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Nostradamus, Bibliomancer:
The Man, The Myth, The Truth Peter Lemesurier
Key to Unlock a (Fabricated) Misunderstanding,
By Jeff farrow
A couple of years ago I decided not to review
any books that were tagged "New Age." The reason was that I no longer
believed that "New Age" signified anything more than a buzzword
and/or commercial fiction. In addition to this, I just found the material,
well, frankly...boring.
Nonetheless, with the 2012 hoopla & the descent of The History &
Discovery Channels into providing an uncritical platform for New Age fantasy, I
felt a need to address the issue of Nostradamus. I had recently seen The History Channel had a 2-hr
"Special" on the "discovery" of a NEW Nostradamus PICTURE
book! So when I received a promo to review NOSTRADAMUS Bibliomancer, etc. I
readily agreed.
I had glanced at the author's profile just long enough to see that he (Peter
Lemesurier) had been involved in the TV show noted above. Frankly I must have
missed his segment (I multi-task while "watching" TV), but I've seen
enough Nostradamus' "Specials" as to have had pretty good notion what
to expect: Another self-serving author or pundit with a predilection for
gab--and me with sharp critical daggers at the ready.
I was in for a very pleasant surprise--and set the daggers down.
While it's true that
Lemesurier is one of the foremost Nostradamus scholars around, his goal in the
present work is not to inflate the French Seer into an even higher sphere of
make-believe, it was to bring his subject back down to earth. An
anti-Nostradamus as it were, certainly from a non-fictional point of view.
The main theme of the book is to explain the "prophecies" of the
alleged "Doctor" as being the result of bibliomancy--as opposed to
astrology or other more exotic forms of divination. What's the difference? As
the author explains, bibliomancy is a method to shine light on an issue by
opening a sacred scripture & finding enlightenment therein. Some people may
use the Bible, some the Koran, and others the I-Ching.
By comparing the events & images found in the verses of Nostradamus to
publications extant in his time & readily accessible to him, Lemesurier
demonstrates that his verses, far from being original, refer to events
contemporary to his own time or the immediate future--NOT our present. In other
words, he predicted events that had already happened, or were bound to happen
in the NEAR future
If the prophecies were meant for a far, distant future, people in Nostradamus'
time wouldn't have been interested in buying his books. They wanted predictions
& they wanted them now! They weren't interested in events centuries ahead.
Nostradamus gave the people what they wanted & he was very successful at
it. He wasn't concerned with the distant future, but with his financial
present. It's like this, would Sylvia Browne have hit the "psychic"
big time if her predictions were meant for 2513?
Likewise Peter
Lemesurier systematically debunks other fictionalized claims & legends
surrounding Nostradamus. He does this in the same methodical way he treats the so-called
"prophecies." He does this in a scholarly manner, yes, but utilizing
a readily accessible style of writing to communicate his very lucid knowledge
of his subject. The book is a pleasure to read & even entertaining (a BIG
plus in my book).
As if that weren't enough, there is a CD enclosed with NOSTRADAMUS that is
comprised of Photostats exhibiting 7 original main Nostradamus editions
published between 1555 and conclude in 1668. This is a vital series of
documents that go to bolster Lemesurier's thesis that the predictions had
nothing to do with events in the 20th or 21st centuries--and even earlier. The
various books and their total pages are navigation friendly.
The entire "packaging of Nostradamus" as clearly critiqued in
Lemesurieur's informative little masterpiece reminds me of that parlor game
where you have a group of people sitting in a circle. The first person is
handed a piece of paper on which a key phrase has been scribed. Then that
person whispers it to the next person, then that person to another, etc. By the
time the phrase goes all around the circle, the final person says the phrase
out loud--and by then it generally has nothing to do with what was initially
written on the paper for the first person to repeat.
By a similar process as applied through the centuries, we are presented strange
images from the past that today--while possibly interesting from an artistic
point of view--are mostly nonsensical and/or irrelevant when presented as
prophetic fact.
I really encourage people who "believe" in Nostradamus to suspend
their prejudice & read this book.
Truth will set us free.
Updated
1/10
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