table of sabian
symbols
After Marc Edmund Jones and the clairvoyant Elsie Wheeler discovered
the Sabian symbols, Jones placed in storage the cards on which they were
recorded. He felt that making scientific use of the symbols in astrology
might not be possible. At the time (the mid-1920s), Jones and others were
involved in the scientific reorganization of astrology itself, and in various
types of occult investigation.
It was these other interests that
brought him into temporary partnership with Elsie Wheeler to obtain a
new set of symbols for the degrees of the zodiac. He had found the degree-symbols
of Charubel to be useful, but felt that the Charubel series was overly moralized
or slanted in terms of "good/bad" interpretation. Also, as Charubel's symbols
were meant to illuminate the Ascendant degree only, Jones believed that
a fresh approach could produce a set of symbols with more universal significance.
When he came to realize that it might
never again be possible to re-create the situation that had allowed the
original discovery of the Sabian symbols, Jones decided to publish them.
In 1931, the symbols became available to students in a mimeographed series
of lessons called "Symbolical Astrology", which included interpretive vignettes
for each degree, together with elaborated versions of the images originally
obtained through Elsie Wheeler's special gift.
At that time, Dane Rudhyar became
interested in the symbols. He saw their potential, and in 1936 brought
them to wider attention in the world of astrology by including a condensed
version in his book The Astrology of Personality. In 1953, Marc Edmund
Jones published The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, and wrote that this book
"probably marks the fruition, for the present life-time of the author,
of a project in astrological research which has occupied...more than three
decades..." (p. viii) He also suggested that further refinements would be
the work of "fresh minds in another generation."
In one form or another, the Sabian
symbols have had wide use by astrologers for some 70 years, and their
interest and utility for deep insight into horoscopes has not diminished.
In Jones's book, the symbols are presented in the brief images seen by
Elsie Wheeler, and recorded under his guidance. Symbols and keywords are
given, with 1 Aries-1 Libra on facing pages andsoforth, significantly linking
each symbol to its 180-degree opposite. Jones wrote this about his purposes:
"...It is a highly stylized and often very oblique depiction...vignettes
designed to fall into place in any possible connection of experience...conceived
as a species of poetry...a catalyst for the creative inspiration..." (p.
140) Terms like "poetry" and "catalyst" are apt, for the symbols are all
of this and more. A strong keyword for the Sabian symbols as a whole could
well be Intensification.
Rudhyar wrote articles about symbols
and symbolism in American Astrology in 1944-45 and again in 1954-55.
He continued working with the Sabian symbols over the years, and in 1973
published An Astrological Mandala, which reinterprets the cycle as "a contemporary
American I Ching", useful for divination even outside of astrology, as
a tool of metaphysical discernment.
Rudhyar presents the symbols sequentially,
with the zodiac divided into two Hemi-cycles (starting Aries, Libra),
four Acts (starting Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), twenty-four Scenes
(one-half sign each), and seventy-two Levels (five degrees each). The 360
Phases of this creative arrangement are the degree-symbols themselves, many
of them reworded, and all of them reinterpreted on the basis of Rudhyar's
aesthetic insights. It can be useful to study the two cycles side-by-side,
to see which symbols are re-worded and which have remained as described by
Elsie Wheeler.
Rudhyar asserts that "...the entire
zodiac constitutes a mandala [an arcane pattern of unfoldment]...[with]
rhythm as well as form...And language, particularly any poem, also has
rhythm and form. The 360 Sabian symbols are words in a vast cosmic poem,
whose meaning transcends the...images visualized by the clairvoyant." (p.
11)
The concept of the Sabian symbols
as an "astro-poetic" tool of interpretation or inspiration strikes like
lightning into the heart of a subject that some consider lost in the darkness
of intellectual confusion. In the literature of all ages, we see inexplicably
powerful images used to convey messages of great scope and power, through
words of a forcefulness that is entirely out of proportion to their everyday
usage. Here is a mystery with which one must inevitably contend, in order
to contemplate the deeper meaning of astrology. Poets have known about
this dynamic source of human response for many ages, from the modern school
of the Imagists to the European Romantics, from the writers of brilliant
Japanese haiku to the magical bardic singers of the Druidic age, and beyond.
