boldfrontiers

I have good reason to believe that Michel de Nostredame - aka Nostradamus - was personally connected with the Voynich Manuscript. Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge this theory goes against conventional wisdom. The radiocarbon dating of the manuscript's vellum places it between 1404 and 1438, and Nostradamus lived between 1503 and 1566. I am well aware of the apparent discrepancies.

I do not necessarily challenge the validity of the radiocarbon dating for that matter. To the best of my knowledge, the radiocarbon dating was done on the vellum. That does not otherwise prove the age of the ink applied to the vellum, and by extension, when the Voynich Manuscript was actually written (except perhaps that it was some time after the radiocarbon dating of the vellum circa 1404-1438). Nothing at face value excludes the possibility that the vellum was recycled or left as blank pages for over a hundred years. I am basically keeping an open mind, and I invite you to do the same if we can ever hope to decipher the Voynich Manuscript once and for all.

As I have been using Google Bard to assist with my research, here is a concise biography of Nostradamus in Bard’s own words:

“A French Renaissance figure of both fascination and perplexity, Michel de Nostredame (1503-1566) gained renown as a physician, astrologer, and author. While his unlicensed medical practice flourished, particularly during plague outbreaks, his lasting imprint stems from "Les Prophéties," a controversial collection of verses published in 1555, which fueled centuries of fervent interpretations and debates about their alleged predictions of future events. Beyond prophecy, his almanacs and medical treatises established him as a contributor to Renaissance understandings of health and celestial influences. Though his legacy remains shrouded in the enigmas of his verses, Nostradamus undeniably carved a unique niche in history, captivating imaginations and inspiring endless speculation even after his death in 1566.”

Please note this is only a brief summary of Nostradamus’ life. There are more details I would like to elaborate upon, and treat as circumstantial evidence in attempts to establish a connection between Nostradamus and the Voynich Manuscript.

1) Nostradamus started training to become an apothecary in the earlier stages of his life. Per Wikipedia:

At the age of 14, Nostradamus entered the University of Avignon to study for his baccalaureate. After little more than a year [...], he was forced to leave Avignon when the university closed its doors during an outbreak of the plague. After leaving Avignon, Nostradamus, by his own account, traveled the countryside for eight years from 1521 researching herbal remedies.

2) Nostradamus pursued astrology & occultism, especially in the later stages of his life. In 1550, he started publishing almanacs that contained numerous prophecies. Then starting in 1555, he went on to write Les Prophéties (French for The Prophecies).

Despite the brevity of these two points, there are interesting parallels to be drawn with the Voynich Manuscript. Indeed, a great number of prominent illustrations found therein relate to plants and astrology. These are two central fields Nostradamus claimed expertise in.

Beyond plants and astrology, Nostradamus did also have medical aspirations. It seems he studied to become a doctor, but never did obtain an official degree. He was however working as an apothecary to help treat sick people during plague outbreaks, when many proper doctors had fled the affected areas for fear of their own lives.

Needless to say, these must have been very challenging times. Nostradamus is even reported to have lost his first wife (possibly Henriette d'Encausse) and two children. One can only imagine how devastating this experience was for him. Nostradamus was human after all. Coupled with feelings of rejection from the medical establishment, I can begin to appreciate what motivated him as a person in life.

In any case, it is my understanding Nostradamus gravitated towards astrology & occultism starting around 1550. Beside his almanacs and Les Prophéties, I discovered that he was commissioned by a number of high profile clients, including royal patrons such as Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor from the Austrian House of Habsburg (1527-1576). To that end, Nostradamus is reported to have created a horoscope for Maximilian II’s son - the future Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612) - based on his birth year of 1552. More pertinent information and correspondence samples can be found in Analyse 23 courtesy of Elmar R. Gruber via Espace Nostradamus.

Please note my research does not extend to the actual handwriting found from the images posted in Analyse 23 of Espace Nostradamus. My purpose here consists of presenting a verifiable connection between Nostradamus and the personalized horoscope he was commissioned to create for Rudolf II. Furthermore, Rudolf II comes to our attention in the provenance of the Voynich Manuscript as one of its first likely owners.

While the provenance has not been conclusively traced back to Rudolf II, I do believe there comes a point when so many coincidences put together cannot be discarded out of hand. Not only do the details of Nostradamus’ life match up with the themes and imagery used in the Voynich Manuscript, but I also perceive what could be traces of Nostradamus’ influence within the manuscript itself. I realize this is a bold claim to make, but I intend to show you how I arrived at this conclusion.

I. Semblance of the letters ‘mich’

I found these letters on the last page with text on it from the Voynich Manuscript: Page 116 V, or what I call the colophon section. For those unfamiliar with the term colophon, it can be “an inscription at the end of a book or manuscript, used especially in the 15th and 16th centuries, giving the title or subject of the work, its author, the name of the printer or publisher, and the date and place of publication.”

From the very beginning of my research into the Voynich Manuscript (circa September 2023), I suspected the last page held some importance. It seems to me one of the most logical places to include a signature, and possibly some credits.

Please note however, I did not make an immediate connection with Nostradamus. I did not believe it was even possible given the prevailing wisdom backed by carbon dating. Instead, I was more perplexed than anything else as I studied German for a couple years in high school, and these ‘mich’ letters looked like they spelled the German word for “me”. That directly contradicted my theory of what other language I think the Voynich Manuscript is written in (which I am deliberately omitting from this research).

It is only after coming across one of Nostradamus’ signatures (more by chance) that I started making the connection. Below you will find the signature in question; the first one found at a very limited resolution on Wikimedia Commons, and the second, my retracing of it at much higher resolution (originally in vector format).

It is my understanding that Nostradamus varied his signature throughout his life, and unfortunately, records of his physical signature / handwriting can be challenging to find. However, the first important thing to note is that Nostradamus is known to have prefaced his signature with the letters ‘mich’ or ‘Mich’ since his first name was Michel (or Michael as he sometimes stylized it). It also makes more sense to me in the context of the Voynich Manuscript because what originally confused me as a potential German word, could just turn out to be the first few letters of a French person’s name: Michel.

