The Dreamer of the Vine is a historical novel by Liz Greene, published in 1980, about
the life
of Nostradamus. Indeed, it is subtitled "A Novel About Nostradamus".
It is relevant to
the mystery
of Rennes-le-Chateau, or perhaps more accurately to
the dissemination
of the mystery
of Rennes-le-Chateau, for two reasons. Firstly, because
the novel touches upon so many themes - Merovingians, bloodlines, secret societies - and locations - Stenay, Gisors, Rennes-les-Bains, Bezu - that are relevant to various strands
of thought about this affair, accurate or otherwise. And also because Liz Greene is - as we discussed briefly on
the Forum a while back -
the sister
of the late Richard Leigh, and was at one stage apparently involved with Michael Baigent, whose photograph
of her adorns
the back cover
of the book. As we all know, Leigh and Baigent were two
of the three co-authors
of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which was written around
the same time as Greene's book, and it would not therefore be unreasonable to presume - although it can only be an assumption, as I can find no useful references to
the book, save for a mention in
the introduction to
the revised edition
of HBHG - that there was at least some measure
of research collaboration between
the authors
of the different works.
Subsequent to
the book being referred to on
the Forum, I acquired a copy, which I have recently read. Although there's likely only a very small number here who have read this book, I thought it was worthy
of discussion.
As far as
the story is concerned, one could do little better than to repeat
the blurb from
the cover.
Quote:
Nostradamus was destined for the Vine from the hour of his birth in 1503, when his grandfather, astrologer and physician to the court of King Rene of Anjou, cast his natal horoscope and saw the awesome potential of his power. When the dream of the lady and the pool first came to him at the age of five he sensed its sanctity and terror, but years passed and the dream recurred many times before his masters unmasked themselves and he became initiate in a mystery which struck at the spiritual and temporal heart of the Rennaissance, and gave the past and the future a new and terrible meaning.
Set amid the splendour and horror of sixteenth century France, this stunning historical novel brilliantly evokes an age in which an illicit society nourished the legacies of Templar and Cathar and found a cunning irony in the legends of the Grail, in which the game of power was ruthlessly played and the stakes were high, and a trusted astrologer at the court of the Valois could be privy to the secret soul of kings.
Nostradamus, astrologer, alchemist, prophet, physician, healer of the plague, tells how he tried to trick the portent of the dream and failed, and learned with much pain to read the fire. As his masters intended he is a mouthpiece, who speaks of the enigmas of the past, the riddles of his own time and foretells our future, in which the Vine still flourishes.
As for Liz Greene, she is an Anglo-American author and astrologer, and according to
the little bit about her in
the book:
Quote:
Her characterisations of the true historical persons who appear in The Dreamer of the Vine, including that of Nostradamus, are based upon her own evaluation of their horoscopes, where birth times were available.
A little more on Liz Greene below, from her Wikipedia entry, in which
The Dreamer of the Vine merits a brief mention.
Quote:
Liz Greene, (born 4th September 1946 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA) is an American-British astrologer and author. She is the sister of the late author Richard Leigh. Her father was born in London, and her mother in the USA.
Greene has written several astrology books based on Jungian psychology and other forms of depth psychology, contributing to an application of astrology called Psychological astrology. She relocated to the UK, then to Zürich, Switzerland to continue her work. Since 2004 she has again been living in the UK.
In 1985 Greene started co-operating with Alois Treindl, founder of Swiss-based Astrodienst, on development of computer-generated horoscopes, which would present a person with a chart synthesis, simulating Greene's own method of horoscope interpretation during a personal reading. Two years later, in 1987, they presented the Psychological Horoscope Analysis, which was followed by several other interpretations. Greene remains Astrodienst's most popular author.
With Howard Sasportas, Greene co-founded the Centre for Psychological Astrology in London. After Sasportas' death in 1992, astrologer Charles Harvey took over as co-Director, until his death in 2000. Greene continues directing the organisation. In addition, she also directs CPA Press, a publishing company that focuses on specialist astrological works.
Greene has been one of the most persistently popular astrologers of the 20th century. Almost all of her many books remain in print. Greene became quickly famous with the publication, by Weiser, of Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil, in 1976, in which she applied Jungian psychology to revise the image of Saturn as a planet of misfortune, recasting it in a more Jungian image that has continued to be very popular into the twenty-first century.
Greene wrote a single historical novel in 1980, The Dreamer on the Vine, dealing with the themes of Nostradamus and Jesus bloodline. Nonetheless, her remaining books have been on topics applying principles of psychoanalysis to astrology (Psychological astrology). Many are transcripts of her lectures, and many are co-authored, especially by Howard Sasportas.
In addition to giving frequent lectures and directing a certificate programme in psychological astrology, Greene has continued to produce many books, all of which are now published by her own company, the CPA Press. She has also co-authored, with Juliet Sharman-Burke, a deck of tarot cards, the Mythic Tarot.
Her most influential books include Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil, and the philosophically-inclined The Astrology of Fate. The Outer Planets & Their Cycles, The Luminaries (with H. Sasportas) and The Dark of the Soul are other examples of her work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_GreeneI have no belief, or interest, in astrology, but I was intrigued enough by
the connection between Greene's novel and
the ideas in HBHG, to want to read it, and having done so, I'm glad that I did.
As a piece
of writing it's very accomplished. Liz Greene has
the gift
of conveying a sense
of time and place, and
of bringing her characters and
the scenarios they inhabit to life. She adopts an elegant and ornate style that seems fitting to
the period in which
the novel is set, and resists
the temptation, to which many writers
of historical fiction succumb,
of transposing modern 20th century sensibilities onto her characters. Therefore
the language she employs, and
the minutiae
of detail in her vivid descriptive passages, have
the ring
of authenticity about them.
As far as
the accuracy or otherwise
of the biographical and wider historical detail is concerned, I am not in a position to judge. From what little I know
of the life
of Nostradamus,
the timeline at least appears to be accurate, as well as
the recounting
of some
of the seer's better known associations. But much
of the content
of the book is,
of course, speculative, if not purely imaginary, based in part, as referenced above, on "information" gleaned from horoscopes. This is very much fiction and not history, but
the book nevertheless contains much
of interest.
I must admit, I was much more taken with
the first half
of the novel, with its more intimate detail
of Nostradamus
the person, than I was with
the second half, which is more concerned with
the political and dynastic machinations
of the day, much
of the detail
of which passed over my head, and which I found rather confusing. Someone with more knowledge
of 16th century French history would doubtless be able to take more from it. I have to confess that when I got to
the end I wasn't entirely sure what it had all been about.
But given some
of the themes and ideas contained in its pages, there is no question in my mind that this book is relevant to issues periodically under discussion on these boards. Even if many
of the novel's ideas have subsequently been discredited, they remain
of interest, since they have informed a number
of publications, from HBHG to
The Da Vinci Code.
I would be very interested to hear
the thoughts
of those who may have read this book.
The sort
of questions one might consider would include
the extent to which it should be read as a companion piece to HBHG, its place in
the canon
of RLC-related literature, and how effectively its ideas are presented.
Later on, I shall add some further posts, addressing
the following themes in
the book: Bloodlines, Vines and Viticulture; Plantard and
the Prieure de Sion; Black Madonnas; Rennes-les-Bains and Bezu; and Stenay and
the Foret de Woevres.
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