Peaks and Spires

 

The following is the text from my video Luminous Peaks, which presents the central symbolism of my argument. The video can be viewed here.

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"If you don't understand the symbolism of the alpenglow, you don't understand the Voynich manuscript."

In the central panel of the Voynich map – the Rosette folio - we have a depiction of a group of six mountain peaks.

They are presented as six spires, like church spires, with onion-shaped bulbs and a crucifix on top. I take them as representing six mountain peaks. Two of them are obscured by rain clouds.

These towers, spires, immediately remind us of typical church architecture in northern Italy, in the South Tyrol as it is called. The eastern Italian Alps.

And when we look closer, we find that other panels or rondels in the Voynich map – two of them - have these onion-spires in the centre, and in these cases I take them to be mountain peaks as well. I take it that in this cartography, in the pictorial language of the map, these church spires represent mountain peaks and we misunderstand the map if we take them literally. Here I want to explain how it is they represent mountains.

The relevant symbolism is this: mountain peaks are lit by the rising sun – or the setting sun – and light up like candles. It is a distinct phenomenon in the South Tyrol region, where it is called alpenglow.

There are some mountains, seen from some places, which – in the right conditions – light up conspicuously and are typically compared to candle flames. The phenomenon is not uncommon. There are notable cases of it across the world.

In some cases the effect is spectacular, and the mountain peak seems indeed like a burning flame, making the comparison with a lit candle very obvious.

This is the idea behind onion-shaped spires on churches. A spire, simply put, represents a mountain. But when it is onion-shaped, bulbous, it represents a mountain with the top lit up like a candle-flame.

If you ask people of the Eastern orthodox faith why their churches typically have bulbous spires, they will tell you invariably that it is because of the central importance of the candle in Orthodox liturgy. The candle is a symbol of orthodoxy, and so the bulbous spires are candles, candle flames, emblematic of that distinctive aspect of the liturgy.

This is correct, but we need to add that spires are, in themselves, symbolic of mountains. So in the bulbous spire the two ideas come together – candle and mountain. In modern times the mountain symbolism has been overlooked but the orthodox still understand it is a candle flame. Yes, it’s a candle flame. On top of a miuntain.

In the Voynich map, bulbous spires are used to represent mountain peaks. It may be a general symbol, or they may represent specific mountain peaks known for their alpenglow.

In the case of the 6 spires in the central panel of the map, they appear cloud-covered, or rather rain-covered, which I take to be a sign of high altitude. These are likely to be a group of very tall peaks, all of which are known for catching the light of the rising or setting sun.

Of course, they are presented as spires, towers, not mountains, and so it is not wrong to see this as a city, but elsewhere in the map it is clear that the onion-spires are used to mean mountain peaks. As a city it alludes to Jerusalem, surely? The mappe mundi seems to be the basis of the design. This flame symbolism has its origins in Jerusalem, at the Holy Sepulchre. The very first candle is lit in Jerusalem. But in the context of a map of South Tyrol – even granted it is a symbolic map - it means six mountain peaks, not six churches. Six candles. Six spires.

There is also the symbolism of the cross on top. This is Christ as Light of the World. It is the symbolism of orthodox liturgy. Catholic too, but emphasized in Orthodoxy. Christ brings light to the world, symbolized by the lighting of a candle. And by the rising sun lighting the candle of the mountain peaks in the same way.

It is not mere sunlight that ignites the mountain peak. It is the light of Christ illuminating the world. The Voynich manuscript is not an ecclesiastical work, but it is still Christian, - Catholic, not Eastern Orthodox - and the light of Christ is still the relevant symbolism. The light that illuminates the peak might have other significances in other spiritual environments, but in a Christian context it is the light of Christ. And it serves as the model for certain Christians, and it is reflected in church architecture. Very often the onion bulbs on spires will be made of brass or copper or plated gold in order to catch the sun and light up, very deliberately, like a candle, as a mountain peak does.

In this way too, certain mountains are marked out as sacred. And so too certain vantage points, because often this effect – the candle lit mountain peak – can often only be viewed from a certain spot, at a certain time, at a certain angle. This makes that place special.

