The Voynich Ninja

Considering those four corners as points for the four elements, we can suppose that the "volcano" with the water fontain may mean the Element of Water, the "volcano" with funnel-like top may mean the Element of Fire (maybe, it depicts a medieval torch similar to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.), the "cloudy tunnel" in the left bottom corner - the Element of Air, so the left top pipes must represent the Element of Earth, however strange it is.
I would note that it must be generally strange that the author doesn't depict fire in any place of the manuscript, only some hints on the light. I often tried to find any signs of the Elements in the VMs, in particular, on the Rosettes page, but if they are there, they are veiled.

(25-06-2020, 07:40 PM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Koen, when I was blogging about the spewy things maybe being volcanoes, geysers, or steam vents, I looked for volcano narratives from the Middle Ages, and there were a number of them, but I like yours (Pliny) better. It seems to fit better than the ones I located.

The thought had never occurred to me before, but I like it as well. I happened to remember the text because in high school I had to translate it for Latin class and it left quite an impression, with the description of the mushroom cloud collapsing under its own mass and everything.

Koen - I promise not to mention the face any more  
Seriously, however, in your post above, the second example is obviously an emission event.
However, the one I posted looks more, as Searcher contrasted, like a castle. It could be a castle above a cave? The crenellation on top is very clear; also, it is the traditional square type rather than the famous one observed in the castle top right.
The schematic, although much later, is something like Mundus Subterraneus by Kircher, with intakes and outputs.
Whatever the thing is, it has its own two word (one word + glyph m) label, so it is given a certain level of importance by the scribe.

If the scribe has just been doing crenellations on castles in the other corner, he'd be unlikely to use them as stylised emissions in another corner

(25-06-2020, 09:17 PM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Maybe it's a crenellated wall. Or maybe just a pattern, a stylized emission.

A similar pattern is found on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. top left. I think they might be crystals indicating mineralization?

(25-06-2020, 07:55 PM)Searcher Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Considering those four corners as points for the four elements, we can suppose that the "volcano" with the water fontain may mean the Element of Water, the "volcano" with funnel-like top may mean the Element of Fire (maybe, it depicts a medieval torch similar to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.), the "cloudy tunnel" in the left bottom corner - the Element of Air, so the left top pipes must represent the Element of Earth, however strange it is.
I would note that it must be generally strange that the author doesn't depict fire in any place of the manuscript, only some hints on the light. I often tried to find any signs of the Elements in the VMs, in particular, on the Rosettes page, but if they are there, they are veiled.

I often suspect the illustrator ran out of red or orange paint.  

Just as foundation: I read the rosettes as a relationship chart based on creation myth (I'm a sceptic) in one or more overlapping religions, particularly the hermeticum and Christianity,, showing god in everything, and the relationship of spirit, soul and body and respective reincarnation.  It's remarkably consistent in those terms.

I was particularly caught in the hermeticum by the word "midwife" in connection with earthly elements that nurture the spirit.  Because call them what you will - nymphs, women, degrees, plants, stars, angels, goddesses - the women's pregnant bellies, the things they seem to do, and the things they sometimes carry  say "midwife" strongly to me.  Also the fact they are pregnant might relate to another hermeticum principle that plants and stones and elements are created with the seeds of their future regenerated selves already in them.  So not babies but literally seeds.

All that said, I think the VMS is full of references to fire, because I think those women are elemental "midwives", nurturing, nursing, guiding the spirit through its various physical pathways. Each of their barrels give some indication which element they are the spririt for.    Fire is actually the first element hierarchically.  So I think when we see o followed by an Eva k, we have a symbol for celestial fire, which joined spirit to form (o lines to straight lines).  O followed by Eva t is possibly earthly midwives to symbolize earth and water spirits together, and o followed by Eva f is the air.  Look along the top row and you can see where each one is introduced.

Air is introduced a little below the third sphere because it also represents the breath or "word". See how those c's flow up in that air umbrella?  And then the c shape in the middle of the third sphere formed of words?  

I'm pretty sure that c represents the Word of god, which in turn represents Jesus or resurrection or just naming things.  That's why I see air there.

I can rattle on but will stop here.  It is hard to keep to one topic because literally everything in that chart is related, in myriad ways, and as that's the main precept of hermeticism, I don't think that's accidental, but rather its main point.

Re ROS, is the main rosette related to bottom left?

I think everything is related to that middle sphere!  But this is a question I've been puzzling over as well.  Unlike another poster in this thread, I do think numerology is heavily at play in the rosette and possibly used if this is a cipher too. Each sphere's centre seems to have a particular number representing it, or at least some do, like 4, 7, 8, .  I used numerology on some of them too, and sometimes each has more than one number.

For instance, the "o", top right, which represents spirit in my scheme, and therefore possibly 0, has 37 moons lining its centre, which gave me 3+7=10, 1+0=1.  So it is represented as zero (space) or 1 depending on its use as symbol/category or number/letter.  On the far right, top, we have a c shape spiral in the middle consisting (if I read this correctly), of 11 words.  1+1=2, which is actually the number I had already assigned it.  The 13 at the middle of that row would be 1+3=4, consistent with elements, and 3x4=12 with the zodiac, and 1+2=3 with the trinity or the heavens.  Confusing!

On the bottom right we have our 4 shape, but that o in the middle makes it a 5.  (That o shooting out the five pipes I think is adding to these elements).  It's possible this is our 4o, notice the tipped 4 pointing in the direction of o.  4o could stand for aether.  I believe the number 5 is above the 4, representing the body or flesh of man, animal, so wouldn't consider it the "r" shape just yet.

8 left middle as immortal soul appears to be just 8 - I see nothing hidden. But that might be because the soul is not actually physical but invisible already so nothing more needs to be hidden.

Similarlly, bottom middle, we have our 7 petaled flower but it has a c shape in the middle, making it also  a possible 9, depending once again on symbol/sign, abbreviation or letter/number.  I believe this position is the symbol for reincarnation of plants, animals and humzn bodies, hence why 9 can appear fore and aft so frequently in words and lines.

But now we come to our sixes and I have to admit to some frustration.  The bottom left is definitely my best candidate for 6.  The Last Judgment in Christianity, or where soul and body part ways in the hermeticum and the soul either rests, returns upward to o, or is shrived of its sins by daimons and continues on its way to reincarnation (I still think that volcano portal is a cloud car!).  This judgment space to me is possibly supported by the L shape outside it, which among other things could be an L, the sign for Libra, and thus weighing the soul for judgment.  I think the sign for this sphere could be the backward s.

But the middle!  To me this is the microcosm of the hermeticum, as above so below, etc., so every number from the outside sphere could possibly be represented here. And they are if we take the minims, o's and chevrons into account. Or not.  My most likely candidate would be ten, as that represents completeness or perfection.  But I'm still wrestling with it.

It is possible, in line with your noticing the similar sixes and centres, that because six is kind of the last stop before reincarnation or resurrection, that the middle begins with thwt number.  I don't know.

Honestly, for someone with no interest in astrology, magic, numerology a few months ago, I rather wish I'd never seen the Voynich!  But it is kind of fascinating how entrenched these systems were in medieval and renaissance times in other manuscripts, and likely this one.