09-03-2025, 08:19 PM
This thread has gone in half a dozen different directions already. In regard to the original proposal, there are a fair number of liturgical calendars that were illustrated with designated monthly zodiac signs and the associated "agricultural events" such as pruning, plowing, harvesting, etc. The VMs clearly has a version of certain zodiac medallions, but where are the labors of the season? It's a bunch of naked, middle-aged women holding star-shaped, mylar balloons. Who is doing any work?
Who knows what ideas the Zodiac artist may have picked up or may have dropped? Take an idea like 'pairing'. The VMs Zodiac sequence starts with the Pisces medallion depicting a pair of fish. The typical zodiac sequence starts with Aries and ends with Pisces. The liturgical calendar starts in January, and Pisces is the month of February. The VMs doesn't follow either of those.
Pisces is a pairing through combination. The two versions of the VMs Aries medallion are duplications based on division. Taurus does the same thing. Two pairings based on division. Then in the Gemini medallion, there is a marriage, rather than the classical twins. This is not a pairing of "likes". It is a pairing of complementary opposites. Pairing is more than a simple similarity of appearance. Then in Cancer, two crayfish. A pairing much like in Pisces. A second pairing of aquatic animals to pair with the two pairings of terrestrial animals from Aries and Taurus.
Did the artist drop the idea of pairing? Do the tub patterns in the outer ring of VMs Pisces look similar to representations of medieval heraldry? Starting at the top of Pisces there is some pairing among the tub patterns. Historical pairing is disguised by the built-in duality of VMs White Aries.
What is the potential significance of the VMs illustrations in relation to the written text?
Who knows what ideas the Zodiac artist may have picked up or may have dropped? Take an idea like 'pairing'. The VMs Zodiac sequence starts with the Pisces medallion depicting a pair of fish. The typical zodiac sequence starts with Aries and ends with Pisces. The liturgical calendar starts in January, and Pisces is the month of February. The VMs doesn't follow either of those.
Pisces is a pairing through combination. The two versions of the VMs Aries medallion are duplications based on division. Taurus does the same thing. Two pairings based on division. Then in the Gemini medallion, there is a marriage, rather than the classical twins. This is not a pairing of "likes". It is a pairing of complementary opposites. Pairing is more than a simple similarity of appearance. Then in Cancer, two crayfish. A pairing much like in Pisces. A second pairing of aquatic animals to pair with the two pairings of terrestrial animals from Aries and Taurus.
Did the artist drop the idea of pairing? Do the tub patterns in the outer ring of VMs Pisces look similar to representations of medieval heraldry? Starting at the top of Pisces there is some pairing among the tub patterns. Historical pairing is disguised by the built-in duality of VMs White Aries.
What is the potential significance of the VMs illustrations in relation to the written text?