Hidden notes of the VMs

[Hermes777]

There are several lineages in European alchemy (to this day.) The "black earth" is primarily associated with the so-called Mutus Liber lineage which is concerned with Materia Prima. This is a quite distinct tradition from herbal alchemy (Paracelsean) and metallic alchemy. It is still a school of practical laboratory alchemy among fringe enthusiasts in Central Europe. This is the type of alchemy that tries to extract the Material Prima from the gross exudates of nature; manures, humus, dew etc. It doesn't usually use herbs or metals. It is agricultural. 

As I promised, I wrote a post about this.
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Good blog post Searcher. Thanks.

I am of the view that there are three, not two, “red weirdos” on page one of the ms. There are two clearly visible on the left hand side of the page, and another – badly mutilated – in the top right hand corner. They should be counted as a set and indeed a sequence. I take them to be alchemical rather than typographical (pillcrows or whatever) and they announce the theme of the work.

The first of them in the right corner cannot be reconstructed, but it appears like the other two in having “wings” and a base but with a crossbar through it.

I suggest it represents “corrupt water” or similar (eg. sediment) and that the other two show a process of purification, with the last representing the aqua vitae; although not in the sense of alcohol as aqua vitae as it appears in later alchemical works – there is every indication that the herbalism portrayed in the Voynich is a herbalism of water extraction, i.e. prior to the widespread use of alcohol as the preferred solvent.

In any case, relevant to your work, these symbols on page one show a threefold process of purification that could provide the model for allegories on the same theme in the illustrations with different types or grades of water depicted.

In a herbalism of water extraction, water is the alchemical agent, that is to say the agent of elemental transformation and regeneration – a process analogous to the redemption of the fallen soul.