Customer Reviews

The Secrets Of Nostradamus: A Radical New Interpretation of the Master's Prophecies

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After reading so many books on the Master's visions and so many interpretations, this is the one I've been waiting for. Ovason clearly takes the reader trhough the translations of a quatrain and explains the mystery behind the meaning. The Green Language was new to me, and as I read the book, many things became clear to me. Please pick up this book, and forget everything that you have heard about Nostradamus before. This is the definitive interpretation(s), and you will love it!

The excellent scholarship that lies behind David's work mimics the 16th century's scholar's dedication to clarity and accuracy. This book will not be a clear or easy read for the mass market. However, clarity must not be confused with simplicity. This book is clear to some. Simple, it is not. The green language is, by nature, a code, and thus unreadable without its key. David supplies this key and opens a new door of understanding to those willing to invest a little time in thought. The green language was used because of its unique ability to express the most subtle of intellectual ideas. it was also used to shield these ideas from the calumny of the unlearned masses. Thus, revealing the code will certainly open the author to calumny, the student to enlightenment, and all fools to a field upon which they may practice there art.

Previous to ordering The Secrets of Nostradamus David Ovason I read The Prophecies of Nostradamus by Erika Cheetham, which I believe was published in 1972. What I liked most about this book was the way all of the quatrains had the original text along with the English interpretations, then an explanation of the quatrain according to the author, and let you draw your own conclusions. When I read the "Editorial Reviews Book Description" for The Secrets of Nostradamus by David Ovason, I was excited with the anticipation of reading the quatrains with a new and updated interpretation. But I was very disappointed.

The Secrets of Nostradamus it turns out, is only the writings of a pompous, condescending, pinhead. He spends more time explaining why every one else is wrong in their interpretations then he does putting forth his own. In fact he only address a dozen or two quatrains.

If you are looking for a book that interprets the prophecies of Nostradamus into English and offers an explanation of the quatrains this is not the book for you. Don't waste your money.

David Ovason knows, as many of the scholars know who have studied the culture of the 16th century, that works of philosophy and science of that period were not written to be understood or enjoyed by the unlearned masses. In fact many works of this period were published in Latin because it was the accepted language of the learned.
Green Language was commonly used by scholars of the time because it was more flexible when transmitting thoughts of great subtlety. Clarity of thought and word is a virtue. However, do not confuse simplicity with clarity.
I highly recommend Mr. Ovason's work for the serious student of Nostradamus or of the 16th century. However, this book will probably not be palatable to the masses.

David Ovason's book is a labor of love and great erudition. Nostradamus wrote in several natural languages. His spelling
is not consistent and his dating is arcane. Those who want Ovason's book to be full of hot tips for tomorrow's stock market will be disappointed. However, those seeking a deeper understanding of the MASTERY of Nostradamus must put up with the MYSTERY -- both coming from the same root.

The green language is centuries old and Medieval troubadours discovered the ROMA speled backwards meant AMOR... Great Russian-American linguist Roman Jakobson spoke of "internal declension" of words... Note examples of the sort "Only MAD DOGS and Englishmen enjoy the MID DAY sun"...

All texts must be understood at several levels, and for a converted Jew writing at a time when one could be burned at the stake for sorcery, Nostradamus was writing for the initiates, who understood the reverence for the printed word
and the price of paper. Nostradamus' writing is not unlike that of Eric Hoffer (the author / creator of the True Believer) where
every word was nursed and not dictated to a secretary...

The ability to see the future is, alas, not science and for anyone who has read any number of prophecies from different cultures, some of the most trivial things are mixed with the monumental...

Ovason points one in a certain direction and does not spoonfeed.
Nor does he resort to the centuries-old principle of "si non e vero, e ben travato" (even if untrue, well done). The so-called translations and various editions of Nostradamus and even translations of the Bible into Modern English require a great deal of commentary. There are bloopers in the translation of the Scriptures that have have survived for a millenium (love thy neighbor / love the one who is dear to you). Every age has its "editors" and Nostradamus did not escape this curse.

