I’ve finally done something that should have been obvious, but I just didn’t think of it– on the map of Europe with the pentagram I have added the color of the moon over the place name.
This clearly indicates the drawing path for the pentagram, and indicates it is for “active spirit banishing”, whatever that might mean.
The clear pattern also supports my decoding of the labels for the place names.
For more on the map, see “Folio f67r2”, above.
Since the dating of f67v2 has changed a lot recently, I have reworked the Astro Section Timeline.
If you want to compare them, the old one is below.
f67v2 is one of the most opaque folios in the entire Astro Section. I have interpreted it as four planetary conjunctions seen from a central location (see the individual page above).
But just yesterday I noticed that the folio is also a fractal; that is, a shape that is self-similar at different scales.
The smaller iteration is the conjunction in the lower left, where the planets are within colored fields arranged like a T-O map and connected by bars in a “U” shape.
The larger iteration is all four conjunctions arranged in a “U” shape indicated by moving from the earliest to the latest date. It is also oriented the same way as the smaller.
Below are four illustrations of the fractal:
For some time now I’ve been kept busy with personal business to the neglect of my Voynich research and this blog.
Looking through it and reacquainting myself I see that a number of the folios are out of date with my work, so I’m going to update things as I can. I can’t really give a timetable, as other things still have my attention, but soon, I hope.
I’ve added pages for three Astro folios I have not yet studied.
The written file of my dates for the Astro folios is fine, but here they are laid out on a timeline for better presentation.
I think this is an example of “a picture is worth a thousand words”.
The tightness of the date clustering surprised me too.
The 1533 comet may be within the Zodiac range, as it is within 76 years (1° of precession) of 1471.
I am adding as individual pages my interpretations in the Astro section. Some of them are incomplete as far as labels go. A few have not yet been studied, and will not be added.
Hopefully the viewer will be able to see the connections between the folios. I think the Author’s purpose in this section was to study and understand the mystical meanings of astronomical events in the Aries/Taurus area.
As I understand, the stars of the nearby open cluster named the Hyades have names, but no particular name has been given to a particular star.
If my label interpretations are correct, the VMs author did so on folio 68r2:
The numbers are from the Voy-101 transcription. The unlabeled star has not yet been interpreted.
I thought it would be informative to count the number of times a letter was used for a particular value, and here are the results for the 31 labels that use Set 1:
I wrote a paper (announcement and link below) containing evidence of the date of f68r1 being 18 July 1533, showing the Great Comet of that year. I’m not going to rewrite the paper here; if you want details, read it.
To further call attention to it, I have made a new page with the diagrams. The link is above. (I am having trouble getting them set the way I want them, so expect modifications.)
The first is the folio in question. The second is a diagram of the comet’s path from Apian’s Astronomicum Caesarium 1540. The third is the folio and diagram overlaid, The fourth is a star chart from Starry Night Pro 4.
This date refutes the idea that the vellum of the VMs was used immediately after creation, circa 1420. Other dates found in the Astro section cluster near the late 15th Century (see the earlier entry).
Now for a short foray into insanity before I get into my next subject.
I’m starting to think that the book has a spell on it protecting its secrets from the general public. The experiences I’ve had are subjective, but that’s what they add up to.
Robert Firth’s Notes Part 15, An Account of a Curious Dream Concerning the Voynich Manuscript was the first indication that might be the case. (The Notes can be accessed through Elmar Vogt’s blog. Well worth reading for early research.)
I’ve had success cracking labels in the Astro section (and a few elsewhere). Nothing happens while I’m working, but whenever I try to communicate the method to others, emails don’t go through or are delayed, files are corrupted or missing, or something crops up that distracts.
Once posted, the proposal gets little response, and what others do say focuses on something other than what I am saying, or what is important. I compound the problem by getting annoyed and frustrated and letting it show. Not because it isn’t immediately accepted and praised by all, but because I write fiction that gets good reviews, and am a professional story editor, so I know I can write clearly. And yet no matter how carefully, simply, and completely I explain, it is misunderstood. The fault may be entirely mine, but I have trouble believing it.
I had my own Voynich-related dream some months ago.
In a nutshell, I was visiting an old, 3-story red brick school I had attended. I wandered around reminiscing, then heard a particular person I wanted to see again.was still there. I went to his room but it was locked and I was told that if he wanted to see me, he would come out.
He did so, and took the form of a (real) favorite teacher in high school who taught biology. We talked about the Voynich for a while, then he asked if I wanted to read it. He handed me a copy, and we walked to the cafeteria and sat down. I leafed through it, saw the missing folios, and everything was in the English alphabet. Unfortunately, you can’t read in a dream, so I learned nothing new. I handed it back and he left. Later I wanted to talk to him again, but he wouldn’t see me.
There is one physical thing that happens. I wear a jade Chinese dragon my wife bought me for good luck. It dangles from a short loop on a thick cord around my neck. I’m right-handed, so I use that hand to open the clasp when I put it on.
But sometimes when I’m preparing to share my Voynich work, I find the loop has gotten tangled in the clasp. When I take it off to untangle it, the cord has somehow reversed itself, and I have to open it with my left hand. The cord won’t go over my head, so that shouldn’t be possible.
If those Entities from Firth and my dreams are responsible, maybe I should take a hint.
Voynichology 