Oh, well... imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess! ;-)

*
On March 28, 1998, when I published here the slightly modified
text below, under the title below, I was not expecting a 2005
copyrighted book by Wiley Publishing, Inc. to hit the market
under the very same title. Oh, well... imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery, I guess! ;-)
*
So, for those who might have missed the original, here, back in
1998, here is a slightly modified version of it:
*

Subject: NOSTRADAMUS FOR DUMMIES (1)
Message-ID: <EqJGE3.DGs.0.sheppard@torfree.net>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 16:56:27 GMT

*
NOSTRADAMUS FOR DUMMIES (1)

*
Anyone with a true desire to discover LES PROPHETIES DE M.
NOSTRADAMUS, but lacking a basic knowledge necessary to read them
can qualify as a DUMMY, within the meaning of this heading.
*
As good DUMMIES go, they end up being able to do that they never
thought they would ever be able to achieve: understanding *why*
they can't understand THE PROPHECIES.
*
So, without further ado, let's tackle LESSON #1 FOR DUMMIES:
*
QUESTION: IN WHICH LANGUAGE ARE LES PROPHETIES DE M. NOSTRADAMUS
WRITTEN?
*
ANSWER FOR DUMMIES: In no language at all.
*
EXPLANATION: Have you not read, in a.p.n. and elsewhere, that the
reason for the obscurity of THE PROPHECIES resides mainly in the
fact that Nostradamus (1503-1566) was writing in 16th Century
French, and that in those days, the French language had not yet
been standardized, its spelling was at best tentative, and its
style still too much tied to Latin, the then common language of
Europe?
*
That is the explanation given by scholars to the very real
difficulties facing anyone - French-speaking or not - exposed to
Nostradamus' verses.
*
But we, DUMMIES, know best. We know that the 16th Century gave us
remarkable French poetry which some of us even learned at school.
*
Quoting from memory:

