The Counter Cycle

There is a counter cycle. It is marked by what I have called the ‘plumed’ glyph forms – those with an upwards backwards curling plume above them, either attached or unattached. 

The two main plumed glyphs are [s] and [r]. They are obviously a matching set, one based on the c-curve and one on the backslash. 

These glyphs have a relationship of coinciding opposites. 

The statistics for these glyphs are strikingly similar, so similar in fact as to be almost mechanical. 

There are about 7100 instances of [s] in the text. And there is almost exactly the same number of [r], give or take twenty or so. 

The distribution between Currier A and B is also almost exact. Both glyphs occur about 2300 times in Currier A, give or take a handful. 

I don’t think any other statistical correlation in Voynichese is so exact as it is between glyphs [s] and [r]. 

I invite readers to look at the stats for [s] and [r] and note how remarkably parallel they are. 

* * *

Upon reflection, it emerges that another cycle is required.

This is because the glyphs – and text – are expressions of the cycles of the YEAR and there are two motions, actual and apparent.There is an underlying counter-cycle:

Regarding the plumed forms, I reason like this:

The solstices mark the TURNING POINTS of the year. 

These, therefore, are the appropriate places to situate backward turning glyphs. 

This is what we find in practice. We noted it in the text at the centre of the Rosette map several posts ago, which provides a demonstration of how the plumed glyphs replace the gallows glyphs:

The plumes of the glyphs are counter-cycling. They express the solstices as places of backward turning and initiate a counter-cycle.

But it is an independent cycle to that of OTOPO, what I have called the primitive paradigm. 

In short, there are two cycles that move contrary to each other, both expressing aspects of the symbolism of the solstices: 

OTOPO

OSARO

* * * 

As I noted several posts ago, it seems that these cycles are so many wheels or settings on an astrolabe or similar device.

Regardless of that likelihood, the text and the glyphs still reveal how the device is being deployed, what cycles in what ways, and it is still necessary to uncover and understand them.

R.B.