RE: The myth of Melusine
Linda > 03-10-2020, 06:35 PM
I think it is a combinatory image. There is a nymph, there is a fish, which has a mouth that resembles the wells or whatever the nymphs stand in elsewhere in the quire and in the zodiac section but with a gap in it.
I could see a way where Melusine could fit into my own interpretation, since the combination does resemble a mermaid or tailed humanoid enough to conjure up some resemblances, given all the ideas still swirling around about this image, but depending on what you may have seen of the respective iconography. I think it is also meant to pull in all these references (Jonah et al could be in play too, plus more) and makes a statement about it all.
It is the genealogical aspect of Melusine which would fit in to my interpretation. If you extend the genealogy idea all the way back to the origins of human beings, it brings a humanist view to it, everyone came from the same place when you go far enough back in history. I think this is what this image relates, specifically, Anaximander's version of human origins, which has protohumans incubating in fish mouths until the terrain was habitable for them, since the earlier Earth was different. Anaximander coincidently is also considered the father of geography by subsequent geographers like Strabo and others, so for the imagery combination to include geographic (and hydrogaphic, hence the fish) references with these philosophical ideas is also appropos. Taken together, i think the author(s) show us where they thought that instant when the fish spit the humans onto the shore might have occurred, (the animals already having been esablished, with some even having returned to live in the ocean) based on geographic anomalies which hint at an earlier state of existence, a paradise where there is now only eroded volcanic wasteland.
This may seem anachronistic to some but i think it was completely possible for someone from that time to have such thoughts, if they had access to the knowledge of these features of the terrain and intuited its previous history, perhaps some knowledge of archeological finds, and their upbringing allowed for openmindedness of thinking that origins of humans happened farther back than 6000 years ago (or whatever the count was at that time). If you read Strabo's geography now, it could have been written yesterday, but that was 1400 years earlier than the time of vms creation (being translated at the time though, thus they could have read it too) so i don't buy the idea that we can't think like they did in the 15th century, or vice versa, when we can understand the older ideas without too much trouble (as long as we can read it).
So the statement i think it makes about Melusine et al is that all these non human icons over time are part of our human psyche, so they all have to do with being human. ie it says to retain the history and tradition behind these fanciful creatures and incredible stories they come along with, because it shows us ourselves more clearly in the mirror of time. Protect the libraries, maybe? Also a humanistic idea. Could be this is how your collection of library connections works, maybe that is why all the mnemomics and glyphs, to protect information that could otherwise be lost, if the libraries were no more.
I also like JKP's Aquarius and Piscis Notius reference, the fish swallowing the stream of water, because that is basically what i see it doing, the nymph stands for the waterfalls that used to be there, and the real fish would have benefited from human occupation of that area, providing the humans with ample food in turn. It is the dawning of the age of Aquarius, the current age being Pisces, both now and upon creation of the vms. it was just a bit darker dawn in the 15th century, but at roughly two thirds the way through i think they would have been thinking about it similarly. That simultaneous notion of past and future possibilities is powerful. ie the paradise can return, but so can the flood that likely created the anomaly in the first place. The aspect of the world repeating itself is also involved in this idea, it was of concern. The two fish of Pisces are said to be the offspring of the Great Fish, so there you have the past present and future all rolled up into one continuous image, from our (collective) perspective, at this time. Melusine may yet return too.