Re: Astrological symbols... decoded!

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 14:04 03/10/01 +0100, Gabriel Landini wrote:
> On 3 Oct 2001, at 13:12, Nick Pelling wrote:
> > His January 2001 comment (on f57v) is *absolutely* spot on. Decoding
> > the (2nd ring in) sequence of 17 x 4 is so obvious it's *shocking*.
>
> I cannot find that message, perhaps I never received.

I must admit that Luke Edwards only identified the sun and Mercury, using 
fairly elliptical language: and his email was only ever quoted by someone 
else, so it would have been easy to miss. :-)

> I must say that I fail to see the obvious. It seems to me that with so
> many "stylised forms" (almost all , really) one could swap them
> around and claim the sequence still makes sense since almost
> none of them resemble the symbols claimed.

.....except that the order of the planets and the order of the astrological 
signs can't be changed (with the exception of the moon, and the starting 
sign of the zodiac). The start of f57v is clearly indicated - the sun 
symbol (EVA o), and everything follows on from there. It's clearly a 
diagram - the sequence is repeated four times (with only the 
scorpio/sagittarius change) around a circle.

One of my initial problems with the idea that the Voynich actually 
contained astrological or pharmacological information was the complete lack 
of any obvious traditional astrological signs, which are strongly 
associated with both - many "similar" documents have them strewn everywhere 
(look at Dee's mysteriorum, etc).

But my current observation reverses that - astrological symbols underlie 
the VMS' alphabet, so are *everywhere* in the VMS.

I *strongly* stand by my assertion that most of the VMS' letters are 
single-stroke versions of traditional astrological symbols: and encourage 
you to re-examine the 17 x 4 ring of f57v.

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....

PS: incidentally, which astrological traditions place the moon between Mars 
and Jupiter? This might also help to narrow down our range of influences. :-)