VMs: Re: Finding_02

["DANA SCOTT" <dscott520@xxxxxxx>]

Hello Jorge,

Here is where it gets to be a little bit interesting. Take a closer look at 
your reference to

Portae Lucis by Paulus Ricius, from 1516.

http://www.billheidrick.com/tlc1998/tlcplg.htm

Strip away the X connections in the middle of the Sephirotic Tree.
Now turn to f22r in the VMS and turn the page upside down. Take a look at 
the connections between the 3 parallel stems and compare it to the 
connections in the referenced Sephirotic Tree with the X connections 
removed. Do you see any similarity? Now counting the number of leaves in the 
plant we see that there are 10 leaves. Hmmm, I would say there may be a 
correlation here. What do you think? And how many candles are in the menorah 
(21 perhaps, not counting the larger one 'lying down' on the right)? There 
also seems to be a trinity of flowers at the top of the plant. Rrrr, but 
that may throw the dating all off. Oh well. Maybe it is just a coincidence, 
but then again....

A menorah with 21? cups in its branches:
http://www.blewa.co.uk/project4/teachers/images/T4_3_meno.jpg

Regards,
Dana Scott


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jorge Aveleira" <jorvms@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 2:11 PM
Subject: VMs: Finding_02


> Hi everybody:
>
> My former post proposing the identification of folio 86 from the Voynich
> manuscript as an early rendition of the kabbalistic Sephirotic tree seems 
> to
> have attracted some renewed interest to that folio. Prior to posting that
> understanding as a "finding" I checked the VMS email list archives for the
> last 10 years and found no reference to an equivalent identification. I 
> was
> kindly informed yesterday by Jim Gillogly that a brief reference to that
> possibility had been made once, in an off-and and less explicit way, as :
> "Perhaps this diagram is an attempt to draw the mysterious device 
> described
> in the Cabal, or the apocalyptic vision of Ezra, or Heron's hydraulic
> gadgets, or..." and by Rene Zandbergen about an email chat with Gabriel on
> the same grounds.  That makes me feel glad that I pointed at such
> possibility in earnest and in extended detail, as I am strongly convinced
> that folio 86 holds a notable significance to the VMS as a whole. That
> conclusion can perhaps be achieved simply from the very size and amount of
> work needed to manufacture folio 86. It is a cumbersome piece, and 
> required
> as much vellum as six standard folios and a lot of time to sketch; its 
> value
> to the whole document should be more than simply that of another
> illustration.
>
> The Sephirotic tree is an ancient and most respected representation. 
> Please
> forgive me for repeating that it is traditionally regarded in its context 
> of
> belief  as a model for the universe and the process of divine creation and
> transmutation. That is what I suppose --to be truthful, I feel positively
> sure-- that the VMS is all about: The first section should contain a
> cosmological view of botanics, where plants exist and develop in 
> accordance
> to a set of universal rules. Peculiarities of several plants and the
> structure of their  processes are highlighted in this first section.
> Follows a study on bodily processes and another on astrological 
> frameworks,
> according to the *same universal rules*. Finally, there is a medical 
> science
> herbal section where properties derived from those universal rules,
> associated to the plants as displayed in the first section, are applied to
> healing recipes. Folio 86 becomes then a  "plant-contaminated-like"
> rendition of the universe and the Sephirotic tree.  In  support of that
> assumption please notice that two out of any three-in-a-line spheres in
> folio 86 are intently, even coercively portrayed  with a 
> flower-kernel-like
> center or rim, with exception of the diagonals.
>
> The universal rules of creation and transmutation appearing throughout the
> VMS should probably be grounded on relationships such as: symmetry, 2
> (duality),  3(trinity), 2x2, 3x2, 3x3, 3x3+1 3x2x2, 6+1=7,  11+1=12,
> 12+1=13, etc. The concept of duality and derived models (2, 2x2, 2^n...) 
> is
> virtually universal and aeons-old; the trinity appeared a little later in
> history (3, 3x3...); elaborate models like the  Zodiac combine those two
> views in a 2x3...x2...x3... modeling of reality. The VMS is oddly 
> permeated
> with symmetrical compositions and particular counts of leaves and flowers.
> Those who feel interested by this statement might take a resolute look at
> many of the more bizarre plant drawings in VMS and  realize that what I am
> trying to expose here becomes more evident.
>
> In that respect I suggest strongly: f17r, f17v, f33v, f36v, f37v, f40v,
> f47v, f52r and also: f9v, f10v, f11r, f13v, f14v, f16v, f18v, f22v, f24v,
> f31v, f34r, f39v, f43r, f45v, f54v, f93r. In the biological section: f78r,
> f81r, v83v, f84r. Remarkable also are the rigorously alternating 
> dark/white
> little flowers at f106r. All those pictures with exception of f86 appear 
> in
> the huge but rewarding 23Mb pdf file available for download at Bacon 
> Books:
> http://www.baconbooks.net/   . My offer of a jpg file of f86 showing all 
> the
> 9 rosettes in a single b&w picture to possibly interested members of VMS
> email list. is still standing.
>
> The  pictures of the Sephirotic Tree that I had the opportunity to examine
> until now contained 10 sephiroth and a variable number of paths or
> connections between them, usually 32 from 17th century on, and less than
> that in earlier versions. The number of paths being 32 derives from
> 3+7+12+10; the initial summation of 22 letters is accounted for in the
> jewish ancient mystical book Sepher Yetzirah. The universal creative 
> process
> is zealously and repeatedly described in the Sepher Yetzirah as being
> triadic and up-down, originated by the divine Spirit through three 
> essences
> that are associated to the "motherly" first three letters of Hebrew
> alphabet: Aleph, Mem and Shin. The number of  sephirot being 10 derives
