Gemini 10° “Checking in with true grit.”

The Span of Zeal – The 1st Hemisphere of Gemini

Phase 70

Air Element – Mutable or Common

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-social-inspired.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 10° An airplane falling

This is a symbol of the capacity of man to plunge into experience with a complete disregard of consequences, or to act in full independence of those sustainments which his fellows have accepted as limitations. Implicit in the reversed symbolism is an expectation of righting the dive, thus re-establishing control of the flight as suits a conscious purpose. The individual certifies his divine birthright as he remembers that whatever he releases in one aspect he may regrasp in another.

The keyword is CRISIS.

When positive, the degree is the highly advantageous reorientation of selfhood through every issue, and when negative, defeat through disinclination to lift even a finger in decent self-interest.

Tebow’s Mile High Magic – Taking it to the limit

To remain cool, calm and collected, no matter the challenge of the circumstances. You are the captain of this ship above and on the playing field below. Four forces create flight: Gravity, Lift, Thrust, and Drag. Know them. Master them. Then awe the crowd as they watch you demonstrate your powers.

Poise in the face of danger, knowing that you are still master and are at the controls of your life.

Remain calm. This too has come to pass—one way or the other—and ultimately, all that will really matter is how you handled it.

Master at the controls of a plane named Oracle

Right down to the quantum fabric and glue pinning the entire scene together, all is unfolding exactly and precisely as it should. You know this! Walk your talk! Be this! Before you comes an opportunity–to have no fear! This symbol speaks of our getting to know what fearlessness tastes like, smells like, feels like… We can make masterful choices to remain calm and do the right thing. But we must meet it as Master, not servant. Today we find ourselves…

“Checking in with true grit.” Namaste ~ Saijin

Image:  A Plane Named “Oracle” – A Master at the Controls

Welcome to the amazing Sabian symbols!

These personal reflections are but an example of one person’s journey of discovery with the Sabian Symbols. This blog series was written in 2014 and 2015, during the last two years of my mother’s life. She and I lived here together in my home, and at the end of each day I would sit and write my reflections on each symbol. At that time I had studied the Sabian symbols for seven years. However, these blogs aren’t interpretations, they are simply my reflections about the symbols. Yet, they hold a very sacred place in my heart and in my memories. I have edited them lightly over the following years, but always preserving the essential feelings and energies surrounding that first attempt at writing about them. When this series is done being edited, around Scorpio season, I will most likely go on and begin a new blog series. Much has changed over the past nearly nine years! I have many other things I’d like to share about the symbols. But, for now, this is the first cycle of reflections.

If you are interested in beginning your own adventure with the Sabian symbols, I encourage you to begin keeping a set of notes of your own thoughts. You might begin your quest with drawing a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle. You can find it by clicking the link below. Enter the time of the draw for later reference.

Draw a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle!

You can find more of my works on my website at SabianGeometry, on YouTube at Sabian Geometry or on  Facebook at Sabian Geometry with Saijin. If you are interested in studying the Sabian symbols in their models of the Cross (4-fold) and the Star (5-fold), I invite you to purchase my book: On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology. The Sabian Symbol Septenary (7-fold model) is available to read on WordPress or if you prefer to  listen, on Spotify.

*All of my works are based on Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, 1953 First Edition.

To learn more about The Sabian Assembly, the organization founded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones on October 17, 1923, where seekers are bound by “searching for competent rather than easy answers to the problems of life”, please visit The Sabian Assembly.

Gemini 9 ~ “Life and death matters. Aim true!”

The Span of Zeal – The 1st Hemisphere of Gemini

Phase 69

Air Element – Mutable or Common

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-social-responsible.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 9° A quiver filled with arrows

This is a symbol of extreme alertness to the interests and needs of selfhood, and of high competency in pursuing any and all practical ends in view. There is a basic emphasis on the inalienable right of man to make demands on his fellows, or to bring to his service whatever may help him hold his place in the scheme of things. Here are the fruits of the self-discipline and training which equip an individual with the skills for which he will have continual use.

The keyword is PREPARATION.

When positive, the degree is unlimited personal capacity for rising to the issue of the moment on any level of experience, and when negative, querulous overconfidence and quixotic notions.