Next I feel I must point out the ‘mich’ letters found in the Voynich Manuscript, but placed within surrounding text as to provide a greater sense of context. Please check the following image to that effect taken from Page 116 V.

As you might see, there are other letters / characters located in close proximity to the letters ‘mich’. Adding much to the challenges of a proper decipherment because at face value, I read the words “gafmich” or “gaf mich”. One might also see the letter ‘o’ after ‘mich’, along with several dots above the letter ‘o’ as if to convey some sort of connection between the lines (in turn reminding me of the expression “read between the lines” or “connect the dots”). Upon further scrutiny, I noticed another isolated dot in front of the letters ‘mich’.

These observations when put together lead me to believe the author made a deliberate effort to scramble his words & letters, which makes sense in the context of the Voynich Manuscript. Yet he still wanted to leave some proverbial bread crumbs behind for others to pick up on. I believe this colophon section is where some vital clues are hidden and waiting to be uncovered.

For example, let’s take a look at Nostradamus’ name. It is my understanding that he employed several variations of it from Nostredame (his family name given to him at birth), Nostra Domina, and what we commonly recognize as Nostradamus (the latter two are Latinized versions of his name). I see letters in the text that could potentially add up to Michel Nostra Domina, as the word(s) “gafmich” is preceded by what could be the letters ‘nim’ found in Domina.

What I perceived as the letter ‘f’ in ‘gaf’ could also very possibly be a stylized form of ‘s’. Nostradamus often made that letter substitution, so that letter ‘s’ would count towards spelling Nostradamus or Nostra Domina. The letter ‘o’ fits inside either variant as well.

Please note I did not conduct a full word scramble analysis to reconstruct all the letters of Nostradamus’ name. I am pointing out a few examples, but the text is otherwise very difficult to decipher. No one else that I know of has been able to decipher it for that matter, so I hope you can appreciate the connections I am making at this foundational level.

II. Potential ‘mn’ initials

These initials are found isolated in the bottom right corner of Page 72 V (part (2)). At first, I interpreted them as ‘mn’, and given their isolated position on the page, I speculated they might represent a signature. So I researched prominent historical figures between 1400-1600, and Michel de Nostredame - aka Nostradamus - was among the most noteworthy.

In retrospect, I am not certain the ‘mn’ characters refer to Michel de Nostredame. I have noticed similar isolated markings on other pages, which you can see in the image slides above. From left to right, those slides correspond to Pages 48 V, 56 V, 66 V, 67 R, 70 V (part (2)), and 72 V (part (2)).

I am ready to accept that the letters I initially perceived as ‘mn’ could mean something else entirely different than an abbreviation for Michel de Nostredame. However, I still feel the need to mention this point for one of two reasons:

1) It is what first prompted me to suspect Nostradamus from a chronological perspective, in turn making me curious about Nostradamus’ life. From there, I found his signature on Wikipedia, which in turn reminded me of the ‘mich’ letters on Page 116 V of the Voynich Manuscript.

Even if it could be considered a fluke that the name Nostradamus came to my attention, I hope it is becoming increasingly clear by now that it is not without merit. In that moment when I thought about him, it did not really matter why. I was just willing to accept it as a possibility and document my findings. The same applies for the letters ‘mich’, which perplexed me at first because they looked German. But I made a note of them regardless, only to discover later they made a lot more sense.

The point I’m emphasizing here is to keep an open mind, even if some interpretations turn out wrong or perplexing. Creative interpretations should actually be welcome and not discarded out of hand by experts who think they know better, because the reality is, the Voynich Manuscript still remains a mystery. I also happen to think it is a creative masterpiece which in turn requires creative thinking for proper decipherment.

2) You might notice the number sequence in the image slide above follows in perfect succession from 6 to 11. These isolated markings do not appear on every page, but the pattern is very consistent. It starts from the number 6 on Page 48 V, and continues all the way up to number 11 on Page 72 V (part (2)).

I do not know yet what this number sequence signifies, but I believe it to be an observation worthy of further scrutiny in and of itself. It might not necessarily be related to Nostradamus, but the 6-11 number sequence might help with other clues somewhere down the line (along with the various characters attached to these isolated numbers). At the very least, it doesn’t hurt to make a note of it.

III. Mysterious Voynich characters echoed in Nostradamus’ handwriting

Here you see a sample of Nostradamus’ signature and some handwriting. Purchased as is from Alamy Stock, although I suspect the image tones have been inverted from the original photograph. In the following image, you will find my interpretation of what I think the original text could have looked like. It is a creative interpretation, but ironically I believe it better approximates reality as manuscripts of the period usually did not come with darkened pages and bright yellow ink.

In either case, you will notice Nostradamus’ signature at the bottom. It is noticeably different than the first signature discussed previously in Point I. If I can trust the image caption from Alamy, this signature was used towards the end of Nostradamus’ life when his faculties were failing.

The signature however is not what interests me most here. In the top left corner of each image, there are a few particularly curious characters. Allow me to crop in closer and show you.

As you might notice, some details get lost when enlarging handwriting like this. I did however retrace the characters in vector format so you might get a better sense of what the contours look like at higher resolution.

Anyone who has seriously attempted to decipher the Voynich Manuscript should recognize these characters fairly easily (again, I want to mention this was found in Nostradamus’ handwriting); or at least some very familiar elements. I know I have struggled with them personally. To begin with, I just called one the Pi symbol and the other, a Pi symbol with a hook over it. I had no idea what Pi and hooked Pi meant then, although I have a fairly good idea now within the context of the Voynich Manuscript (which I am deliberately omitting in this research).

For comparison, these are the Pi and hooked Pi characters found in the Voynich Manuscript. It reveals yet another potential connection with Nostradamus that I find impossible to ignore. At this point, I would also like to mention that I do not necessarily believe the same hand wrote both sets of characters. Quite the opposite actually, the handwriting found in the body of the text of the Voynich Manuscript looks remarkably graceful and consistent in pattern to me (albeit challenging to decipher). Not so with what I perceive as the handwriting of Nostradamus; it seems more erratic and less refined.

