f70r.  ZODIAC FOLIOS: PISCES

The first of the zodiac pages appears to be of Pisces.   The zodiac pages all have what appears to be months written in the middle in a European language that closely resembles Occitan or other similar European languages, but only superficially.  Pisces appears to have the month of March indicated in the middle.  I suggest that these labels were deliberately written in to resemble month names but are “red herrings” to disguise the true meaning of the zodiac pages and the zodiac signs although appearing to follow the months are again “red herrings”.  I suggest it is an astronomical calendar based on Chinese astronomy and not a European astrological zodiac calendar, that the zodiac pages chart astronomical events of importance over the year 1054 AD particularly in relation to the location of SN 1054 and SN 1572.  The 30 star nymphs (29 in Pisces or 30 counting the named star in the middle section) may represent the Chinese solar calendar consisting of 12 principal terms to indicate the sun's longitudes each of 30 degrees, the European zodiac is also broken down into 12 divisions of 30 degrees but from an astronomical perspective involving Chinese astronomy, a solar calendar seems the most logical.  The Chinese calendar is complex being a combination of a solar and lunar calendar, the New Year however was based on the lunar cycle, it varied in timing from year to year, but was on the day of the second new moon (or 3^rd month if an intercalary month occurs in-between) after the winter solstice, which was always timed to fall in the 11^th month.  This interpretation places the “Pisces” page of the Voynich Manuscript in February 1054 AD, not March, with Mars in the constellation of Pisces (in astrological terms the sun was in Aquarius at this time).  Therefore, This folio is allocated to the month of February and the events for this month are shown below:

The page has markers of an unusual type only found in a few other places in the manuscript, they are numerous and go around the perimeter in a complete circle. In this instance they divide the circle into 14 divisions (top markers not clear as page creased so I have used lower markers only through shared centre point in some cases), which I suggest are possibly lunar mansions.  In Chinese astronomy there are 28 lunar mansions, radiating out across the sky from the North Pole, 14 would be possibly marking mansion 14 as important.  There is one main marker along the circle where the markings are larger, as there are no other markings on the page and one marker is not useful on its own I have presumed the prominent stars in the centre may be markers as they can span the page in the same way as the other markers and have used them as such.  The intersection point located between the two central stars would be the point of interest.
 

Above is a North Pole centred star map of the 10th February 1054 AD from Central China, the positions of the supernovae are noted.  The map shows the sun in Aquarius, and Mars in Pisces near the Vernal Equinox point.  When compared to a Chinese lunar mansion map below as prepared by Dr  David B. Kelley, the position of Mars can be seen to be close to lunar mansion 14, SN 1572 is also closest to this mansion and the previous lunar mansion, 13, is lined up with Formahault which is in line more with the sun at this time than the Vernal Equinox point.
 

You will note that of the celestial bodies mentioned, Mars, SN 1572 and the North Pole are in a line on 10th February on this type of star map.   I suggest that the two stars in the central area represent Mars and Polaris (labelled star) and the intersection point marks the location of SN 1572.  However ,the year in question ultimately marks the occurrence of SN 1054 and I suggest this is marked by the blue curved line on the page that runs under the bottom fish and designed to be read on a North Pole centred star map.  I suggest the blue line marks the Celestial Equator from the West in the evening, and cuts down from Menkar (Menkar is almost in line with the Pleiades and so may represent Lunar Mansion 18 here (Taurus and SN 1054 are in Lunar Mansion 19), towards the Galactic Equator and past ,or through SN 1054 near the point where the Ecliptic meets the Galactic Equator.  When translated onto the Voynich Manuscript page the fish appear to fit certain celestial guides quite comfortably suggesting the fish themselves may be orientated to provide further information.  In conclusion I suggest the fish, stars and blue line in this respect are designed to represent a rough indication of the location of SN 1054 between Polaris and Mars, even though it was not yet visible, as it would have been on 10th February at the start of the New Year, as depicted on a Chinese style North pole centred star map.
 