The late Eric Schroeder—whose work
was acknowledged by Marc Edmund Jones in his book on the Sabian symbols—attempted
a magnificent tour de force in Zodiac: An Analysis of Symbolic Degrees,
published posthumously in 1982. Schroeder constructed an ingenious synthesis
based not only on the Sabian symbols, but also on the degree work of Maurice
Wemyss, Charubel, and LaVolasfera/Sepharial. His conclusion is a triple
proposition: "[1]...a special...poetic symbolizing power pervades nature
while evading or transcending...the known laws of material behavior; [2]...this
power uses material events as repositories...in conformity with a sort of
imaging which can be traced very far back in the religious or metaphysical
concepts of mankind; [3]...while astonishingly free with disguise...this
power is rhetorical in method, relying...on what might be called rhyming
emphasis, and working on feeling ['feeling' is a Sabian keyword for the Moon].
It seizes upon that part of a complex phenomenon which is notable to the
perceiving intelligence in question...[to provide] the valid detail for
some given image..." (p. 11)
Marc Edmund Jones suggested that
his own access to this primordial source, and that of his clairvoyant
assistant, was facilitated by "...tapping back into early Mesopotamian
or allied roots..." which seem to lie within the subconscious mind of
the human race as a whole. (Sabian Symbols, pp. 330-331)
Poet and author Robert Graves—in
his erudite, often obscure book, The White Goddess—writes in depth of
the lost roots of poetry and its involuntary fascination for all people
throughout the ages. He suggests that prophecy and poetry must intertwine
in the practice of true poetry, using words, symbols and images to place
the minds of speaker and listener in direct contact with esoteric forces
that exist outside time and space. But he sees this source as being part
and parcel with the real world as we know it, if only through our awareness
of its presence—the sense that "something is there". This same spiritual
wellspring might simply be called "Mother Nature" just as well as the
"White Goddess". Myriad names are given to it in the myths and legends
of the ancient past.
Since many of the best astrologers
who read charts for clients often seem to "prophesy" more than to "predict",
these words by Robert Graves bring to consciousness a special aspect
of astrology's basic field of attention:
"...the ancient Hebrew distinction
between legitimate and illegitimate prophecy—'prophecy' meaning inspired
poetry, in which future events are not necessarily, but usually, foretold—has
much to recommend it. If a prophet went into a trance and was afterward
unconscious of what he had been [saying], that was illegitimate; but
if he remained in possession of his critical faculties throughout...that
was legitimate. His powers were heightened by 'the spirit of prophecy,'
so that his words crystallized immense experience into a single poetic
jewel; but he was...[himself]...the sturdy author and regulator of this
achievement..." (p. 441)
Astrologers may recognize here a
classic argument in favor of astrology over other divinatory means, in
that astrology presumably allows its practitioner to exercise full control
of his or her rational faculties while actively exploring realms that
do not yet exist in the day-to-day world, or exist no longer. Thus, while
open-minded astrologers may see value in spiritualist or mediumistic activity,
it is not necessary to become passive mediums in order to tap into the
recondite matrix upon which astrology's broad range of symbols is based.
The question that now confronts us
is, how may an astrologer employ the Sabian symbols to read horoscopes
more sensitively, and at the same time strengthen his or her feeling for
astrology?
Rudhyar's specific answer is quite
direct: "...The material is to be USED, to serve as a catalyst to deepen
thinking about individual experiences [or outer events] and their essential
meaning..." (p. 6) This view remarkably agrees with that of Marc Edmund
Jones, given earlier. The comments of these two outstanding astrological
thinkers quite possibly supports a keyword for the Sabian symbols en masse,
which was offered before: Intensification.
Rudhyar spoke of the whole lifetime
represented by a horoscope as its "Eon". This Eon is the total expression
of every internal or external event, every action, reaction or interaction
of a person's entire life—its overall "Soul" from birth to death. Logically,
if a lifetime is a cycle, so also any complete cycle may be viewed as an
Eon with an independent "life" at its own special level of existence.
