If you've been reading my Moon News, you've probably noticed that I include a Sabian Symbol for each lunation, along with a keyword and theme. I also draw a card from my Oracle of the Mandala™, bringing another perspective into the conversation.
When I first began studying astrology, my teacher, Maree Dolphin, told us that, in her opinion, all you needed to read someone's birth chart was the chart itself and Dane Rudhyar's book An Astrological Mandala, his interpretation of the Sabian Symbols. That's quite a statement, considering the enormous number of books written about astrology!
So, what are these Sabian Symbols, and why do they fascinate me?
Everyone has a birth chart, a map of the heavens at the time and place of their birth. Each planet occupies a particular degree of the zodiac, and each of those degrees has its own Sabian Symbol. There are 360 altogether, giving each of us a collection of symbolic images to explore in our own charts.
In 1925, astrologer Marc Edmund Jones and clairvoyant Elsie Wheeler met in a parked car at Balboa Park in San Diego, California. Jones presented her with cards representing each degree of the zodiac, in random order. Wheeler described the images that came to her clairvoyantly, and Jones recorded them.
Can you imagine? An astrologer and a clairvoyant sitting in a car in California, producing images that astrologers would still be studying a hundred years later!
Some of the symbols are ordinary, others mysterious or downright peculiar. We have A church bazaar, Chickens intoxicated, and A child born of an eggshell. What on earth are we supposed to make of those?
What continues to fascinate me is how remarkably accurate these mysterious images can be. A symbol that seems absurd or unrelated to someone's circumstances can suddenly illuminate an experience, a relationship, or a turning point. I've witnessed this many times in my years of working with astrology. I don't pretend to understand exactly how that happens. I'm not sure I need to.
Over the decades, astrologers have written extensively about the symbols, beginning with Marc Edmund Jones himself. Dane Rudhyar brought his philosophical and psychological understanding to them. Others have continued to explore the images, sometimes agreeing, sometimes offering quite different interpretations. I find many of these interpretations interesting and inspiring. Sometimes I read one and think, "Of course! I hadn't considered that." And sometimes I think something entirely different.
When preparing my Moon News, I prefer to begin with the image itself rather than present someone else's interpretation as the meaning. What catches my attention? What might the image suggest about this particular New or Full Moon? What might it invite us to notice in our own lives?
You may see something entirely different. Wonderful! That's part of the invitation. Symbols don't tell us what to think, what to do, or what will happen next. They offer another way of looking at our experiences.
And I still hear Maree Dolphin's words about all you need to read a chart.
She may have been onto something. She usually was.
For the Curious
Dane Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala. A philosophical and psychological exploration of all 360 symbols. The book my first astrology teacher recommended.
Marc Edmund Jones, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology. Jones's own presentation and interpretation of the symbols, published in 1953.
Diana E. Roche, The Sabian Symbols: A Screen of Prophecy. An exploration of the symbols and their history. I use Roche's keywords and themes in my Moon News.
The Sabian Assembly: https://sabian.org
An organization dedicated to preserving and exploring the work of Marc Edmund Jones, including the Sabian Symbols.