Ready, Aim, Fire – Imagine Dragons 

The Tale of William Tell

At last a target did unveil:
An apple at one hundred yards.
But William’s face grew ghastly pale.
He ne’er suspected such dark cards:
The apple sat on Walter Tell,
The humble son of William Tell.   Hm. Nes 

The Apple Shot

Can you imagine? You’ve been told that both you and your son are to be executed for not bowing to a hat on a pole. The only chance to save your lives is to prove your marksmanship. You must split the apple atop your own son’s head. Such were the circumstances of William Tell on November 18, 1307 in Altsdorf.

“William Tell was known as a strong man, a mountain climber, and an expert shot with the crossbow. In his time, the Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate Uri, and Tell became one of the conspirators of Werner Stauffacher, vowing to resist Habsburg rule. Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf, raised a pole under the village linden tree, hung his hat on top of it, and demanded that all the townsfolk bow before the hat.

“On 18 November 1307, Tell visited Altdorf with his young son and passed by the hat, publicly refusing to bow to it, and was arrested. Gessler—intrigued by Tell’s famed marksmanship but resentful of his defiance—devised a cruel punishment. Tell and his son were to be executed. However, he could redeem his life by shooting an apple off of his son Robert’s head in a single attempt. Tell split the apple with a bolt from his crossbow.”

How did he ever manage to do it under such stressful circumstances? Expert marksman or not, it had to be the most harrowing of situations. His shot, especially now, had to be—absolutely had to be—perfect! His only target, the apple! Focus o arrow and be swift and true! Today’s symbol is preparation. Are you prepared for the most trying of circumstances in which to be an expert marksman? If not, what can you do now to prepare for then?

I have other thoughts on this. The letters composing the word “apple” in The Da Vinci Code unlocked the Cryptex. Why? Because it was the “apple” that Newton saw fall from the tree–the gravity of a situation.

The “apple” is often used to represent the symbolic fruit of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, of which Eve partook and then gave to Adam because it is better to know truth even if through suffering than to stay forever in a state of ignorance and bliss.

A scripture comes to mind: Matthew 10:34 “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” The sword, or in today’s case the chosen arrow from the quiver, is truth….

“Life and death matters. Aim true!” Saijin

Art Credit: Merello, William Tell’s Son 

Welcome to the amazing Sabian symbols!

These personal reflections are but an example of one person’s journey of discovery with the Sabian Symbols. This blog series was written in 2014 and 2015, during the last two years of my mother’s life. She and I lived here together in my home, and at the end of each day I would sit and write my reflections on each symbol. At that time I had studied the Sabian symbols for seven years. However, these blogs aren’t interpretations, they are simply my reflections about the symbols. Yet, they hold a very sacred place in my heart and in my memories. I have edited them lightly over the following years, but always preserving the essential feelings and energies surrounding that first attempt at writing about them. When this series is done being edited, around Scorpio season, I will most likely go on and begin a new blog series. Much has changed over the past nearly nine years! I have many other things I’d like to share about the symbols. But, for now, this is the first cycle of reflections.

If you are interested in beginning your own adventure with the Sabian symbols, I encourage you to begin keeping a set of notes of your own thoughts. You might begin your quest with drawing a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle. You can find it by clicking the link below. Enter the time of the draw for later reference.

Draw a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle!

You can find more of my works on my website at SabianGeometry, on YouTube at Sabian Geometry or on  Facebook at Sabian Geometry with Saijin. If you are interested in studying the Sabian symbols in their models of the Cross (4-fold) and the Star (5-fold), I invite you to purchase my book: On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology. The Sabian Symbol Septenary (7-fold model) is available to read on WordPress or if you prefer to  listen, on Spotify.

*All of my works are based on Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, 1953 First Edition.

To learn more about The Sabian Assembly, the organization founded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones on October 17, 1923, where seekers are bound by “searching for competent rather than easy answers to the problems of life”, please visit The Sabian Assembly.

Gemini 8° “Conviction at its best.”

The Span of Zeal – The 1st Hemisphere of Gemini

Phase 68

Air Element – Mutable or Common

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-social-receptive.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 8° An industrial strike

This is a symbol of the necessity that man act in his own interest whenever his general situation fails to provide him with the creative outlets he needs, or proves inadequate for his relations with his fellows. Implicit in the reversed symbolism is an emphasis on the instabilities of life as a dynamic for accomplishment, calling on the human spirit for constructive reorganization. There is here the dignity of a personality which may be exalted but never exploited.