This should come as no surprise since Nostradamus was known to employ secretaries to transcribe his writings. Nevertheless, I do believe the concurrent use of both Pi and hooked Pi symbols in Nostradamus’ handwriting and the Voynich Manuscript raises some interesting questions that cannot easily be dismissed as pure chance. I can realistically conceive a scenario where Nostradamus devised the characters and cipher key to be used in the Voynich Manuscript (perhaps adding some personal touches or annotations of his own), but otherwise delegated the bulk of the scribing work to one his secretaries with better / more legible handwriting.

In turn, I am effectively implying there are at least two authors for the Voynich Manuscript. With or without Nostradamus, I see supporting evidence for multiple authors. I would ideally like to conduct more research on this, but the most important thing I want to point out here is the commonality of what I call Pi and hooked Pi characters between Nostradamus’ handwriting sample, and the Voynich Manuscript.

IV. 52 Shades of interpretation

This point is admittedly more speculative than others, and involves a fair bit of creative thinking. I found these markings in the top right corner of Page 1 R from the Voynich Manuscript. The very first thing I saw was the number 2 in the top half portion, and another unknown character beneath it. Unknown that is until I rotated the image around 180 degrees, and discovered what might be interpreted as the number 5.

When put together, I can therefore visualize one of two numbers: 25 or 52. To begin with, I thought 25 could symbolize the number of letters in the alphabet used in the Voynich Manuscript. However, I am still conducting research on a new letter cipher key. I am optimistic about the results, but it remains a very challenging task because all it takes is for one single letter to be wrong for the whole meaning of a word to change.

All that to say I made a note of 25 as a possible indicator for the number of letters in the Voynich alphabet, but it was left as more of an open question mark while my research into the actual alphabet is ongoing. Then Nostradamus came to my attention, and this number pair presented new possible interpretations with interesting connections.

Instead of indicating 25 letters in an alphabet, perhaps this is a year marker within a specific century. In the context of Nostradamus who lived between 1503 and 1566, 52 would make more sense versus 25. It is only around 1550 that he seriously started pursuing astrology, and would have otherwise been too young in 1525 when he focused on herbal remedies.

1552 is an interesting year because that is when the would-be Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II was born. Nostradamus is reported to have cast a horoscope for Rudolf II based on his birth year of 1552, and Rudolf II re-appears as a likely candidate for one of the first people to own the Voynich Manuscript in its documented chain of custody. One theory of particular interest to me is that Rudolf II acquired the Voynich Manuscript from a 1593 sale related to four books authored by Leonhard Rauwolf (via Richard Strein von Schwarzenau).

While Leonard Rauwolf was German, he did study botany & medicine in Southern France. This is the same general region where Nostradamus lived. I realize he was dead by 1593 at the time Rauwolf’s books were allegedly sold to Rudolf II, but Nostradamus did have heirs. It is normal to expect his worldly possessions to surface for sale after death. Perhaps his son César needed the money, and knew Emperor Rudolf II had a penchant for the occult. In comes this middleman by the name Leonard Rauwolf with a background in botany & medicine, it is conceivable to me that he traveled to Southern France with the intention of buying memorabilia from Nostradamus’ estate; which in turn could have included the Voynich Manuscript.

Here I am revisiting one of Nostradamus’ signatures reportedly used toward the end of his life. I included the rasterized version of the image (which was inverted from the original stock photo as I believe the stock photo itself was inverted), and a cleaner vector version that I retraced manually.

If you haven’t noticed already, there appears to be what could be interpreted as the number 52 right in Nostradamus’ signature, after the letters “M No”, and before the letters “adamus”. By pure inference, it would follow that the characters in between spell out “str” to complete the words “M Nostradamus”. I do not dispute that either, especially since the first letter clearly looks like an ‘s’. I do however find it curious that Nostradamus also made those “str” letters look like the number 52. That is a very specific number which potentially appears in Page 1 R of the Voynich Manuscript. Nostradamus reportedly used this specific signature around 1566 (near his time of death), but he could have still assigned some sort of significance to the year 1552. In other words, those characters in his signature could carry a double meaning. One meant to be taken more literally and in line with the text of signature: the letters ‘str’. The other meaning would be more personal to him like the number 52.

As mentioned, this point is more speculative than others and involves a fair bit of creative thinking. I do however feel it is necessary to explore. The more interpretations are put out there, the better chances we can find the right answers.

V. Astrology and Nostradamus as a Sagittarius

Born on 14 or 21 December 1503, Nostradamus was a Sagittarius. He also claimed expertise in astrology and created numerous horoscopes as a result.

The Voynich Manuscript contains what many people can agree upon is a zodiac or astrology section. The zodiac sequence starts with Pisces on Page 70 V (part 1)), and follows the standard zodiac chronology from that point. In other words, here is the order of zodiac signs from start to finish in the Voynich Manuscript:

1) Pisces for the month of March.

2) Aries for the month of April (repeated twice in the Voynich Manuscript).

3) Taurus for the month of May (repeated again twice, then the singular pattern returns).

4) Gemini for the month of June.

5) Cancer for the month of July.

6) Leo for the month of August.

7) Virgo for the month of September.

8) Libra for the month of October.

9) Scorpio for the month of November.

10) Sagittarius for the month of December.

At this point, the zodiac sequence stops; rather curiously at that since Capricorn and Aquarius seem to be missing. Worth noting, the next page after Sagittarius also appears to be missing. Sagittarius corresponds to Page 73 V of the Voynich Manuscript, then it skips to Page 75 R. Leading many people to assume - including myself to begin with - that Capricorn and Aquarius must have figured on pages 74 R + V.

It is a perfectly logical assumption to make that when exactly two pages and two zodiac signs are missing that they must be connected. That is however an inference; in the strictest sense, we can only say with a high degree of certainty that ten zodiac signs were used in the Voynich Manuscript. Perhaps the sequence was meant to finish with Sagittarius, and the next missing page is related to the next section on Page 75 R. Or perhaps the authors wanted to deceive us to the point of speculating about the existence of a non-existent page. That would be quite the mind game, not to mention an interesting paradox. Anything is possible with the Voynich Manuscript, and Nostradamus does seem to fit the profile of someone who could conceptualize a project of this complexity. To top it off, he was a Sagittarius, and again, that’s where the zodiac sequence ends in the Voynich Manuscript.

