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Re: VMs: something that makes sense
Hi Eric,
At 02:14 16/07/2004 -0700, you wrote:
okay, maybe it's not new, but...
i took f85r2 down to Kinko's (a copy/printing store in
the States) to have some printouts made.
disappointing. i could print as well out at home.
anyways, i was printing each of the three sections out
and noticed that on the middle section - somewhat
hidden in the drawing (i never noticed it before) -
are four women holding objects around the moon (the
moon is easy to see, but the women are buried in the
semicircular motif). this seems in parallel with the
men holding objects around the sun on the first panel.
I'm pretty sure you're actually talking about f86v4 as per the interlinear
- perhaps Rene's list of database id correspondences has this wrong? Here's
what the interlinear has to say about it:-
# The page contains a circular diagram, and under it a single paragraph
# of text (5 lines, the last one short and centered).
#
# The diagram is framed by two faint mechanically dawn circles, and
# four rings of text --- one betweent the two circles, the other three
# just inside the second circle. A wide gap in all four rings at 09:00
# suggests an obviosu starting point, confirmed by four radial strokes
# across the first ring (that may be modern scribbles in the copy,
# however).
#
# (There are other simultaneous gaps in all four rings at 01:00 and
# 05:00, so the four rings may actually be two or three paragraphs
# side by side.)
#
# At the center of the diagram there is an uncolored disk, bounded by
# a mechanically drawn circle, containing a small moon---with a dark
# crescent shadow on the left side, and a human face with neutral
# expression on the right.
#
# Just outside this central disk there is a wide decorated band
# containing four small human figures. The decoration looks like a
# perspective drawing of a flat field, bent around the inner disk with
# the innermost edge being closer to the observer. In the "field"
# there are five parallel rows (concentric rings) of elements, shaped
# like tombstones with rounded top. The "tombstones" are painted in
# various colors, and some have dots, borders, or other simple
# decoration. In the innermost ring, which is unobstructed, the
# elements are fused together at the base.
#
# Between these rows of "tombstones", the field is packed with round
# objects (which could be bushes, leaves, pebbles, bubbles, etc.).
#
# The "tombstones" in the first four rows are packed tight, and a
# larger "tombstone" is inserted every 3-6 standard ones. The last row
# (outermost ring) has only small tombstones, painted with alternating
# colors, some distance apart (with some blades of "grass" in
# between).
#
# The third row of tombstones is interrupted at 11:30, 02:30, 05:30,
# and 08:30 by four human figures. The human figures are hidden by the
# "bushes" from the waist down. The North figure is barely visible,
# because of a a crease in the vellum. The West and South figures are
# female (with visible breasts), and the same may be true of the other
# two. They wear a white dress with ring collar and broad sleeves,
# apparently tied at the wrists. Their hair is dark but not black, and
# is just long enough to cover the ears. The South, West, and North
# figures have both arms spread out like a "W", with hands open; East
# has only the left arm up, in the same position.
Now that we have the sidfiles, we can see that they are also
holding/emphasising objects, just like the four male figures on f85r2. This
is nice
also, there seems to be some possible symbolism with
fire on the male side (the "round container with a
cross stopper on the top", on closer inspection, seems
more like an candle or oil pot with a flame at the
top) and cups and water on the female side - more
tarot/occult symbolism.
it's hard to see what the female drawings are holding
-seemingly agricultural/fertility related for the most
part. only one has her back to the viewer and holding
what looks like a twiggy (dead) plant - representing
winter??? (fertility looking away??)
I think a good idea would be to cut, paste, rotate and clean up (ie remove
all the surrounding "tombstones") all eight figures onto a single page, so
that we can see them all clearly side by side. Then we can all start to
look for extra parallels here - and perhaps this might reveal hints of the
kind of tarot-style imagery you mention.
Also, I must admit that I've never properly got to grips with how the
panels on the reverse side of the rosette page are laid out & folded. What
is the spatial relationship between this sun page (f85r2) and this moon
page (f86v4?
Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....
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