The keyword is PROTEST.

When positive, the degree is undeviating self-assertiveness and a refusal to accept any lesser in lieu of a greater, and when negative, a dissatisfaction which surrenders rather than regrasps the self’s potential.

Wall of Voodoo – Ring of Fire 

Steaming hot? Boiling mad? Better to take the strong, silent approach — in control — with a plan — with a no-fail strategy. The art of war!

“We gotta be good before we can present good.” Astrological Anthropology

Good then! Let ‘er rip! Get ‘er done!

The Sit-In is Born!

“”By 1960, the Civil Rights Movement had gained strong momentum. The nonviolent measures employed by Martin Luther King Jr. helped African American activists win supporters across the country and throughout the world.

“On February 1, 1960, a new tactic was added to the peaceful activists’ strategy. Four African American college students walked up to a whites-only lunch counter at the local Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and asked for coffee. When service was refused, the students sat patiently. Despite threats and intimidation, the students sat quietly and waited to be served. The civil rights sit-in was born.” 

So, either you lead or you follow or you get the heck out of the way, because times are changing, and nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.

Here is….

“Conviction at its best.” Namaste ~ Saijin

Image: Steaming hot and boiling mad ~ The Sun

Welcome to the amazing Sabian symbols!

These personal reflections are but an example of one person’s journey of discovery with the Sabian Symbols. This blog series was written in 2014 and 2015, during the last two years of my mother’s life. She and I lived here together in my home, and at the end of each day I would sit and write my reflections on each symbol. At that time I had studied the Sabian symbols for seven years. However, these blogs aren’t interpretations, they are simply my reflections about the symbols. Yet, they hold a very sacred place in my heart and in my memories. I have edited them lightly over the following years, but always preserving the essential feelings and energies surrounding that first attempt at writing about them. When this series is done being edited, around Scorpio season, I will most likely go on and begin a new blog series. Much has changed over the past nearly nine years! I have many other things I’d like to share about the symbols. But, for now, this is the first cycle of reflections.

If you are interested in beginning your own adventure with the Sabian symbols, I encourage you to begin keeping a set of notes of your own thoughts. You might begin your quest with drawing a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle. You can find it by clicking the link below. Enter the time of the draw for later reference.

Draw a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle!

You can find more of my works on my website at SabianGeometry, on YouTube at Sabian Geometry or on  Facebook at Sabian Geometry with Saijin. If you are interested in studying the Sabian symbols in their models of the Cross (4-fold) and the Star (5-fold), I invite you to purchase my book: On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology. The Sabian Symbol Septenary (7-fold model) is available to read on WordPress or if you prefer to  listen, on Spotify.

*All of my works are based on Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, 1953 First Edition.

To learn more about The Sabian Assembly, the organization founded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones on October 17, 1923, where seekers are bound by “searching for competent rather than easy answers to the problems of life”, please visit The Sabian Assembly.

Gemini 7° “The rest is still unwritten.”

The Span of Zeal – The 1st Hemisphere of Gemini

Phase 67

Air Element – Mutable or Common

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-social-sensitive.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 7° An old-fashioned well

This is a symbol of the unimpeachable source of life on the side of personal self-renewal and simple organic integrity. Implicit in the symbolism is the purity of everything adding up to any individual character, and the curious capacity of man to remain himself whenever he enters into relationship with others and encourages the assimilation of their reality into his own. He draws in and gives out the substance of himself continuously, and is rewarded by nature as he expends himself in this process of continuing to be.

The keyword is RECOMPENSE.

When positive, the degree is absolute self-reliance and uncompromising faithfulness, and when negative, insensibility and ineptness in all human contact.

Drops of Jupiter 

The Last Tweet of Maya Angelou:  “Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.”

In the bottom of this wishing well, pennies still vibrate with dreams and wishes still waiting to be fulfilled. Will you lower the bucket and bring one to the surface and give it wings to fly and to fulfill its dream-come-true? Come to the well. Free the prisoners at the bottom of the well. Be the hand that lifts them up and sets them free.