The Sabian symbols are such a cycle.
They too may constitute an Eon with a unique individual existence in
the metaphysical world. Yet the full and complete lifetime of this particular
great Eon—that is, the cycle of zodiacal degrees and symbols—is indeterminate,
at least from the point of view of mankind. The symbols apparently reach
across a time-span of such vast extent as to be essentially "timeless".
As we know, the degrees of the zodiac
approximate the whole round of days that makes up a year on planet Earth,
a year in the life of Man. The power of the symbols interpenetrates the
year of growth that continues from equinox to equinox, from solstice to
solstice, waxing and waning with the seasons of the living planet. Speaking
poetically, any given day of Nature's springtime may arouse a poet's Muse—and
"the Muse" is still another aspect of Graves's universal White Goddess. Therefore,
our poet's true inspiration may also be seen as that particular day's palpable
and living relationship to the year as a whole, as conveyed to him by a
series of imagistic symbols—no matter what precise words of expression that
individual mind may use to visualize them. Perhaps the original true symbols
come down to us from a time when the earth traveled more rapidly through
the ecliptic, a time with 360 days in the year to exactly match the 360 symbols.
Of course, we do not know this to be a certainty, but the thought of some
unique perfection in the first conception of the universe is hard to relinquish.
Symbols for degrees do not replace
signs, houses or aspects, which also are symbols that have significance
in and of themselves alone. A native's Eon contacts the Eon of the Sabian
symbols at specific points, through the placement of planets and sensitive
points in a natal horoscope. Thus the human Eon is rooted in something
greater (or larger, or longer) than itself through the horoscope of birth.
In turn, it makes that greater whole the greater still by the mundane contribution
of its own lifelong part in the "Act of the Universe".
In the next part of this article,
we will try to illuminate or exemplify the Eon of a great man's life through
his horoscope, and show the Sabian symbols at work in their own reality.
In the first part of this article, we touched upon the background
of degree-symbols in 20th Century astrology. The reader will experience
at this point a change of direction, a shift of attention to a different
level. The success of this change depends upon the writer's personal comprehension
of the Eon as such—inevitably limited—and upon the reader's response to
this particular treatment of it. Certain assumptions underlie our approach
to "the material", as Rudhyar called it:
(1) A degree-symbol and, subordinately,
its keyword may give prophetic/poetic insight into a horoscope.
(2) Our "heuristic" (that is, "incapable
of justification") commentary seeks to bring astrology and history together
in a way that is useful in the world of time-and-space reality—that is,
the world of "facts".
(3) Quotations from the objective
source of interpretation (Marc Edmund Jones or MEJ) and from our example
native's biographer (Mary Lutyens or ML) catalyze a sense of depth for
the reader, and provide the substance or consciousness of interaction with
the realm of the symbolic, or with the subjective realm of astrology itself.
Quotations to follow ascribed to
MEJ are from Marc Edmund Jones's The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, and
those ascribed to ML are from Mary Lutyens's eminent biographies, Volume
1, Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening, and Volume 2, Krishnamurti: The
Years of Fulfillment. The chart chosen to exemplify the meaning(s) of
the Sabian symbols is that of Jiddu Krishnamurti, his horoscope based
on the data: May 12, 1895, 12:18 AM LMT, 13N33 78E30.
Uranus-Neptune-Pluto
SIGNIFICANCE, DEPTH, MEANING
URANUS (18 Scorpio). A woods rich in autumn coloring. Fulfillment.
(The Sabian symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"...an exaltation of every ideal potentiality, dramatized in the
form of inevitable and universal consummation of order and beauty." (MEJ,
p. 197)
When Krishnamurti was fourteen years old, living in Adyar, India,
the psychic C. W. Leadbeater perceived the radiation from him of a marvelous
aura. This first step of discovery ultimately led to his being called
the next "World Teacher" or an incarnation of the Lord Maitreya. Uranus
is the potential of independence, uniqueness and discovery—and also rules
the human aura. Elevated in the 9th house of higher understanding and consciousness,
Uranus is together there with Saturn, co-ruling the Aquarius Ascendant.
