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VMs: Finding
Hi there, VMS list group:
I am novice to the VMS email list. Please allow me to discourse a little
about my involvement with the Voynich manuscript. Some time ago, I was
browsing John Baez Internet pages on Physics, and I clicked the link to its
Voynich section, just out of curiosity. Usually, I am not even a bit
enthusiastic about enigmas, but the history of the Voynich manuscript, its
strange, or even bizarre, drawings of plants, astrological elements and
feminine figures caught my attention in a more or less steady basis since
then. I cannot avoid keeping an impression that the labored, even abnormal
symmetry and repetition in the number of components in the VMS drawings
holds some special meaning and can have something in common with themes from
my own research work. A recent finding convinced me to the best of my
knowledge that I am in possession of relevant new information about the
contents of VMS, that may be of assistance to decipher it.
A few days ago, browsing from Jorge Stolfi pages, I was fortunate to follow
a link to Petr Kazil pages, which gave me access for the first time to folio
86, the biggest drawing of the VMS, also known as the "rosette page". I
collated a printout set of the four jpg files that comprise folio 86 and
Wow! Just take a look! Folio 86 contains nine circles or spheres; each one
is illustrated in a distinct way and linked to the adjacent spheres by means
of connections, paths or flows also of varied aspect. The drawing matches
closely and unmistakably a well known ancient structure, the logical
conclusion being that folio 86 contains an early, perhaps the earliest
surviving pictorial rendition of the Tree of Life, the Sephirotic Tree from
kabbalistic jewish tradition! The Sephirotic Tree is traditionally regarded
as a model for the universe and the process of divine creation and
transmutation, and the set of the sephirot is said to represent any possible
manifestation of existence.
Nine sephiroth are showing in folio 86, arranged as usual in three triads. I
believe that the missing and lowermost sephira, Malkhut-kingdom may have
been deliberately excluded here, or maybe that drawing was conceived
before the graphical addition of Malkhut to the other nine sephirot, aimed
to sum up a so interpreted perfect number of 10 elements. Additional
connections or paths between the sephiroth were probably excluded here or
added later, totalling 32, in order to convey a mystical sum of 3+7+12+10
elements, matching the 22 letters of jewish alphabet and numbers 1 to 10.
To plunge into elaborate calculations and permutations is a well known
characteristic of ancient jewish mystical tradition. Extrinsic details,
precepts and angelical orders probably were also added to various studies on
the Sephirotic tree, by means of well intended but sometimes gratuitous
interpretations, reinterpretations and new extended and beautified
interpretations of old fundamental reinterpretations... ad nauseam...
The graphical aspect of the spheres in folio 86 may be said to match the
essential meaning of each sephira. The bigger sphere at the center is
Tipheret-beauty, and in accordance with lore it appears here in connection
with every other sphere. This particular rendition illustrates a
flower-kernel-like shape for Tipheret, which is placed below Kether-the
crown. Below Tipheret one finds Yesod-fundament, and to the sides of
Tipheret one sees Gevurah-justice/severity and Hesed-mercy, that is it! To
the lef and right of Yesod it is not difficult to identify Hod-glory and
Netsah-victory. The arrangement visually matches as a whole! In this
regards, one may also take a look at illustrations and texts on the
Sephirotic tree at the pages with links provided below and elsewhere. It is
prudent, however, to be aware of unconvincing, gratuitous, dubious,
confusing, ornamented and rambling interpretations. Sticking to the old
straightforward names of each sephira and their translation will aid to not
get lost.
Binah intelligence
Kether crown
Hokhmah wisdom
Gevurah justice/severity
Tipheret beauty
Hesed mercy
Hod glory
Yesod foundation
Netsah victory
Malkut kingdom
The upper triad is deemed as closer to the essential spirit of God, and is
associated with the "higher heavenly realms"; the two other triads are
associated with creation and the world. Daat-knowledge is not really a
sephira, but a later supplementary concept which is not universal in
studies on the Sephirotic tree. Some authors admit its usefulness as an
easier approach to conceive and relate to the upper triad. [1]
Is this accessment of folio 86 that I have described really new to the VMS
list? I feel even surprised that presumably no researchers involved in the
decypherment of the VMS have detected yet that unmistakable resemblance to
something so pertinent. If so, that is probably partly due to the big size
of that drawing, the download size of a file containing folio 86 and its
scarce availability in Internet and perhaps also to a lack of VMS list
members acquainted to that particular subject. I also trimmed and assembled
the four files from Petr Kazil archive in a single jpg image file; it gives
a not very sharp image, but it is smaller than the files in the archive (520
Kb) and allows a good overview of the whole drawing. It would be my pleasure
to send a copy of it upon direct request to my email address below to
possibly interested members of the VMS email list. I consider that this
presentation is already excessive, or long enough for the time being. If
other members of the VMS list show an extended interest, I may later
volunteer additional details of my interpretation about the meaning of the
VMS manuscript under the light of this new development.
Thank you for your attention,
Jorge Aveleira
jorvel AT terra DOT com DOT br
==================================
The Sephirotic Tree
[1] Names and arrangement of the sephirot,
http://www.yashanet.com/studies/revstudy/rev5a.htm
http://www.kheper.net/topics/Kabbalah/sefirot.htm
http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/index.htm
http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/kircher.gif
John Baez
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/README.html
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/voynich.html
Jorge Stolfi
http://www.dcc.unicamp.br/~stolfi/voynich/
Petr Kazil:
http://www.euronet.nl/users/kazil/
http://www.euronet.nl/users/kazil/voynich.html
"Due to webspace constraints most pictures have been moved to an archive
website on Geocities. And if too many people access this archive then
Geocities shuts it down temporarily. So if you fail to access it please try
again the next day."
Folio 86 archived pictures:
http://www.geocities.com/pkazil2001/voy_f86_ne.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/pkazil2001/voy_f86_nw.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/pkazil2001/voy_f86_se.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/pkazil2001/voy_f86_sw.jpg
Folio 86 pictures are available also at:
http://www.sphynx.demon.co.uk/Voynich.htm
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