Recompense awaits you…

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou, April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014

May our final words be as profound. In the meantime, there is work to be done, pennies to be wished on, and dreams just waiting to come true….

“The rest is still unwritten.” Saijin

Photo Credit: Brett Poe, astrologer and minister. Don’t miss the point of the drive-bys that call you inward and onward. Inspired? So then, move, act, begin!

Welcome to the amazing Sabian symbols!

These personal reflections are but an example of one person’s journey of discovery with the Sabian Symbols. This blog series was written in 2014 and 2015, during the last two years of my mother’s life. She and I lived here together in my home, and at the end of each day I would sit and write my reflections on each symbol. At that time I had studied the Sabian symbols for seven years. However, these blogs aren’t interpretations, they are simply my reflections about the symbols. Yet, they hold a very sacred place in my heart and in my memories. I have edited them lightly over the following years, but always preserving the essential feelings and energies surrounding that first attempt at writing about them. When this series is done being edited, around Scorpio season, I will most likely go on and begin a new blog series. Much has changed over the past nearly nine years! I have many other things I’d like to share about the symbols. But, for now, this is the first cycle of reflections.

If you are interested in beginning your own adventure with the Sabian symbols, I encourage you to begin keeping a set of notes of your own thoughts. You might begin your quest with drawing a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle. You can find it by clicking the link below. Enter the time of the draw for later reference.

Draw a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle!

You can find more of my works on my website at SabianGeometry, on YouTube at Sabian Geometry or on  Facebook at Sabian Geometry with Saijin. If you are interested in studying the Sabian symbols in their models of the Cross (4-fold) and the Star (5-fold), I invite you to purchase my book: On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology. The Sabian Symbol Septenary (7-fold model) is available to read on WordPress or if you prefer to  listen, on Spotify.

*All of my works are based on Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, 1953 First Edition.

To learn more about The Sabian Assembly, the organization founded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones on October 17, 1923, where seekers are bound by “searching for competent rather than easy answers to the problems of life”, please visit The Sabian Assembly.

Gemini 6° “Direction with intention.”

The Span of Zeal – The 1st Hemisphere of Gemini

Phase 66

Air Element – Mutable or Common

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-social-experimental.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 6° Drilling for oil

This is a symbol of man’s indomitable efforts to discover every last resource of the world in which he finds himself, and of his desire to endow his experience with every possible enhancement on the physical side of things. Here is his capacity for penetrating to the uttermost depths of whatever potentiality may be of immediate concern to him, and for opening new dimensions of being by his willingness to undergo every possible risk in pursuing even the most uncertain of objectives.

The keyword is SPECULATION.

When positive, the degree is achievement through an exceptional concentration or specialization of effort, and when negative, long-range or foolish gambling and ill-considered self-exploitation. 

Angels and Airwaves – The Adventure 

Elly May: I reckon why they got two sets of steps?

Jethro: That’s easy! One’s for going up, and the other’s for going down!

Elly May: Oh.

Brilliant! To drill for oil, we must go down in order for the oil to come up! It’s the putting in the focus and commitment and effort on which success rests! An oil drill that’s just sitting there–no matter how many you have or how much land they cover–will not produce one single drop of oil until they are put to work. And so it is in the choosing, the getting up and the get going with which this degree is concerned. And once in motion, to not stop, to not give up, to remain committed to the task at hand. Here your own “exceptional concentration” and “specialization of effort” are being called forth!

“Find something you love to do and work yourself to death at it.” Marc Edmund Jones

The Sixth Word:  VI Thou shalt terminate no cycles

“Without beginnings man has no actual individuality. An automaton acts without idea or moves as impelled by an alien intellect and there is no individuality at all. Man is what he is because when he wakes on a fine and propitious day for the furthering of his everyday interests he may look at the sky and go fishing instead. Divinity is not caprice but this capacity for whims and so totally centered-in-self or at-Source consciousness. The labor of the Masters demands aspirants who will act dependably and decide responsibly in the matrix of the orderliness of the cosmic scheme that sustains all higher work. The aspirant must have and know reality, however. He must be ever an individual with the caprice or whim to start always in a Masterly way.” The Sabian Book, The Ten Words

Therefore, if you would move, please choose your…

“Direction with intention.” Saijin

Image: The Beverly Hillbillies

Welcome to the amazing Sabian symbols!