The connection to Krishnamurti's work as a teacher is clear by this 9th
house indication, and Uranus exalted in Scorpio intensifies the aura.
Leadbeater claimed that Krishnamurti
had lived through many auspicious lifetimes of incarnation in the world,
ranging back through time as far as 22,662 B. C. The Sabian symbol of
Uranus evokes a past that has reached its reward at last, as when autumn
leaves, through the natural action of time, reach their greatest glory.
"...[Leadbeater wrote]...we are to
have the karma of assisting...in bringing up one whom the Master has
used in the past and is waiting to use again..." (ML, v.1, p.24)
NEPTUNE (15 Gemini). Two Dutch children talking. Clarification.
(The Sabian symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"...the creative interest of man in the broad range of potentialities
on which he may draw...self-confidence of spirit..." (MEJ, p. 224)
Neptune in Gemini is the potential of obligation and responsibility.
These may seem to be Saturnian terms, but they are not, as Neptune's obligation
is to see beyond the veil of illusion which may appear to blind us, and
Neptune's responsibility is to be able to answer or respond to the truth
as it is, unencumbered by delusion or misconception. Yet Neptune is also
psychism, mediumship, and the native's inborn degree of access to the invisible
world as he or she apprehends it.
The duality of the symbol for this
degree echoes that of natal Mercury (given later), with two children
(naïveté) "talking Dutch", talking about foreign or even
impossibly difficult matters, which the listener may but poorly understand.
The (ML) quotation below is from a letter written by Krishnamurti at age
fourteen—that is, as a child.
Later in life, he rejected all forms
of outer influence. His personal form of clarification lay in asking
individuals to "go with me" in thought, and to respond to their inward
leadings toward truth, striving always to see things as they are, in
fact. Through Neptune's link to Uranus in the "Department of Significance",
one may see from the Uranian degree itself that the "clarification" offered
by Krishnamurti resulted from the fulfillment of a long spiritual seasoning
and growth into the "childlike" attitude he often evinced. With Neptune
in the 4th house, this quality was foundational, a product of his deep
inner heritage.
"Then He gave me the Key of Knowledge
and showed me how I might always and anywhere recognize any member of
the Great White Brotherhood when I met Him; but these things, He said,
I must not repeat." (ML, v.1, p.40)
PLUTO (11 Gemini). A new path of realism in experience. Identification.
(The Sabian symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"...self-orientation as a consequence of a persistent weighing of
pros and cons...a determination of values on the basis of their demonstrated
usefulness..." (MEJ, p. 220)
Pluto of obsession, focus and genius—genius in the sense of an overshadowing
talent or tendency—is conjunct Neptune in Gemini and the 4th house, and
completes the planetary Department of Significance along with Uranus in
the 9th. Krishnamurti, as when speaking below, could be brutally frank about
the special demand he made of his listeners. Astrologically condensing the
impact of these three planets in the chart into several words, his significant
focus was to identify (Pluto) the straightforward means of personal clarification
(Neptune) that could lead to unusual individual fulfillment (Uranus).
"There is an action total, complete,
holistic action in which thought does not interfere at all. Are you waiting
for me to tell you? That's rather cheap! The speaker does all the work
and you listen...What is the point of that?" (ML, v.2, p.221)
Jupiter-Saturn
MOTIVATION, ADULTSHIP
JUPITER (6 Cancer): Gamebirds feathering their nests. Meticulousness.
(The Sabian symbol and degree for this degree.)
"...the satisfaction anyone may know through his conscious participation
in a group destiny." (MEJ, p.244)
The enthusiasm and personality of Jupiter directly complements the
sensitiveness of Saturn described next. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer,
the sign of expansion and growth. In the 5th house, Jupiter emphasizes
one's offspring, or the pure pleasure taken in some special "act of self".
