Lynda Hill's Sabian Symbols

Coming Ashore And Coming Of Age: September's Aries Full Moon

Change starts when someone sees the next step. William Drayton

The journey of a thousand leagues begins from beneath your feet. Lao Tzu

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. Kahlil Gibran

Everything teaches transition, transference, metamorphosis: therein is human power, in transference, not in creation; and therein is human destiny, not in longevity but in removal we dive and reappear in new places. Ralph Waldo Emerson

But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. Kate Chopin

Who would be 
A merman bold, 
Sitting alone 
Singing alone
Under the sea,
With a crown of gold,
On a throne? Lord Alfred Tennyson 

September's full Moon heralds a significant time that will be very meaningful on many levels. Occurring on Thursday September 23, it sits exactly on the Cardinal Cross that's been building and building these last few years. The Symbols of the Cardinal Cross include themes of emergence, self realization, taking control, standing up and being counted, assessing where ones beauty and talent lies versus being stuck on a pin and sacrificing growth or movement. The significance of the Cardinal Cross stems from the fact that there's been a lot of planetary activity around the degrees where the solstices and equinoxes occur. Importantly, this full Moon is exact a mere thirty minutes after the equinox, amplifying the energy of the equinox and it is bound to bring some peak energies that we can sense and tap into. 

The Sabian Symbol for the full Moon is one I've spoken about many times in recent times as it's had, and will again have, Jupiter and Uranus spending time on it. The Symbol is Aries 1: A Woman Has Risen Out Of The Ocean, A Seal Is Embracing Her. This is a beautiful image and one that's very evocative. It speaks of the need, or the desire or the necessity of finding ones feet and ones voice. Like the mermaid of this image, when one emerges into a new life there's a need for reorientation and a need to feel 'embraced'. There are many things to be learnt and negotiated. From my book *The Sabian Oracle: 360 Degrees of Wisdom -

Commentary: ‘A Woman Has Risen Out of the Ocean’. She is consciously aware of leaving the past behind in order to emerge into a whole new arena of existence and activity. The ‘Seal Embracing Her’ symbolizes her being welcomed into this new arena. This degree is right on the cusp of Pisces and Aries, when the yearly astrological cycle begins again. It’s like the beginning of a new year. In the Northern hemisphere it marks the beginning of spring—the Spring Equinox. Long ago there was a belief that the spirits of those who had drowned at sea had the ability to enjoy life in the ocean in the form of ‘Seals’. When they wished, the Selkies could, once per moon cycle, swim ashore, drop their seal skins and become mortals again.

Oracle: New understandings and awareness are coming to light. Whatever is emerging, either in you or around you needs to be accepted, welcomed and nurtured. It’s best to resist the old familiar ways of being or relating as they can pull you back to outgrown and possibly unsatisfactory conditions. Maybe you feel you are not being acknowledged, don’t have a voice or are not being heard. Take heart as comfort and salvation are likely to be found in the most unexpected places. Despite any setbacks, be aware that you possess the power to make the necessary changes in your life. It is time to claim your place or make a mark in this new world. So much potential lies ahead of you. Welcome this new beginning and be fearless in the face of the changes that are coming. Accept the ‘Embrace’ of those who welcome you into this new sphere. It is inevitable that you’ll leave something behind as you move into this new territory. Enjoy the journey and give birth to self-love, self-worth and divine creativity. Let go of the past and emerge into life and love.

Keywords: Cycles starting. Beginnings. Emergence into concrete manifestation. Embracing and honoring the shadow. Recognizing our animal side. Tropical islands or lands. Rocky shores. Seals. Oceans and water. Shedding skins. Transmutation. The Selkie myth. Grounding one’s energy. Stepping between the sea and the shore. Androgyny. Love and its embrace. Finding your feet and your voice. Mermaids.

The Caution: Using masculine power to overshadow emotions. Refusing to move on. Feeling held back by fears and old life patterns. Falling back into previous, unsatisfactory conditions. Dragging others backwards. Immobilizing fear of the unknown. Being just another “fish in the sea”.

Just two degrees away, Jupiter and Uranus are on Pisces 29: Light Breaking Into Many Colors As It Passes Through A Prism. Keywords for this degree include: Spectrum analysis, color and crystal healing, rainbows, light refraction, side effects, considering many facets of a situation, endless opportunities, optics, sight, seeing, copying and sharing ideas or things, disseminating information, auras and aura photography, triangles, polarization of light, reflection, laboratory tests, diffracted personalities.

The Cautions: Locked in to a set of parameters, over analyzing things, being blinded by ambition, daunted by the task ahead, mirages, using microscopes and binoculars but not seeing things as they really are. 