These personal reflections are but an example of one person’s journey of discovery with the Sabian Symbols. This blog series was written in 2014 and 2015, during the last two years of my mother’s life. She and I lived here together in my home, and at the end of each day I would sit and write my reflections on each symbol. At that time I had studied the Sabian symbols for seven years. However, these blogs aren’t interpretations, they are simply my reflections about the symbols. Yet, they hold a very sacred place in my heart and in my memories. I have edited them lightly over the following years, but always preserving the essential feelings and energies surrounding that first attempt at writing about them. When this series is done being edited, around Scorpio season, I will most likely go on and begin a new blog series. Much has changed over the past nearly nine years! I have many other things I’d like to share about the symbols. But, for now, this is the first cycle of reflections.

If you are interested in beginning your own adventure with the Sabian symbols, I encourage you to begin keeping a set of notes of your own thoughts. You might begin your quest with drawing a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle. You can find it by clicking the link below. Enter the time of the draw for later reference.

Draw a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle!

You can find more of my works on my website at SabianGeometry, on YouTube at Sabian Geometry or on  Facebook at Sabian Geometry with Saijin. If you are interested in studying the Sabian symbols in their models of the Cross (4-fold) and the Star (5-fold), I invite you to purchase my book: On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology. The Sabian Symbol Septenary (7-fold model) is available to read on WordPress or if you prefer to  listen, on Spotify.

*All of my works are based on Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, 1953 First Edition.

To learn more about The Sabian Assembly, the organization founded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones on October 17, 1923, where seekers are bound by “searching for competent rather than easy answers to the problems of life”, please visit The Sabian Assembly.

Gemini 5 ~ “A mark to be remembered.”

“A mark to be remembered.”

The Span of Enjoyment

Phase 65

Air Element

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 5° A radical magazine

This is a symbol of the necessary element of change in human affairs, and of the extent to which the remote or the nonpossessed and entirely potential will have its full and functioning part in any immediate reality with which an individual may be seeking to come to terms. Here is the power of man to give high exaltation and dramatic force to whatever succeeds in stirring him deeply within himself. Emphasized in principal and important part is the supremacy of inner over outer compulsions.

The keyword is TANGENCY

When positive, the degree is personality in its highly effective capacity for putting its stamp on everything it touches, and when negative, a perverse determination to quarrel with everybody.

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-physical-inspired.

Pitbull – I’m Yellin’ Timber https://youtu.be/jdyJljF44W4

Got an axe to grind? Want to off somebody’s head? Fed up? Worn out? Had enough?
Chill!!!!!!

When things get so bad that they begin seeming surreal, something greater is being asked of you by you! But first, inspect the habitual, conditioned response…

Do you go off on a tangent?

Do you freak out?

Do you get violent, start yelling?

Now up the ante! Do it better! The difference between a hero and a superhero? Presentation. So, now consider how you might show up!

Get original! Give “them” something new to consider!

Tangency is a “put this in your pipe and smoke it” kind of energy, calling you to show up and provide that unique je ne sais quoi—that something they haven’t seen before stuff–that only you can provide.

Come on, tell me your story of when you go tangential! What did you do? How did that work out? Here’s where you break the mold. Here is where “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” ends! Sanity at last!

A Thousand and One Arabian Nights https://youtu.be/CoQj0Zeg9WU

“A mark to be remembered.” Saijin

Image: “Russian artist Vladimir Kush. This surrealist inspires by the works of Salvador Dali and you can see it in his paintings. According to experts, Vladimir perhaps is one of the most talented surrealists of our time.” http://www.beautifullife.info/art-works/surrealistic-paintings-by-vladimir-kush/

Gemini 4° “Out of the darkness, I Am.”

The Span of Zeal – The 1st Hemisphere of Gemini

Phase 64

Air Element – Mutable or Common

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-physical-responsible.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 4° Holly and mistletoe

This is a symbol of the maximum possible encouragement of human personality on the inner or subjective side, or of life’s continual stimulus to every resource of imagination and spiritual appreciation. Here is a universal richness of experience through which man may substantiate the dignity of his order and learn to share the magic of his own self-renewal on every occasion. He responds quickly and enthusiastically to the frequent and cyclic manifestation of life’s eternal overtones.