Since Krishnamurti had no biological children, we think of the multitude
of surrogate "children" who looked to him, as students of his thought. His
attitude toward them, and his personal traits also, were meticulous and
correct. Jupiter rules the 11th house of group associations, and is in mutual
reception (priority, consequence) with the Moon in that house. Through his
inspired personality (Jupiter), he both mothered and fathered a vast outreaching
and ongoing "family" as a form of "group destiny".
"It is no good asking me who is the
Beloved. Of what use is explanation? For you will not understand the Beloved
until you are able to see Him in every animal, every blade of grass,
in every person that is suffering, in every individual." (ML, v.1, p.269).
SATURN (3 Scorpio). A house-raising. Helpfulness. (The Sabian symbol
and keyword for this degree.)
"...the individual's realization of his own inherent divinity as
he seeks his fulfillment through his fellows." (MEJ, p. 183)
Feathering a nest and building a house both involve concerted preparation
for living as adults live. Saturn is the potential of sensitiveness to
fine distinctions, or the thrust of wisdom itself. Saturn is in the 9th
house of higher knowledge with the radical and freedom-seeking Uranus. There,
Saturn completes the work of the adult Department of Motivation, along
with Jupiter.
We notice in his talks that Krishnamurti
does not ask if we can ignore the knowledge given to us by our involvement
with life, but rather, can we be free of it. There is this "heavy-duty"
perspective in all his teaching, a common-sense approach that is both
creative and trenchant (Scorpio)—as well as constructive and foursquare
(Saturn).
He was forever "building something".
He placed burdens of insight directly upon its seekers, but at the same
time looked for ways to implement his teaching at the individual level,
and to implement its broader dissemination. In later years, a worldwide
educational format was provided through lectures, seminars, books, and
even special schooling for children.
"Is it possible for me, as an individual,
and you as an individual, to live in this society and yet be free from
the beliefs in which we have been brought up? Is it possible for the mind
to be free from all that knowledge, all that authority?" (ML, v.2, p.175)
Mars-Venus-Mercury
EFFICIENCY, PLENITUDE, TANGENCY
MARS (12 Cancer). A Chinese woman nursing a baby with a message.
Materialization. (The Sabian symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"Life gains significance to the extent that each person embraces
the totality of his kind in his own makeup, or seeks to embody universal
values in his everyday consciousness." (MEJ, p. 250)
In the 5th house conjunct Jupiter, Mars shows potential initiative,
the potential capacity for risk-taking, that Krishnamurti had "in his
own makeup." This trait is common to the human race at large, it seems.
However, Mars in this sign, its fall, is quite strong. The Sabian symbol's
keyword is striking in terms of the effect of Mars ruling the 3rd house
of communication or thought-energy. Krishnamurti not only took risks, he
materialized them—or they materialized in him. For long periods in his
life, Krishnamurti underwent a mysterious, sometimes frightening type of
psychic manifestation, which he came to call simply "the process". Through
this "process", which was accompanied by intense pain and distress, he (and
others) felt that his physical-mental system was wholly reorganized. Krishnamurti's
personal energy often seemed to spring from some invisible, super-mundane
fountainhead. At another level, the symbol of this Mars illuminates the
superior and purely human powers he bravely embodied for many years before
the world at large, sustained as he was by the quiet force of his Eastern
cultural heritage.
"'I have been stocked...The tank
is full.'"
"The pain had gone from his face...He
seemed to grow. We felt something tremendous pour into him. There was
a throbbing in the atmosphere. It filled the room...he opened his eyes
and said, 'Something happened—did you see anything?'...He said, 'My face
will be different tomorrow...I will be like a raindrop—spotless.'" (ML,
v.2, pp.69-70)
VENUS (29 Gemini). The first mockingbird in spring. Quickening.
(The Sabian Symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"Here man's aspiration becomes articulate far in advance of his
self-refinement and...may be manifest in achievements of which he would
be incapable in normal course...he is called to attempt a self-revelation
which will add real stature to his role..." (MEJ, p. 238)
Venus, the lesser benefic, the potential of acquisitiveness or value-recognition
and magnetism, is in Gemini mutually received (priority, consequence)
by Mercury in Taurus at the 4th cusp, described next. In Gemini, the function
is vivification or the "inbreathing of life". This image of a wholly free
bird of spring resonates with Mercury as the ruler of Gemini, and with
the precise duality of Mercury's own symbol. The duality of all birds is
certainly, in one sense, that of air and earth.
