(03-04-2025, 08:27 AM)Antonio García Jiménez Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.That all parts of the Voynich are related and correspond to each other can also be seen in the so-called pharmacological section and the Rosettes page. Some of the luxurious containers we see in the central circle of the Rosettes surrounded by stars can be seen almost identical on the pharmacological pages next to roots and herbs. There is a clear symbolic message in these illustrations. The presence of these vessels on both sides means that the essences or therapeutic virtues created by the stars end up in the components of the plants.
Luxurious vessels like those in the Voynich can be seen, around the same time, in paintings or miniatures depicting the Epiphany in the hands of the Three Wise Men. Besides gold, they contained incense and myrrh, precious essences.
The color "blue" is a prominent color in the Holy Bible.
I believe that the color blue has a symbolic content in the Voynich, but not in a religious sense. In my opinion, it is an allusion to the sky as a place where celestial objects, the stars, are found. This interpretation does not seem difficult because in the astronomical and cosmological sections it is the most widespread color along with the yellow of the stars, which naturally means their brightness. Blue is also very present on the Rosettes page, which I think is a representation of the medieval universe, however strange it may seem.
In this context, it makes sense that the predominant color of the flowers is also blue, something rare in nature. In my interpretation of the Voynich, there is a correspondence between the stars and the herbs, and the color blue can serve to reinforce that idea.
It's also very significant that in Quire 13 the colors blue and green alternate between the female figures. But blue seems to always, or almost always, be at the top. They descend from the sky.
I believe that the Voynich is, in a broad sense, a scientific book, that is, a work that attempts to explain natural phenomena. In the Middle Ages, science and natural magic were closely related. Both sought to understand the hidden powers of the physical world.
Given the images we see in the Voynich, it is not difficult to deduce that the driving idea of the book is the astral influence on plants, but not just any plants, but those that have healing powers. The authors of the VM did not know what photosynthesis was, something that would only be known centuries later, but they had the empirical knowledge that light made herbs grow and flourish. I think the authors wanted to show something like this by highlighting the zodiac signs of spring, when light grows. Sources of light were the sun, the moon, and the stars. We see all of them widely represented in the Voynich.
How can we explain this hidden power of light over herbs? This is what I believe the authors of the book are trying to understand and convey. It is with this approach that the invention of an astral code, a code of combinations of astronomical symbols, makes sense.
In previous posts I have argued why the imagery gives rise to the belief that the script is a set of astronomical symbols organized in some way. I actually think the book forms a well-knit unit and conveys an idea consistent with the medieval mentality.
Now I want to focus only on the script and what we can deduce from its nature. I'll give an example. There are a dozen pieces of glyphs containing the following sequence [cccc]. I know that people who think that the script translates a language, whether natural or encrypted, do real mental pirouettes to justify that.
What I'm defending is quite simple, as strange as it may seem. There aren't four c's, nor three or two, but just one [c] that's moving. It's the symbol of the moon moving in its orbit.
The same thing I said about [c] could be said about [\]. There are two strings of symbols in the script that include [\\\\], although two and three [\\\] are the most common. What could this strange repeated glyph mean?
In my opinion, it is like [c] an astronomical symbol that indicates the degrees of the ecliptic through which celestial objects move. Note, which I consider important, the inclination of the glyph [\] which is a way, as I see it, of indicating the insertion into the sphere.
The Voynich script was created specifically for this codex. It's not suitable for any other book, only for the Voynich or any other book that conveys the same message with its images. In other words, it's an ad hoc script. I think this is contrary to the general opinion. For me, it's the images that explain the script, not the other way around.
In my opinion, the authors of the Voynich drew some images to try to explain the phenomenon of astral influence on plants, a phenomenon in which they firmly believed. It's only later that they create a code that can replicate that underlying idea. That's why I believe the script is simply an astronomical code that appears to be a language. For its authors, it's science, but also a kind of game, hence the existence of certain rules, but also the whims of its authors in combining symbols.
(23-04-2025, 12:37 PM)Antonio García Jiménez Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I think this is contrary to the general opinion.
Possibly, but I fully agree with this. Of course, mine is also just an opinion...
(23-04-2025, 12:56 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (23-04-2025, 12:37 PM)Antonio García Jiménez Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I think this is contrary to the general opinion.
Possibly, but I fully agree with this. Of course, mine is also just an opinion...
I agree with the first paragraph - always have so doubt it’s a controversial opinion.
I’m only partly sold on the astronomical script. Alchemy borrowed much from astronomy/astrology and we’re moreover dealing, in my opinion, with a whole worldview mappamundae in the rosettes page and narratives in the balneoligical pages that incorporate a melange of different if rrelated ideas: astrological impact, Christian mysticism, myths of transmutation, alchemy, eschatology and prophecy, the water of life. Moreover, the huge section of plants plus the pharmaceutical section give more emphasis to an alchemical/pharmaceutical explanation than solely astronomical.
Still, it makes sense that someone intent on devising a script would at least start with what they considered a celestial script- coming from the stars - and I have no quibble with that as a good theory. I think there’s an alchemical component though that makes it more complex.
For fun, here’s my riddle:
o+^=?
?+^=??
??\^=???
Hi Antonio and all,
Thank you for opening this thread. I agree that looking at the Voynich manuscript as a symbolic, possibly astronomical or agronomic code makes a lot of sense, especially if we move beyond assuming it must represent a phonetic language.
To contribute to this direction, I’ve recently completed a fully reproducible computational analysis of the botanical folios using entropy, topic modeling, and synthetic lunar phases. Unlike intuitive symbol reading, this approach statistically tests for hidden structure. The results were compelling:
- A supervised classifier predicted four internal “phases” across folios with 96.5% accuracy.
- A 1,000-run permutation test confirmed the structure is not random (p < 0.001). Not a bias.
- The pattern was validated against real flowering data from plants, showing ~65% alignment using a ±1 phase margin.
- Topic autocorrelation and FFT revealed regular harmonic peaks, suggesting a latent cyclic rhythm.
- These cycles appear both globally across the manuscript and within individual pages, indicating a multi-layered structure.
My working hypothesis is that the manuscript encodes a symbolic lunisolar calendar tied to Mediterranean agricultural cycles, particularly the phases of planting, growth, bloom, and harvest. The evidence suggests that the “text” may represent a calendrical and agronomic code rather than conventional language.
It doesn’t decode the script, but shows that, statistically, the content behaves like a ritual calendar system rather than random prose.
The entire project is fully open and reproducible, with fixed seed 1405. The code and data are available here:
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A full preprint detailing the method and results is currently under review at arXiv.
Looking forward to any feedback, critique, or collaboration.
Best regards,
O.Cho
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Quote:My working hypothesis is that the manuscript encodes a symbolic lunisolar calendar tied to Mediterranean agricultural cycles, particularly the phases of planting, growth, bloom, and harvest. The evidence suggests that the “text” may represent a calendrical and agronomic code rather than conventional language.
It doesn’t decode the script, but shows that, statistically, the content behaves like a ritual calendar system rather than random prose.
The entire project is fully open and reproducible, with fixed seed 1405. The code and data are available here:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
A full preprint detailing the method and results is currently under review at arXiv.
Looking forward to any feedback, critique, or collaboration.
Best regards,
O.Cho
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
I find that interesting because given the constraints of the text it has seemed plausible to me that they contained tabular information such as moon phases. Does this mean it contains information such as this?
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Beyond that, does it show the full cycle? Now that would be something.
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Alternatively, things like You are not allowed to view links.
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Looking forward to a more understandable representation of what you are suggesting you have uncovered.