Upon researching astrology around the time of Nostradamus, I came across the above image courtesy of {BnF Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France. I am no expert in astrology, but from what I can understand, the illustration represents a zodiac fertility wheel.

At this point, I do want to mention that I am fluent in French. I have been since kindergarten (or what the French call “école maternelle”, literally meaning “maternal school”), and immersed myself for many years within French-speaking cultures. Growing up, I attended a private French school with a standard French curriculum for 14 years. Then I lived in Montréal, Québec, Canada, for 15 years. Unfortunately, I have not practiced my French much since my latest move to the USA, so I do not pretend to be an expert translator. I would however like to think I retained most of my French after being exposed to it for so long, and here is my tentative translation of the text within the center of the above zodiac wheel. It might not be perfect, but I think it is close enough. It should also save you time from otherwise having to transcribe the text and then translate it:

“INSTRUCTION FOR THE USE OF THE PERPETUAL WHEEL FROM WHICH WE KNOW THE FERTILITY OR STERILITY OF A GIVEN YEAR.

This Wheel is composed of three others, each divided in 28, like the Solar Cycle in the first [wheel]

Outside are the planets which reign over the years of the Solar Cycle. In the second Wheel are the signs of the Zodiac. In the third [wheel] the resolution if the year will be fertile or sterile etc. What causes fertility or sterility are the planets or seconds or steriles [?] with the zodiac signs.

In practice we will base ourselves on [the year] 1640. If we want the resolution for a year after [1640], we count as many years as needed in order from 1640, 1641, etc, and the box where this number ends up in will show the fertility or sterility of a given year. If it is before the year 1640, we would count backward from 1640, 1639, etc., and the end count will give us what we are searching for.”

What follows from there are a couple lines of text to indicate provenance, but that’s not really important to me here. What I am most interested in is the design of the zodiac wheel, and reading the instructions in attempts to better understand how it works.

I noticed for example one section of the wheel (what I henceforth refer to as the middle section) is devoted entirely to all twelve zodiac signs. If we look to the Voynich Manuscript and compare its individual zodiac pages to the image above from {BnF Gallica, that middle wheel section typically contains illustrations of women (often nude, but not always, and there are what appear to be a few rare instances of men).

By extension, I certainly think it is possible there are elements of fertility and sterility embedded within the zodiac section of the Voynich Manuscript by sheer virtue of all the nude women illustrated therein. In addition, many of them are depicted with bulging bellies; which I would in turn equate with themes of pregnancy and fertility (plus its opposite sterility).

Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that each month of the zodiac section in the Voynich Manuscript contains exactly 30 illustrated people (I will use the term “people” instead of “women” from this point forward to account for the rare instances of men). There is one exception to note: The month of March (corresponding to Pisces) with a total of 29 people. Not too surprising when giving it some more thought because zodiac signs do not begin on the first of every month. Pisces actually lasts between February 19 and March 20. February has the distinction of being the shortest month of the year, so that might explain why the Pisces zodiac wheel in the Voynich Manuscript only contains 29 people (versus 30).

Beside the Pisces zodiac wheel, there is otherwise a consistent pattern of exactly 30 people illustrated per zodiac wheel from Pages 70 V (Aries) to 73 V (Sagittarius). I invite you to check for yourself. Perhaps at first you will notice some irregularities like the months of April and May with two zodiac wheels each. But when you add the half zodiac wheels together, you still get 30 people for each month.

Then you might notice people shuffling around in position. In June for example (Gemini), the zodiac wheels comes with an additional “fringe” layer of four people. Then in July (Cancer), that fringe layer gets more crowded with 12 people. Yet the total for each month (when you count all layers) adds up to exactly 30. I highly doubt this is pure coincidence.

Coming back to the months of April and May which are divided in two zodiac wheels each, it is also interesting to note that brings the total number of zodiac signs to 12. Yes, two of them are repeated (Aries & Taurus), but the total is still 12. Maybe Aries & Taurus were repeated on purpose to compensate for the lack of Capricorn & Aquarius.

This gives me more reason to believe the zodiac calendar in the Voynich Manuscript might have only been designed with 10 months in mind, despite what common sense or prevailing wisdom tells us. Especially if you consider these months could be allegorical in nature. For all we know, they can also represent greater timelines spanning years, decades, or even centuries.

Upon further research, I might even be so bold as to propose that the zodiac section in the Voynich Manuscript spans the length of Nostradamus’ life from around his birth to the time he wrote this book. I can see possible references to his life within the zodiac illustrations themselves, including:

1) Birth & infancy stages: This doesn't necessarily point to Nostradamus in particular, but everyone has to start somewhere. Authors often like to use birth as a starting point when describing their lives. In the image above from the Pisces zodiac section of the Voynich Manuscript, the illustrated people can be interpreted as babies and / or infants. They clearly look younger than the people who follow in the zodiac sequence, and Pisces is the first sign in the zodiac sequence of the Voynich Manuscript.

Another interesting observation here is that each person appears to come with a container. What type of container, I cannot say exactly; except perhaps that it might symbolize shelter or protection in general.

2) Childhood stages: Right after Pisces, it seems the people illustrated in the zodiac wheel for Aries have grown up a little, but not yet fully developed into adults when compared to later pages of the zodiac section. I also get a better sense that these illustrations are female-dominated, and that pattern continues throughout the zodiac sequence.

There is however one boy that appears to stand out among all the girls. This break in pattern suggests this boy holds some sort of importance. Nothing at face value identifies him as a young Nostradamus, but this is otherwise consistent with his life progression from baby to boy if it turns out to be him.

3) Adolescence & education: Following Aries, we are presented with another instance of Aries, then Taurus. I grouped the latter two together in the diptych above as they do seem to share some key characteristics, but also contrast against the two previous signs in distinct ways.

The people might have aged somewhat compared to those under Aries in the previous page, but to be honest, I do not see much of a difference in physical attributes to suggest pronounced age progression. There do however appear to be more vibrant splashes of colors starting with the second Aries sign, and some people are wearing hats. I might interpret them to be students. A couple of them even seem to be wearing hats with round or pointy projections, which might be seen as birettas to symbolize medical students. This would fit the profile of Nostradamus with medical ambitions from an early age.

