VMs: Gratheus filius philosophi

["Rafal T. Prinke" <rafalp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear All,

I have briefly looked at the edition of what is considered
to be the oldest surviving alchemical text in German:

  Die alchemistische Lehrdichtung des Gratheus filius Philosophi
  in Cod. Vind. 2372. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur okkulten Wissenschaft
  im Spätmittelalter, 1. Bd.: Einleitung, Untersuchungen, Kommentar;
  2. Bd.: Textedition, Übersetzung, Register. Sitzungsberichte 
  d. Österr. Akad. d. Wiss., phil.-hist. Kl. 591, Wien 1992, 
  494 + 342 S. + 7 S. Bildanhang

The editor dates it to the 13th century and it is unique because
of using astral magic for help in making the philosopher's
stone (otherwise alchemy is magic-free). It includes
a catalogue of 139 (or 136?) stars, each accompanied by
a rhyming text on its special virtues. Volume I p. 136-137
lists their names, which are rather monotonous - and
therefore VMS-like. Here are some I noted out:

Sitel, Potel, Matel, Fatol, Satol, Natol,
Arib, Erip, Orip, Vrip, Eric, Seric, Leric, Peric,
Alli, Salli, Talli

In vol. 2, p. 324-325 there is an "index demonorum" with
similar "low entropy" names.

Most interestingly, the stars are accompanied by pictures
showing either a Moon-like face or a female face and a label
with her name. There are also some diagrams with stars
patterns, vaguely VMS-like. Unfortunately, the reproductions
are very small - and two pages of text reproduced at the back
are totally illegible so I couldn't even guess if there
may be any similarity of some glyphs.

As always, there is hardly anything in this text that
might suggest it is encoded in the VMS - but there seems
to be enough to suggest a similar tradition of astrological
magic and manuscript imagery.

Best regards,

Rafal
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