Looking at a European style Horizon based star maps as shown below, further correlations can be seen and the celestial guides become clearer.  For the sake of ease of working with European astronomical co-ordinates the Celestial North Pole (rather than Polaris) and Mars are fitted to the central stars.  Interestingly, when the NCP and Mars are the leading guides the markers which run around the central circle on the manuscript image centre on SN 1572, rather than SN 1054 and this would be consistent with a comparison of the two supernovae being made.  Cassiopeia is contained within the right hand fish and two bright stars are within the left hand fish.  The right hand fish’s head looks along the Galactic Equator towards SN 1054 and the left hand fish looks down to the horizon its mouth touching the horizon and the line of the Celestial Zero Meridian fits between the two stars in the central section.  In this view the Celestial Equator and Menkar are not indicated by the fish or stars but the ecliptic now runs close to the left hand fish instead which is more consistent with European Ecliptic based astronomy, the Ecliptic also indicating SN 1054.  The markers do not line up precisely with stars but they are pretty close and particularly appear to focus on SN 1572 in relation to triangle.  The main page marker although slightly off I suggest would join the Pleiades, Algol/Gorgonea Tertia, SN 1572, Ruchbah, Alfirk and Nodus Secundus with the North.  I have highlighted where the markers would strike the horizon and vertically from this point they indicate the stars on the central image as Mars and Polaris/NCP the other markers rise vertically to indicate the two supernovae within their boundaries.  The records of Chinese astronomy although very detailed are not easily transferable to European star maps and even today which areas of the sky are meant in the ancient records are not always exactly understood.   It is most likely that a general area of the sky was known to be the location of SN 1054 and this image attempts to locate it in relation to the European system of constellations and triangulate its location in relation to SN 1572, even though neither were yet visible in February 1054 AD.  If the area on the Pisces central image is enlarged it becomes clear that the markers on the folio line up through the various stars of Cassiopeia and SN 1572 with remarkable accuracy, much more than would be expected by coincidence.  Three of the lines pass straight though SN 1054 the main marker (yellow line) is slightly off as mentioned above and the remaining line passes through the main V of Cassiopeia but not through SN 1572.  This line may be deliberately set apart as a code because if it is rotated clockwise from the horizon to pass through SN 1572 it then also passes directly through SN 1054 as shown by the additional white line on the star map, once again the alignment seems to coincidental to be random or accidental rather than a deliberate attempt to conceal the subject matter of the folio. The main marker (yellow line) does not benefit from such a move.

The stars held by the fish are not unique on the zodiac pages but only occur in two others, Scorpio and Virgo (and possibly on the missing page/s).  I suggest that they signify other supernovae in relation to the Chinese North Pole cantered star map.  The main suggested subject matter of the zodiac pages is the year 1054 AD in specific relation to SN 1054 and as such would not need to be pointed out so blatantly with a star held by the bull on the “Taurus” pages and in fact may not be designed to be obviously revealed.  On a European horizon based map there is no correlation for all the stars held by “zodiac” characters but on a Chinese style North Pole based star map other supernovae fall within the zones of the constellations when radiated out from the North Pole like the Lunar Mansions.  SN 1572 lies within the Pisces sector as does a later possible supernova SN 1161, SN 1604 lies within the Scorpio sector and SN 1006 lies just on the border of the Virgo sector.  This opens another intriguing coincidence of the relevant presence of Pisces in this image in relation to SN 1572, which is found in the Pisces sector on the star map.  These are the most obvious correlations being the most contemporary naked eye supernovae, but the image of the Virgin “clothed in the Sun” is well known from revelation and Virgo holding the star may be a reference to a future event rather than a past one.  Most intriguing is the possibility that the missing folio for Capricorn and Aquarius may also show such stars, I suggest specifically that this is most possible in the case of Capricorn and with reference to Tycho’s and Kepler’s thoughts on their “Stellae Novae”:

Tycho noted that such a new star had not been seen since the star of Bethlehem and possibly ones said to be observed by Hipparchus in 125 BC and mentioned by Cyprianus Leovitius to have appeared in the years 945 and 1264.  He however dismissed it’s similarity to the star of Bethlehem saying that it could only have been a supernatural phenomenon and not a star in the firmament, as it was seen by a selective few only.  Radically his observations proved that the heavens were not immutable as was taught, and he linked the appearance of the new star to a time of great change.  He also linked SN 1572 to the comet of 1577 and the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Sagittarius (also conjunctions of Saturn/Mars previously and Jupiter/|Mars after in the same sign), a fiery trigon in 1603 which was considered the start of a “new age” and the decline of the Catholic religion.

Kepler’s thoughts were more specific and more radical, calculating the date and cause of the phenomenon of the star of Bethlehem but still in essence as a supernatural phenomenon heralded by signs in the heavens.  The general discussion in the manuscript of such a matter, i.e., if the author had gone further than Kepler even, reducing the time and cause of the star of Bethlehem to the mere calculation of a natural event this would have been without doubt inflammatory and dangerous ground for a scientist-astronomer to be found in by the church of the time who were persecuting astronomers like Galileo for their insistence that the earth was not at the centre of the universe or even the solar system.  Indeed some like Giordano Brunowere were even put to death for teaching or writing such theories.  The subject matter on the missing pages can only be speculated but this would provide a reason for the removal of this specific folio from the manuscript and more reason to ensure it was encoded to an extreme degree.  This matter is discussed further in the section “Where is Kepler?”.

The patterns on the barrels has been broached in the chapter on "Pisces".  Work on it on the patterns in this folio and any conclusions on their overall meaning currently remains a work in progress.

Copyright © 2010 P. Han