4) Vulnerabilities of adulthood: In the second installment of Taurus, most colors are muted in comparison to the two previous pages. There is also a distinction to be made between the inner and outer sections of this Taurus zodiac wheel. The people in the inner section are standing in containers much like in previous pages, but the people in the outer section are not. It is possible to imagine that the loss of these containers in a supposed timeline of Nostradamus’ life could symbolize a loss of protection afforded to him by family while he was growing up; or a loss of innocence when entering adulthood, and / or after being expelled from medical studies.

In the outer section towards the top, it is also worth mentioning that one naked man stands out among all the women. Again, I see this as consistent with how Nostradamus might have seen himself at this stage in his life: naked / vulnerable and alone, but ready to start a new chapter.

5) Following in the line of zodiac succession is Gemini. Here for once I am focusing on a specific section of the zodiac wheel: the very center, and the visual representation of Gemini itself; notably, two people facing each other and holding hands.

In the chronology of Nostradamus’ life, he would have already given up on medical studies. Instead, I believe he was continuing research in herbal remedies and doing apothecary work. However, to become an apothecary in the first place, one would have typically had to start as an apprentice training under a master. The Gemini sign illustration in the Voynich Manuscript could therefore symbolize the relationship between apprentice and master (especially if an apprentice can be interpreted as a master in training, in which case this could also be seen as the same person, except split between past and future selves; but perhaps I am getting a bit too philosophical here).

It even appears the green clothes and cap the left person is wearing could represent an apothecary (or an apothecary in training). Perhaps the color green has a significance that transcends the literal in that we shouldn’t necessarily look to professionals of the era who were known to wear green clothes. Instead, the color green could symbolize plants in general as a primary subject of interest for apothecaries. Professionals who were also known to wear caps as a matter of proper hygiene, everything so far in this zodiac section of the Voynich Manuscript seems to be falling in line with some key events in Nostradamus’ life (in chronological order no less).

6) Between the consecutive signs of Cancer and Leo, one specific woman appears to stand out in each zodiac wheel. She is illustrated as wearing a crown, but one key characteristic setting the two apart is the color used inside the crown. On the Cancer page, the inside of the crown is left blank, or devoid of color. On the Leo page, the inside of the crown is red.

Remember, these are from two consecutive zodiac signs. In the chronology of Nostradamus’ life, he met and married a woman in the 1530s. She however died within a few years. The red color in the crown of the Leo section could therefore conceivably represent blood, and by extension, death. In other words, this could be the same woman Nostradamus is alluding to, but at different moments in time between when she was alive and dead (yet perhaps still kept alive in his memory, hence the inclusion in Leo).

The color red does otherwise stand out across both pages which otherwise seem muted in color. Other than featuring prominently inside the crown of the Leo section, the color red also appears as a pronounced stain over the tail & rear leg section of the Leo sign itself. If Nostradamus likened himself to the lion (from which the name Leo is derived) in that moment in time, then that red stain could symbolize the pain he felt over his first wife’s death.

I realize this might be more of a creative interpretation if taken by itself, but context does matter. When I look at the bigger picture, most of these observations and interpretations are making coherent sense and connecting with each other in a consistent fashion.

7) The third woman I could spot wearing a crown in the zodiac section of the Voynich Manuscript is in Libra. Please note I skipped over Virgo which immediately follows Leo, but I feel a need to speed things up after devoting considerably more effort than expected discussing astrology alone. I also want to keep exploring the crown angle from my previous point. These crowns are rare throughout the zodiac section, so I figure they hold some special importance.

In addition, this crown in the Libra section appears more ornate than the previous crowns, and capped with a cross. In the chronology of Nostradamus’ life, this could very well designate his second wife, Anne Ponsard. Someone he came to spend the rest of his life with, Anne Ponsard gave birth to a number of healthy children in the process. In this context, the more ornate crown capped with a cross makes sense. The woman wearing it would correspond to Nostradamus’ most cherished woman of all, his second wife Anne Ponsard. Having this newly crowned woman appear in the Libra section of the Voynich Manuscript is otherwise consistent with the chronology of Nostradamus’ life.

In astrology, Libra is commonly visualized as a scale to symbolize themes like balance and harmony. As expected, the Libra sign in the Voynich Manuscript can be likened to a scale. It might be a bit crudely illustrated, but all the basic elements are there to indicate a sense of equilibrium.

I feel this important to mention because the Libra section in the Voynich Manuscript could also be interpreted as a time of balance for Nostradamus. After enduring so many hardships early on, maybe he felt his life was finally moving in the right direction when meeting & marrying Anne Ponsard. She could have been largely responsible for tipping the scales in his favor, or at least that’s how he would have wanted her portrayed here. The imagery really is quite poetic when I give it some more thought. It’s like Nostradamus is weaving the zodiac sequence directly into the tapestry of his life. He might have even been trying to communicate that his life was written in the stars, or some other similar visual analogy related to concepts like destiny and predetermination.

8) Here we come around full circle to Sagittarius as the last zodiac sign we know of in the Voynich Manuscript. At this point, I am more and more convinced it was designed to be the last, and I hope you can see it as a very real possibility too.

As previously mentioned, Nostradamus was a Sagittarius, so it would make sense for him to end the zodiac sequence here. It would correspond to the end of his life around when the manuscript was published. Not necessarily the end of his life in absolute terms, i.e. death; and I feel a distinction needs to be made there because Nostradamus would have gone on to live a few years longer (theoretically extending beyond the Sagittarius sign in the Voynich Manuscript). But from his own perspective as a person living in the present (albeit now long gone in the past from our perspective), the time in which he wrote the manuscript would have corresponded to the end of his known life.

The reason I believe this to be so important (even if it sounds complicated) is because I believe it can help to pinpoint a more precise timeframe for when the Voynich Manuscript was actually published, if we can assume for the sake of argument that it relates to Nostradamus.

