Stylistics of the "astrological" section

[-JKP-]

Sorry for the late response, JKP

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I have not found the evidence so far presented to support the instinctive expectation that images attached to names of the months should be in some sense 'astrological'.

The month names added in a darker, hasty hand that has overwritten some of the drawings is probably mid- to late 15th century give or take a couple of decades. I doubt that they are contemporary to the VMS (it's possible that they are, but more probably that they were added later, based on the handwriting style). The VMS images may not be attached to names of the month in the actual Voynichese text in any way.

One cannot discount it being a zodiac series based on the slightly odd drawings. There are many Taurus images with extra- long necks and horns in medieval texts, there is even a Leo in a zodiac series that is drawn like a dog. It's clearly labeled Leo, but it does not look like a lion.

Regardless of whether the content deals with months, month's labors, prognostication, or constellations (we don't know yet), the icon series is certainly "astrological" in the sense of illustrating 10 signs of the zodiac in traditional sequence. The figures, including crayfish Cancer, romantic Gemini, two-legged Sagittarius, lizardy-Scorpius, and tongue/leg-tail Leo, can be seen in other zodiac sequences in other manuscripts dating from about the 12th century to about the late 15th and early 16th century. The VMS starting symbol is unconventional, but I have located a few other zodiac sequences in astronomical/astrological manuscripts that also include unconventional starting symbols. I have even located one in which two of the symbols are reversed (in the wrong months) so one cannot entirely discount the VMS as an zodiac series based simply on the starting symbol.



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or that reason, I do not repeat the idea that the series has anything to do with that branch of mathematics (as astrology was considered in medieval Europe).  I accept that when the month-names were added to the series of images - which do not constitute a zodiac of any known form - then the series was being seen and treated as some form of calendar, or calendar related reference.

Astrology was also considered an important component of medicine (it was a required course in medieval medical schools). A high proportion of medieval texts talk about "good days" and "bad days" to be born, to get married, to go on a journey, and to treat a certain kind of malady or injury, based on the positions of the stars. Many manuscripts have several pages of lists showing "good" and "bad" days. Some of them show wheels for the good and bad days or for prognostication. Obviously astrology was considered important to people's lives and choices beyond mathematics.

I don't see a big problem with people referring to the VMS zodiac series and star charts as "astrological" until we decipher the VMS text. The zodiacs (the constellations along the ecliptic) were integral to medieval astrological thinking even to those not involved in prognostication.



Occam's razor suggests the zodiac-symbol rota and "star charts" in the VMS probably are probably associated with the calendar and/or prognostication, and/or astrology in some way, as those are the three most common ways in which they were presented in medieval texts. Which ones they are (or whether they are) has not yet been determined, so I don't think we can dismiss astrology as one of the possibilities, especially when there is imagery in other parts of the text that appear health-related and more specifically associated with stars. Astrology (the influence of the stars), medicine, and healthful living were inextricably linked in medieval minds.