devilish origin, Nostradamus gave what may be the clearest statement of the means by which he entered into a trance, though even here he is enigmatic.

      Although the everlasting God alone knows the eternity of light proceeding from himself, I say frankly to all to whom he wishes to reveal his immense magnitude—infinite and unknowable as it is—after long and meditative inspiration, that it is a hidden thing divinely manifested to the prophet by two means: one comes by infusion which clarifies the supernatural light in the one who predicts by the stars, making possible divine revelation; the other comes by means of participation with the divine eternity, by which means the prophet can judge what is given from his (her) own divine spirit through God the Creator and natural intuition.

      That Nostradamus was also a skilled astrologer, astronomer, and alchemist is evident—all these skills are referenced in the Centuries—and reflected throughout The Lost Tarot. Indeed, he made it clear that he relied on astronomy a great deal, mentioning it several times in the Preface to the 1555 edition, which he addressed to his son.

      Also bear in mind that the events here described have not yet come to pass, and that all is ruled and governed by the power of Almighty God, inspiring us not by Bacchic frenzy nor by enchantments but by astronomical assurances …

      The importance of such planetary influences is reflected in The Lost Tarot by the inclusion of astrological reference, established over decades of tarot interpretation.

      How the Centuries were received

      Nostradamus published the first selection of Centuries in 1555, consisting of 350 quatrains. Despite the fact that they were written in obscure language (which has continued to baffle readers ever since), they were an overnight sensation, selling out in weeks. In 1557, the seer published a second edition, adding another 289 verses to the original number.

      He dedicated this volume to the reigning French king, Henri II—and it may have been this which drew him to the attention of Queen Catherine de Medici, who was a believer in occult mysteries. She invited Nostradamus to Paris in July 1556 and asked him to cast a horoscope for her children. What the seer told her is not recorded, but there are very clear references to the fate of her family in the Centuries. Of the seven children, three became kings of France, but six died young in tragic circumstances—all as predicted by Nostradamus.

      The queen’s patronage assured the seer from the south his fame, and he was soon besieged by courtiers and nobles seeking predictions, cures, and horo-scopes. However, this success was to be short-lived. Claims for the accuracy of Nostradamus’ visions soon came to the attention of the authorities, and it was only after “a certain lady” warned him of impending arrest that Nostradamus slipped away from the court and returned home to Salon.

      There, made wealthy by the royal patronage, he settled into a comfortable life with his wife and their six children. Curiously, he seems never to have been troubled by the authorities again, despite publishing a third edition of the Centuries, containing a further 300 quatrains, in 1558. This last volume now only survives as part of an omnibus edition, now called The Prophecies, published after his death in 1568. This version contains one unrhymed and 941 rhymed verses, grouped in sets of a hundred, and one of forty-two. Apparently, another fifty-eight quatrains existed but these vanished without trace.

      Nostradamus died in 1566, aged sixty-three. On the evening of July 1, having already received the last rites, he told his secretary, Jean de Chavigny, “You will not find me alive at sunrise.” The next morning he was reportedly found dead, lying on the floor next to his bed. His widow commissioned a plaque which bore the inscription:

      Into Almighty God’s hands I commend the bones of illustrious Michel de Nostredame, alone judged by mortal men to describe in near-divine words the events of the whole world under the influence of the stars.

      The Book of Images

      Nostradamus’ reputation as a prophet and seer is paramount, but in 1994 a volume was discovered that threw new light on his work and in the process captured the attention of the world. Two Italian journalists, Enza Massa and Robert Pinotti, were browsing the collection of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma (Central National Library of Rome) when they came across an illustrated codex entitled the Vaticinia Michaelis Nostradami de Futuri Christi Vicarii ad Cesarem Filium D. I. A. Interprete (The Prophecies of Michel Nostradamus on the Future Vicars of Christ to Cesar his son, as expounded by Lord Abbot Joachim), or the Vaticinia Nostradami (The Prophecies of Nostradamus) for short. In the library catalogue its shelf mark is the rather anonymous Fondo Vittorio Emanuele 307 (VE 307), which perhaps accounts for the fact that it had not been noticed before. It contained a collection of eighty remarkable watercolour images, clearly representing mysterious and hidden meanings. They included a number of ecclesiastical figures—numerous popes, cardinals and so on—as well as symbolic images of hands holding swords, seven-spoked wheels, banners and a gallery of curious creatures. The presence of so many people wearing the papal crown has led several commentators to suggest that The Lost Book is a version of a thirteenth-century book known as the Vatician de Summis Pontificibus, which consists of a collection of prophetic statements made by various pontiffs throughout the history of the Holy See.

      The mysteries of The Lost Book

      Several editions of Vatician de Summis exist and there are a number of undoubted parallels to the imagery of the Vaticinia Nostradami. However, this doesn’t mean that the latter was anything more than influenced by the earlier work. The reference in the title to the Abbot Joachim, suggests a link with a much earlier, millennial prophet, Joachim of Fiore (1135–1202), who wrote several books based on an interpretation of the biblical Book of Revelations in which he prophesied that a new age would dawn in which the Church would no longer be needed. This heretical view influenced several important leaders of the day and a number of (possibly spurious) prophecies were later produced in his name. However, it seems unlikely that