At first glance, the characters above taken from Page 116 V / colophon section of the Voynich Manuscript might not look like much. I saw the letters or word “vix” to begin with, but they did not inspire me with any instant interpretations. Sure, they might look like Roman numerals, but put together they don’t technically make sense to me. That is until Nostradamus came to my attention, someone who likes to get creative with words and letters. It is no stretch of the imagination to think he would make creative use of Roman numerals.

Now all of a sudden, I can potentially see “vix” as two separate Roman numerals corresponding to the numbers 5 and 9. Since it is located in what I call the colophon section, I have good reason to suspect that 59 could be a year marker. In the context of Nostradamus, that could mean 1559, but that is only one possible interpretation. 59 might alternatively designate the age of Nostradamus in years at the time of publication. Since he was born in 1503, that would in turn imply an alternate publication year of around 1562-63 at the time he was 59 years old.

I realize this could invalidate my previous theory about 1552 being a possible year of publication for the Voynich Manuscript as discussed in Point IV. A point I did concede was more speculative than others, although the number 52 (or some semblance of it) could have still been important to Nostradamus for another reason. My newly revised timeframe of 1559-63 would however seem to make more sense in the life of Nostradamus.

In retrospect, we see that Nostradamus died in 1566. He most probably didn’t know ahead of time when exactly he would die, especially around 1559-63 when I now estimate this manuscript to be written. However, 1559-63 would have placed him at an age when one might expect to wrestle with existential issues like mortality and finding a sense of purpose.

It is therefore possible to conceive that Nostradamus might have wanted to leave an enduring legacy behind. What we know as the Voynich Manuscript could actually turn out to be the lost Magnum Opus of Nostradamus.

Conclusion

If Nostradamus’ connection to the Voynich Manuscript is proven, I realize how far reaching the implications can be. I do however want to make it clear that I do not place much faith in Nostradamus’ predictions or divine powers.

I see Nostradamus as a regular human being. Perhaps resourceful for his time, and he got lucky when it counted for a few predictions that would attract more high profile clientèle. He did however get many predictions wrong, but at some point, I believe he reached a level of celebrity that the accuracy of his predictions no longer really mattered. He was like a Renaissance influencer who accumulated lots of followers, and got verified multiple times over by the various royals who commissioned him.

At some point, the public perception of Nostradamus must have transformed from that of a simple healer practicing apothecary work to messenger of God (or inversely, a heretic disrespecting God). That is what I find most fascinating, the evolving social dynamics surrounding Nostradamus’ life, and the legacy he left behind after death. Prophet or not, Nostradamus managed to do what most people can only dream of: Immortalize his name in history.

I invite you to test my findings; in fact, I hope more people come forward and offer new interpretations of their own. While this paper focuses on Nostradamus’ potential connection with the Voynich Manuscript, I am also exploring other angles (including linguistics and artistic interpretations). It is very challenging work, but not impossible. It is only a matter of time before the secrets of the Voynich Manuscript are revealed, and I might be so bold to predict it will happen by 2033.

Please also note this is purely personal research. I am not doing it for grades, money, or fame. There is a hidden story behind the Voynich Manuscript, and I cannot help but obsess over its mysteries. Trying to solve them makes me feel alive, especially when I see the chance to right a wrong in history.

You will otherwise have to forgive any spelllllling mistakes or grammatical errors as my last university course was in 2004. Since then, I have been pursuing photography, and it remains my main profession. What’s most important to me is making the observations and establishing some connections. I hope at least I have presented them to you in a way that makes sense.

Should you use any of my findings for your benefit, please be sure to credit me appropriately. Of this I must insist with no exceptions in order to ensure my hard work is protected.

Credits

- General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University for providing the Voynich Manuscript in digitized high resolution format.

- Google Bard as a Large Language Model for responding to all sorts of queries.

- Wikipedia as a free-content online encyclopedia for providing general knowledge.

- Ryan Leonard for assisting with creative interpretations.

- Sijo Thomas for assisting with translations of old poems.

Additional Acknowledgments

- René Zandbergen for extensive research on the Voynich Manuscript via https://www.voynich.nu.

- J.K. Petersen for extensive research on the Voynich Manuscript via https://voynichportal.com.

- Nick Pelling for extensive research on the Voynich Manuscript and other unbroken historical ciphers via https://ciphermysteries.com.

- Dan Horn as author & producer of Discerning History.

- Nicholas Everett as author of The Alphabet of Galen: Pharmacy from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. University of Toronto Press, 2012.

- Smithsonian Library for providing the herbal De historia stirpium commentarii insignes by Leonhart Fuchs in digitized high resolution format. In officina Isingriniana, 1542.

- Colenda Digital Repository / University of Pennsylvania Libraries for providing the 15th century herbal Erbario. in digitized high resolution format.

- {BnF Gallica / Bibliothèque nationale de France for providing an insightful archival document in the form of an illustrated Zodiac Fertility Wheel.

- Nostradamus as author and Knut Boeser as editor of The Elixirs of Nostradamus: Nostradamus' Original Recipes for Elixirs, Scented Water, Beauty Potions and Sweetmeats. Moyer Bell Ltd, 1996.

- Nostradamus as author of Traité des Fardements (French Edition); preface by Nicolas de Barry. 2018.

- Peter Lemesurier as author of Nostradamus, Bibliomancer: The Man, The Myth, The Truth. New Page Books, 2018.

Disclaimers

This research paper in its entirety is supplemented with illustrative examples from third party image sources. Images I believe in good faith to be used with authorization from screen grabs of the Voynich Manuscript itself, public domain material, and in one case, a paid stock photo.

Please also note only one paragraph in this research paper was worded by artificial intelligence, notably Google Bard as a Large Language Model. I do not claim copyright ownership over Google Bard’s words, more specifically the brief summary Bard provided about the life of Nostradamus. Neither do I claim copyright ownership over excerpts quoted from third party sources. In either case, I provide due credit. Otherwise, I hereby attest to being the original author of the text in this research paper.

Copyright © Nicolas Raymond 2024. All rights reserved.

Soon I will be posting a journal which might appear strange to you. It pertains to personal research I've been doing into the Voynich Manuscript, and how I believe Nostradamus is connected with it.

