In a recent airing of Nostradamus Decoded on the Discovery Channel, experts speculated that the Frenchman’s quatrains (circa 1560) appeared on the market of the day because they suspected Nostradamus wanted to write something people would read – much like today’s blogger.I was fascinated by the assumption that Nostradamus, one of the most quoted writers of his time, may have simply wanted to write fiction that sold.
His predictions (quatrains), popular with French common folk and royalty alike, streamed doomsday historical clues to his public via early printing presses and small volumes sold in markets and apothecaries.
Unlike today’s blogging crowd, Nostradamus dealt with a public who could have literally served his head on a platter if they didn’t like what he had to say, or if they thought he leaned toward the supernatural or practiced witchcraft. Some believe this is why his written words appeared shrouded in anagrams and necessitate decoding by civilizations past and present.
In society today, writers may be shunned and verbally flogged for their beliefs and convictions, but blogging and the Internet give anonymity. This is a unique opportunity for the common people not readily available in bygone times. We have the freedom to marvel over whatever suits us and to place these written words on our blogs for the entire world to see. If Nostradamus were alive today, I predict that his rhythmic blog would be one of the most popular and largely viewed on the WWW.
So . . . how can I make my blog as popular as a perceived Nostradamus blog? Maybe some really cool and bloody predictions about Anti-Christ number four? How about another elaborate end of the world prediction?
I think not.
Written below is my first quatrain. It serves as my initial prediction for the future. My quatrains are written in English, of course, so they may not have quite the same ring to them as those of Nostradamus. Maybe you will know what I am predicting, and maybe you won’t.
Dragon Chronicles
I. An ancient Scribe came to pass
Scholars join through the looking glass
Voices hush across the land
Witness the miracle of the twisted hand
--ld
Nostradamus 2012
5 comments:
Weezel - love this analogy of N. and blogging! I must confess, I need a lot more time to try to figure out your quatrain, I'll try - don't throw too many at us at once!
I plan to post a new prediction quatrain each Wednesday . . . glad you commented, I hope the idea catches on.
Interesting article. Like SBS, I'll need to think about your quatrain. Of course, that's the point though isn't it. If you write something vague enough it can be interpreted as anything from the future. Let me offer an example. The first line could represent the recent death of William Safire who was a pulitzer prize winning political columnist. The second and third lines could represent some group of scientists or special interst group waiting to hear a ruling on some important political decision. Finally, the last line could easily represent some great (miracle) action that president Obama might do. The twisted hand is an obvious reference to the fact that Obama is left handed. Now if he does something great you can take credit for predicting it :)
I believe that you, my friend, understand the concept of a predicting quatrain!
Great idea, and I love the info you provided on Nostradamas! It *is* pretty fascinating to think that he may have written his predictions as a marketing tool!
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