Krishnamurti's facility for balanced,
felicitous expression of thought was acute. Many listeners felt they had
experienced some ineffable turning-point while hearing him speak. Yet
he said (ML, v.2, p.15): "I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and
you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever...I desire those who seek
to understand me, to be free, not to follow me, not to make out of me a
cage."
Does an uncaged bird at spring represent
only itself, or is it part of the whole of Spring that is seen and heard
in all birds of the season? He said, in effect, consider the birds of
the air, they are free; do not hesitate to follow their example.
"Often people have felt when listening
to K that a talk has been particularly revealing and inspiring; then,
when they come to read it afterwards, they are somewhat disappointed.
It is probable that during such special talks K has been experiencing this
strange power, this benediction, and has conveyed it to his audience who
have been inspired by the power rather than by his words." (ML, v.2, p.115)
MERCURY (29 Taurus). Two cobblers working at a table. Capability.
(The Sabian symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"Here is emphasis on man's discursive [digressive, analytical] reason,
or the balancing of the pros and cons in his mind as he works out his
ideas with the general assistance of his fellows." (MEJ, p. 208)
Krishnamurti at times seemed almost to propound a mental attitude
that might be called, for lack of better words, "not thinking" (see also
Pluto, earlier in this series). Yet to explain "not thinking" one must
be capable of actually not thinking, or at least capable of not thinking
about what one is explaining (making plain) at any given moment.
Very close to the 4th house cusp,
the foundational IC (Imum Coeli) is the planet Mercury, the potential
of mentality and realization or sense-of-presence in the world. Mercury's
degree is at least as dual as is Mercury itself in essence. There are two
cobblers. Cobblers make two shoes, in pairs. It is not known whether the
cobblers are working one on a right shoe and one on a left shoe—or whether
they are perhaps working on the same sides of different pairs. The image
is exceedingly dual.
This is a most Mercurial image; Krishnamurti's
mentality was "most Mercurial" as well. The flow of his mentality was
natural, consistent, very much in tune with the symbol for its degree.
What is apparent is that the two cobblers work together in a mutual enterprise
at which they are highly skilled, able to produce something substantial.
Shoes protect the feet of the traveler as they touch the earth in his lifelong
sojourn upon its surface.
Mercury is as Mercury does. When
Mary Lutyens was interviewing Krishnamurti about the nature of the occult
overshadowing in his life, he actually ended-up asking as many questions
of the interviewer as she asked of him. His complex life at core (IC)
exemplifies his highly integrated mode of thought manifestation. Being
so capable of thought, he had many thoughts about (or without) it, about
the essential practice of thinking itself.
"...thought is always trying to find
a place where it can abide, abide in the sense of hold. What thought
creates, being fragmentary, is total insecurity. Therefore there is complete
security in being absolutely nothing—which means not a thing created
by thought." (ML, v.2, p.209)
Sun-Moon
VITALITY, STRENGTH
MOON (26 Sagittarius). A flag-bearer. Nobility. (The Sabian symbol
and keyword for this degree.)
"Implicit...is the call for a high self-sacrifice, and for the development
of such dimensions of experience as will permit the self to realize its
transcendental aspirations." (MEJ, p. 235)
Krishnamurti's Mercury is in triseptile aspect (154 degrees, 17
minutes, unanimity, collection of forces) to his Moon. In fact, Mercury
is also triseptile Saturn, forming a special kind of Yod or "Finger" configuration
that combines feeling (Moon) and sensitiveness (Saturn) to occultly empower
the mentality itself (Mercury).
The Moon is the mother, as well as
the general principle of "mothering". After his natural mother died in
1905, he had no substitute for her until Annie Besant, a theosophical
leader, became his legal guardian. He afterward called her "Amma" or Mother.