This upcoming journal is basically a transcript of my research paper. It is primarily meant for documentation purposes so I can leave my imprint of it across multiple online sources. Realizing it is more academic in nature, which might not attract much interest here on Deviant Art. But I suppose it still counts as literature, and who knows, it might inspire others to become more curious about the Voynich Manuscript 🧐

Feel free to comment (or not), but now that my research paper is finally published, I plan to take a break and crawl back out of this Voynich rabbit hole for a bit... perhaps refocus on my photography again 🙂 (plus a lot of other stuff to catch up, including sleep)

For anyone interested in reading more about me, feel free to check this interview I had with Shoutout Colorado: https://shoutoutcolorado.com/meet-nicolas-raymond-photographer-visual-artist/

As you might know, I like experimenting with AI. Starting out with image generation, even though I am less interested about that now in favor of revisiting my photography (and a growing obsession with deciphering the Voynich Manuscript I will not elaborate upon any further in this journal).

I am however still using AI in other ways. For example, I am using Google Bard to help plan my photo trips as it can return maps, and pins dropped on that map to reveal places of interest I asked for in the first place (like waterfalls and historic landmarks).

I've noticed Google Bard can also help to identify things like plants if you attach an image within your query. And that's what it tried to do right here, from a photo I captured in the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens in Grand Junction:

Worth noting, I submitted this photo a few months ago on iNaturalist, hoping that another human could help me identify it. No luck there as far as I know, but I was drawn to this image, and wanted to identify it. My fault really for not photographing the tag beneath the plant as most botanical gardens make it a practice of including such tags. Unfortunately, I can't go back to this botanical garden any time soon as it is located almost 2,000 miles from home.

So I asked Google Bard, and it said this is most likely a Croton. I pressed Bard further asking how sure it was of the identification percentage-wise, and it said 95%. Leaving me with a 5% uncertainty, which is not insignificant. Enough to make me question if this is indeed a croton, and I invite anyone else to challenge Bard's identification because I do really want to know what this plant is without a single shadow of doubt.

I was looking at the Powerball lottery results for last Saturday, September 23, 2023, and the following number sequence really interested me: 1, 12, 20, 33, 66 (+21)

A number sequence that might not mean much to you, but on September 23, I also started looking up this thing called the Voynich Manuscript as a simple matter of curiosity. From the start, there were two pages in particular that appealed to me, and they were pages 33R & 66R (R standing for Recto, or right facing page). Two numbers that were included in the lottery results from the same day, except I didn't know about the lottery numbers when saving pages 33R & 66R on my hard drive.

I thought this was an interesting coincidence to say the least. What it means, I honestly don't know. I'm not going to give you a speech about my spiritual beliefs because I'm pretty much agnostic. All I'm saying is I am fascinated with coincidences, and instead of just letting them pass, sometimes I try to investigate in case they lead somewhere.

The Voynich Manuscript is one such case. If anyone is wondering what Voynich is, I went ahead and asked Google Bard as an AI Large Language Model (LLM for short) to give me a general, yet simple to understand explanation:

"The Voynich Manuscript is a mysterious book written in an unknown language. It is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish book dealer who purchased it in 1912. The manuscript is thought to have been created in the 15th century, and it contains illustrations of plants, animals, astronomical objects, and other strange and enigmatic figures.

No one has been able to decipher the language of the Voynich Manuscript, and its purpose remains unknown. Some scholars believe that it is a medical or scientific treatise, while others believe that it is a work of magic or astrology. Still others believe that it is a hoax.

Despite its mysterious nature, the Voynich Manuscript has fascinated scholars and the general public for centuries. It is one of the most studied and debated manuscripts in the world."

The fact that it remains undeciphered after centuries of failed attempts definitely tickles my insatiable sense of curiosity 🧐😋 Like an epic puzzle I don't realistically expect to solve after so many have tried before, but it's sure fun to try!

Anyways, after seeing the lottery results from last Saturday, I decided to check page 33R again from the Voynich Manuscript. Here is a screenshot of it to help for better visualization:

First things first, the text looks completely alien to me. I tried a little to detect patterns as there does appear to be some sort of consistency within the flow of the text. But I'm no expert linguist, so I won't speculate any further on what the words could mean.

I'm more of a visual person. You might have noticed from all the photos I submitted. Instead of relying on verbal language which is unknown to me in the Voynich Manuscript, I am focusing more on the actual illustrations in the hopes of better understanding what the author(s) meant.

Problem is, the plant on page 33R does not appear to exist in nature; along with many other plants illustrated in the Voynich Manuscript. Then it occurred to me, maybe that's the point. If this plant does not exist in nature, perhaps it was artificially produced. In other words, it could have been hybridized through human manipulation.

All of a sudden, these two heads at the bottom of the illustration make a lot more sense to me. In that the plant was conceived by the human mind (symbolized by the roots attached to the heads), and this is like a secret recipe to recreate the hybrid plant illustrated on this page.

Now that I am assuming this is a hybrid plant, I proceed to ask Bard more specific questions like "Consider for a moment only the leaves in this illustration and nothing else. What type of plant do they most likely represent?" To which Bard answered: "If we consider only the leaves in the illustration you sent, they most likely represent a sunflower. Sunflower leaves are large and heart-shaped, with serrated edges. They are also arranged in a spiral pattern around the stem. The leaves in the illustration have all of these features. Other plants that have similar leaves include dandelions, chicory, and sow thistle. However, sunflower leaves are the largest and most distinctive of this group."

Then I ask Bard "Consider for a moment only the flowering components in this illustration and nothing else. What type of plant do they most likely represent?" To which Bard answered:

"If we consider only the flowering components in the illustration you sent, they most likely represent an aster. Aster flowers have a star-shaped appearance, with five to eight petals. They are also arranged in clusters at the top of the stem. The flowers in the illustration have all of these features.

Other plants that have similar flowers include daisies, sunflowers, and coneflowers. However, aster flowers are the most distinctive of this group, with their long, slender petals and star-shaped appearance.