It is a way of encoding light onto a sacred landscape. It is not unusual. It is common in mountainous lands. It is a common, simple, very straightforward religious symbolism, in fact, extracted from a phenomenon in nature. In modern times, people put an actual crucifix on mountain peaks, placing them where they will be illuminated by the rising sun. Same symbolism. In former times, churches, sanctuaries, were placed at vantage points: today, of course, largely tourist sites.

In any case, this is important to understanding the Voynich map. The spires are not literally churches, and not mosques. They signify mountain peaks. Mountain peaks presented as candle-flame spires. In the centre panel is a group, a citadel, of mountain peaks. There are two others marked on the map. You have to look closely. So I take it that these are mountain peaks – probably taller than others – that attract the effect of, are touched by, illuminated by alpenglow.

In all cases, though, these are highly stylized. It is a highly stilized map – a mountain landscape schematized to nine circles - but one of its conventions is to present mountain peaks as candle-shaped spires, like church spires. It is a natural association in that environment. There are other explanations for onion-shaped spires in churches, but the relevant symbolism in South Tyrol, alpine Italy, has to do with the illumination of mountains, and mountain peaks as candle flames. Alpenglow is a conspicuous part of that alpine environment. It’s a living symbolism of the mountain cosmology.

It is an important symbolism for understanding another part of the manuscript too, beyond the map in the Rosette Folio. The same bulbous forms reappear on the so-called canisters – vessels – in the pharmacological pages. I don’t think this parallel has often been made, but it is vital for understanding the document as a whole.

I have argued elsewhere that these canisters are best understood as percolators used for the production of herbal water extracts by a process of filtration and that, in this, they imitate mountains. Or they symbolise mountains, at least. They conform to this same mountain symbolism – mountain as candle-flame. That is what that bulbous form indicates. These vessels are based on the symbolism of mountains. That is why they have these bulbous shaped tops or lids and look like small versions of the towers in the centre of the map. It is an important parallel.

It is enough for now just to make this clarification. These bulbous spires on the Voynich map are not literally churches. They represent mountains in this cartography, and specifically mountain peaks which are illuminated by the sun and light up like candles and are therefore regarded as sacred, enchanted, magical, special. 

In the pagan mythology of the region these mountains are compared to a rose garden – from a distance they glow with pinks and reds, like a garden of roses. The rose garden of King Laurin, king of the dwarves. That is not the symbolism we find in the Voynich ms. Instead, it is a distinctly Christian symbolism of light and candles.

It is worth noting here – just as an aside - that in the Roman Catholic rite there are six candles on the high altar, so the six spires in the central panel of the Voynich map might lend themselves to such a comparison on some level.

Otherwise, we need to explain the author's concern with this feature of his landscape. Why are such mountains – the luminous mountains – central to and feature in his map? What did they mean to him, as landmarks, as symbols? I take it that the map is crucial to the work as a whole. In the centre of the map are these towers, candles, mountain peaks.

The obvious candidate for the central grouping of luminous peaks in the relevant region would be the Rosengarten mountains. This may not be right – but it would be the obvious candidate in the Sudtirol. It is more important, in the first instance, to understand the operative principles, rather than trying to identify actual places. Understand its symbolism first.

I think all nine circles represent mountains. Some of them are marked with luminous peaks in this way. So I take it that the others don’t behave in this way – they are not tall mountain peaks that are illuminated like candles by the rising and setting sun. They are distinguished by other features, other topography.

I take it that one rondel, for instance, is a birds eye view of a flat-topped mountain or hill. It has no onion-shaped spire. It does not have a luminous peak.

And another seems to be a hilltop presented as a fourfold fountain, with irrigation, cultivation.

Some are hard to read. One is a mountain peak poking through rain clouds, the same type of rain clouds obscuring the spires in the central panel. But in this case it’s not marked with a candle spire. It is different.

This is a useful general distinction to apply to the map. It is also a productive, and I would argue pivotal, symbolism to explore as it extends into other parts of the manuscript.

To modern eyes the alpenglow is just a spectacle. We appreciate it only sentimentally. But it doesn’t carry the symbolic associations it did in the premodern cosmologies of the middle ages. One of the abiding difficulties wth studying the Voynich ms is that we do not share the author’s worldview, his cosmology. We have trouble understanding the way he thinks. The map – and the book as a whole - is inpenetrable  if we approach it through modern eyes. When we look at these onion-shaped spires, we don’t see the associations the author was seeing.

R. B.