The keyword is RITUALIZATION.

When positive, the degree is a gift for fellow participation in every rewarding expression of individuality on all levels of human relationship, and when negative, complete obsession with superficialities.

Saturnalia by Wheat Fields 

Four degrees into Gemini and two of them are of the December holidays—one of modern depiction, the other of the ancient days of the Norse, the Druids and the North American Indians–Saturnalia.

Curiosity obligates… Let us take an historical look at this symbolism, paying attention as we go to the actual symbolic references that arise:

Holly

“Holly was the sacred plant of Saturn and was used at the Roman Saturnalia festival to honor him. Romans gave one another holly wreaths and carried them about decorating images of Saturn with it.”

Mistletoe

“When Balder, the son of the Norse goddess Frigga, was killed by an arrow made of mistletoe by Loki, an evil spirit, she wept tears of white berries which brought him back to life. Overjoyed, Frigga blessed the plant and bestowed the kiss to all who passed beneath it.

“Mistletoe was held sacred by the Norse, the Celtic Druids and the North American Indians. The Druid priests would cut mistletoe from an oak tree with a golden sickle. The branches had to be caught before they touched the ground. They then divided the branches into many sprigs and distributed them to the people, who hung them over doorways as protection against thunder, lightning and other evils.”

Holly and Mistletoe

“Druids wore sprigs of holly in their hair when they went into the forest to watch their priests cut their sacred mistletoe.”

As I went through this exercise of isolating the various symbols used in the historic telling of this ritual, I counted twenty-one. How many caught your eye? Twenty-one is a lot to deal with! Good thing the Festival of Saturnalia comes around annually. Rituals are like that. The more we observe and participate, the more meaningfulness we can apply.  

“Out of the darkness, I Am.” Namaste ~ Saijin

Image: The Holly King uses a golden sickle to cut mistletoe 

Welcome to the amazing Sabian symbols!

These personal reflections are but an example of one person’s journey of discovery with the Sabian Symbols. This blog series was written in 2014 and 2015, during the last two years of my mother’s life. She and I lived here together in my home, and at the end of each day I would sit and write my reflections on each symbol. At that time I had studied the Sabian symbols for seven years. However, these blogs aren’t interpretations, they are simply my reflections about the symbols. Yet, they hold a very sacred place in my heart and in my memories. I have edited them lightly over the following years, but always preserving the essential feelings and energies surrounding that first attempt at writing about them. When this series is done being edited, around Scorpio season, I will most likely go on and begin a new blog series. Much has changed over the past nearly nine years! I have many other things I’d like to share about the symbols. But, for now, this is the first cycle of reflections.

If you are interested in beginning your own adventure with the Sabian symbols, I encourage you to begin keeping a set of notes of your own thoughts. You might begin your quest with drawing a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle. You can find it by clicking the link below. Enter the time of the draw for later reference.

Draw a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle!

You can find more of my works on my website at SabianGeometry, on YouTube at Sabian Geometry or on  Facebook at Sabian Geometry with Saijin. If you are interested in studying the Sabian symbols in their models of the Cross (4-fold) and the Star (5-fold), I invite you to purchase my book: On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology. The Sabian Symbol Septenary (7-fold model) is available to read on WordPress or if you prefer to  listen, on Spotify.

*All of my works are based on Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, 1953 First Edition.

To learn more about The Sabian Assembly, the organization founded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones on October 17, 1923, where seekers are bound by “searching for competent rather than easy answers to the problems of life”, please visit The Sabian Assembly.

Gemini 3 ~ “Spend today on tippy-toes.”

“Spend today on tippy-toes.”

The Span of Enjoyment

Phase 63

Air Element

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 3° The garden of the Tuileries

This is a symbol of the self-confidence and authority which come to man through social position and wealth, and of his ability to bring all his capabilities to some graceful and exquisite self-expression. Here are the more exalted or immortal constants of everyday values, evident as they are given a solid foundation in human achievement or are preserved through a concern for them by people in general.

The keyword is LUXURY

When positive, the degree is the creative stability which enables each individual to participate in the full gamut of satisfactions developed and cherished by his fellows as well as himself, and when negative, complete selfishness and a joy in lording it over others.

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-physical-receptive.

