(04-10-2022, 10:21 PM)Koen G wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.But then again, why did this person need to add the month names if they were already in the know? Maybe they had difficulties remembering which month belonged to which image?
My best guess is that he faced the same task that we face in relation to all other VMS diagrams - that of identification. Imagine you are shown a set of twelve (let's assume there were twelve) diagrams featuring Zodiac signs. You would then start to hypothesize what they could relate to. And, of course, they could relate to many things, since Zodiac signs are used in many concepts. Through some consideration, the author of the marginalia came to the conclusion that the set of diagrams respresents a calendar, and left respective notes for further reference. Likewise, if I were able to identify elements in the series of cosmological diagrams, I would leave notes. Besides, the month notes may have served for ordering of the then unbound pages. Not every person easily remembers the succession of Zodiac signs (I don't), while the succession of months is remembered by everyone.
Regarding the above discussion of the Zodiacal shift. It is true that the point of vernal equinox is currently in the constellation of Pisces. It was in Pisces already by the time of creation of the VMS. However, in the times of Ptolemy from whom the entire Western astrology derives, it was still in Aries. Up to this time, in astronomy, navigation and the like, the point of the vernal equinox is called "the point of Aries" according to the tradition, notwithstanding that it's already in Pisces. Astrology is something tightly bound to tradition, so they still begin the Zodiacal cycle with Aries, notwithstanding that the things change. The said change is due to the phenomenon of precession which is the Earth's axis cyclically changing its direction in space.
However, Vedic astrology allows for the presession. In times of Ptolemy twe two cycles were aligned, but currently they have a shift of a month between each other. In You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. there is a table showing Western and Vedic Zodiacs, and also the actual progress of the Sun along constellations based on modern internationally recognized constellation boundaries.