The Voynich Ninja

(26-08-2019, 10:09 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.So the plant I as reminded of was f90r. This is extremely tentative though, we don't even known what those red things represent or if they are just decoration.

There was something nagging at the back of my skull, but could not put a finger on it, until Helmut Winkler said the blue orbs looked like apples... then it hit me. Especially after the root system looked like a skull demon. 

The Blue Apple Parchment "‘Shepherdess, no temptation. That Poussin, Tenniers hold the key: peace 681. By the cross and this house of God. I complete (or destroy) this daemon of the guardian at noon blue apples’ " 

"[font=Arial]The Blue Apples Parchment is not just any cipher. It contains the most profound secrets of the Jesus, the means to open a gateway to the land of Amor. The Blue Apples symbolize these secrets. "[/font]

The Kathers/Cathers wrote in an unknown strange language as well. Long explanation in these blog posts, but good information.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.   You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(...continued)

The "road to Calvary" explains the root as a trumpet and the pole-like stalk and leaves as banners, but I was left pondering what was meant with the top part.

Then I remembered how Anton recently said it's "clearly manifesting itself as a hood". He was thinking as a monk's hood as reference to the plant with that name.

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If these are indeed pieces of headgear, I don't think they belong to monks. They are blue, and the inner part is white. The lining along the edge is white as well, and appears patterned. I don't think it belongs to a man. And the answer is in the same image.

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These scenes were mostly a product of Tradition. Several of the "stages of the cross" are not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, so also the one where he meets his mother. These likely originate from Luke 23:27 "A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him."

In medieval depictions, Mary is almost always included in scenes where Jesus carries the cross and in crucifixion scenes. She is often seen wearing her blue hooded robe over her standard white hood, giving rise to the white inside, blue outside look. This is not visible in the above image, but there are many examples.

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I moved on to Revelation now. I don't know if you've actually ever read the Bible book, but it's one of the most convoluted and confusing pieces of fiction ever written. Anyway, my suspicion that Revelation is involved is becoming more concrete.

First I discussed You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as the "first Beast of Revelation", which was often depicted in Medieval works as one of the more popular Biblical monsters. Since I needed a lot of pictures I did this in a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

Meanwhile, I was starting to suspect that You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. might represent the Dragon from Revelation, which appears before the first Beast, pulls stars from the sky and helps it perform its evil deeds. So their order in the MS, with just a few folios in between and both Currier B, would be acceptable.

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You'll notice about You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. that it looks entirely unnatural. The leaves are twisted to one side, and on the other side grow flowers, as well as on top. The root is long and serpentine.

The dragon has seven heads, and when he first appeared, "his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth".
Here's an illustration of this event from MS You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.:



It's oriented a bit strangely, with the stars below, but if I rotate it, the parallel becomes clear:

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- - - - 

Since these scenes come from the same Bible book (with idiosyncratic writing) and share themes (beast appearing, seven heads, crowns...), and both monsters even appear together in the same scene, I thought this would make for a perfect first test for vocabulary matches. I used Nablator's normalized sheet for Currier B, and sorted first f34v, the "beast" folio. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (dragon) was the 6th best match out of 32 folios.

Then I sorted by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (dragon). It doesn't get great matches with any folio, apart from one: f34v.

I noticed there is starting to emerge a visual vocabulary as well. I don't know yet how consistent it is, but it's something to keep in mind. Possibly, "real" plant parts were picked and mixed based on the "ingredients" needed for a given scene. This would explain why often the impression of hybrid plants emerges.

Note how in the dragon image I used as a parallel, the stars in the tails are drawn like swirly suns. Earlier I said You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is also about a celestial event. So we could hypothesize that these aster-like flowers are used to represent stars or suns.

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I'm developing some thoughts about the Viola on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , which is one of our clearest examples of a real plant (no argument there). 

There are five flowers, one in the middle on top, two to its side and two at the bottom. All are blue, with the ones on the right having clear yellow parts as well.

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The bottom two flowers appear to be turned away from us, although their construction differs. The one on the left has the stalk connected to the centre, while the one on the right has a dot in that place.

The flower top right looks different. It's much more outstretched, and the white part is emphasized and enlarged (I know this is similar to nature in some flowers, but I am just comparing these five flowers among each other). It is a little bit anthropomorphic, more so than the other flowers, and in the central blue part there are rays. Both of these features are found in nature, so they might be of little importance in support of any symbolic meaning. Here I quickly tried to indicate what I'm talking about, but some of the lines under the blue are hard to determine. Your results may vary.

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Now many of you are well versed in medieval iconography, and given the themes I've been discussing of late and the way I describe these flowers and their arrangement, you may know what I'm getting at. There is an extremely (and I don't use this word lightly here) common scene with three figures up high and two (or more, but often two) down below. The lower one dressed in blue is always on the left, or rather at His right hand.

So if this is that scene, then there may also be something important, something that's been eluding me so far. The Titulus Crucis.
And we would expect it in the central, top flower. Here:

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Those marks are not the same as those in the right flower.

Koen,

The composition makes so little sense (one unremarkable flower on top? one semi-anthropomorphic figure on the right?) that it would be easy to dismiss as yet another case of pareidolia. The INRI (inri, INÎ?) is hard to unsee though. So I would like to say that you nailed it, if it wasn't such a bad pun.

(07-09-2019, 09:30 PM)nablator Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Koen,

The composition makes so little sense (one unremarkable flower on top? one semi-anthropomorphic figure on the right?) that it would be easy to dismiss as yet another case of pareidolia. The INRI (inri, INÎ?) is hard to unsee though. So I would like to say that you nailed it, if it wasn't such a bad pun.

There's a bit more to it, but I had to run. I can better show this when I'm home again. But for example, the figure on the left would be Mary, in blue and usually shown fainting or averting her gaze. Check the hanging leaf and the way the "head" looks away.

The INRI would be the most important part though.

INRI on an upside-down cross flower ????

(07-09-2019, 10:18 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.INRI on an upside-down cross flower ????

If the flowers symbolize a crucifixion scene with three crosses, then this exact spot is where INRI or one of its variations would appear.

There's one style of "INRI" which is very similar to this; the examples below are from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. The MS has been mentioned a few times already, by VViews You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and JKP on his blog. It is remarkable for a number of reasons, among which its tendency to use plants-that-aren't-plants.

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It looks like "INR" to me, so IESVS NAZARENVS REX, without the IVDÆORVM?

Edit: ah, maybe in ADD MS 37049 they used the final I to form a cross on the N?

Some sites also mention a medieval belief that violets were first standing upright, but bowed their heads in sadness after the crucifixion. 

I have not yet found a decent source for this information though, so it may be a dead end.