The Voynich Ninja
No text, but a visual code - Printable Version

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RE: No text, but a visual code - Antonio García Jiménez - 19-08-2021

The most elementary common sense tells us that if half the pages of a book (the VM) are herbs and the other half are cosmological diagramans or stars, the message of the book is that there is a relationship between both worlds.

Not only common sense, the culture of the time in which the book was made tells us, since the world below was connected with the one above, which emitted its influence on the Earth. It is the stars that give their virtue to plants, just as they give it to precious stones. It is a star that makes the magnet attract the iron.

What have the authors of the VM wanted to tell us by drawing herbs that no one can identify? Simple, that stars are capable of making them and that somewhere on Earth must be those herbs or other similar and completely unknown to them.

If this is the message, the script cannot be anything other than an invented code that relates the stars with the herbs.


RE: No text, but a visual code - bi3mw - 19-08-2021

(19-08-2021, 03:49 PM)Antonio García Jiménez Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The most elementary common sense tells us that if half the pages of a book (the VM) are herbs and the other half are cosmological diagramans or stars, the message of the book is that there is a relationship between both worlds.
Not necessarily, it is also possible that the VMS is a collective manuscript. In this case, it would also be conceivable that the herbal book is self-contained and has no connection to other sections/parts in the VMS. Any other subject could also be considered self-contained. Even the ( nude ) nymphs can only be a creative element of the illustrator that should pretend a section-spanning connection.
Collective manuscripts are anything but unusual in the Middle Ages.


RE: No text, but a visual code - Antonio García Jiménez - 20-08-2021

You could have also quoted the second paragraph, where I speak of the macrocosm and the microcosm, a fundamental idea to understand the mentality of the Middle Ages. The book is a unit of meaning. There is no self-contained section. All sections are connected.
  The nude nymphs are astral spirits. They are the personification of the stars. This is the interpretation that Erwin Panofsky gave of them. I think an author of his stature deserves to be taken into consideration.

The VM script is not separated from the images. Forms the same message with them


RE: No text, but a visual code - cvetkakocj@rogers.com - 20-08-2021

It is clear from the weird pictures of flowers that they are not just healing herbs, but the 'flowers' that speak to those who can understand. Flowers were used allegorically in the Solomon's songs of the Old Testament, which were widely read by the medieval mystics and poets.  At the time when any descent from the Church's interpretation of the Bible was suppressed, the flowers were used  to convey secret messages. Some blogger even mentioned the 'gentle language of flowers' to refer to 'medieval symbolism'. This phrase was mentioned by Gabrielle Rossete in reference to the secret language of the Tartars (by which he meant Bogomils, Patareni, Cathars and other medieval sects. He claimed that Dante referred himself as 'flower' - three-times-three flower, whatever he meant by that.
Anyway, in Slovenian language 'flowers' meant plants, as well as poems in poetic language. This must have been a Rosicrucian allegory, since it was picked up by Slovenian Catholic poets who seem to be well acquainted with this movement. I suppose this allegory was also used by different nations.
The growth of flowers is dependent on sun and rain, but also on 'luck', or on a 'divine power', because there is no guaranty that a single seed would germinate. The more seeds are planted, the more chances there are for a good harvest.
The germination is a mystical (magical) process: The seed splits in the wet earth, its sprout attracted by the sun light which facilitates growth, blossoming and making seeds. 
In a similar way, poets explained their creative process: The roots of their poems were the works of the people before them, as well as various ideas, experiences, etc. However, for a genuine artist, something more is needed, like some special event, often referred to 'inspiration', which is a response to certain situation or condition, that forces the artist to speak out, risking their own life in a process. In Greek mythology, muses were the source of inspiration, in Christian art, the inspiration is called The Holy Spirit, to distinguish good art from bad art.


RE: No text, but a visual code - Antonio García Jiménez - 22-08-2021

Too much mysticism and poetry!

The VM is something simpler than that. It is an original book but its iconographic content responds to a widespread idea in the medieval mentality: the influence macrocosm has on microcosm. 
One of the images that best expresses this and that we see in numerous manuscripts of the time is that of the zodiac man: the influence of the stars on the body of man


RE: No text, but a visual code - cvetkakocj@rogers.com - 22-08-2021

Yes, the words are simple and they reflect the Bogomil/Waldensian pre-Protestant view of God and Christianity. There was no point in teaching peasant surfs philosophical discourses, which are hidden in the pictures. There is very little information about the influence of stars on human health, but a lot statements about the influence of words on human behaviour.


RE: No text, but a visual code - Antonio García Jiménez - 23-08-2021

The Bogomil or Waldesian people have nothing to do with the Voynich. 

I also like the history of the Middle Ages, but let's focus on the VM and its time


RE: No text, but a visual code - Antonio García Jiménez - 24-08-2021

My recommendation to anyone who looks at the Voynich for the first time would be that before seeing it in detail, meditate for some time on what medieval thought was like. You don't have to be an expert, just find out a book on the subject.

The most notable feature of medieval thought is that the entire universe is interrelated, the macrocosm above and the microcosm below are connected. It is God who has created this inmense and wonderful universe in which all the elements communicate.

After meditating on this idea, you can now see the Voynich in detail. Focus on viewing the images that is the easiest to understand. Forget about aliens and weird things like that. You will see that the VM is a perfect example of medieval thought.


RE: No text, but a visual code - Antonio García Jiménez - 27-08-2021

One idea to reflect on when studying the VM is that of natural magic. At that time that expression had nothing to do with necromancy or summoning demons, but was just another part of science. The doctors of the Church admitted the hidden properties of herbs and precious stones and the astral influence on those hidden virtues.

Keeping this fact in mind is critical to understanding the Voynich. When you delve into that idea of natural magic as a science, you are not surprised to see in a medieval book a lot of strange herbs that we do not know along with a lot of cosmological diagrams.

I want to pass on this suggestion that serves to demystify the VM. This book is just a product of its time.


RE: No text, but a visual code - R. Sale - 01-09-2021

And the visual code is a product of the time as well. Though actually there are multiple codes; religion, astronomy, alchemy, astrology, and one of those codes was heraldry. In the time of the VMs C-14 dates, heraldry was a significant aspect of society. The recently posted list of armorial texts gives some indication of that.

Using heraldry, as a 'code', in both armorial and religious aspects, the VMs makes reference to historical persons and events. However, it does this in a highly atypical manner that is intentionally subtle, ambiguous and deceptive, from the cosmos, to the 'mermaid' and so on. It is like a sort of parody - once it can be rediscovered what the source of the parody was. The mermaid is Melusine. And Melisine of Luxembourg has a number of Valois connections. And the Fieschi popes of VMs White Aries have a historical connection with ecclesiastical tradition. Just a nymph with a red hat in a tub with blue stripes. Two-factor heraldic code is rather concise on the historical scale.