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The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
- The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
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The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
SherriMM > 07-03-2025, 11:03 PM
This is my first post here, please let me know if this has already been discussed at length.
I published a blog post today, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.in which I briefly detail that the zodiac section is depicting suggested agricultural occupations for each month, related to similar "Labors of the Months" artwork of the time, which explains why the zodiac name labels are generalized, and why Aries (March) labeled "April" and Taurus (April) labeled most likely "May", are depicted twice, possibly as the most important, or work heavy, time of year. I also note that the medieval calendar year started in March, the new year being the 25th, which is why Pisces appears first.
Thank you for your thoughts on this.
All the best,
Sherri Mastrangelo
(Note: my site is mainly for genealogy research, so please ignore the sidebars and other content) -
RE: The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
Rafal > 08-03-2025, 12:52 PM
Hello, welcome to the forums.
Quote:Do you think the zodiac featured in the Voynich could be an agricultural “labors of the months” of sorts?
Well, one big part of Voynich Manuscript is related to plants and another big part is related to astronomy/astrology. For me it is quite possible that they are somehow connected. In the past people believed for example that some herbs and plants should be collected when the moon is in a certain phase. Their world was very holistic, things that we today see as independent were deeply interconnected for them.
So it's possible that atrology in Voynich is somehow connected to agriculture but as we cannot read it, then we cannot be sure. -
RE: The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
Koen G > 08-03-2025, 02:29 PM
A few remarks:
* The month names were very likely added by a somewhat later writer, and may not have been part of the original intention.
* The labors of the month have their own iconography, often depicted in tandem with the Signs of the Zodiac. The VM images, though sometimes unusual, follow the Zodiac rather than the Labors.
* The doubling of Taurus and Aries seems to relate to the number of nymphs around them, which is half that of the other signs. So it rather appears to be a case of splitting in two rather than doubling. The reason for this might be as simple as space constraints or other design considerations. -
RE: The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
ReneZ > 09-03-2025, 01:25 AM
(08-03-2025, 02:29 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The doubling of Taurus and Aries seems to relate to the number of nymphs around them, which is half that of the other signs. So it rather appears to be a case of splitting in two rather than doubling. The reason for this might be as simple as space constraints or other design considerations.
The first sign (Pisces) made good use of the fact that it is on a fold-out page. It allowed the creation of a circle as large as the height of the page. This may have been the plan for the entire zodiac cycle (we don't know), but if so, this idea was dropped immediately after. The next two (Aries and Taurus) have been split in two, still allowing some extra space for adding the nymphs with stars and labels. Also that idea was dropped, and the remaining signs are therefore more cramped, generally less well arranged and no longer painted (apart from the central emblem).
More specifically, Cancer and Leo still follow the wide approach of Pisces, but they are cramped by the adjacent signs on the same side of the foldout, and their circles interfere/overlap.
The arrangement of the nymphs in the later signs was not well planned (extreme case: the inner circle of Sagittarius).
It gradually became more sloppy, or more hasty? -
RE: The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
Antonio García Jiménez > 09-03-2025, 10:39 AM
The explanation may be what Koen G and ReneZ say, but there may be another alternative that has to do not with the design but with the general conception of the codex. In fact, it is already suspicious that only the signs of Aries and Taurus are divided and that the signs of Aquarius and Capricorn are missing. Since what we see in the VM is mainly flowering herbs, we can deduce that the authors wanted to highlight the key signs in flowering.
That the above is very probable is shown by the fact that the only signs in which we see female figures inside tubes are Pisces, when flowering has already begun, and Aries and Taurus. In the other signs, the female figures, which represent the astral influence, are not seen in tubes, except for some in Gemini who curiously are not inside the tubes but outside.
In Quire 13 we see those tubes again, and the female figures that give the impression of going down. All this imagery is complicated to understand, but I think it has a coherent iconographic reading. -
RE: The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
R. Sale > 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? -
RE: The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
ReneZ > 10-03-2025, 12:02 AM
(09-03-2025, 10:39 AM)Antonio García Jiménez Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The explanation may be what Koen G and ReneZ say, but there may be another alternative that has to do not with the design but with the general conception of the codex. In fact, it is already suspicious that only the signs of Aries and Taurus are divided and that the signs of Aquarius and Capricorn are missing. Since what we see in the VM is mainly flowering herbs, we can deduce that the authors wanted to highlight the key signs in flowering.
I am not sure if 'suspicious' is the best word. I could certainly agree with 'unusual', but while doubled/halved signs are unusual, I do not agree that missing signs are unusual. More unusual is the start with Pisces, and of course the many women.
More importantly, even, is that 'having something unusual' is not unusual by itself. Lots of other manuscripts have unusual aspects. The zodiac pages in the famous, and often quoted Lapidario of Alfonso are also unusual in my opinion. I am not aware of any other similar illustrations with all the sitting figures.
To come back on topic, I do not see anything related to the labours of the month. These are well-established scenes that do not appear. -
RE: The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
Linda > 10-03-2025, 04:59 AM
(07-03-2025, 11:03 PM)SherriMM Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.This is my first post here, please let me know if this has already been discussed at length.
