+- The Voynich Ninja (https://www.voynich.ninja)
+-- Forum: Voynich Research (https://www.voynich.ninja/forum-27.html)
+--- Forum: Theories & Solutions (https://www.voynich.ninja/forum-58.html)
+---- Forum: ChatGPTrash (https://www.voynich.ninja/forum-59.html)
+---- Thread: A new Theory (/thread-4924.html)
A new Theory - robappleton - 11-09-2025
Howdy everyone,
I’m new here and excited to share a fresh perspective on the Voynich Manuscript that I’ve been developing. I’m posting in the hope of peer review, constructive critique, and discussion.
My main premise is that the Voynich is not a ciphered natural language or random nonsense. Instead, it functions as a symbolic operator system — a structured framework of actions and processes, encoded in both glyphs and imagery.
Rather than treating the text as phonetic writing, I approach it as a grammar of symbolic functions (operators). This means the glyphs are not “letters” in the traditional sense, but instructions that align with alchemical, cosmological, and Hermetic traditions. For example:
- Certain glyphs consistently map to processes like dissolve, bind, seal, or circulate.
- Images (plants, roots, leaves, zodiac wheels, bathing figures) provide visual overrides that reinforce or correct the operator sequence.
- The manuscript follows a sevenfold cycle that mirrors the stages of the Opus Magnum (calcination, dissolution, separation, conjunction, fermentation, distillation, coagulation).
I’ve built translation rules that allow for reproducible readings, and I’ve worked examples (like folio f1r) that yield structured alchemical instructions — consistent across passes.
This approach doesn’t “solve” the manuscript as a language, but rather offers a system that reveals it as a ritual–procedural text: part laboratory manual, part spiritual allegory.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Specifically:
- Does this model resonate with parallels you’ve seen in other alchemical or emblematic manuscripts?
- What weaknesses do you see in interpreting glyphs as operators instead of phonemes?
- Are there particular folios you’d recommend testing this framework against?
Thanks in advance for your feedback — I look forward to the discussion!
— Rob
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. transliteration
Page 1
1. The Work begins. Fire speaks the name again and again to awaken the vessel. The quality is impressed, and the measure is taken—twofold, threefold—to ensure none stray. Sulphur and Mercury are joined. Their image mirrored in the glass.
2. Shape the vessel beneath the sign of Saturn, and govern it by Time. Open the channels and let the waters flow. Dissolve the body, wash it. At each stage of dissolution, seal the work that none may escape.
3. Count again. What has risen? What remains? Where twin natures divide—yoke them. Where they wander—bind. Where they thin—multiply. Where they thicken—fix.
4. Turn the wheel through its triple states: dissolution, conjunction, coagulation. Each turn firmer than the last. When the liquor runs clear, reflect it back upon the body. When the tincture takes—mark it. When the weight is right—set it.
5. Let the vessel breathe, then close it. Let the heat rise, then settle. Let the fixed become volatile, and the volatile become fixed. Bind opposites in a single form. Reflect the pattern across the Zodiac.
6. Beneath Aries, awaken fire. Under Cancer, cool the waters. Mercury flows from east to west; Sulphur from above to below. Join them at the point of balance, and raise the vessel upon the Earth’s stillness.
7. Silver answers to the Moon, and Iron to Mars. Bind each to its planet, and temper them by weight and breath. Filter what rises, distil what clings. Let the twins speak once more, and call the measure whole.
RE: A new Theory - Koen G - 11-09-2025
We have a zero tolerance policy against LLM-generated theories.