Astrology also claims that the twelve Houses constitute archetypal classes of experiences necessary for the development of a mature individual person, and that the twelve signs of the zodiac refer to twelve basic modes of "energy," or archetypal qualities of being...
-Dane Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala
This week in mini reviews, I wanted to share another book I used as research for my poetry collection. It’s a little bit more obscure and mostly useful for those who have had their astrological charts done, but it is full of metaphor and imagery and alot of Jungian explanations for astrology, which is how I understand this art. I think its lovely. It’s called An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformation and its 360 Symbolic Phases by Dane Rudhyar. Here’s an abbreviated description from my book The Weeping Degree.
The Sabian Symbols are a set of phrases, metaphors, and images that correspond with each of the 360 degrees of the wheel of the zodiac. They were channeled in 1925 by the gifted clairvoyant Elsie Wheeler (at one point they sat on a park bench to channel) and recorded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, a noted American astrologer and spiritualist. They were expanded upon and made popular in the 20th century by astrologer Dane Rudhyar in his aforementioned book. Here’s an example of one from my poem, Neptune in Scorpio: The Home for Little Girls III: Only the Night Light Knows.
Sabian Symbol, 4 Degrees Scorpio: A Youth Holding a Lighted Candle in a Devotional Ritual Gains a Sense of the Great “Other World.”
Also, for those people who were unable to attend our talk last week and have asked where they can access it my conversation last Sunday, October 20th with astrologer Michael Zizis--it's now on YouTube. It was a great convo where we discussed the weeping degree, the planet Pluto, and the connection between mythic story, poetry and the oracle of the sky. One of the points that stayed with me from the talk was the fact that we will all go through loss and retraction, everyone experiences demise and the weeping degree at some point in their lives. It's part of our shared humanity.
Unfortunately, wix.com doesn't allow me to upload the YouTube video here, so you will have to manually look it up @: The Sacred Marriage of Poetry and Astrology, You Tube. Don't forget to write your Amazon review! Enjoy!
Comments