Re: VMs: Alchemical

["Larry Roux" <LRoux@xxxxxxx>]

I agree - there are definitely males mixed among the nymphs.  There are also crosses.

However, I wonder if it is possible to tell if there have been alterations to the manuscript since it was created.




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Larry Roux
Syracuse University
lroux@xxxxxxx
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>>> dscott520@xxxxxxx 10/26/03 03:46PM >>>
Yes, you make some good points here; however, I would suggest that there is a male presence in the VMS. I suspect that most, if not all, of the sun faces/references and possibly even some of the plants reflect male figures. The individual in the center of f73v seems to be male. There may be another male individual at the top right corner of f80r. And there is probably a male figure behind the plant (flower?) structure "casting off his seed" at the bottom left of f86v3. There is a cross held in the left hand of the naked lady at the top left of f79v, at least one cross with a crown, as I recall, and the flowers at the top of the plant in f90v1 also seem to symbolize crosses. Flowers the occur in plants in sets of 3 might also reflect the trinity. So there may indeed be religious references in the VMS, however "hidden" these might have been represented. The absence of any babies/children is curious though there do appear to be references to reproduction. Just some thoughts. Ta!
ke a look at tj
he first "words" in the first paragraphs of f09v, f10r, f14v, and f18r, as examples. See how the gallow characters extend across the whole word. I suspect that this might be meant to indicate that this "word" represents a summary of the whole plant, containing the minimal basic set of plant parts. It is possibly a summary of the plant. Notice, for example, the dots added to the first gallow in f14v. These same dots may be represented by the "seeds" shown in the plant drawing. A similar representation can be seen in the first gallow at the top of f42v which might correspond to the thistle structure at the top of the plant. This is all hypothetical, of course, but my suggestion is that the characters/glyphs/letters in the text of the VMS may be pictographic as in hieroglyphics. I think that this observation is important and should probably not be discarded out of hand. In summary, the first paragraph in the herbal section may be descriptive of the plant anatomy. The second par!
agraph seems to refer to another subject relating to the plant. The gallows with single down stroke might be references to plant flowers. 

Regards,
Dana Scott  
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Francois Almaleh 
  To: vms-list@xxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2003 12:24 PM
  Subject: Re: VMs: Alchemical


  Hello Dana,
  Before a new week of work... some ideas about this cultural subject...

  If the author wanted to describe the forces of the Universe, why did he
  create a writing ? That my first question and answer. Secondly, the nature
  is also the men and the babies. The men aren't present in the VMs although
  they are important, as women, in the life. Babies : in this time, the babies
  are small adults. See the paintings from this time. The heads of the babies
  seems to adult's heads.

  You have used "miracle of life" : If the author was so "proud" of the
  Creation, I think he had to be religious, catholic or protestant. But in any
  pages, no symbol of religion. It's a important point !

  The discover the VMs, first, we must know the meaning to organize better our
  researches. As said Frederico Zeri : the words behind the pictures/images..

  Francois

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: DANA SCOTT
  Perhaps the author of the VMS was searching for an all encompassing unifying
  universal theory to explain the forces of nature and the universe cycling
  from birth to death and back again, from the bowels of the earth to the
  depths of the heavens. I suspect that the forces of the "spirit" may have
  been considered by the author in an attempt to understand the miracle of
  life. Thus the interest in the varied subjects that seem to influence this
  cycle. There are no doubt a great may other possibilities. This is just one
  possible suggestion.

  Regards,
  Dana Scott

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