The Voynich Ninja

I would like to add one thing but this one will be more speculative.

If you look at a whole f79v then the woman eaten by a fish and a pond with creatures are a part of a bigger composition:


Notice that at the top we have a woman with a cross and at the bottom we have this pond.

Some possible interpretation is that we have Heaven at the top and Hell/Abbyss at the bottom.

The possibly related picture in Das Buch der Natur just shows "sea wonders" but it really looks like some scary, terrible place:

First thought: What is this poor girl doing among these monsters?
Second thought: Hey, she is one of the monsters 
[attachment=17967]

The scene in VM doesn't look that scary but it may be just poor skill of the artist.

And being eaten by a fish is a clear parallel to prophet Jonah. Jonah being 3 days in the belly of the fish is often compered to Jesus being 3 days in the Hell. Actually Jesus makes this comparison Himself:

Matthew 12:40
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

So generally I find the idea of "water hell" at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. quite possible.
Just at the moment I don't know how to follow this lead 

The big mystery with You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is that there seems to be some kind of fluid flowing from the top to the bottom.

Above the nymph with the (presumably Christian) cross is that frilly blue thing that seems to be releasing some kind of liquid that is going into the pipe/tube behind the nymph.

The fluid then drips/sprinkles onto the face of the next nymph that is holding what looks to me like a wedding ring.

The fluid seems to gather into the tub that the wedding ring nymph is in and seems to then flow downward into another tube opening that is one of three.  The third nymph seems to be interacting with the fluid.

The fluid continues to flow downward and ends up in what looks like a puddle of green liquid that has the fourth nymph in the mouth of a fish.  No mermaid.  A nymph in the mouth of a fish.

People seem to have mostly focused on the nymphs but maybe the real topic of this page is the fluid and whatever it is that the fluid is doing.

Again, I think we have gone about as far as we can go with individual interpretations of the illustrations.  People see what they see.  I think the most productive use of effort would be to make a collected effort to focus on the text.  We need to find more experts in early 15th century languages and try our best to convince them that the Voynich Manuscript is not a hoax and that they will not destroy their professional careers if they look at it.

(30-09-2026, 11:29 AM)Rafal Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.If you look at a whole f79v then the woman eaten by a fish ... Hey, she is one of the monsters   And being eaten by a fish is a clear parallel to prophet Jonah. Jonah being 3 days in the belly of the fish is often compered to Jesus being 3 days in the Hell.

Speaking of which, I wonder how often, in the "telephone game" of Medieval art copying, a mermaid was turned into a woman being eaten by a fish, and vice-versa?  

Would a junior monk from the Simpletonian Order have known about the mermaid myth?  

Would a senior monk from the Smartaleckian Order have recognized a fish-eating-woman picture as a bungled mermaid, and corrected it?  

Could a lay Catholic scribe who knew the Bible only from the readings at a few scattered Masses have been baffled by a picture of Jonah being spit out by the Fish?

All the best, --stolfi

The comparison between the fishy, monster mermaid and the female Jonah continues because the historical perspective of the era (1400-1450) has not been fully recognized - by any of us. However, in this instance, an interesting, valid, and historically relevant alternative presents herself in the mythology of Melusine.

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The VMs artist has drawn the mermaid-like version from Luxembourg in keeping with the ancestral connections of the Valois rulers of France, Berry, and Burgundy during that time. Melusine was drawn in a state of transition. How better to show her ability to change form - which neither of the others can do?

The Melusine interpretation shows the VMs artist had knowledge of historically valid, yet now obscure and forgotten information appropriate to the C-14 dates of the VMs parchment. There has also been artistic obfuscation. The form of the VMs illustration is more similar to that in Harley 334 than anything from Lauber.

Harley 334 is also a strong source of evidence in the cosmic comparison.