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+--- Thread: Why the Voynich Zodiac - isn't (/thread-535.html)
RE: Why the Voynich Zodiac - isn't - Koen G - 20-03-2023
Hi Monika, please keep in mind that posts should be in English.
RE: Why the Voynich Zodiac - isn't - bi3mw - 21-03-2023
(19-03-2023, 09:12 PM)monika55 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The beginning of the charts with the zodiac sign of Pisces, I think, is due to the fact that the beginning of the garden year in Catholic countries was on March 17. This is the day of St. Gertrude, the patron saint of gardeners and farmers. On this day all the fields were blessed and work began in the fields and gardens. March 17 belongs to the zodiac sign Pisces.
This is an interesting theesis. However, the rosettes and the recipe section suggest that it is thematically about other areas as well. I would rather assume that the VMS is an anthology and not a monothematic work.
RE: Why the Voynich Zodiac - isn't - monika55 - 22-03-2023
Most likely the diagrams with the signs of zodiac show a phenological calendar. Such a calendar deals with the recurring appearances in nature.
It is not the same as an astronomical calendar.
When, for example, snowbells appear, the season is called 'early spring' and trees have to be cut or planted. When lilac and apple trees are blooming, it is 'full spring' and works like seeding and planting will start. The phenological calender (phenological clock) starts - depending on region and weather influences - around middle of march. (sign of zodiac pisces!) What has to be done in garden and in fields if certain plants appear, the so called "indicator plants". The appearances are noted and show also wheather phenomena or a change of climate.
Such a phenological calendar is divided into ten (!) seasons only. This is probably the reason why signs of zodiac Capricorn and Aquarius are missing, because these signs belong to the winter time and in winter no works in garden or fields are done. Growth rest in nature. Works are done in the house.
Thats why I am of the opionion that these pages did not get lost but where omitted deliberately.
Of course I agree, the VM also deals with topics such as herbal medicine, influence of stellar constellations. One topic also touches the other.
RE: Why the Voynich Zodiac - isn't - R. Sale - 22-03-2023
Having a sort of agricultural calendar, like a medieval hausbuch, is a reasonable hypothesis for placing Pisces at the start of the VMs Zodiac.
However, if you look through the 'Folio Browser' above, you may note that certain folios are missing from the VMs, as a book. One of the apparently excised folios, f74, is right after VMs Sagittarius, exactly where Capricorn and Aquarius might be *expected* to be. So, the general presumption is that they were removed, rather than omitted.
Another aspect of having Pisces first is that it contributes in part to a situation where the first five houses of the VMs Zodiac each possess in their medallions a certain example of pairing. Pisces is an obvious and traditional example. Aries, and likewise Taurus, are unexpected examples of pairing through 'brute force' bifurcation. Since this is done twice, it constitutes a pair. VMs Gemini is a pair joined through apparent marriage, male and female as complementary opposites, rather than the twins, Castor and Pollux. VMs Cancer is not the singular crab normally seen, but a much more unusual pairing of crayfish. Paired Aries and paired Taurus are two pairs of land animals. Paired Pisces and paired Cancer are two pairs of aquatic animals. Taken together there is a pairing of paired pairs and a pair (Gemini). Not something that one might normally expect on superficial examination.
The concept of pairing, thus introduced, can be applied elsewhere, to the patterns on the tubs (Pisces and Aries) on the basis of medieval heraldry.
RE: Why the Voynich Zodiac - isn't - monika55 - 23-03-2023
We cannot be sure if the missing page f 74 is indeed the end of the "astrological section" or if it is the beginning of the next topic,
i.e. it might belong to the subject on f75 and the following.
Regarding the pairs there is perhaps a simple explanation? If it shows a phenological calendar with just ten seasons
it simply indicates that in spring months there is much more work to be done in garden and fields, more plants have appeared and
have to be planted. This is perhaps the only reason why two pages were necessary.
Quite often it is not as complicated as we believe.
I wonder why the author wrote only one month into the middle of the diagrams, which is wrong. Each sign of zodiac covers two months.
So I think he/she was not really familiar with astrology and the topic of these pages is a different one.
Regarding your idea about "brute force" we should bear in mind, that the sign 'Taurus' is a so called "female" sign ruled by Venus, the goddess of love. So I was told.
RE: Why the Voynich Zodiac - isn't - R. Sale - 23-03-2023
We cannot be sure, as you say, and I hope you are a big fan of ambiguity because the VMs has plenty of it. Since f75 is off on a new subject, not related to the zodiac, there is another problematic situation regarding whether the VMs bifolios have been <incorrectly> reassembled at some point. However, a full zodiac still seems a more probable than something else.
While the interpretations you suggest are certainly a valid part of the annual and cultural aspects of medieval life and their artistic representations, VMs investigations depend on evidence. I have cited clear examples of paired representations in the initial zodiac medallions and in the tub patterns. Where are the edelweiss and apple blossoms? The botanical section is a jungle. Do you see the nymphs in the VMs Zodiac as peasants performing their seasonal labors? There has already been much discussion about all the nymphs. What they are up to and who they might be.
Heraldry was a proven and valid method of communication in the Middle Ages as relevant to the VMs C-14 dating. Heraldry was used to identify persons, families, ranks and orders. Heraldry, in both armorial and ecclesiastical forms, had been around for several centuries by the first half of the 1400s. And also the rebus-like use of heraldic canting.
One ecclesiastical clue and one armorial hint are combined on one VMs nymph to produce a unique locus of historical connections. But historical connections only function when the relevant history is known. And canting only works when you know the pun.