Hi everyone,
So I'm not really an expert in language or codex deciphering, I jut love learning history and connecting dots.. However, I have come up with a hypothesis that might explain where it came from, who wrote it and why (I apologize if it comes through a bit messy, but I have included my research, references and what I know from around the supposed time it was written, as well as hints at other languages that had a similar issue in the past).
Abstract
The Voynich Manuscript (Yale, Beinecke MS 408) has resisted decipherment since its rediscovery in 1912. While theories have ranged from hoax to scientific encyclopaedia, this paper proposes an alternative cultural reading: the manuscript may function as a grimoire, a practitioner’s handbook of herbal, astrological, and ritual knowledge rather than a purely scientific or encyclopaedic work. By comparing its contents with known magical and folk traditions of the Middle Ages and considering the social pressures of the period, this paper suggests that the Voynich represents a localized system of ritual practice, encoded in a unique script for the safety of its practitioners.
1. Introduction
The Voynich Manuscript has long puzzled cryptographers, linguists, and historians. Most attempts at decipherment have focused on identifying a linguistic key to the mysterious script. An alternative approach is to examine the manuscript as a cultural artifact rather than solely a linguistic puzzle. When viewed through the lens of medieval grimoires, books of occult knowledge that blended natural philosophy, astrology, and ritual, the manuscript’s contents align with patterns of magical handbooks circulating in late medieval Europe.
2. Literacy, Secrecy, and Hidden Scripts
Roman literacy and the Latin alphabet dominated much of medieval Europe, but alternative systems existed and were often overlooked. For example, Ogham, the Irish alphabet, was dismissed as mere symbols until properly identified as writing centuries later. Similarly, the Voynich script may represent either a concealed system or a deliberately obfuscated text designed to protect its contents from outsiders.
Witch hunts began to intensify in the early fifteenth century, but the preceding centuries were already a time of social and religious tension. Healers, druids, and women practicing folk medicine in the 14th century could face suspicion or persecution. In this context, esoteric knowledge would have been carefully guarded, often shared only within trusted groups or covens. This may explain why the manuscript contains hints that multiple authors contributed to it, while the text itself remains indecipherable to anyone outside the intended circle of practitioners. Encoding knowledge in a unique script would have allowed them to transmit wisdom safely without exposing themselves to accusation.
3. Herbology and Healing Practices
The Voynich’s largest section is its botanical compendium, containing drawings of plants that appear both naturalistic and hybrid. This mirrors traditions of witchcraft and folk medicine, in which herbal knowledge was central to healing rituals, remedies, and potions. Richard Kieckhefer, in
Forbidden Rites, demonstrates how magical handbooks frequently combined natural lore with ritual instruction. Similarly, Owen Davies in
Grimoires: A History of Magic Books describes the widespread use of herbal recipes in magical contexts. The Voynich’s peculiar plants may encode symbolic or local identifications, designed to preserve knowledge within a closed tradition.
4. Astrology and Ritual Knowledge
The zodiac diagrams and astronomical charts in the Voynich resemble astrological treatises but can also be interpreted as ritual calendars. Astrology was a cornerstone of magical practice because it determined the timing of spells, healings, and divinations. Both witches and learned magicians consulted planetary influences to guide ritual activity. Nicholas Clulee, in
John Dee’s Natural Philosophy, shows how even elite intellectuals in the sixteenth century relied on astrology to integrate science, religion, and magic. The Voynich’s astrological imagery therefore aligns with broader traditions in which celestial knowledge was inseparable from ritual practice.
5. Ritual Purification and Baths
The so-called “balneological” section, with repeated imagery of nude female figures in baths or tubes, is often interpreted as medical. However, such imagery may equally reflect ritual purification. Water played an important role in magical and folk healing traditions, used for cleansing, exorcism, and spiritual preparation. Inquisitorial records from witch trials often describe baths, anointings, or ritual washings associated with both healing and protection from evil spirits. Within this framework, the Voynich’s bathing figures could symbolize ritual purification rather than strictly medical treatment.
6. The Grimoire Hypothesis
Taken together, the Voynich’s major components of herbology, astrology, and purification rituals align closely with known features of grimoires. These books were rarely theoretical and served as practical manuals for practitioners. The timing of the manuscript, likely in the 14th or early 15th century, coincides with growing social suspicion toward witches, healers, and folk practitioners. This environment of tension may have encouraged practitioners to encode their knowledge in a script readable only by members of their group. The hints of multiple authors may reflect collaborative work within a coven or trusted circle, further protecting the knowledge from outsiders while allowing internal transmission. Unlike the better known
Picatrix or
Key of Solomon, which circulated in Latin and were accessible to learned readers, the Voynich may represent a localized or folk magical tradition that required secrecy for survival.
7. Conclusion
The grimoire hypothesis does not claim to have deciphered the Voynich script, but it situates the manuscript in a cultural and historical framework that explains its structure and contents. As Richard Kieckhefer and Owen Davies have shown, grimoires often blended herbal, astrological, and ritual knowledge, encoded in writing systems accessible only to insiders. The Voynich Manuscript, with its unique combination of herbal illustrations, zodiac charts, and ritual baths, fits this pattern. If correct, this hypothesis suggests the manuscript preserves a fragment of Europe’s esoteric heritage, documenting the practical knowledge of a magical or healing tradition that would otherwise have been lost.
References
- Kieckhefer, Richard. Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century. Penn State University Press, 1998.
- Davies, Owen. Grimoires: A History of Magic Books. Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Clulee, Nicholas H. John Dee’s Natural Philosophy: Between Science and Religion. Routledge, 1988.
- Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. MS 408 (Voynich Manuscript).
- Thorndike, Lynn. A History of Magic and Experimental Science. Columbia University Press, 1923–58.
I would appreciate your feedback and thoughts too. Remember this is just a hypothesis and I am more a history lover than a manuscript decipherer, but have had a fascination with the Voynich manuscript for a few years now.