Quand vous serez bien vieille, le soir à la chandelle,
Assise auprès du feu, dévidant et filant,
Direz, chantant mes vers, et vous émerveillant:
Ronsard me célébrait du temps que j'étais belle.
*
Isn't this beautiful, DUMMIES?
*
And this is good 16th Century French poetry taught to me about 40
years ago, long before the Nostradamus bug ever bit me!
*
We know then that the explanation given by the scholars about the
obscurity of Nostradamus' verses is not worth the cathodic light
it is written on.
*
So, if it's not due to the state of the French language at the
time, why then is Nostradamus' poetry so convoluted, so difficult
to understand by even the best of specialists?
*
Answer: Because (1) it is not meant to be understood as is; (2)
it is not written in any particular language; and (3) it is meant
to be deciphered, i.e., translated from poetry to prose.
*
EXPLANATION TO (1): If it is not meant to be understood as is,
why then has it been written as is?
*
For many reasons. It had to be written in a manner which would
attract and sustain the attention of its readers of the XVIth,
XVIIth, XVIIIth, XIXth and XXth Centuries. The fact that we are
still discussing it is proof positive that Nostradamus reached
that goal.
*
It also had to be written in a manner which allows the passage of
time to reveal its subject-matter. Example: some very vague
reference to a slicing blade only comes alive *after* French King
Louis XVI has his head chopped off by... a slicing blade.
*
So, for more than 200 years, "feu, sang, tranche" only meant...
fire, blood, slice. After January 21, 1793, it acquires a very
clear meaning, the head of the King of France having been sliced
that morning.
*
Thirdly, it was written in an obscure fashion because it is in
fact a cryptogram in good 16th Century French prose, disguized as
messed-up French, Provençal, Latin poetry.
*
EXPLANATION TO (2): If it is not written in any particular
language, why then has it been universally recognized as written
in 16th Century French for the most part, in Provençal in a few
cases, and in Latin, at least in one case?
*
Good question. We are DUMMIES, remember? So we are not
contaminated by knowledge, aren't we? So we can have a new look
at THE PROPHECIES, a look which specialists are unable to have,
anymore, because they 'know' THE PROPHECIES too well and are too
close to their subject to see the obvious.
*
Sounds crazy, doesn't it. The best scholars of Nostradamus being
the most inept at recognizing the obvious... that THE PROPHECIES
are so full of mistakes, misprints, typos, of all kinds, that it
is absolutely impossible that all this crap would have found its
way out of the printers' shops by sheer accident? How shocking!
*
And yet, this is the case. Unfortunately, millions of readers of
THE PROPHECIES never have had the opportunity to have a look at
the original texts as -- prior to 1984, these were not as a rule
available to the general public, only a few privileged minds
having had access to them.
*
What did the others read? Pure *****! For over 400 years,
publisher upon publisher, commentator upon commentator, after
more than 170 successive editions, have made such a clean up of
THE PROPHECIES that hardly any trace of the 'mistakes' in the
originals has subsisted.
*
EXPLANATION (3): If it is meant to be deciphered, i.e.,
translated from poetry to prose, how come nobody has ever noticed
that before?
*
Answer: Because 'nobody' has ever understood how it was made,
before, DUMMY!
*
Why not? Because most people were reading the garbage referred to
above, not THE original PROPHECIES. Believe it or not, there were
even people who actually read it... in English! Can you imagine?
*
A text which is not supposed to be read as is, not supposed to be
interpreted, not supposed to be translated into any foreign
language, actually translated into English? And in at least one
case, in new, improved, English poetry? Unbelievable! :-)
*
Then, what are we, DUMMIES, to make of all of this?
*
Answer: Simple! Just say to whomever wants to hear it that in the
entire French literature, NO ONE, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE, HAS EVER
WRITTEN LIKE NOSTRADAMUS.
*
And if you are not too afraid to be branded a delusional lunatic
(in addition to being a recognized DUMMY), you might even suggest
to whomever might disagree that, if they disagree, they might dig
out 16th Century French poems written exactly like that.
*
They won't find any.
*
NOSTRADAMUS FOR DUMMIES LEXICON - LESSON #1:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Necessary garbage:
*
An expression used by Nostradamus DUMMIES to describe the
original poetry full of 'mistakes' published by Nostradamus
himself, hence, 'the garbage'. Necessary, because it is the very
presence in the original poetry of all these oddities which lead
the curious mind to suspect that something must be hidden in that
strange poetry, i.e, cryptic anagrams. And, after the anagrams in
prose are discovered, the original poetry is nothing but a left-
over, a piece of garbage to be discarded like any honourable
other piece of garbage, in the same manner as an hitherto
enciphered text looses any value after the deciphered text it
contained has been restored by the cipher specialists.
*
Meaningful gobbledygook:
*
Another expression used by Nostradamus DUMMIES to describe the
state of the original poetry published by Nostradamus himself.
*
Gobbledygook, in the sense that NO ONE, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE, IN
OVER 440 YEARS, HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO PREDICT THE DATE OF ANY
EVENT, USING THE ORIGINAL POETRY *AS IS*, because that original
poetry was not intended to be understood *before the fact*. Only
when the event is upon us, or has just occurred, can we, DUMMIES,
actually understand what the verse was referring to. It then
becomes 'meaningful'.
*
Were it not 'gobbledygook', at least one good scholar in the some
440 years which preceeded the discovery of its cryptographic
nature would have been able to understand that poetry *before the
fact*. The fact that no one did should be ample confirmation that
the apparent prophetic message the poetry offers was not the
message intended by Nostradamus to be revealed *before the fact*,
which the hidden prose contained therein does reveal.
*
Were it not 'meaningful', no one would ever have been able *after
the fact* to recognize in these soooo obscure lines of poetry any
event whatsoever. The fact that many different commentators have
used the very same verses to identify very different events is
just evidence that the original poetry was never intended to be
used *as is*.
*
In conclusion, the two expressions 'necessary garbage' and
'meaningful gobbledygook' used together in social conversation
will ascertain your unmistakeable status as NOSTRADAMUS DUMMIES.
*
==============================================================
(c) Claude Latrémouille, 1998
==============================================================
*
------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Claude Latrémouille % -- "Claude! There ain't no stinkin' -- %
Le 28 mars 1998 --- % cryptic anagrams in them dang verses,- %
APNCL#0718 -------- % ya hear?!" (A chorus of a.p.n. voices) %
------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
*
Have a nice day, folks!
*
Claude Latrémouille
April 4, 2007
http://web.ncf.ca/cj559
*
===

*
On March 28, 1998, when I published here the slightly modified
text below, under the title below, I was not expecting a 2005
copyrighted book by Wiley Publishing, Inc. to hit the market
under the very same title. Oh, well... imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery, I guess! ;-)
*
So, for those who might have missed the original, here, back in
1998, here is a slightly modified version of it:
*>Subject: NOSTRADAMUS FOR DUMMIES (1)

