Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

NOSTRADAMUS, Michael (1503-66)

French physician and astrologer, born in Provence, whose predictions of the future have fascinated people for centuries.

Nostradamus was taught medicine at the University of Montpellier and acquired fame as a doctor by treating victims of the plague, but he eventually turned more to Astrology and metaphysics. He travelled widely through Europe. In 1555 he completed The Centuries, a book of more than 900 predictions about the fate of France, the world and celebrated persons of his time. He became a celebrity, admired and reviled in equal measure.

By his own calculation, his prophecies extended to the year 3797. The title of the book refers to the fact that the contents are arranged in sections of 100 verses each. An expanded version was published in 1558. His prophecies are written as four-lined rhymed verses (quatrains) in vague, often cryptic language.

His fondness for Astrology, anagrams and his penchant for sprinkling his verses with Hebrew, Latin and Portuguese words further complicate interpretation of his predictions.

Some interpreters say the verses can be applied to anything, or nothing, whereas others claim that various verses foretold such occurrences as the Great Fire of London in 1666, the deaths of several monarchs, details of the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon and Hitler, and World War II, including air battles and tank battles. Because Nostradamus included very few dates in his prophecies and because, additionally, he did not organise them into a chronological order, the verses have been constantly re-interpreted since their publication.

The Centuries remains a classic of occult literature and hundreds of studies of it have been published.

A Biblical Perspective:

The prophet Isaiah proclaimed:

"Let the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee," (Isaiah 47:13-15).

As Isaiah explains, the astrologer will not save anyone from their troubles. Looking to the stars is not where man's hope and faith should be placed.

As early as the time of Moses, man had a spiritually unhealthy preoccupation with the stars.

"And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven," (Deuteronomy 4:19).

In similar fashion, the prophet Jeremiah declared, "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them," (Jeremiah 10:2).

The Lord makes it clear that to look to the movements of the planets rather than to look to Him, is the action of the pagan.

Finally, when Astrology is tested side-by-side with turning to God for the answers, there should be no doubt as to which is the most accurate.

"And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. Daniel answered in the presence of the kind, and said, The secret which the king hast demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days," (Daniel 1:20 and 2:27-28).

Throughout history, man has searched the stars, planets and heavenly bodies for the answers to life's questions. Throughout history, God has condemned such practices as heathen and vain.

When will man realized that the answer to his questions lay not in the creation of the sun, moon and planets, but rather in the Creator of the sun, moon and planets?

The Scriptures clearly prohibit Divination in any form. Divination is the attempt to divine the mind of Deity through some means other than God's way. It is an attempt to understand the past, present, or future by some means other than the revelation of God. The revelation may come through various means, but ultimately any revelation apart from God is divination. God's revelation and divination are opposites.

Divination usurps the rightful place of the Scripture in the life of the Christian. It attempts to give direction and guidance to the individual. The Bible is clear on the subject. Divination, is an abomination to God. Some would have us believe the Bible endorses Divination as an art that offers mankind an understanding of his true self, an opportunity to create his or her own reality to suit his or her personal spiritual goals. The following Scripture indicates otherwise.

'When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices Divination or Sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.' - Deuteronomy 18:9-11

Scripture also calls each of us to place our faith in Jesus Christ rather than the created universe. The book of Colossians reminds the individual to "see to it that no one takes you captive through vain philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of man, according to the elemental principles of the universe, rather than according to Christ." - (Colossians 2:8)

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc