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| voynich manuscript Hypothesis |
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Posted by: Jasonr986 - 27-08-2025, 04:43 PM - Forum: The Slop Bucket
- Replies (2)
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Hi everyone,
So I'm not really an expert in language or codex deciphering, I jut love learning history and connecting dots.. However, I have come up with a hypothesis that might explain where it came from, who wrote it and why (I apologize if it comes through a bit messy, but I have included my research, references and what I know from around the supposed time it was written, as well as hints at other languages that had a similar issue in the past).
Abstract
The Voynich Manuscript (Yale, Beinecke MS 408) has resisted decipherment since its rediscovery in 1912. While theories have ranged from hoax to scientific encyclopaedia, this paper proposes an alternative cultural reading: the manuscript may function as a grimoire, a practitioner’s handbook of herbal, astrological, and ritual knowledge rather than a purely scientific or encyclopaedic work. By comparing its contents with known magical and folk traditions of the Middle Ages and considering the social pressures of the period, this paper suggests that the Voynich represents a localized system of ritual practice, encoded in a unique script for the safety of its practitioners.
1. Introduction
The Voynich Manuscript has long puzzled cryptographers, linguists, and historians. Most attempts at decipherment have focused on identifying a linguistic key to the mysterious script. An alternative approach is to examine the manuscript as a cultural artifact rather than solely a linguistic puzzle. When viewed through the lens of medieval grimoires, books of occult knowledge that blended natural philosophy, astrology, and ritual, the manuscript’s contents align with patterns of magical handbooks circulating in late medieval Europe.
2. Literacy, Secrecy, and Hidden Scripts
Roman literacy and the Latin alphabet dominated much of medieval Europe, but alternative systems existed and were often overlooked. For example, Ogham, the Irish alphabet, was dismissed as mere symbols until properly identified as writing centuries later. Similarly, the Voynich script may represent either a concealed system or a deliberately obfuscated text designed to protect its contents from outsiders.
Witch hunts began to intensify in the early fifteenth century, but the preceding centuries were already a time of social and religious tension. Healers, druids, and women practicing folk medicine in the 14th century could face suspicion or persecution. In this context, esoteric knowledge would have been carefully guarded, often shared only within trusted groups or covens. This may explain why the manuscript contains hints that multiple authors contributed to it, while the text itself remains indecipherable to anyone outside the intended circle of practitioners. Encoding knowledge in a unique script would have allowed them to transmit wisdom safely without exposing themselves to accusation.
3. Herbology and Healing Practices
The Voynich’s largest section is its botanical compendium, containing drawings of plants that appear both naturalistic and hybrid. This mirrors traditions of witchcraft and folk medicine, in which herbal knowledge was central to healing rituals, remedies, and potions. Richard Kieckhefer, in Forbidden Rites, demonstrates how magical handbooks frequently combined natural lore with ritual instruction. Similarly, Owen Davies in Grimoires: A History of Magic Books describes the widespread use of herbal recipes in magical contexts. The Voynich’s peculiar plants may encode symbolic or local identifications, designed to preserve knowledge within a closed tradition.
4. Astrology and Ritual Knowledge
The zodiac diagrams and astronomical charts in the Voynich resemble astrological treatises but can also be interpreted as ritual calendars. Astrology was a cornerstone of magical practice because it determined the timing of spells, healings, and divinations. Both witches and learned magicians consulted planetary influences to guide ritual activity. Nicholas Clulee, in John Dee’s Natural Philosophy, shows how even elite intellectuals in the sixteenth century relied on astrology to integrate science, religion, and magic. The Voynich’s astrological imagery therefore aligns with broader traditions in which celestial knowledge was inseparable from ritual practice.
5. Ritual Purification and Baths
The so-called “balneological” section, with repeated imagery of nude female figures in baths or tubes, is often interpreted as medical. However, such imagery may equally reflect ritual purification. Water played an important role in magical and folk healing traditions, used for cleansing, exorcism, and spiritual preparation. Inquisitorial records from witch trials often describe baths, anointings, or ritual washings associated with both healing and protection from evil spirits. Within this framework, the Voynich’s bathing figures could symbolize ritual purification rather than strictly medical treatment.