Annie Besant was not only a standard-bearer in the movement; she and Leadbeater
may be seen as the foremost leaders of the group that saw in Krishnamurti
a new World Teacher.
Flag-bearers always make a sacrifice
to show the way. They carry a special burden, and they lead us forward.
The Moon potentiality shows Krishnamurti's deep strength of feeling for
the public, or for the world at large. He took an overview (Sagittarius)
approach, and this was his sacrifice at root—his special concern and care
for the group ideal (11th house).
His "mothering" sensibilities also
connect with Jupiter in Cancer and the 5th house of offspring, as mentioned
before. He always made the most noble effort to transcend the commonplace
aspect of mundane existence, and to see every facet of life as being somehow
very special.
"...after the first manifestation,
as we believed, of the Lord Maitreya speaking through him at Adyar: my
mother told him that same evening that his face had altered as well as
his words and shone with a glorious radiance...'I wish I could have seen
it,' he had replied wistfully." (ML, v.2, p.232)
SUN (21 Taurus). A finger pointing in an open book. Confirmation.
(The Sabian symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"There is here a dramatization of the racial wisdom as this becomes
incarnate in conscious individuality." (MEJ, p. 200)
In Taurus, the Sun—one's purpose and authority in life—functions
to integrate the concrete elements of life. Therefore, Taurus is also said
to be the sign of the "body-psychic". Krishnamurti apparently delivered
his message by two channels, as with the Venus (Taurus-ruler) already described,
and by the solar authority that he convincingly embodied as a person. Even
when his comments were most complex or seemingly abstract, Krishnamurti's
purpose was solid, basic, down-to-earth.
In the 3rd house, near the 4th cusp
of foundations, the Sun of this lifetime shone most brightly through his
affirmation of the pivotal reality of the individual, as based upon its
own entirely unreflected solar truth. The only question about his being
"used" is the idea of his being used "from outside" (see quotation below).
There is the question of precise
terms here. As the essentially lunar "flag-bearer" he reflected the glory
of a greater being or wholeness, something far beyond himself alone. Yet
as the solar seeker, the "pointing finger", he directed attention to the
inward book, open to the world, confirming to the end its ultimate authority:
the Self.
"I am inclined to believe that K
is being used and has been used since 1922 by something from outside.
I do not mean that he is a medium. A medium is separate from what he
or she 'brings through', whereas K and whatever it is that manifests
through him are for the most part one. His consciousness is as permeated
with this other thing as is a sponge with water." (ML, v.2, p. 236)
South Node-North Node
FATE, DESTINY
SOUTH NODE (19 Virgo). A swimming race. Elimination. (The Sabian
symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"This is...the utter impartiality of existence in any larger dimension..."
(MEJ, p. 318)
Because the South Node is the node of "fate" or "karma" in a horoscope,
it is interesting to note again the events surrounding the discovery
of Krishnamurti's aura. That first encounter also led to Leadbeater's
occult investigation of his past lives, which was a further step in making
Krishnamurti a world figure for many.
The South Node may also be viewed
as the repository of actual past experience that is most useful in the
present life, the accumulated talent upon which one may draw as the direction
of life unfolds naturally toward the North Node of the horoscope.
Thus, the "lives" he had lived before
presumably were Krishnamurti's reservoir of background character—a character
of karma from the past that he had no power to control or change in his
present lifetime—the background that made him what he was as Krishnamurti.
The past lives "eliminated" that which had no spiritual use for him, or
which was simply impossible to embody. Leadbeater's striking insight tracked
amazingly the calling of the Moon's Nodes through their degree-symbols.
"One evening Leadbeater went with
his young assistants to [swim] and on returning...told Wood that one of
the boys on the beach had the most wonderful aura he had ever seen...[he]
predicted that one day the boy would become a spiritual teacher and great
orator." (ML, v.1, p.22)
NORTH NODE. (19 Pisces). A master instructing his pupil. Elucidation.