A Beautiful Mind ~ Nash’s Pen Ceremony https://youtu.be/86CKsczBdu0

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

There’s always more than meets the eye. Did you know that Wordsworth changed the words to his famous poem to include reference to the Milky Way? Likewise, there is cosmic insight housed within the garden of the Tuileries symbol, but you cannot tie yourself to time and space if you would find it. Therefore….

“Spend today on tippy-toes.” Saijin

Image: Tuileries sketch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries_Garden

Gemini 2° “Tell me the truth, yes or no?”

The Span of Zeal – The 1st Hemisphere of Gemini

Phase 62

Air Element – Mutable or Common

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-physical-sensitive.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 2° Santa Claus filling stockings furtively

This is a symbol of the illimitable source of everything ever needed for life and experience, emphasized on the practical side of everyday rewards and individual compensations. Implicit in the symbolism is the necessity for complementing nature’s largess and society’s favors with high personal appreciation, as in helping maintain the enduring ritual by which spiritual values may be kept alive in human hearts.

The keyword is PRODIGALITY.

When positive, the degree is an unusual capacity for bringing man’s possessions into a wide acceptance and for heightening every proper joy in worldly goods, and when negative, a childish or clandestine futility in seeking any normal richness of living.

Never Know ~ Jack Johnson

You know the story, right? Well, here is a Christmas message coming at us in Gemini! What in the world. But, you better watch out, you better not cry–Santa is watching… It’s gifts or coal, your choice. I guess it’s time to check in on how our beliefs are doing.

Is there a Santa Claus?

Dear Editor,

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon
115 W. 95th St.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10 thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. 

“Tell me the truth, yes or no?” Saijin

Image: Virginia’s Letter to the Editor of the Sun and Language of Flowers by Alphonse Mucha, 1900

Welcome to the amazing Sabian symbols!

These personal reflections are but an example of one person’s journey of discovery with the Sabian Symbols. This blog series was written in 2014 and 2015, during the last two years of my mother’s life. She and I lived here together in my home, and at the end of each day I would sit and write my reflections on each symbol. At that time I had studied the Sabian symbols for seven years. However, these blogs aren’t interpretations, they are simply my reflections about the symbols. Yet, they hold a very sacred place in my heart and in my memories. I have edited them lightly over the following years, but always preserving the essential feelings and energies surrounding that first attempt at writing about them. When this series is done being edited, around Scorpio season, I will most likely go on and begin a new blog series. Much has changed over the past nearly nine years! I have many other things I’d like to share about the symbols. But, for now, this is the first cycle of reflections.

If you are interested in beginning your own adventure with the Sabian symbols, I encourage you to begin keeping a set of notes of your own thoughts. You might begin your quest with drawing a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle. You can find it by clicking the link below. Enter the time of the draw for later reference.

Draw a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle!

You can find more of my works on my website at SabianGeometry, on YouTube at Sabian Geometry or on  Facebook at Sabian Geometry with Saijin. If you are interested in studying the Sabian symbols in their models of the Cross (4-fold) and the Star (5-fold), I invite you to purchase my book: On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology. The Sabian Symbol Septenary (7-fold model) is available to read on WordPress or if you prefer to  listen, on Spotify.

*All of my works are based on Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, 1953 First Edition.

To learn more about The Sabian Assembly, the organization founded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones on October 17, 1923, where seekers are bound by “searching for competent rather than easy answers to the problems of life”, please visit The Sabian Assembly.

Gemini 1° “Enter the ones and zeroes!”

The Span of Zeal – The 1st Hemisphere of Gemini

Phase 61

Air Element – Mutable or Common

The formula is: manipulating-practical-ingenious-specializing-physical-experimental.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones provides the official meaning of this Sabian symbol in his work, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology:

Gemini 1° A glass-bottomed boat in still water

This is a symbol of man’s alertness to every ramification of experience open to him, and of the necessity that he take definite action on his own account if he is to capitalize on any particular opportunity. The emphasis is on an objective inactivity of value to the individual as it becomes a poise through which he is able to regrasp his destiny at each point of advantage, and as it gives him a readiness of touch with the transient stream of everyday affairs.

The keyword is CURIOSITY.

When positive, the degree is high competence in the estimation of life’s potentialities, and when negative, a lack of effective participation in reality because of continual indecisiveness.