6. The Grimoire Hypothesis
Taken together, the Voynich’s major components of herbology, astrology, and purification rituals align closely with known features of grimoires. These books were rarely theoretical and served as practical manuals for practitioners. The timing of the manuscript, likely in the 14th or early 15th century, coincides with growing social suspicion toward witches, healers, and folk practitioners. This environment of tension may have encouraged practitioners to encode their knowledge in a script readable only by members of their group. The hints of multiple authors may reflect collaborative work within a coven or trusted circle, further protecting the knowledge from outsiders while allowing internal transmission. Unlike the better known Picatrix or Key of Solomon, which circulated in Latin and were accessible to learned readers, the Voynich may represent a localized or folk magical tradition that required secrecy for survival.
7. Conclusion
The grimoire hypothesis does not claim to have deciphered the Voynich script, but it situates the manuscript in a cultural and historical framework that explains its structure and contents. As Richard Kieckhefer and Owen Davies have shown, grimoires often blended herbal, astrological, and ritual knowledge, encoded in writing systems accessible only to insiders. The Voynich Manuscript, with its unique combination of herbal illustrations, zodiac charts, and ritual baths, fits this pattern. If correct, this hypothesis suggests the manuscript preserves a fragment of Europe’s esoteric heritage, documenting the practical knowledge of a magical or healing tradition that would otherwise have been lost.
References
- Kieckhefer, Richard. Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century. Penn State University Press, 1998.
- Davies, Owen. Grimoires: A History of Magic Books. Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Clulee, Nicholas H. John Dee’s Natural Philosophy: Between Science and Religion. Routledge, 1988.
- Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. MS 408 (Voynich Manuscript).
- Thorndike, Lynn. A History of Magic and Experimental Science. Columbia University Press, 1923–58.
I would appreciate your feedback and thoughts too. Remember this is just a hypothesis and I am more a history lover than a manuscript decipherer, but have had a fascination with the Voynich manuscript for a few years now.
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| Zodiac Inversion Hypothesis – Sagittarius Crossbowman as Guide to Lunar Inverse |
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Posted by: TmSauca - 27-08-2025, 09:04 AM - Forum: Imagery
- Replies (5)
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Hi all,
Re: Folio 73v:
The human crossbowman's bolt points to the downward-star nymph (which is ~8-o'clock position). I believe this male/sun is pointing toward the female nymph telling us to invert what we are looking at. Thus, I propose the system inverts: the female/lunar counterpart across the 30 nymph ring defines the actual mapping. This would reframe the zodiac not as degree lists, but as lunisolar day mapping (29-30 days).
Some things that confirm my idea (along with some further thought on my end):
1. The inversion rule (Sun to Moon, and Male to Female) fits symbolic inversion practices of the 15th century; and the consistency of 29-30 nymphs per ring across the manuscript confirms a lunar cycle theory.
2. Sagittarius being a deliberate pointer to the downward-star nymph suggests to me intentional signaling.
3. The gender inversion also fits the broader symbolic traditions of the 15th century. The motif of the crossbowman matches Central European (Bohemian/Hussite-war era) iconography. I believe our author originated in Bohemia or was there during the religious wars, and that's why this book was created in the first place.
Some other thoughts I had:
1. Was the manuscript authored by a woman? Given the focus on cycles, or by a man with a medical/alchemical background?
2. Do the colored stars function as secondary markers (lunar/planetary, or cycle heaviness)?
3. Ultimately I suppose I'm curious if there are anomalies distributed in a way that supports the inversion model I proposed?
I would love to hear your thoughts on whether this model holds when applied across the other zodiac folios.
Happy hunting!
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| The Mainz Merlon Mystery |
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Posted by: Koen G - 20-08-2025, 03:17 PM - Forum: Imagery
- Replies (20)
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While making my video for VMD, I needed an illustration to show while I was talking about Mainz. So I googled something like "Mainz medieval", which led me to the following image:
It is the illustration of Mainz from the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., published in 1493. Obviously, the single front row of swallowtail merlons drew my attention. But this is where the mystery begins... Why does the Nuremberg Chronicle depict Mainz with swallowtail merlons?
As I see it, there are basically two options:
1) Mainz really had some swallowtail merlons at one point in its history (possibly post-VM given the 1493 date of publication).
2) This actually depicts a different city.
As the wiki writer notes, "illustrations depicted many never-before-illustrated major cities in Europe and the Near East. Six hundred and forty-five original woodcuts were used for the illustrations. As with other books of the period, many of the woodcuts, showing towns, battles or kings were used more than once in the book, with just the text labels changed. [...] sources were used where possible; where no information was available a number of stock images were used and reused up to eleven times."
