Built on Deuteronomy
R. Sale > 01-10-2016, 08:25 PM
Considering the VMs, the establishment of validity, discovering the intended and meaningful interpretations of the illustrations, has presented a significant challenge. Even where visual similarity is strong, it still stands alone. And there are clearly places in the VMs where visual isimilarity is less than robust. And perhaps some images are intentionally ambiguous.
The solution to this difficulty is found in the laws of Deuteronomy. The establishment of validity in those laws requires the testimony of two or more witnesses. Visual similarity may exist, but it is not conclusive on its own - not in a medieval fantasy-land like the VMs.
A second witness is needed and it is found, not in the images themselves, but in their traditional placement within an illustration and their location relative to each other. Objective, positional fact is the second witness to the validity of interpretation.
And in the VMs Zodiac, the need for two witnesses is converted into the pairing paradigm. Pairs in the medallions of the first five houses of the VMs Zodiac establish the paradigm. Heraldry and history continue the paradigm. And they continue to fulfill the requirement of Deuteronomy for two or more witnesses. The Vms Zodiac pages are constructed to accommodate these witnesses, but, given the nature of the VMs, some subtleties have been employed to diminish the strength of visual similarities. However, the second witness still stands firm. Positional facts based on tradition provide multiple confirmations, even though visual similarities appear a bit cloudy, particularly when stuffed into an optical illusion, etc. The use of an optical illusion is evidence of intentional ambiguity. Intentional obfuscation means that identification through visual similarity will probably not work. This means establishment of validity relies on the existence of a second witness and the creation of certain VMs illustrations that were built on the teachings of Deuteronomy.