Five hundred years ago Nostradamus the French astrologer was a dab hand at predicting political turmoil. He wrote books of ‘Quatrains’, four line verses which often sound like a newspaper headline foreseeing a no deal Brexit apocalypse.
Take for example Century VIII, Quatrain 15:
Great exertions towards the North by a man-woman
to vex Europe and almost all the Universe.
The two eclipses will be put into such a rout
that they will reinforce life or death for the Hungarians.
Though written in 1555, this Quatrain could be seen as reflecting current events.
Theresa May is the ‘man-woman’, often seen wearing suits and sporting a man’s haircut.
Her ‘great exertions’ clearly ‘vex Europe and almost all the universe’.
Amazingly, ‘The two eclipses will be put into such a rout’ occurred in July 2018 with a solar eclipse followed by a lunar eclipse, marking the announcement of the Chequers plan closely followed by Boris Johnson’s resignation.
And just last week the Hungarian leader Viktor Orban sided with the Conservative government which echoes the line ‘they will reinforce life or death for the Hungarians’.
So how did Nostradamus do it? He is often derided for being too vague, but this Quatrain appears to be fairly accurate… does astrology hold useful insights that could be used in more practical ways in the 21st century?
London astrologer Julian Venables thinks there’s a bigger lesson to understand in Nostradamus’s Quatrains and offers an alternative insight.
Julian says “Nostradamus used mathematical calculations to follow the planets, and the art of the astrologer is to interpret a combination of symbols, maths and the concept of time into words, poetry or horoscopes.
Before the invention of telescopes astrologers had a system of calculating cyclical time using the visible planets.
That system eventually became the days of the week which we still use today. In English we have Sun-day; Mon-day and Saturn-day. French have Mardi (Mars day/Tuesday); Mercredi (Mercury day/Wednesday); Jeudi (Jupiter day/Thursday) and Vendredi (Venus day/Friday). From the Norman conquest of 1066 until the 15th century the development of the English language had much Anglo-French influence.
Nostradamus called his four line verses Quatrains, and the French for four is Quatre.
The four seasons of the year is another continuous cycle of time as marked out by Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
The line ‘Great exertions towards the North’ could also indicate Summer time, when the Sun is at its highest declination in the Northern hemisphere.
‘Great exertions’ could also be interpreted as the unusual heat wave this year. Was Nostradamus counting out repeating seasons as he wrote his predictive verses?
Julian says “Astrologers are aware of how the planets repeat their cycles continuously through time, which leads to the often used phrase ‘history repeats itself’.
I think it’s likely that like a mathematician Nostradamus calculated a generalized number pattern in the planets, which is like the infinity set in Mathematics. That is to say a boundless repeat without ending.
He put this ‘infinity set’ into a form of interpretative poetry, the Quatrains.
Without a telescope, he visualised a big picture of how planet earth with its inhabitants, along with the other planets of the solar system moved through space and time.
It was like a 15th century form of science fiction, in that he made stories up to inspire people to think differently.
Today scientists are inspired by science fiction writers who create imaginary worlds like Star Trek; Scientists take the inspiration quite seriously and set about striving to make it real.
Nostradamus did the same thing 500 years ago.
The powerful people of the day turned to the court astrologer for inspirations, predictions and a creative interpretation of the current events. An imaginative mind can often help solve many problems.
If I was given the opportunity as a 21st century astrologer to talk to the powerful people of today about the Brexit situation, I would explain the 20 year cycle of Jupiter and Saturn.
Financial astrologers use it as it’s fairly accurate in marking out a boom-then-bust socio-economic pattern.
The recent alignments were 1980 & 2000 and the next alignment starts on December 21st 2020.
The Jupiter/Saturn cycle was the biggest cycle Nostradamus could predict from, and he would have also known these two planets have a larger 800 year cycle made up of 4 x 200 years.
Coincidentally December 2020 heralds the beginning of a new 200 year cycle. The previous one started in 1802 and marked the industrial revolution and the formation of the political system we know today.
Arabic astrologers from 9th-12th centuries referred to the 200 year turning points as ‘great mutations’ because of the massive shift in society from one 200 year cycle to the next.
Collectively we’ve been in a great mutation since 1980, and it’s now in its closing stages, which loosely explains why it’s total chaos at the moment in governance and politics because the old order is crumbling as the new order is rising.
Naturally, the old order tries to shore up and prop up what has been familiar for the last 200 years, which is part of the reason why Donald Trump and Theresa May are in power. What is unnatural for them is to welcome the new order and be more progressive.
From the beginning of 2021 a whole new politics will establish itself along with a new way of running the world.
The new infrastructure has already evolved and is largely in place, it just needs new leaders to fully accept the changing times and integrate the exciting new future we have ahead of us.
However it’s not just one planetary cycle going on. There are several that overlay and interweave through time, and different planets clash with each other in their effects.
From 2012-2016 the Uranus/Pluto cycle became active.
These two planets are troublemakers, known for breaking down existing structures.
Both the referendum and the Arab spring were the result of a combination of Uranus & Pluto. Brexit was the inevitable result.
This is why Brexit is so frustrating for so many and the country is bitterly divided.
For 50 years we have collectively moved toward a united Europe in trade, industry, customs and culture, which historically is a major achievement.
I imagine Nostradamus would have welcomed the concept of a united Europe 500 years ago.
The current idea of a second referendum or peoples vote is now the rising opportunity for us to settle down into Europe again and back into the Jupiter/Saturn destiny of a unified Europe.
The 2012-2016 Uranus/Pluto disruptive cycle has mostly dispersed, leaving us with a practically unworkable Brexit situation.
This is why younger people need to have more of a say, and how estimates predict that Brexit will take 50 years to work out.
Had Nostradamus had a telescope and known about Uranus and Pluto, I’m certain he would urge leaders to re-align with the more regular Jupiter/Saturn cycles, because from an astrologer’s viewpoint these planets are more reliable indicators of steady evolution and development.
Ultimately we must all work together to evolve and progress. After all it is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
Terrific.
Thank you Laura!