So if this is not actually a portrait of Mainz, then which city did the woodcut originally depict? Was it based on some earlier image?
But also, Mainz was an important city with political and economic power, known for its advantageous location on the confluence of the Rhine and the Main rivers. Why did the artists, stationed in the not so far off Nuremberg, not depict it faithfully as they would have done with other German cities?
The general idea of a fortified city with a trading port suits Mainz well. But Marco believes that the boats in the engraving may represent naval vessels, which might hint at the geographical location of the original city.
Marco found You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., which indicates that this particular woodcut was indeed reused several times: I see Mainz, Naples, Aqiuleya, Bologna, Lyon.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is in northeast Italy, not too far from the sea.
Bologna is in north-central Italy, at a river but not the sea.
Naples is at the sea and might be a good contender for the original subject of the image...
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| Possible match on f49r Snakes |
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Posted by: Kendiyas - 19-08-2025, 10:40 PM - Forum: Imagery
- Replies (19)
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Hey everyone, I am not sure if this has been talked before but I couldn’t find a previous thread about this.
As you know there are two snake/leech figures in the roots of the plant on f49r
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By now we all seem to agree that the figures used in the manuscript is very likely to be copied from other manuscripts of the time and has been changed slightly. There are beautiful threads about this such as the findings of Koen and many others. Anyways; I have stumbled upon the Harley MS 4986 an anonymous botanical manuscript. The manuscript is believed to be written in the second half of 12th century.
In the f43 v(Harley MS 4986) there are 3 snakes on the root of a plant. The left looking snake in particular has a similarity of the general shape and mouth type. Also the circular dotted patterns on the snakes are very similar. The line that come out of the rightmost snake on Voynich You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is also looking similar to the snakes on the Harley MS 4986 it almost seems like the scribe was going for an open mouthed snake but changed it after.
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I have searched for the manuscript online to search for more similarities in the figures but couldn’t find a copy so I have contacted the british library and unfortunately I have gotten this response.
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The library did invite me to check the manuscript in person though which is an amazing response but I live in Turkey and won’t be traveling to UK for some time.
Anyways, what do you think about the similarities I am seeing? Do you concur or do you disagree? I wanted to share!
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| Scribes per folio |
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Posted by: quimqu - 19-08-2025, 08:33 PM - Forum: Analysis of the text
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Hello,
is there anywhere where I can find which folia or paragraphs are supppsed to be written im Currier A and B and also divided by the supppsed 5 different scribes?
Thank you
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| [split by KG - Solution (?) posted in another thread] |
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Posted by: Isogulaleb1 - 19-08-2025, 01:25 PM - Forum: Theories & Solutions
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Possible solution - everything under review . Read RIGHT to LEFT. Languaje ITALIAN & latin. Italian phonetics bi ci di gi pi qu ti . Ligatures remove i , & u in qu . Ligature ch sonds like k or ch ?. Symbol above ch breaks ligature ?. b- 8 , d- l EVA , f - p EVA , g- g , l- n EVA , n- >r< EVA constricted , p- f EVA , q- 4 , tt- t eva , tl or lt? - k EVA
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| Heraldry opens doors. |
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Posted by: R. Sale - 18-08-2025, 09:10 PM - Forum: Theories & Solutions
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The correct medieval interpretation of heraldic elements opens a door to better understanding of the VMs.
In the proper naming of the 'nebuly' line, terminology is significant when etymology and its connotations can influence interpretation. The artist clearly knows and uses the "cloudy" cosmic boundary interpretations attributed to this heraldic line pattern. Nebuly line patterns with variations occur in the botanical, cosmic, bathing, and rosette illustrations.
The second example of heraldry is VMs White Aries. The VMs artist presents an attempt to establish communication with the reader by posing the question: Does the reader know the armorial insignia of the pope who instituted the Catholic tradition of the cardinal's red galero?
Unfortunately, from the perspective of modern investigation, it tends to be that the reader does not readily find what the reader does not know already. However, from a medieval perspective, among certain groups, perhaps the dualistic construction of the radial / non-radial orientation serves as a sort of disguise - the intentional creation of ambiguity.
Can heraldry carry a message? Clearly it can. Better than starlight.
Can heraldry carry a hidden message? Let's follow the evidence.
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