Message-ID: <EqJGE3.DGs.0.shepp...@torfree.net>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar1998 16:56:27 GMT

*
NOSTRADAMUS FOR DUMMIES (1)
*
Anyone with a true desire to discover LES PROPHETIES DE M.
NOSTRADAMUS, but lacking a basic knowledge necessary to read them
can qualify as a DUMMY, within the meaning of this heading.
*
As good DUMMIES go, they end up being able to do that they never
thought they would ever be able to achieve: understanding *why*
they can't understand THE PROPHECIES.
*
So, without further ado, let's tackle LESSON #1 FOR DUMMIES:
*
QUESTION: IN WHICH LANGUAGE ARE LES PROPHETIES DE M. NOSTRADAMUS
WRITTEN?
*
ANSWER FOR DUMMIES: In no language at all.
*
EXPLANATION: Have you not read, in a.p.n. and elsewhere, that the
reason for the obscurity of THE PROPHECIES resides mainly in the
fact that Nostradamus(1503-1566) was writing in 16th Century
French, and that in those days, the French language had not yet
been standardized, its spelling was at best tentative, and its
style still too much tied to Latin, the then common language of
Europe?
*
That is the explanation given by scholars to the very real
difficulties facing anyone - French-speaking or not - exposed to
Nostradamus' verses.
*
But we, DUMMIES, know best. We know that the 16th Century gave us
remarkable French poetry which some of us even learned at school.
*
Quoting from memory:

Quand vous serez bien vieille, le soir =E0 la chandelle,
Assise aupr=E8s du feu, d=E9vidant et filant,
Direz, chantant mes vers, et vous =E9merveillant:
Ronsard me c=E9l=E9brait du temps que j'=E9tais belle.
*
Isn't this beautiful, DUMMIES?
*
And this is good 16th Century French poetry taught to me about 40
years ago, long before the Nostradamus bug ever bit me!
*
We know then that the explanation given by the scholars about the
obscurity of Nostradamus' verses is not worth the cathodic light
it is written on.
*
So, if it's not due to the state of the French language at the
time, why then is Nostradamus' poetry so convoluted, so difficult
to understand by even the best of specialists?
*
Answer: Because (1) it is not meant to be understood as is; (2)
it is not written in any particular language; and (3) it is meant
to be deciphered, i.e., translated from poetry to prose.
*
EXPLANATION TO (1): If it is not meant to be understood as is,
why then has it been written as is?
*
For many reasons. It had to be written in a manner which would
attract and sustain the attention of its readers of the XVIth,
XVIIth, XVIIIth, XIXth and XXth Centuries. The fact that we are
still discussing it is proof positive that Nostradamus reached
that goal.
*
It also had to be written in a manner which allows the passage of
time to reveal its subject-matter. Example: some very vague
reference to a slicing blade only comes alive *after* French King
Louis XVI has his head chopped off by... a slicing blade.
*
So, for more than 200 years, "feu, sang, tranche" only meant...
fire, blood, slice. After January 21, 1793, it acquires a very
clear meaning, the head of the King of France having been sliced
that morning.
*
Thirdly, it was written in an obscure fashion because it is in
fact a cryptogram in good 16th Century French prose, disguized as
messed-up French, Proven=E7al, Latin poetry.
*
EXPLANATION TO (2): If it is not written in any particular
language, why then has it been universally recognized as written
in 16th Century French for the most part, in Proven=E7al in a few
cases, and in Latin, at least in one case?
*
Good question. We are DUMMIES, remember? So we are not
contaminated by knowledge, aren't we? So we can have a new look
at THE PROPHECIES, a look which specialists are unable to have,
anymore, because they 'know' THE PROPHECIES too well and are too
close to their subject to see the obvious.
*
Sounds crazy, doesn't it. The best scholars of Nostradamus being
the most inept at recognizing the obvious... that THE PROPHECIES
are so full of mistakes, misprints, typos, of all kinds, that it
is absolutely impossible that all this crap would have found its
way out of the printers' shops by sheer accident? How shocking!
*
And yet, this is the case. Unfortunately, millions of readers of
THE PROPHECIES never have had the opportunity to have a look at
the original texts as -- prior to 1984, these were not as a rule
available to the general public, only a few privileged minds
having had access to them.
*
What did the others read? Pure *****! For over 400 years,
publisher upon publisher, commentator upon commentator, after
more than 170 successive editions, have made such a clean up of
THE PROPHECIES that hardly any trace of the 'mistakes' in the
originals has subsisted.
*
EXPLANATION (3): If it is meant to be deciphered, i.e.,
translated from poetry to prose, how come nobody has ever noticed
that before?
*
Answer: Because 'nobody' has ever understood how it was made,
before, DUMMY!
*
Why not? Because most people were reading the garbage referred to
above, not THE original PROPHECIES. Believe it or not, there were
even people who actually read it... in English! Can you imagine?
*
A text which is not supposed to be read as is, not supposed to be
interpreted, not supposed to be translated into any foreign
language, actually translated into English? And in at least one
case, in new, improved, English poetry? Unbelievable! :-)
*
Then, what are we, DUMMIES, to make of all of this?
*
Answer: Simple! Just say to whomever wants to hear it that in the
entire French literature, NO ONE, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE, HAS EVER
WRITTEN LIKE NOSTRADAMUS.
*
And if you are not too afraid to be branded a delusional lunatic
(in addition to being a recognized DUMMY), you might even suggest
to whomever might disagree that, if they disagree, they might dig
out 16th Century French poems written exactly like that.
*
They won't find any.
*
NOSTRADAMUS FOR DUMMIES LEXICON - LESSON #1:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Necessary garbage:
*
An expression used by Nostradamus DUMMIES to describe the
original poetry full of 'mistakes' published by Nostradamus
himself, hence, 'the garbage'. Necessary, because it is the very
presence in the original poetry of all these oddities which lead
the curious mind to suspect that something must be hidden in that
strange poetry, i.e, cryptic anagrams. And, after the anagrams in
prose are discovered, the original poetry is nothing but a left-
over, a piece of garbage to be discarded like any honourable
other piece of garbage, in the same manner as an hitherto
enciphered text looses any value after the deciphered text it
contained has been restored by the cipher specialists.
*
Meaningful gobbledygook:
*
Another expression used by Nostradamus DUMMIES to describe the
state of the original poetry published by Nostradamus himself.
*
Gobbledygook, in the sense that NO ONE, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE, IN
OVER 440 YEARS, HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO PREDICT THE DATE OF ANY
EVENT, USING THE ORIGINAL POETRY *AS IS*, because that original
poetry was not intended to be understood *before the fact*. Only
when the event is upon us, or has just occurred, can we, DUMMIES,
actually understand what the verse was referring to. It then
becomes 'meaningful'.
*
Were it not 'gobbledygook', at least one good scholar in the some
440 years which preceeded the discovery of its cryptographic
nature would have been able to understand that poetry *before the
fact*. The fact that no one did should be ample confirmation that
the apparent prophetic message the poetry offers was not the
message intended by Nostradamus to be revealed *before the fact*,
which the hidden prose contained therein does reveal.
*
Were it not 'meaningful', no one would ever have been able *after
the fact* to recognize in these soooo obscure lines of poetry any
event whatsoever. The fact that many different commentators have
used the very same verses to identify very different events is
just evidence that the original poetry was never intended to be
used *as is*.
*
In conclusion, the two expressions 'necessary garbage' and
'meaningful gobbledygook' used together in social conversation
will ascertain your unmistakeable status as NOSTRADAMUS DUMMIES.
*
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=

(c) Claude Latr=E9mouille, 1998
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=

*
------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Claude Latr=E9mouille % -- "Claude! There ain't no stinkin' -- %
Le 28 mars 1998 --- % cryptic anagrams in them dang verses,- %
APNCL#0718 -------- % ya hear?!" (A chorus of a.p.n. voices) %
------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
*
Have a nice day, folks!
*
Claude Latr=E9mouille
April 4, 2007http://web.ncf.ca/cj559
*
=3D=3D=3D

OVER 440 YEARS, HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO PREDICT THE DATE OF ANY
EVENT, USING THE ORIGINAL POETRY *AS IS*, because that original
poetry was not intended to be understood *before the fact*. Only
when the event is upon us, or has just occurred, can we, DUMMIES,
actually understand what the verse was referring to. It then
becomes 'meaningful'.
*
Were it not 'gobbledygook', at least one good scholar in the some
440 years which preceeded the discovery of its cryptographic
nature would have been able to understand that poetry *before the
fact*. The fact that no one did should be ample confirmation that
the apparent prophetic message the poetry offers was not the
message intended by Nostradamus to be revealed *before the fact*,
which the hidden prose contained therein does reveal."