Roots: The scene of African Kunta Kinte’s birth ritual 

And the Gods organized the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; with the lesser light they set the stars also;

And the Gods set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to cause to divide the light from the darkness.

And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered until they obeyed.

And the Gods said: We will do everything that we have said, and organize them; and behold, they shall be very obedient. And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and they numbered the sixth time. (The Book of Abraham, Chapter 4, verses 16-18, and 31)

Somewhat lacking? Insufficient for our human understanding? I believe so; therefore, I will expand!

Here is the explosion into duality. Here is the first decan of Gemini. What is the beginning of this story of the twins? What is its effect overall in the course of things? We’ve just left Taurus, earth, and now have entered Gemini, air. Let us consider:

“The world is both evil and good,” wrote Marc in a most recent document I held in my hands–it having arrived just days ago. And every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. And even though a scriptwriter himself, Marc did not bother delving into the decans. I, on the other hand, have, with vigor! I have found no better source upon which to study these than the book, “36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans” by Austin Coppock. I will share somewhat of his writing on Gemini I, The Apple of Eden.

The image itself is of an apple cut in half sideways revealing its center surrounded by five seeds. It is a visual trick that in disregard of this sideways’ cut, the apple is being suspended by its stem in the mouth of a serpent encircling it. Most alluring is that the bite taken from it is a profile of the one doing the eating, whether man or woman is debatable, however there is a hint in his opening lines:

“From the worked land (Taurus) grows a tree and from it hangs a ripe fruit. A woman, perhaps Even, plucks the apple and bites. Tasting it, her awareness explodes into a mass of binary code. The ones and zeroes consolidate into the Twins, the mortal and immortal lives.”

Ibn Ezra, on Gemini decan I, speaks of the intimation of our supernatural powers, and he pictured a “beautiful woman standing in the air”; contrariwise, the 8 of Swords from the Rider Waite deck, which represents this decan, shows a woman standing bound and blindfolded in swampy ground. 

So, you see, I shot right to the top, as it were–to the heavens above, where Kunta Kinte’s father had first said, “We have given him life–whether good or not good–that is for Allah to say”, and then on the 9th day lifted his son up and gave him his name and said, “Behold! The only thing greater than yourself!”  Now, go back and re-read the lines again and see if they make more sense. 

Too much information?

Welcome to Gemini! 

“Enter the ones and zeroes.” Namaste ~ Saijin

Image: Francesco De Mura, Immacolata Concezione, coll. Private 

Roots: The scene of African Kunta Kinte’s birth ritual 

Welcome to the amazing Sabian symbols!

These personal reflections are but an example of one person’s journey of discovery with the Sabian Symbols. This blog series was written in 2014 and 2015, during the last two years of my mother’s life. She and I lived here together in my home, and at the end of each day I would sit and write my reflections on each symbol. At that time I had studied the Sabian symbols for seven years. However, these blogs aren’t interpretations, they are simply my reflections about the symbols. Yet, they hold a very sacred place in my heart and in my memories. I have edited them lightly over the following years, but always preserving the essential feelings and energies surrounding that first attempt at writing about them. When this series is done being edited, around Scorpio season, I will most likely go on and begin a new blog series. Much has changed over the past nearly nine years! I have many other things I’d like to share about the symbols. But, for now, this is the first cycle of reflections.

If you are interested in beginning your own adventure with the Sabian symbols, I encourage you to begin keeping a set of notes of your own thoughts. You might begin your quest with drawing a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle. You can find it by clicking the link below. Enter the time of the draw for later reference.

Draw a Sabian symbol from the Sabian Oracle!

You can find more of my works on my website at SabianGeometry, on YouTube at Sabian Geometry or on  Facebook at Sabian Geometry with Saijin. If you are interested in studying the Sabian symbols in their models of the Cross (4-fold) and the Star (5-fold), I invite you to purchase my book: On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology. The Sabian Symbol Septenary (7-fold model) is available to read on WordPress or if you prefer to  listen, on Spotify.

*All of my works are based on Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, 1953 First Edition.

To learn more about The Sabian Assembly, the organization founded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones on October 17, 1923, where seekers are bound by “searching for competent rather than easy answers to the problems of life”, please visit The Sabian Assembly.