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The Meaning Survey - March 2026

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  • The Meaning Survey - March 2026
• The Meaning Survey - March 2026

• The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  pjburkshire > Yesterday, 06:56 PM

  What do you think the Voynich Manuscript is about?
  
  - Alchemy / Distillation / Pharmacology
  - Ancient Prophecy / Religious Text
  - Astrology / Hermeticism / Astronomy / Cosmology
  - Magic / Black Magic / Witchcraft / Forbidden Knowledge
  - Medical / Biological Anatomy
  - Pilgrimage Routes / Journal of Travels
  - Plants: Medical, Poisonous, or Hallucinogenic
  - Plumbing / Bathing / Spa Culture / Wild Parties
  - Textile Dyeing Manual (using plants as dye sources)
  - Don't know / Other / No Meaning
  
  ....................
  
  I wanted to include these but there wasn't room:
  
  Board Games
  Foreign Knowledge
  Midwifery

• RE: The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  pjburkshire > Yesterday, 07:00 PM

  You may select more than one option.
  
  Poll times out in 14 days.

• RE: The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  Rafal > Yesterday, 07:45 PM

  Your question could be actually broken into two questions:
  
  a) what VM is on the surface about (what does imagery suggest)
  b) what is it really about (what does the text say and does it say anything at all)

• RE: The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  pjburkshire > Yesterday, 07:50 PM

  I think the Voynich Manuscript is an infinite quagmire of questions but the forum software only allows for a maximum of 10 options.

• RE: The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  Fontanellean > Yesterday, 09:13 PM

  Based on the pictures, all the sections seem to have to do with remedying human problems, be it through herbal pharmacology, balneology, or astrology.

• RE: The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  bi3mw > Yesterday, 09:52 PM

  I think this question would have to be answered separately for each section. For Quire 13, I would say “Alchemy / Distillation / Pharmacology.”

• RE: The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  pjburkshire > Yesterday, 10:58 PM

  (Yesterday, 09:52 PM)bi3mw Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
  I think this question would have to be answered separately for each section. For Quire 13, I would say “Alchemy / Distillation / Pharmacology.”
  

  
  
  I don't know which is more controversial, Quire 13 or the Rosettes page.

• RE: The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  Bluetoes101 > Yesterday, 11:40 PM

  "Don't know" should be included in everyone's choices.. but its quite another thing than no meaning. 
  But anyway, probably most interesting from this will be what people think it is not.

• RE: The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  Jorge_Stolfi > Today, 09:30 AM

  (Yesterday, 06:56 PM)pjburkshire Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.- Alchemy / Distillation / Pharmacology

  
  I voted for that one, but AFAIK alchemy and pharmacology were generally separate disciplines at the time.  There may have been attempts by some alchemists to create medicines, but they must have been spectacular failures.  Pharmacology became a specialty of Chemistry only in the late 1800s or early 1900s
  
  As you may have heard   I am now totally convinced that the Starred Parags section (SPS, quire 20) is what was called a "materia medica": a list of medicines (from plants, animals, or minerals), each with a terse list of its medical uses or benefits.  It may mention en passant some alchemical uses of some substances, but will spend no more that a couple of words on that.
  
  I also guess (but not sure) that the Herbal section will turn out to be similar, but devoted to plants only, and probably has more details on dosage and preparation.  Like typical European herbals of the time.
  
  Anyway, I am also convinced that each section is an independent book, and there is little if any connection between the sections, other than the language and script.  So maybe you should post a separate poll for each section?
  
  All the best, --stolfi

• RE: The Meaning Survey - March 2026

  Rafal > 10 hours ago

  I believe that Voynich Manuscript is supposed to look like a medieval, medical book, precisely a women health manual.
  
  Something like De Secretis Mulierum You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
  
  All the parts may be connected to women health and pregnancy - herbs and ointments part, astronomy/astrology part, bathing part...
  There is nothing which would be obviously not connected to medicine like religious themes, bestiary or alchemy.
  
  I am close to believe however that the text is meaningless and the book is a hoax. This would explain why some pictures are so hard to interpret.
  The author wanted it to look like a scientific medical book but lacked proper knowledge and was randomly copying and altering pictures from different
  sources which results in some stuff actually having no sense. That's why people are struggling so much in finding sense in it 
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