Anyone upset with Ovason and tilting the electric fans of positivism should abstain from reading prophecies for, as is known, by definition they come true only after the fact. Pity the person who invents a "Machine" that will churn "101%" genuine prophecy articles. In the world of quantuum physics and parallel realities, all critics who "devastate" Nostradamuses of this world are perhaps victims of the esoteric truths of the sort, "beware of the things you desire, for they have a way coming true." The last 300 years of Cartesian "clarity" and merciless mechanicism are hardly something one should boast about loudly after September 11. The gods of positivism have neither predicted nor protected us from 911, so why pounce on a major Magus like Nostradamus who at least has quite a few PROVEN feats to his credit? (The more philosophically minded may want to look to Martin Bubber's distinction between PROPHECIES and PREDICTIONS and think in terms of Nostradamus being someone who was more than just a XVI century "psyschic"?)

To anyone not afraid to let some fresh air into their airtight world, I recommend Ovasson highly. What a book, what a feat!

Give Ovason a break... he tells you that it's radical in the book title...

Nostradamus rather frankly admitted to obscuring the meanings of his quatrains in such a way that no one would be able to fully understand them prior to the events described. Therefore, taking a "proper look" at the mysterious Nostradamus quatrains calls for knowledge of astrology as practiced in 16th century France, familiarity with the 15th century Trithemius planetary periods used by Nostradamus, and being versed in deciphering the esoteric 16th Century "Green Language" used by Nostradamus. Fortunately, unlike any other Nostradamus authors out there, Ovason fits the bill.

As you'll notice from the other reviews, you'll either love or hate Ovason's radical take on Nostradamus. Speaking as an astrologer (as was Nostradamus) Ovason is "the man"...

If I asked ten people to read the so-called prophecies of Nostradamus and interpret the results, I would be pretty sure to get eleven different interpretations! David Ovason is just one of many who have twisted these vague mumblings of a 16th century French alchemist to try to fit them to historical events.

IT'S A TRICK - A HOAX!

Nostradamus, for all his mystical mumbo-jumbo, was intelligent enough to leave his 'predictions' as indistinct as possible and let others interpret as they will. It's the same trick used by so-called clairvoyants who glean information from their audience by suggestion and vague 'feelings' given to them by some higher authority.

'The Secrets of Nostradamus', apart from unquestioningly accepting that Nostradamus was, indeed, a prophet, seems to spend much of its time 'proving' how all the other 'interpreters' are wrong and he is right. Surely it would be more intellectually honest to question whether Nostradamus himself has any validity. But then, as I say, Ovason is just one of many who think they can foresee the future using the ancient rubbish of the past.

If Nostradamus (and, by association, Davis Ovason) is so darn clever, how come we are unable to forsee events like the destruction of WTC and the Pentagon? How is it that Nostradamus has completely missed an impending conflict in Afganistan? How is it that this mad monk and his disciples have not foretold the new world order that is developing from these events?

Of course, in five years time, Ovason will no doubt write a revised version that claims to have foretold all this.

BUNKUM!

Unfortunately, the book does not deliver what it promises. The author indicates a new method of interpreting the quatrains, i.e. the Green Language. As with most writers about Nostradamus, however, he spends a great deal of time with a posteriori predictions ("postdictions"). If he has truly found a new way of accurately interpreting the quatrains, then why is he not able to provide predictions? The author makes a lame argument that Nostradamus, himself, specifically wrote in a manner to make predictions impossible. Additionally, the author writes in the first person plural, which I found incredibly pompous and annoying. Save your money.

A book for the Schadenfreude crowd. How an author makes a complete fool of himself.
He very aptly and concretely shows up in certain quatrains, where other interpreters cheated; and then goes on, cheating himself autrageously. Or he just leaves out half of the text of a quatrain to show his theories fit.
He shows us, how little is known about Nostradamus (correctly), only to use the sentence "in Nostradamus very own way" or "as Nostradamus saw it" or similar turns of phrase, whenever he gets stuck with his system of interpretation.
On the whole, he is almost as inventive as Rowling, but misses all the charm of Harry Potter. So - stick with Harry Potter, it's much more fun and tells you maore about live.

Much as we would like to believe that someone has special powers to predict the future, there is no such person.

Nostradamus' predictions are written in vague terms, you can twist them around after something has happened to try to prove that "hey Nostradamus predicted it!" So now we have this book that claims a new way of interpreting his writings. Gee.

Think: why is it that no-one who's used these "prophecies" to forecast the future have done any better than someone who just makes an educated guess?

It's much tougher to rely on your own thinking and reasoning skills to get through life, than to hope someone has all the answers...but that is really the best way.