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Hello everyone, and happy new year!
I am a 21 year old student of Art History at the university of Nanterre near
Paris where I live. I first saw the VMS on Jacques Guy's site when I was looking
for Rangiroa tablets for an ethnology paper. Anyway, I don't have any
qualifications aside from my interest in this manuscript, I don't
really have any theory, and I just hope I can make myself useful, who
knows? Concerning plants, I've got an interesting list here with Paracelsus,
which I finally translated(more or less), along with a few other details.
Please, correct me if I'm wrong.
According to him, plants belong to seven planetary groups. All plants related to
a planet cure ailments in certain parts of the body, each organ is also ruled by
one of seven planets plus earth.
SUN: Heart, cardio-vascular.
MOON: brain, stomach,"humors"(opposed to galenic, here there are 3:sulfur,
mercury, salt, in the body)
EARTH:purification of the blood and toxins
MERCURY: nervous system & lungs
VENUS: glands, kidneys, infectious diseases
MARS: gall bladder, anemia
JUPITER: liver, sometimes bronchi
SATURN: skeleton, langorous states
However, he also warns that " A drug which is favorable during a certain period
can be harmful at another time depending on planetary influence." And in the
Paragranum he tells us: "The basis for your work must include the
nomenclature of diseases according to leo, saggitarius, Mars, Saturn...for
otherwise you will not and cannot achieve anything". " Preparing the drug
consists...in knowing the star of the disease and opposing to it the
star of the right drug. The supreme science consists inknowing the concordance
between these two stars". This could account for the astrological and
astronomical labels, and brings us to the "Venus in Scorpio" idea (sorry I can't
remember who had it on the list).
Paracelsus
was also a forefather of balneology, prescribing bathing in curative waters
based on 17 plants...speaking of baths...when I saw the VMS at Beinecke, it
seemed like the water was only green on the surface, while the inside was
blue...maybe green layer on water is floating herbal
mixture? This brings us to the 1530's when he visited curative baths in
Pfäffers, where groups of up to 20people would be bathed in one
basin.
Here
are the plants:
SUN: angelica, ash, bloodwort(burnet),
buttercup, camomille, chelidonium, juniper, rosemary, pansy, St john's wort,
walnut, centaury, rue, sunflower, tormentil, sanguisorba,viper's
bugloss.
MOON: cabbage, watercress
cucumber, hieracium, sage, lily, waterlily, clove, atriplex, plantain, prune,
poppy, red poppy, purslane, cowslip, rye, privet.
MERCURY: wild carrot, fern, fennel,
hazelnut, marrube, lavender, lily-of-the-valley, licorice, maidern's hair,
marjoram, mulberry, oat, parsnip, citronella, sloe(blackthorn), valerian, basil,
ranunculus, flax, garlic, gentian, hawthorn(may tree), hop, nettle.
VENUS: Alkanna, ivy, bean, blackberry
bush, cherry tree, chestnut, cowslip, daisy(2 kinds),foxglove, redcurrant,
marshmallow(hollyhock), groundsel(senecio), alchemilla, french marigold, rose,
dog/wild rose, wild thyme, armoise commune(french name), parsley, pear tree,
periwinkle, plantain, prunetree, poppy, red poppy, primrose, meadowsweet, rye,
soapwort, sorrel, strawberry, vervain, wheat( 2 kinds), mint,
milfoil(yarrow)
MARS: sloe, "epine-vinette"(berberis), basil,
bryony, benedict, ranunculus, garlic, gentian, hawthorn, hyssop, hop, nettle,
onion, horseradish, rubarb, tobacco, absynth
JUPITER: wild thyme, agrimony, aspargus, melissa,
beetroot, cranberry, borage, chervil, chestnut tree, dandelion, burdock,
chicory(endive), fig-tree, stock, hart's tongue, leek, rose, thistle,
oak.
SATURN: sorrel, strawberry,
vervain, wheat, quince tree, capsella bursa-pastoris, tamarisk, blackthorn,
solomon's seal, buckwheat, epilobe, yew, onion, pine, radish, rubarb, absynth,
amaranth, beech tree, ornithopus, larkspur, cornflower, cress, elm, fern,
fumitory, gladiolus, pansy, hemlock, holly, ivy, medlar tree, moss, belladonna,
poplar, polypodium.
Many varieties of these plants have already been identified by Dana F. Scott in
the VMS...maybe more can be matched? Sorry this is so long, but...what do you
think?
Best wishes to all,
Diane Cousteau
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