I published a blog post today, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.in which I briefly detail that the zodiac section is depicting suggested agricultural occupations for each month, related to similar "Labors of the Months" artwork of the time, which explains why the zodiac name labels are generalized, and why Aries (March) labeled "April" and Taurus (April) labeled most likely "May", are depicted twice, possibly as the most important, or work heavy, time of year. I also note that the medieval calendar year started in March, the new year being the 25th, which is why Pisces appears first.
Thank you for your thoughts on this.
All the best,
Sherri Mastrangelo
(Note: my site is mainly for genealogy research, so please ignore the sidebars and other content)
Hi Sherri,
Looks like there is not much consensus on this section.
I would agree with R. Sale, Koen, and Rene's comments re not much work being done, did I miss what you thought was being done each month? and the zodiac tradition is shown rather than the labor of months tradition(s), and as someone mentioned, the month names are not likely originally there as i believe they have been determined to be in a style that is later than we suspect the rest to be.
So I would have to say I would not be convinced that your hypothesis was the correct one as it stands right now.
However the New Year in Pisces idea I have heard before, but for specific regions only, I think someone mentioned Venice with regard to that tradition. But I don't know how that would figure in with the differences between the Pisces people and tubs and those of Aries and Taurus, not to mention the rest. Does everyone work in the nude after May? Why tubs for 3 or 4 months and then none?
For me they are not months, but astronomical ages or a Platonic year, with Aries and Taurus being the most plentiful in terms of recorded history, hence why they are given more space. Pisces was then and is now the current age, hence it being first, but there is also no agreed timing for the imminent age of Aquarius, and the one that is missing would be outlining an age which started roughly 26000 years ago, about the time of the Lascaux Cave paintings, according to wikipedia. Pisces looks like it has something happen halfway through, everyone is knocked down and the tubs look pockmarked instead of decorated and everyone is naked again, even though they are clothed in Aries and Taurus. Not sure if they added clothes later with the paint. The later nakedness is accompanied by no tubs, so I take the tubs to refer to architecture, as in people started to settle in cities and build longer lasting infrastructure and architecture and tended to stay in one place after this became the norm. Before this, everyone was nomadic. I think on Gemini there are some tubs on their sides, to indicate their architecture is no longer standing (which is why i think they predict a catastrophe in Pisces with its broken architecture). Those tubs in Gemini have nymphs with clothes, so I see clothing as culture. There is one more tub in Virgo.
I'm not saying mine is correct either but I have noted things that I think should be explained in other theories.
I had once thought it might be genealogical as I do genealogy too, could be possible, 26000/12=2166/30=72 years isn't beyond the realm of possibility, if you consider the wheels to be showing some kind of generational sequence that takes into account full lifetimes, maybe with some overlap. So each one is the grandchild or grandmother of the ones beside them? I dunno. To outline how long an age is, I mean, as that way there would be the lifetime of the mother between each of them. If So then you can still apply the historical aspects to them all, but then it might not make sense for them to move from tub to tub. I dunno.
It reminds me of something...
Herodotus (II, 143) tells a story of a visit by Hecataeus to an Egyptian temple at Thebes. It recounts how the priests showed Hecataeus a series of statues in the temple's inner sanctum, each one supposedly set up by the high priest of each generation. Hecataeus, says Herodotus, had seen the same spectacle, after mentioning that he traced his descent, through sixteen generations, from a god. The Egyptians compared his genealogy to their own, as recorded by the statues; since the generations of their high priests had numbered three hundred and forty-five, all mortal men, they refused to believe Hecataeus's claim of descent from a god. Historian James Shotwell has called this encounter with the antiquity of Egypt an influence on Hecataeus's scepticism: he recognized that oral history is untrustworthy.[11][12]
345 generations if we are talking Hecataeus 550 – c. 476 BC, he lived to be 74. He would have been in the Aries Age. What is a generation in this case? Even if it is only 15 years we are talking 5000 years plus, brings us to about Gemini.
Maybe one day we'll know what they meant by all of this. -
RE: The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"
Aga Tentakulus > 10-03-2025, 08:37 AM
@SherriMM
Calculating the seasons is not that simple.
Extract from the University of Zurich. Pictured here. I translated it into English.
‘The beginning of the year in the medieval calendar does not always coincide with 1 January. In total, there are six different beginnings of the year (25 Dec, 1 Jan, 1 March, 25 March, Easter, 1 Sept).
In German-speaking Switzerland and southern Germany, the so-called nativity style prevailed until the 15th century, in which the turn of the year falls on 25 December (in line with the counting of the years of incarnation). In the period between Christmas and New Year (octave), the year given in the original dating must therefore be reduced by one. Thus the coronation of Charlemagne (Christmas 800) is often consistently recorded in contemporary annals at the beginning of the year 801.
Since the 16th century, the so-called circumcision or calendar style has prevailed, which corresponds to the modern beginning of the year on 1 January.
Due to the variety of year beginnings, these should always be checked carefully.’
Alignment around 1511 (but I'm not quite sure off the top of my head)
It seems that 1 March is the same date as the VM.
However, since we are at 1400, it must be taken into account that the leap years were not taken into account. Compared to today there is a difference of 14 days.
This means that the date does not correspond to today's zodiac signs by 2 weeks.
Due to the shift, Pisces is quite plausible as the beginning of the year in March.