The Voynich Ninja

The general discussion of VMs imagery seems to focus on comparative illustrations and the interpretations of appearance. What has been left out is the use of placement within certain illustrations as a significant, secondary factor in the comparative interpretation of those illustrations. And there is an important difference found here. The comparison of appearance to external references is subjective. The comparison of position within an illustration (based on tradition) is objective.

Here are two instances where positional information is used to authenticate certain interpretations based on appearance.

The first examples are in the Four by Seventeen Symbol Sequence of f57v. And just in the first five symbols. This is the triple convergence on Symbol #5. This symbol has three interpretations based on its appearance. Each interpretation has a positional confirmation within that particular interpretive system.

As the Greek letter lambda, it is the correct distance from Symbol #1, if that is the Greek letter omicron.
As the medieval numeral seven (7), it is the correct distance from Symbol #2, if that is the medieval numeral four (4).
See examples of of these numerals used on Typus Arithmetica.
As an inverted version of the Roman numeral five (5), it is a five in the fifth place. Not in some other place.

In the second set of examples, the use of positional confirmation is to support the historical, heraldic investigation in the illustration of f71r, White Aries. If the investigation has discovered the secondary orientation of the blue stripes, their pairing and the red galero, then the comparisons to armorial and ecclesiastical heraldry have gone about as far as the can go. They are interpretations based on appearance and they are subjective, even though they are also historically unique. But what also comes into play is the way the figures are positioned. They are in their proper hierarchical positions as they sit within the celestial spheres of the illustration. This is an objective statement of position. Objective statements are far stronger than subjective interpretations.

So, granted, there are only four possibilities, if it were random placement, so the odds are 1 in 4. But this is the only proper placement for pope and cardinal as they were independently identified by armorial and ecclesiastical heraldic traditions.

Second is a positional confirmation based on heraldic placement. Both figures are in the quadrant favored in heraldry, which is the heraldic upper right. Odds of 1 in 16 to get both in this quadrant. Then it's a quarter of that from the part above.


Third is the placement of these historical illustrations on a particular page of the VMs Zodiac and why that page is White Aries, and not somewhere else - at random - 1 out of 14, presumably. It involves a combination of ancient religious tradition with the apparent whims of the VMs artist's painting paradox.

From the position that heraldry and history have identified the Fieschi clerics in their hierarchical positions, this is religious history - the beginnings of a religious tradition. Another, much older, religious tradition is the association of white animals with sacrifices to celestial deities.  [Dark animals to chthonic deities.] And this is White Aries. Why is White Aries white?

It is interesting to speculate about various unpainted images, as to what color they could have been. Such is not the case with the animal in the center of f71r. Just about everything else on this page has been painted. A fact that sets this page apart. Every thing is painted except Aries. And on the other VMs Zodiac pages, the animals are all painted with browns, etc.  Only White Aries is the white animal suitable for popes and their celestial purposes.

Fourth is the positional confirmation based on the inclusion and the placement of the pair of heraldic papelonny patterns in the Pisces and Dark Aries illustrations, matching in quadrant and in sphere with the blue-striped patterns of White Aries. Specifically arranged to show that the pun is obviously an intentional construction.

All four examples of positional confirmation are supportive of the historical heraldic grounding. Appearance is validated, despite the use of illusion to provide a slight disguise. Who was expecting a book of secrets to spill everything at first glance??

It is my interpretation that these examples of positional confirmation can only exist in the VMs through their intentional inclusion in the complex construction of these Zodiac illustrations by the author. And that the objective nature of these constructions is a valid indicator of the author's intentions as revealed through placement and positioning.
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There is another significant positional relationship drawn into the White Aries illustration. It is the connection between the upper blue-and-white striped patterned tub and the inner example of a patterned box filling in part of a circular band of written text. This contiguous connection is unique.

Having markers in circular bands of text occurs in various illustrations and is not unusual. In fact there several standard types of text markers. But the markers found in the VMs Zodiac are complex and unique. Two in White Aries and one in Cancer. One in three has a tub connection. But why?

Where does it say that the potential keys to the VMs need to be presented in the text as clear as day? So they are disguised a bit. But if they are disguised, they are even more susceptible to the effects and the arguments of subjective interpretation. Such identifications are potentially flawed and false and, therefore, to be rejected. So I've been told.

This is why there are positional confirmations. Each of these is an objective statement, a positional confirmation of fact and a demonstration of technique in the creation of the Zodiac illustrations. Everything that is within the pairing paradigm. How many pairs are needed to demonstrate their intentional creation?

Placement and position offer the VMs artist a simple way to communicate. To say: That which is physically connected is ideologically connected. But, of course, if the images have not been correctly identified, then it makes no sense. And the same with positionally connected. Because intention is the source of this creation and it explains how the parts are put into position.

While it may seem to some that the particular, historical choice made by the author is obscure and therefore a poor one, quite a different perspective might obtain from a time approximating the parchment dates. The historical tradition of the cardinals' red galero is not something insignificant, even more important in the past - given that the majority of literate persons, at the time of the parchment dates, were church or cleric educated, with many being members of the church hierarchy.  And, ostensibly, this is also a time before all popes were given armorial insignia. Given the pairing and the plainness of the heraldic pattern, the choice is perfect, but position and placement carry the day because they are objective.
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