The Voynich Ninja

(24-10-2019, 10:29 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.There are a few other strange properties of the plant as well. On the right side of the stem and leaf, there is a double line, as if they wanted to make it look 3D. And the root top I can only see as if it represents chiseled wood, but it may be something else entirely.

The strange properties would be the 13, 2, 6. 
13 flower petals, 2 leaves, 6 roots. 
13 Mem, 2 Beth, 6 Vav
Entrance/ Preface
But what do i know of imagery and magic words?

(22-10-2019, 09:30 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Yes I see where you are coming from. But that doesn't explain away the unusual stick the whole thing is resting upon.

The overall shape of the stalk and rays reminded me of certain medieval flabella. They were not all made of paper or ivory, some of them had feathers (in fact, the ancient ones often had feathers), which might account for a circle of "rays". Some were for ornamental or practical use, others for liturgical use.

Note the pattern of raised dots at the bottom of the handle, They're not super-similar to the stalk on the VMS, but the basic idea might fit:

[attachment=3592].  . 

Liturgical fan, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston                    Tacuinum Santitatus 




Roman relief, Tullie Museum, Carlysle

(24-10-2019, 02:42 AM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Upside-down the part on the left looks like the Leo symbol, Leo is a sun sign.

In fact, there is often a red "star" on zodiac depictions of Leo (and the VMS feline has a red splot that looks like candle wax but also somewhat resembles the red suns on a number of zodiac Leos):

For that matter, if we consider the possibility of the IHS inscription, we also can suppose it includes the Leo symbol  in upside-down position, as JKP suggests. But that's not all. The "inscription" equally can be the word "Sol" ("Sun" in Latin, Spanish)  in upside-down or [llikely] reverse position. I don't exclude that the supposed letter "s" can be written in that strange way to depict the Leo symbol, as a sun sign (as JKP pointed earlier). Nevertheless, I also suppose those symbols to be some made-up letters, which can mean Sun / Sol, after all.
The picture of the Sun is taken from the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (2nd half of the XV c.)

The fact that these double-layered Sun images exist is an indication in favor of reading the flower as a sun, no matter how the awkward inscription is interpreted.

(One problem with IHS inscriptions is that the chosen letters can vary a lot, and the way of writing them as well. Just when you think you've seen it all.. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. )

Look at the "U" in "DEUS" in the Visconti Hours:

[attachment=3599]  [attachment=3600]

I got shot down when I suggested that the squiggle in the VMS "seagull" glyph was similar to the Latin "smoke" macron (I sometimes call it a squiggle) which, in Latin often represented er/re/ir/ri.  (It wasn't everyone who disagreed, but some people expressed outright skepticism about it.)


The "smoke" macron (which was sometimes horizontal, sometimes vertical and usually a little less wiggly than this, although some scribes drew it somewhat wiggly) was recognized by context, and was usually associated with the letter "v" (which in Latin is "v" or "u"), but not exclusively so. It could be anywhere in words, but it was frequently associated with the letter "v" as in v'sus (versus) and v'ginis (virginis).

So here we have an example of the letter u/v written like a seagull when it is flourished text at the beginning of a paragraph. If the word had been an abbreviated version of VIRGINIS rather than DEUS in the Visconti Hours, there would have been a squiggle macron inside the V shape.


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I don't suppose the "U" shape (that looks more like Omega upside-down than a U) in the VMS rayed plant could be in a different word/acronym than IHS? (like DEUS or something along those lines?).

Edit (addition): Here's another example of seagull "u" with the word written vertically:

[attachment=3601]

Note how the gold decoration within the margins of the letter is pseudo-text mimicking some of the shapes of the text on the right.

You know, if you were simply to read the number of rays in the VMS plant as kabbalah (counting each layer, white and green, as a separate number), the meaning would be unity of male/female energies of the creator.

Or, you could look at it another way, if you read the direction of the tips the white one is 12 & 1 (counter-clockwise and clockwise) and the green is 4 & 10.

Unfortunately, it's easy to read almost anything that can be counted in kabbalah, even if no meaning was originally intended.


It's also possible to read the number of rays as an astrological interpretation, in which case the meaning is different. Just reading the total number of rays in each layer (not the direction of the tips) it would refer to tradition and labor in combination with travel.


So, depending on which system you pick, it's possible for it to have an interpretative meaning.

Normally I wouldn't mention this, it's probably too coincidental, but I think the general IDEA of looking for similar characteristics might be worthwhile and I've been keeping my eyes open not just for double-rayed suns (and other rayed motifs) but also those in which the direction of the rays change course on the way around (and also are there any with double pairs of rays).

I grabbed one from the Visconti Hours just as an example (I have other examples)... this sun symbol has more rays than most of them and it has an interesting pincer shape under the leaf on the right that is poking in between the rays. It also has an almost hidden second layer of rays that might just be there for purposes of depth, but I'll mention it anyway:

[attachment=3605]

A proper "Bernardine" sun must have 12 rays - the meanings of the number was part of his sermons. In the famous Sienese paintings made around the time of his death, this number is always respected. But I've noticed that documents which are more removed can deviate from this number, sometimes considerably.

The Visconti hours were made before Bernardino standardized his symbol, and it appears they don't always use the same number of rays. One of the clips you posted elsewhere does have 12 rays though. Either this is a coincidence, or just the result of the obvious appeal of this number.

I was pondering that the VM artist may have experienced a problem because his sun has a stalk. This occupies the space where a green ray should be. Did he run some failed experiment on the right to compensate? It's hard to say, it's quite the mess...

The idea of a flabellum still somewhat comes to mind (although the ones with feathers usually were more fan-shaped rather than round). A feather flabellum might have two layers in different colors and almost always had decorative handles.

It's true for the stem, but the shape of the leaves matches really well with that of radiant suns. I have little doubt that whoever drew this had a radiant sun in mind (whether they meant it as an actual plant or an emblem or a sun-shaped flabellum...) It seems relatively certain here that the resemblance to a sun symbol is no coincidence here, independent of the reason.

Now to get back to text within the sun. From all the literature I consulted, I got the impression that a blazing sun and Christogram had not been combined until Bernardino did it in 1417. And then in the Visconti hours Marco linked I saw this:

[attachment=3607]

I thought the entire MS was made in the late 14th century, so this should have been an anomaly. However, I read the second part was finished in the 15th century, so it makes sense now.