Psychedelic Imagery in the VMs

[Dennis <ixohoxi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>

On a different topic, here's something  I don't ever recall every having seen on
the list.From Richard Shand, a friend of the VMs.

>   Its great it the VMs can be published.  The
> folios on the Yale site are fascinating.  My first impression is that
> the images indicate that they were done under the influence of an
> hallucinogenic drug.  I remember an artist  showing me elaborate
> calligraphic and embroidered images (like the psychedelic posters of
> the 60s) and said he was in telepathic communication with his soul
> mate on Nepture.  With him the boundaries between schizophrenic
> delusion and self-induced fantasy were blurred.  The pictures in the
> VMs have the same combination of fanciful artificiality and obsession
> with detail.
> The plants, real or imaginary, may represent psychotropic agents and
> the text, real or imaginary, may (at least in part) represent recipes
> for their alchemical preparation.  The nymphs have strong erotic
> overtones and the association with water (ritual cleansing?) brings
> to mind Wagner's Rhine maidens. Their depiction with stars on the
> astrological charts suggests that they are angelic beings.