While reasons may be speculative, results are more apparent. Having Pisces first and splitting Aries and Taurus in two creates a situation where the occupants of the first five houses of the VMs version of a Zodiac sequence all exist in pairs. Gemini, like Pisces, is a 'natural' pair, while Aries and Taurus are totally 'artificial'. And VMs Cancer is a pair of crayfish, chosen instead of the more typical, singular crab.
The VMs Zodiac thus arranged creates a series of five pairs. Furthermore, there are pairs among the pairs: two pairs of aquatic animals, two pairs of land animals. And there is the marriage in VMs Gemini. Not the pairing of twins, Castor and Pollux, but a pairing of male and female, as a sort of pairing of complementary opposites.
Trying to see things from the VMs artist's medieval perspective, pairing, as a concept and useful pattern, has the advantages that it is simple and clear, and also that it was promoted in the religious laws of Deuteronomy. And further, that a number of other subtle indicators of religious "awareness" exist in the VMs to support this interpretation.
Pairing also exists in the tub patterns at the top of VMs Pisces and this is where armorial heraldry begins. Not to mention the pair of Stolfi's markers on VMs White Aries.
The VMs Zodiac thus arranged creates a series of five pairs. Furthermore, there are pairs among the pairs: two pairs of aquatic animals, two pairs of land animals. And there is the marriage in VMs Gemini. Not the pairing of twins, Castor and Pollux, but a pairing of male and female, as a sort of pairing of complementary opposites.
Trying to see things from the VMs artist's medieval perspective, pairing, as a concept and useful pattern, has the advantages that it is simple and clear, and also that it was promoted in the religious laws of Deuteronomy. And further, that a number of other subtle indicators of religious "awareness" exist in the VMs to support this interpretation.
Pairing also exists in the tub patterns at the top of VMs Pisces and this is where armorial heraldry begins. Not to mention the pair of Stolfi's markers on VMs White Aries.