f67v left

f67v, left, Voynich Manuscript. Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

This is a very brief summary of the possible interpretation of this folio. In the light of information given on other pages regarding the importance of the massing of planets to Kepler and other astronomers over time, the four corner configurations may be of a similar theme, the bottom right configuration showing a comet or nova also. They may alternatively show particular clusters of stars in the sky at the time of SN 1054. The colours on the bottom left configuration reflect the red, blue and green of the colours around the central star on the folio.

Central star. f67v, left, cropped, Voynich Manuscript. Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

The middle star showing a scintillating halo and four arms emanating from it fits very well with the description of SN 1054, and other supernova type star descriptions. In China it was described separately as yellow for the first two months, and also reddish-white in appearance. These descriptions may be purely astrological interpretations rather than factual observations as yellow and red were auspicious colours in China and yellow in particular was the colour of emperors, in order to appease the emperor these descriptions would be a wise choice. However, we know that this was not the true interpretations believed by the astronomers for SN 1054, as the Liao dynasty linked the death of their emperor to the star and declared that his death meant the omens had come true and the sighting of SN 1054 at the time of the eclipse was not recorded at the time in the Song dynasty. An eclipse was a bad omen for the emperor and even when the official acknowledgement of the star was made by the Song excuses were made about it to reinforce its benevolence, stressing it did not infringe upon Aldebaran, which followed a grovelling verdict by the reporting astronomer on how great this meant the emperor was. Sometimes stars were seen as auspicious by the Chinese, one type of star was a "Chou-po" ('Earl of Chou' star, yellow, brilliant and very auspicious) and meant great prosperity over the area it represented. SN 1006 was described as a "Chou-po", but only to appease the emperor and the court as it was suspected to by many to be a Kuo-Huang (sinister star), an omen of war and misfortune, in Japan in the "Ichidai Yoki" however SN 1006 was reported to be white-blue. Reports are not always accurate and the details may be altered or even omitted to appease the ruler of the time, making it difficult to determine the true facts. Green stars brought calamity and bright white stars may be good or bad, blue stars are not mentioned and green (blue and green were considered together in the system of the "five elements" representing "wood"). Or white may be the closest colour and shown along with the red colouring of the star on the folio, and green on the border reflecting the true nature of the star or the reports from other cultures regarding SN 1054 such as Japan, alongside its reported nature. In China dark blue although associated with immortality is also associated with funerals and death.

The rest of the descriptions state it was visible in the day like Venus and had rays shooting out form all sides, which also fits the image of the central star on the folio. A passage in the Nahuatl Florentine Codex (book 7, chapter 3) of Mesoamerica, which appears to be a more straightforward report of the star, states it was visible in the day and shone white. As an aside, The Florentine Codex equates the star, as celestial events in many cultures are equated, with evil and sickness also.

The four Suns and Moons on stalks facing into the circle may refer to the two months that the star shone forth both day and night. The clusters of faces in the four corners may represent clusters of planets that occurred before or around the time of the new star or specific stars in that area. The bottom right group of faces contains what I have suggested elsewhere is a comet, though not bright comet "Machholz 2" is a possible candidate and as the Chinese classification of nova and comets was not always consistent it could also be the new star. The faces at the bottom left in a horse shoe shape appear to be on a T/O map which could indicate that the star was seen across the world, or at least in China, Arabia and Europe. However, I have suggested elsewhere that this same style of map could be used to indicate the intersection of the Galactic Equator and the Celestial Zero Meridian, particularly with reference to SN 1572. The orientation of these lines of reference is crude in the folio image if assumed to be the Galactic Equator and the Celestial Zero Meridian and would need to be swivelled round to the correct orientation. But, it may indicate separation of stars rather than accurate orientation and two of the stars of the "V" of Cassiopeia are in one sector, the third in the "V" in another and SN 1572 in another as may be indicated by the different colours of each sector of the folio image. When a star map of Cassiopeia on the day SN 1572 appeared is laid over the folio image the stars as indicated show a good fit as does their position in different sectors. Cassiopeia shown on the day of SN 1054 shows the same number of stars in different sectors but the orientation of the Galactic Equator and the Celestial Zero Meridian is different. There does not appear to be a configuration of stars that would have the same relevance for SN 1054 in Taurus.


f67v, left, cropped, Voynich Manuscript. Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University/Credit: Redshift6. Cassiopeia on 11/11/1572 AD, over Scania (formerly in Denmark).	f67v, left, cropped, Voynich Manuscript. Credit: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University/Credit: Redshift6. Cassiopeia on 4/7/1054 AD, North China. Overlay by P. Han noting position of SN 1572.