1 Printed in the Amsterdam edition of the Vrayes Centuries et Prophéties de Maistre Michel Nostredame (1667), pp. 96ff.

2 According to the old tradition the conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury, as mentioned above, is characteristic of Christianity. The quartile aspect between Mercury and Mars “injures” Mercury by “martial” violence. According to Cardan, signifies “the law of Mahomet” (Comment. in Ptol., p. 188). This aspect could therefore indicate an attack by Islam. Albumasar regards in the same way: “And if Mars shall be in conjunction with him (Jupiter), it signifies the fiery civilization and the pagan faith” (De magn. coniunct., tract. I, diff. 4, p. a8r). On the analogy of history the evil events to come are ascribed to the crescent moon, but one never reflects that the opponent of Christianity dwells in the European unconscious. History repeats itself.

3 Where Roman Christendom succumbed to Islam.

4 The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus, trans. and ed. by H. C. Roberts, pp. 231ff.

5 D 7v to 8r, div. 2, cap. 60 and 61. Cf. also Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, IV, p. 102.

6 “Et post illam erit complementum 10 revolutionum saturnalium anno Christi 1789 et hoc erit post dictam coniunctionem per annos 97 vel prope. … His itaque praesuppositis dicimus quod si mundus usque ad illa tempora duraverit, quod solus deus novit, multae tunc et magnae et mirabiles alterationes mundi et mutationes futurae sunt, et maxime circa leges et sectas, nam cum praedicta coniunctione et illis revolutionibus Saturni ad hoc concurret revolutio seu reversio superioris orbis, id est, octavae sphaerae per quam et per alia praemissa cognoscitur sectarum mutatio … Unde ex his probabiliter concluditur quod forte circa illa tempora veniet Antichristus cum lege sua vel secta damnabili, quae maxime adversa erit et contraria legi Christi; nam licet de adventu sui determinato tempore vel momento haberi non possit humanitus certitudo. … Tamen indeterminate loquendo quod circa illa tempora venturus sit potest haberi probabilis coniectura et verisimilis suspicio per astronomica iudicia. Cum enim dictum sit secundum astronomos circa illa tempora fieri mutationem sectarum et secundum eos post machometum erit aliquis potens, qui legem foedam et magicam constituet. Ideo verisimili probabilitate credi potest, quod post sectam machometi nulla secta veniet, nisi lex antichristi.”

7 Concordantia, etc., fol. b 5.

8 Cf. Thorndike, IV, p. 103.

9 In classical usage renovatio can have the meaning of the modern word “revolution,” whereas even in late Latin revolutio still retains its original meaning of “revolving.” As the text shows, Nostradamus thought of this moment (1791) as the climax of a long-standing persecution of the Church. One is reminded of Voltaire’s “écrasez l’infâme!”

10 There is nothing to suggest that a conscious attempt was made to prophesy on the basis of the precession.

11 Conjunctions in Aries were regarded as such, at least as a rule. O° Aries is the spring-point.

12 I cannot claim to have understood Pierre d’Ailly’s argument. Here is the text (Second treatise, ch. 60, “De octava coniunctione maxima”): “Et post illam erit complementum 10 revolutionum saturnalium anno Christi 1789 et hoc erit post dictam coniunctionem per annos 97 vel prope et inter dictam coniunctionem et illud complementum dictarum 10 revolutionum erit status octavae sphaerae circiter per annos 25 quod sic patet: quia status octavae sphaerae erit anno 444 post situm augmentationum [reading uncertain], quae secundum tabulas astronomicas sunt adaequatae ad annum Christi 1320 perfectum, et ideo anno Christi 1764, quibus annis si addas 25, sunt anni 1789 quos praediximus. Unde iterum patet quod ab hoc anno Christi 1414 usque ad statum octavae sphaerae erunt anni 253 perfecti.” (And after that shall be the fulfilment of 10 revolutions of Saturn to the year 1789, and this shall be after the said conjunction for 97 years or thereabouts, and between the said conjunction and that fulfilment of the 10 revolutions there shall be a standstill of the eighth sphere for about 25 years, which is evident from this: that the standstill of the eighth sphere shall be in the 444th year after the position of the augmentations, which according to the astronomical tables are assigned to the end of the year of Christ 1320, that is the year of Christ 1764, and if you add 25 years to this, you arrive at the year 1789 aforesaid. Hence it is again evident that from this year of Christ 1414 to the standstill of the eighth sphere there will be 253 complete years.)

13 Fol. d 6.

14 It is not clear from the text whether the same “persecution” is meant, or a new one. The latter would be possible.

15 Cf. “The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairytales,” pars. 425f., 436ff.

16 Migne, P.L., vol. 50, col. 740.

17 “Ab Aquilone pendetur malum super omnes habitatores terrae” (DV).

18 “Quomodo cecidisti de coelo, Lucifer, qui mane oriebaris? corruisti in terram qui vulnerabas gentes? Qui dicebas in corde tuo: in caelum conscendam, super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum, sedebo in monte testamenti, in lateribus Aquilonis” (trans. is AV; last line RSV).

19 Migne, P.L., vol. 112, col. 860.

20 This is an obvious analogy of the pneuma brooding on the face of the deep.

21 “ … quod illorum mentibus, qui gratia sua vacui, diabolum Deus dominari permittit.”

22 Enar. in Ps. XLVII, 3; Migne, P.L., vol. 36, col. 534.

23 Sancti Victoris Parisiensis Gregorianum; Migne, P.L., vol. 193, cols. 59f.

24 Allusion to the lower triad.

25 De tripartito tabernaculo, III, c. 9; Migne, P.L., vol. 198, col. 761. Adam Scotus speaks of the “darkness of the smoke from the north.” Pseudo-Clement (Homilies, XIX, 22) stresses “the sins of unconsciousness” (agnoia). Honorius of Autun (Speculum de mysteriis ecclesiae; Migne, P.L., vol. 172, col. 833) says: “By the north, where the sun lies hidden under the earth, Matthew is meant, who describes the divinity of Christ hidden under the flesh.” This confirms the chthonic nature of the triad.

26 Ezek. 1 : 4: “And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north, and a great cloud … ”

27 Isaiah 14 : 31: “Howl, O gate, cry, O city, all Philistia is thrown down, for a smoke shall come from the north, and there is none that shall escape his troop.”

28 Ezek. 1 : 4.

29 “A burning wind shall take him up and carry him away: and as a whirlwind shall snatch him from his place” (In Expositionem beati Job Moralia; Migne, P.L., vol. 76, cols. 54, 55).

30 Jer. 1 : 13f.

31 Cf. Symbols of Transformation, par. 565.

32 The text of the various mss. is supposed to go back to the Compendium theologicae veritatis of Hugh of Strasbourg (13th cent.). Cf. Kelchner, Der Enndkrist, p. 7.

33 So in Giovanni Nanni (1432–1502). See Thorndike, IV, pp. 263ff.