(04-03-2022, 08:59 AM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view."Book of shadows" isn't really a recognised medieval term, it's a modern invention.
It has been suggested that the Voynich is a type of guild book, where masters would jot down their secrets and experience to be shared amongst the initiated. Although it would certainly be unique in size and (apparent) range of subjects.
Another possibility is that it is a type of florilegium (book of flowers), a sort of early encyclopaedia which collated writings on a similar subject.
Thank you for the reply. Yes, I understand that Book of Shadows is not really a scientific or maybe academic term, but the content is still the same - it would be like I said, and exactly what you are saying really about a guild book. However some of the illustrations, suggest to me something more "magical" or "alchemical" or "metaphysical" in nature as well as the astrological and probably divinatory aspects that would have been recorded alongside the natural herbology, botanical kind of material. Who knows, since there are several scribes who have penned this manuscript - I would say it is entirely plausible to say that they are copying a far earlier work or works to preserve what may have been an already degrading material. I personally believe that there is a huge amount that we don't know and maybe overlooking regarding ancient civilisations, i.e. lost civilisations, especially to do with lost knowledge, because ancient knowledge if it wasn't recorded in some way on stone then it has degraded long ago and hence there knowledge died with them. I mean look at Easter Island or Gobekli Tepe for example - Who knows what knowledge is buried or degraded away and is now long forgotten. But I suppose in a way, a Book of Shadows, as it has be termed by certain New Age groups now, is really a kind of encyclopaedia, isn't it? It's just naming, categorising, it's just semantics really. I find this manuscript to be, like so many others, just so exciting and intriguing. And as a writer myself, just so full of mystery and intrigue and leads my imagination on a merry ride. LOL