The Voynich Ninja

You misunderstood me. In the VMS, the tower you described is depicted in a narrow valley. There are rocks all around it. Why would someone who wants to reach the sky build the tower in a valley like that? (And, of course, depict it that way, too.)

(23-08-2026, 02:51 PM)JoJo_Jost Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.You misunderstood me. In the VMS, the tower you described is depicted in a narrow valley. There are rocks all around it. Why would someone who wants to reach the sky build the tower in a valley like that? (And, of course, depict it that way, too.)

I really don't know how else to explain it to you: the valley you see belongs to the level of the higher spheres, and the part sticking out is what rises above the clouds. The foundations are at the level of the Rosetta in the top right corner.

TREASURIES AND STOREHOUSES
In the past, valuables were kept in structures known as treasuries. One such building is the Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace) on Piazza della Signoria (Florencia). Its most prominent feature is the 94-meter-tall Arnolfo Tower (Torre di Arnolfo), which served key defensive, penal, and—indeed—treasury functions during the era of the Florentine Republic and the subsequent rule of the Medici family.
Palace Tower (Torre di Arnolfo): Ghibelline battlements (swallow-tails)

TREASURIES AND STOREHOUSES
3 |About the taking away of Enoch; how the angels took him on the 1st heaven. “2.”|

And it came about, when I had spoken to my sons, those med called me. And they took me up onto their wings, and carried me up to the first heaven, and placed me on the clouds. •And, behold, they were moving. And there I perceived the air higher up, and higher still I saw the ether. •And they placed me on the first heaven. And they showed me a vast ocean, much bigger than the earthly ocean.
4 |About the angels who govern the stars. “3.”|

They led before my face the elders, the rulers of the stellar orders.
And they showed me the 200 angels who govern the stars and the heavenly combinations. •And they fly with their wings, and do the rounds of all the planets.

5 |About how the angels guard the storehouses of the snow. Word “4.”|
And there I perceived the treasuries of the snow and the ice, and the angels who guard their terrible storehouses, •
and the treasury of the clouds, from which they come out and go in.

6 |About the dew and about olive oil and various flowers. Word “5.”|
And they showed me the treasuries of the dew, like olive oil.
And the appearance of its image was like every kind of earthly flower , only more numerous; and the angels who guard their treasuries, how they are shut and opened.

A Palace as the Home of Kircher’s Gifts and Inventions
When Kircher lobbied the Grand Dukes of Tuscany (Ferdinand II and Cardinal Leopold de' Medici) in the 17th century for financial support and the loan of rare Arabic printing fonts for his books, he sent them his writings and mechanical inventions as a token of gratitude. All these gifts (including the famous *Organum mathematicum* mathematical-cryptographic machine) were originally housed directly within the Palazzo Vecchio and the associated family galleries.

An additional graphic layer—a protective angelic amulet—is embedded within the rosette in the upper right corner.
The methodology for creating these protective amulets is described in the work *Shams al-Ma'arif wa-Lata'if al-Awarif*. Historically, *Shams al-Ma'arif* was translated into Ge'ez (Classical Ethiopic).
The spiral shape was not chosen by chance; it symbolized the eternal movement of the celestial spheres and the macrocosm.
When Ethiopian Christian clerics—specifically the *debtera*, who practiced folk magic and healing—adopted the diagrams from *Shams al-Ma'arif*, they modified them slightly. They often redrew the original Islamic magic squares, seals, and geometric figures as intricate webs of interlacing lines and knots, incorporating human faces and large, protective eyes intended to ward off demons. Islamic angelic names or verses were frequently replaced by Christian magical formulas in Ge'ez.