(The Sabian symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"This is...the demand of human intelligence for the self-refinement
and self-orientation by which a greater understanding is possible...[which]
comes into its own when it is able to direct its own destiny." (MEJ, p.
319)
The sense and feeling of the South Node symbolically flowing into
the North Node in this Eon is quite strong and positive. The North Node
symbol is a marvelous suggestion of the historical nature of Krishnamurti's
work and life-direction, for this is the Node of destiny, the place where
one expands upon one's past experience and grows into the future. If the
South Node is karma ("former action"), then the North Node is dharma ("duty,
virtue"). We know of Krishnamurti's insistence that a student must find
the true master in life itself. He never ceased attempting to elucidate
that point into ever-greater significance for all people.
"Every one of you is a disciple of
the Truth if you understand the Truth and do not follow individuals...[if
you] make Life itself the goal—Life itself the guide, the Master..."
(ML, v.2, p.14)
Parts of Fortune-Illumination
SERENDIPITY, GIFTEDNESS
PART OF FORTUNE (22 Virgo). A royal coat of arms. Prerogative. (The
Sabian symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"Right is dramatized as a privilege worthy of sustainment." (MEJ,
p. 320)
Astrologers find many varied ways to use degree-symbols. Here, two
final sensitive points complete the present survey of the Sabian symbols
in Krishnamurti's horoscope. The Part of Fortune is the place of the Moon
if the Sun had been exactly rising at the birth-time; the Part of Illumination
is the 180-degree opposite of the Part of Fortune, or the Moon's place
had the Sun been setting at the birth.
The Part of Fortune is near the South
("fate") Node. From the moment Leadbeater first saw him, apparently, Krishnamurti's
life was treated as that of a royal personage, and his response to this
was quite natural, yet also regal in its own way.
"Was the body [Krishnamurti's objective
reference to his own physical being] prepared through many lives...?...Right
through life it has been guarded, protected. When I get into an aeroplane
I know nothing will happen...Always I have felt protected." (ML, v.2, p.226)
PART OF ILLUMINATION (22 Pisces). A man bringing down the new law
from Sinai. Mandate. (The Sabian symbol and keyword for this degree.)
"The inspired prophets of each age have been custodians of an enduring
morality, and this has its embodiment in the mountaintop aspiration of
even the least of individuals." (MEJ, p. 321)
His early days were surely humble, and he never lost that fine human
quality. Yet he did not hesitate to dare to prophesy in his own way, to
speak poetically and summon up the best in every person. Clearly he felt
himself called upon to give out the message that he heard. He had the
courage to live his vision—even, perhaps, felt a mandate to do so. In
1980, writing of himself in the third person, he said:
"...every night he would wake up
with this sense of the absolute...The whole universe is in it, measureless
to man...there was the perception that there was nothing beyond this. This
is the ultimate, the beginning and the ending and the absolute. There is
only a sense of incredible vastness and immense beauty..." (ML, v.2, p.238).
There comes to mind with these closing lines a wonderful and, yes,
rather Saturnian image from a universally-living poem by William Butler
Yeats, entitled "Lapis Lazuli" (a Saturnian stone). I quote some verses
from this poem to honor two eminent astrological elders of the 20th century,
who, when still among us, offered to all people abundant uses for the wisdom-logic
and dynamic-idealism of their lifelong search for rational insights into
life as lived within the universe of man and woman and within the esoteric
World made for ourselves.
"...Two Chinamen, behind them a third,
Are carved in lapis lazuli,
Over them flies a long-legged bird,
A symbol of longevity;
The third, doubtless a serving-man,
Carries a musical instrument.
Every discoloration of the stone,
Every accidental crack or dent,
Seems a water-course or an avalanche,
Or lofty slope where it still snows
Though doubtless plum or cherry-branch
Sweetens the little half-way house
Those Chinamen climb towards, and I
Delight to imagine them seated there;
There, on the mountain and the sky,
On all the tragic scene they stare.
One asks for mournful melodies;
Accomplished fingers begin to play.
Their eyes mid many wrinkles, their eyes,
Their ancient, glittering eyes, are gay."
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