The message from the Sun is Libra 1: A Butterfly Preserved And Made Perfect With A Dart Through It. This degree can show where we're stuck, pinned or sacrificing self or needs or our ability to move through life freely. Saturn recently spent quite some time on this degree. It speaks of perfection and beauty made immortal, holding onto things or events from the past, unchanging realities, moments frozen in time, superficiality, external beauty that's lacking animation, transfiguration, suspension in time, posters, pinning things up so they can be admired. Sacrifice because of ones beauty, social position, responsibilities or habits and addictions can be a major factor in feeling like one can't move forward, spread their wings or take off and fly freely. Where and how are you stuck? Where is the 'definition' of your life defining who and what you can be?

The Quest degree of the Sun (the degree after) is Libra 2: The Light Of The Sixth Race Transmuted To The Seventh. This speaks of younger or more vital elements taking over from the elders, the fruits of the new age, ascension and evolution, growing older and wiser, UFOs and aliens, music that lifts ones spirits, gurus and avatars, demarcations of evolution, transmutations, indigo children, evolving. 

The degree following is Libra 3: The Dawn Of A New Day Reveals Everything Changed. This is two days after the full Moon and is such a dynamic degree of change and growth and new perspectives. The following few degrees of the Sun are also insightful, interesting and promising - you may find it interesting to look them up and concentrate on them in the days following the full Moon. 

Mars, the ruler of the Aries full Moon, is on Scorpio 5: A Gold Rush Tears People Away From Their Native Soil. This speaks of the desire (or the need or compulsion) to move on, the longing and the search for the easy fulfillment of hopes and dreams, leaving ones native soil, having a cause or mission to pursue, leaving home, people, family, dropping everything to chase a project, pilgrimages, the search for riches, immigration and migration, listening to clues, the search for the Holy Grail, pursuing a better life.

Nearby is Venus, the ruler of the Libran Sun, on Scorpio 10: A Fellowship Supper Reunites Old Comrades. This speaks of renewing bonds with those you're shared struggles, feeling like you're known someone for lifetimes, breaking bread, drinking wine, sharing meals, talking about the past, the Last Supper, partaking in the gifts of special relationships, fated meetings, past life memories, having a million and one things to talk about, gathering with like minded folk or kin, reunions and memories. 

Mercury is on Virgo 14: A Family Tree. This speaks of belonging to a lineage, a family, a nation, a tradition, the story of where one comes from, issues of pride in heritage, the importance of parents and family, branches in databases, having strong and secure roots, ancestors, calligraphy, fine pens, filling in the gaps, adoptions, step families, pedigrees, kin, genealogy, inheritance, family Bibles. 

Saturn is on Libra 7: A Woman Feeding Chickens And Protecting Them From The Hawks. This speaks of nurture, protection and guardianship, being on the lookout for changes in the atmosphere, spotting problems that nobody else notices, shielding innocents from the "bad guys", motherhood and the stress of it, predators, being firm with outsiders, asylum, places of residence. Especially with Saturn here, it can show over protection, unable to cope with everyday problems, not allowing others to grow up, always being on the lookout for problems, neurotic worrying about what may happen, seeing the world as a big, scary place, being picked on, taking advantage of the innocent, protection money, attacking others, etc. 

Chiron, the Wounded Healer, the story teller and the place where we can examine our wounds and the stories we tell ourselves, plus Neptune, are on Aquarius 27: An Ancient Pottery Bowl Filled With Violets. This shows flower and herbal remedies, returning to ancient sources, setting standards for society, beauty, cleanliness, purity of thought and emotion, homeopathy and pharmacopoeia, stains and dyes, flowers, dainty, small and lacy things, gentleness, things that remind you of your grandmother, the old supporting and nourishing the new. This degree of the zodiac is where the Sun is every Valentine's Day - it shows the need to show love and care and nourishment to oneself and others, to give of ones beauty and grace.

The Moon's north node is on a beautiful degree - Capricorn 9: An Angel Comes Carrying a Harp. This speaks of lifting faith and hope, messages of peace (sometimes from the other side), being in tune - spiritually - mentally and emotionally, creating harmony, heavenly attunement, promises of redemption, revelations, beautiful tunes. 

Last but by no means least is Pluto almost exactly square to the full Moon. This is a dynamic aspect and one that is asking for transformations and shows the need for going deeply into things. The Symbol is Capricorn 3: The Human Soul, In Its Eagerness For New Experiences, Seeks Embodiment. This speaks of finding the spark, that divine spark, the beauty of your creativity, your ability to really reveal yourself or drop into yourself in a authentic and unique way. This is a dynamic degree - the Sun is on this degree on Christmas Day each year and it carries a rather strong Christ consciousness = the desire to really embody who you truly are.

The Mermaid is now asking the same of us at this full Moon. 

*There's a reprint of my book arriving soon. I've renamed it The Sabian Oracle: 360 Degrees of Wisdom. 