> clearly from 3 triads +1, that is the reason why I believe that
> Malkhut-kingdom the tenth sephirah was established for reasons of "perfect
> summation" and does not takes part in the triadic process of creation and
> transmutation. Folio 86 would then possibly be the earliest pictorial
> rendition of the Sephirothic tree in "recent" times.
>
> I hold the view that the Sephirotic tree was originally conceived  as a
> 3+3x2 process: the upper three "mother" essences originated  by the Spirit
> yield a lower worldly process that is accomplished through three 
> oppositions
> or dilemmas. From the Sepher Yetzirah itself, in the translation by 
> William
> Wynn Westcott: "The Three Mothers... are a great Mystery, very admirable 
> and
> most recondite, and sealed as with six rings; and from them proceed Air,
> Fire and Water, which divide into active and passive forces...", "The 
> Three
> are One, and that One stands above. The Seven are divided; three are over
> against three, and one(Malkhut-kingdom?) stands between the triads" One 
> may
> arrive to that conclusion also by analysis of the contrasting, opposite
> character of the names of the six lower sephiroth.
>
> Please allow me to make an attempt to demonstrate my understanding of 
> folio
> 86, of the way the universe is portrayed in it and in other renditions of
> the Sephirotic tree. Please be aware that I simply try to interpret here, 
> as
> straightforwardly and objectively as possible,  the pictorial view of  a
> mediaeval man of study in relation to the philosophical meanings embodied 
> in
> an ancient repository of mystical tradition.
>
> > Left-up concrete mother essence Binah, intelligence, water, Mem, 
> > emanates
> subtle worldly dilemma below:
> Gevurah opposite to Hod,
> a sphere containing an orderly irradiating structure opposite to a
> jewel-like decorated one,
> justice  opposite to glory,
> severity opposite to celebration,
> austerity opposite to rejoice.
>
> > Middle-up abstract "first mother" essence Kether, crown, air, Aleph,
> emanates abstract worldly dilemma below:
> Tipheret opposite to Yesod,
> the supremely luxurious sphere opposite to a sphere that is a simplified
> version of the upper mother of this dilemma,
> beauty as opposite to fundament,
> variety as opposite to simplicity,
> plenty as opposite to essential.
>
> > Right-up subtle mother essence  Hokhmah, wisdom, fire, Shin emanates
> concrete worldly dilemma below:
> Hesed opposite to Netsah,
> a quite discrete and moderate  sphere opposite  to a opulent sphere
> containing structures like "buildings?" and "crops?",
> mercy as opposite to victory,
> kindness as opposite to conquest,
> benevolence as opposite to command.
>
> When I first recognized the economical  --Malkhut excluded and just basic
> paths-- shape of the Sephirotic tree on folio 86, I was startled, even
> amazed, to see that  the VMS rendering is coincident, almost (but not 
> quite)
> identical, to a holistic structure that  sprouted amidst an independent
> study centered on psychology, philosophy, systems analysis and the 
> structure
> of reality that I developed some time ago, much before I had acquired any
> knowledge about the existence of the VMS and folio 86. According to the
> understanding detailed in that study, the Sephirotic tree should 
> illustrate
> a 3+3x2 process, that is, the evolutionary process of the triad as
> accomplished through a triad of dilemmas of everyday existence. Many of 
> the
> central aspects of that study are displayed in an article by myself that 
> was
> published at The Jung Page:
> http://www.cgjungpage.org/articles/javconsciousness.html
> One of the article's structural pictures:
> http://www.cgjungpage.org/graphics/japic2.html
>
> ==================================
> This post is already too long, it should  be looking more as the draft of 
> an
> essay that I am forcing upon the VMS list, however I still need to add
> specific appreciation and replies to some list members:
>
> GC:
> Thanks for the friendly welcome message and  the availability of a 
> valuable
> resource on the VMS.
>
> Jim Gillogly:
> Thanks for the welcome and for that precise and complete reference to the
> small bit on the Cabal and folio 86. I probably would never have located
> that alone.
>
> Rene Zandbergen:
> You built a very good site. The tripartite sectioning 
> (Short/Long/Analysis)
> is somewhat confusing, though, with the "empty blocks" in some sections.
> Thanks for your commentary. In regards of the sephiroth, I think that it 
> is
> better to stick to the original names, there are too many confusing
> accretions; I hope that the explanation above makes clearer my point of 
> view
> in regards of a universal process comprising the 9 sephiroth. The four
> external symbols could be perhaps a representation of the world according 
> to
> a 2x2 system, which is older than the triadic or combination systems. The
> Egyptian sphinx is a 2x2 symbol. I can evaluate that better when I get a
> look at it, as my copy of f86 shows only a blurred SW "clock".
>
> Nick Pelling
> Thanks for your extended commentary on my former post. If folio 86 is 
> indeed
> a representation of the Tree of Life, and perhaps its structure even
> permeates all of the VMS, then one could possibly search for keys to
> decipher it with approaches deriving from the old jewish techniques of
> gematria, notaricon and temura and also within hebrew language besides
> latin, that keeps being the most likely. Also, a general proposition in 
> VMS
> would have been recognized to aid the deciphering.
>
> Gordon Rugg
> Thanks for your question. I do not qualify to speculate on that issue,
> though. I suppose that 1470 would be a nice guess for an earliest than the
> oldest already known picture of the Sephirotic tree. The oldest version 
> that
> I know of is from Portae Lucis by Paulus Ricius, from 1516. See:
> http://www.billheidrick.com/tlc1998/tlcplg.htm
>
> Thank you all, for your attention and your patience,
>
> Jorge Aveleira
>
>
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