Of course, it is also possible that the plant in the illustration is a completely fictional plant. The Voynich Manuscript is known for its mysterious and fantastical illustrations. However, if the plant is based on a real plant, then an aster is the most likely candidate.

Interestingly, both sunflowers and asters are members of the Asteraceae family, so it is possible that the plant in the illustration is a composite of both of these plants."

Fascinating that both plant parts belong to the Asteraceae family. And at this point, I am starting to question whether the plant being illustrated is a hybrid in the true sense of the word. I accept for now that it is a composite illustration, but maybe it is intended to be an "imaginary hybrid" (where incidentally the two heads could symbolize imagination). In other words, it could be a recipe telling the readers what plants to combine / grind together for each remedy.

If that's the case, it is possible to conceive that some of the (unknown) words are describing each plant part being illustrated. But again, I'm no expert linguist so I won't speculate too much on the actual words. But I invite anyone reading to check it out, along with other pages of the Voynich Mansucript. You can find it from the following website of Yale University: https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2002046

They took the trouble to scan each and every page, so if you're bored and looking for a good puzzle, hey, why not take a shot at the Voynich Manuscript? For the most part, I've been concentrating on page 33R, but there are many more equally mysterious pages. If people can band together and solve bits & pieces of it like I am trying to, then maybe one of these days all these bits & pieces will add up to a complete translation of the book.

That said, some people have proposed the Voynich Manuscript is just a hoax (like a Renaissance deepfake). I suppose that's possible, anything is possible. But consider the timeframe in which it was published, Yale University cites ca. 1401-1599?, and carbon dating shows the pages of the manuscript were made between 1404 and 1438. They didn't have quick & cheap inkjet printers back then. It cost a lot of money and time to create books like this. So why would anyone in their sane mind go through all the trouble of creating such an epic hoax? It doesn't make much sense to me, instead I believe the Voynich Manuscript served a very real and practical purpose.

It also helps to look at historical context. In the 15th Century, the Catholic Church reigned supreme over Europe. Especially in Italy where this manuscript supposedly originates from. There were however other religious groups that existed in secret. The Waldensians come to mind. Here's what Google Bard has to say about them:

The Waldensians were a religious group that arose in the late Middle Ages and is now seen as a precursor to the Protestant Reformation. They were founded by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant in Lyons, France, who in 1174 renounced his wealth and started living a life of voluntary poverty. Waldo and his followers became known as the Poor Men of Lyons, and they traveled around preaching the Bible and criticizing the Catholic Church.

The Waldensians rejected many of the Catholic Church's teachings, including the authority of the Pope, the veneration of saints, and the sacraments of purgatory and indulgences. They also believed that the Bible should be translated into the language of the people so that everyone could read it and understand it for themselves.

The Waldensians were persecuted by the Catholic Church, and many of them were killed. However, they continued to exist and spread their beliefs throughout Europe. In the 16th century, the Waldensians aligned themselves with the Protestant Reformation, and they played a role in the spread of Protestantism in France and Italy.

Today, the Waldensians are a small Protestant denomination with churches in Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, and other countries. They are known for their commitment to peace and social justice.

The Waldensians are an important group in the history of Christianity. They were one of the first groups to challenge the authority of the Catholic Church, and they played a role in the Protestant Reformation. The Waldensians are also an inspiration to many people today because of their commitment to peace and social justice.

Now this manuscript makes more sense. Perhaps it was deliberately written in code because the author(s) were part of a religious group persecuted by the Catholic Church. And they knew their messages would be perceived as heresy if written in an officially recognized language.

I might even speculate that Leonardo da Vinci had something to do with this manuscript, and that he could have been influenced by the Waldensian way of life. Here's what Google Bard had to say when I asked if there could be a connection between them:

Leonardo was a deeply intellectual person who was interested in a wide range of subjects, including science, philosophy, and religion. The Waldensians were known for their emphasis on the Bible and their commitment to education. It is possible that Leonardo was drawn to the Waldensians because of their shared intellectual interests.

Furthermore, Leonardo was known for his unorthodox religious views. He rejected many of the Catholic Church's teachings, including the authority of the Pope, the veneration of saints, and the sacraments of purgatory and indulgences. The Waldensians also rejected many of the Catholic Church's teachings. It is possible that Leonardo was sympathetic to the Waldensians because of their shared religious beliefs.

However, it is important to note that there is no direct evidence to prove that Leonardo was ever a Waldensian himself. He never explicitly identified as a Waldensian, and he never wrote anything that could be interpreted as a Waldensian confession of faith.

Despite the lack of direct evidence, it is still possible that Leonardo had some kind of connection to the Waldensians. His geographical proximity to the Waldensian stronghold of Piedmont, his intellectual interests, and his unorthodox religious views all suggest that he may have been drawn to the movement.

Realizing there is no direct evidence linking Leonardo and the Waldensians, but this was several hundred years ago. Historical records from that time are far from complete. I did however find it interesting when Google Bard said "Leonardo was known for his unorthodox religious views. He rejected many of the Catholic Church's teachings, including the authority of the Pope, the veneration of saints, and the sacraments of purgatory and indulgences." If there's one influential person in history who's known for keeping an open mind, it's Leonardo. And surely he must have been exposed to Waldensians throughout his life because they lived around him.

I even seem to recall reading that Leonardo's best friend Francesco Melzi is the son of a Waldensian convert, Giacomo Melzi. But I can't be entirely sure about that because there's not much information I can find online about Giacomo Melzi. And there's no mention of his son Francesco Melzi openly practicing the Waldensian faith either. But if it was a persecuted religion, it is also possible to conceive that Francesco Melzi and perhaps even Leonardo secretly embraced some Waldensian values. Maybe this manuscript is some sort of Waldensian bible or encyclopedia as it does covers subjects other than plants like biology, astronomy, and astrology.

Anyways, that's all I can think of for now. All based on one single page from the Voynich Manuscript that a lottery number pointed me to 🤪 I'm already starting to discover some more interesting curiosities from another page using the "composite plant" approach, but I'll leave it at that for now. Meanwhile, feel free to check out the Voynich Manuscript for yourselves, as long as you accept that you will probably never be able to solve it alone. Still good for stretching the brain muscles though 👍