Alchemical Symbolism in the VMS

[ReneZ]

In Post #373, this reference : Liber hermetis de blchkmkb (alchimia)

It is interesting to note the method of 'encryption' used at that time. It is just a partial cypher, moving only the vowels by plus one letter. (a > b and i/j > k) Fairly effective considering the simplicity. What if consonants were also moved by a different value?

Well, it's a gimmick, not a full alphabet substitution cipher. With consonant substitution it would be a full alphabet substitution cipher.

I wonder why they did it.

I think this has been discussed here before, but it is a relatively common cipher usually called 'bonifatius' or 'boniface'.

Contrary to what many people believe, ciphers are not always meant to be hard to break. In some situations, it is sufficient to hide something from a casual glance, basically to force someone to take time before being able to read it.

In some cases it was also used to avoid writing an uncomfortable word. 
Still used a lot today. 
I mean, "sh*t" does not really hide anything but it allows me to abide by the forum rules (I hope ;-) ).