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Turris David
(Another powerful protective symbol)
 
The symbol of the Tower of David on the coin comes from Athanasius Kircher's book on the Tower of Babel.
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Number 29: The Tower of David (Turris David)
This depicts the prominent city citadel built into the western walls, which historically served to protect the main western approach to the Old City of Jerusalem.
Number 43: The Gate of the Tower of David (Porta Turris David)
This is the fortified gateway located directly adjacent to the citadel. Today, this historic entrance is widely known as the Jaffa Gate, and it remains one of the primary gateways into Jerusalem's Old City.
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In the Litany of Loreto, the Virgin Mary is explicitly invoked by the title "Tower of David, pray for us" (Latin: *Turris Davidica*).
In medieval art, the *Turris David* (Tower of David) serves primarily as a powerful allegorical and Marian symbol, rather than merely a literal architectural depiction of a fortress in Jerusalem. Medieval illuminations and woodcuts—inspired by the Song of Songs ("Your neck is like the Tower of David, built for an armory")—portrayed it as a symbol of virginity, spiritual strength, and protection against evil.

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(31-07-2026, 02:52 PM)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Let me join the discussion on the instrument thing. 

The key fragment is Revelation 5:8

et cum aperuisset librum quattuor animalia et viginti quattuor seniores ceciderunt coram agno habentes singuli citharas et fialas aureas plenas odoramentorum quae sunt orationes sanctorum

And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

The instrument is originally called kithara ( You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. ). This word is the orgin of our "guitar" word. It is translated in different Bible versions as harp, lyre or zither.

As you may guess, medieval illustrators from Spain or Germany didn't really know what "kithara" is and how it looks  They drew instruments that they were familiar with, like for example lute ( You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. )

And now going to our naked lady from VM:


I was previously wondering what she is holding. Now I would consider 3 options:

1) a musical instrument, inspired by "harps" hold by the Elders in the Revelation scene

2) distaff / spindle, some gadget connected to spinning, I am really bad at this stuff 

3) My personal proposition coming from de Balneis Puteolanis - bellows

The problem with bellows is that people usually hold it with two hands, differently than the nymph in Voynich.

So I would say the best guess is that the inspiration for the nymph could be indeed Elders from Revelation scene holding harps (not looking like harps at all),

Given that I have marked folio You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. as the Creation of Adam, I also consider the alternative possibility that the hand spindle is the key element. By spinning thread, Mary was symbolically “weaving” the human body—of flesh and blood—of the Son of God.

In prior discussions, it was suggested that she represents Ananke, Lady Necessity, Mother of the Fates, holding the Cosmic Spindle. The nebuly lines, as cosmic boundaries, are potentially indicative of a goddess.

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A description of the Seventh Heaven from the Second Book of Enoch. The great light Enoch sees there is a mandorla. I am including an example of a mandorla surrounding saints.
An example of a mandorla depiction:
"The Last Judgment" (originally *Il Giudizio Universale*), created by the famous Italian painter and Dominican friar Fra Angelico (also known as Beato...
A mandorla (from the Italian word for "almond") is a specific type of halo or aureole in Christian art.

20 |From there they took Enoch into the 7th heaven. Word “19.”|
And those men lifted me up from there, and they carried me up to the 7th heaven. And I saw there an exceptionally great light, and all the fiery armies of the great archangels, and the incorporeal forces and the dominions and the origins and the authorities, the cherubim and the seraphim and the many-eyed thrones; (and) 5 {9|P|, 10〈R〉} regiments and the shining otanim stations. And I was terrified, and I trembled with a great fear.

1) This symbol defines the cardinal direction of South.
2) Based on the description in the Book of Enoch: The second cardinal direction is named South, for there descend both the Most High and the Blessed One forever.
3) The symbol *Resh* from the magical angelic alphabet *Malachim* is used.
4) In Enoch’s visions, God reveals Himself specifically as the "Head of Days."
5) God as the "Head of Days" is the One who stands at the very pinnacle and beginning of time. Here, *Resh* represents the source from which all subsequent days of creation flow.
6) I further present the use of this symbol in magical amulets and talismans.
7) (2022) *Iconography of Magic: Images of Power and the Power of Images in Ancient and Late Antique Magic*, Raquel Martín-Hernández, 2022, Studies in the History and Anthropology of Religion 7.
8) *Picatrix*
9) *Figures between Antiquity and the Renaissance: Transmission and Rediscovery*, Richard Gordon.
10) *The Greater Key of Solomon*, L.W. Laurence.