06-10-2016, 07:05 PM
Don,
I have a similar opinion of things in the VMs Zodiac. Mnemonic devices devices are similar to heraldic devices and even overlap in some instances. In some cases these devices in the VMs may be hidden or disguised, but that's a bit problematic.
You remember the old Groucho Marx disguises: black glasses, feathery eyebrows and mustache. The thing about devices is that you either *get it* or you don't. It's pretty much clear cut. It's not that the image on the page has changed. It's the interpretation of the image that has changed. It's the recognition that the images can be interpreted and named according to traditional methods that would have applied to the creator(s) of the VMs. In the same way that a pair of papelonny patterned insignia (a traditional heraldic fur) sits and has long sat in the VMs Zodiac illustrations.
And there is another problem, and that is one of misdirection. The VMs is not a book that is designed to explain in a clear and modern way. It was intended to record in a disguised and obfuscated manor. It is intentionally obscure. But behind the illusion there is a traditional reality and a well-known historical reality in a hidden construction.
I have a similar opinion of things in the VMs Zodiac. Mnemonic devices devices are similar to heraldic devices and even overlap in some instances. In some cases these devices in the VMs may be hidden or disguised, but that's a bit problematic.
You remember the old Groucho Marx disguises: black glasses, feathery eyebrows and mustache. The thing about devices is that you either *get it* or you don't. It's pretty much clear cut. It's not that the image on the page has changed. It's the interpretation of the image that has changed. It's the recognition that the images can be interpreted and named according to traditional methods that would have applied to the creator(s) of the VMs. In the same way that a pair of papelonny patterned insignia (a traditional heraldic fur) sits and has long sat in the VMs Zodiac illustrations.
And there is another problem, and that is one of misdirection. The VMs is not a book that is designed to explain in a clear and modern way. It was intended to record in a disguised and obfuscated manor. It is intentionally obscure. But behind the illusion there is a traditional reality and a well-known historical reality in a hidden construction.