Life's A Zoo - Come And See The Show! September's Virgo New Moon

The city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo. Desmond Morris

To be human is to keep rattling the bars of the cage of existence hollering "What's it for?" Robert Fulghum

Man must realize his own unimportance before he can appreciate his importance. R.M. Baumgardy

If an animal does something we call it instinct; if we do the same thing for the same reason, we call it intelligence. Will Cuppy

There are 193 living species of monkeys and apes. 192 of them are covered with hair. The exception is a naked ape, self-named homo sapiens. Desmond Morris

Be tolerant of the human race. Your whole family belongs to it - and some of your spouse's family does too. Anon

If we evolved from the monkeys, why are there still monkeys? Kathleen Madigan

September's new Moon, happening on Wednesday September 8th, is one of fascination, wonder, observation and delight, tinged with some hesitancy as some watch and wait and try to figure things out. The Sabian Symbol is Virgo 16: Delighted Children Crowd Around The Orangutan Cage In A Zoo. 

The following is my interpretation of this degree from my book 360 Degrees Of Wisdom: Charting Your Destiny With The Sabian Oracle: 

This Symbol expresses the desire to relate across gulfs of differences that are very obvious between different species. Observing the life of an ‘Orangutan’ is like looking into an evolutionary mirror. We are able to see where we have been, how differently we relate to the world, and how we have chosen to deal with our environment. It is not a matter of the human species being better. Indeed, one comes to realize the degree of similarity. Sometimes people we encounter in life seem to be from a different species (or planet!) and have a totally opposite perspective of life, leading to completely different ways of acting and reacting. It can, at times, lead to a feeling of separation, but there is value in remaining aware of and appreciating the similarities and common ground along with the differences. There may need to be a “primitive”, or ‘Childlike’ response. It is also by facing the baser instincts that you can realize a fresh, new approach to those around you.

Keywords: Karmic confrontations between the creatively integrated and the unevolved. Objects of derision, fascination or worship. Showing off or acting to get a reaction from others. Trying to relate to others that don’t understand. Feeling like one is in a zoo. Observing others. Curiosity. Crowding around. Everyone wanting to have a look. Going by instincts. Television shows such as Jerry Springer. News networks. The media. Lack of social inhibition.

The Caution: Egoistic feelings of being better or in a higher state of evolution. Having no place for privacy. Gaping at others. Taunting people. Daring others to do something outrageous or animal-like. Making fun of people. Building cages. Hiding from view. Fences and barriers. The intrusion of the media (beating up stories). Eliciting sick behavior from others.

Of course, how this will affect people depends on their individual situations. Certainly, many will feel like they're living in a zoo. This can lead to feelings of being different, standing out, or, it can be that we're seeing things or having to put up with things that can be confronting, compromising or strange. 

Weather anomalies are happening around the globe and New Zealand just had a big earthquake. The energy that's around is very strong right now. The Quest degree, (the degree after the degree the new Moon) is Virgo 17: A Volcanic Eruption Bringing Dust Clouds, Flowing Lava, Earth Rumblings. Something is set to release, emerge or blow up. The keywords for this degree are:

Thoughts or ideas pouring out, torrents of thought or emotion, anger that needs expression, eruptions that are quickly overcome, pressure cooker environments, after shocks, waiting for the dust to settle, cathartic release, volcanoes, earthquakes, earth tremors, rumblings, earth changes, dust... it can lead to situations being turned to "rubble". 

The Volcanic Eruption degree is not saying everything is going to be bad - it can imply wonderful ideas erupting, things emerging from deep within, treasures found, sudden realisations, etc. 

Mercury, the ruler of the Virgo new Moon, is retrograde on Virgo 7: The Harem. Dane Rudhyar in his wonderful book An Astrological Mandala has the Keynote for this degree: A fateful (even if sought after) subservience to the vagaries or desires of the emotional nature. Further, he says about this degree that it's the emptiness of waiting. 

This placement of Mercury can bring up issues to do with relationships in many ways. Perhaps someone thinks they are masters of a situation or in control of another or others. Maybe they see themselves as the sultan, the boss, head honcho or Grand Poobah. Whatever, there can be an imbalance of power, as, this degree can show people (particularly women) giving away their power. Of course, some benefits or privileges can come from being complicit or accepting of someone else's ideas or desires. Other times, one can feel like just one of a number of others who don't have much say, power or position. Some will feel like they're left out of the main action or are not succeeding in getting much of someone's undivided attention. 

There is also the possibility if the enjoyment of friends, particularly women, and the feeling of being in a community that understands and supports you. Gossip, painful intentions or jealousy are directly counter productive and can cause problems. This degree points to the benefits of sharing and caring and being supportive of each other and it can apply equally to issues to do with relationships, friendships, relationships at work, etc. Building community is the true goal. 

Venus is on a degree that asks that we look for signs, learn and employ our knowledge and understanding to life. The Sabian Symbol is Libra 30: Three Mounds Of Knowledge On A Philosopher's Head. This speaks of wisdom that transcends book knowledge, philosophy, being an impressive figure, making wise decisions regardless of hard-line opinion, predicting the future, wit, style, seeing potential in others. The cautions include analyzing things too much and too much reliance on intellect, being a "know-it-all", having a bossy attitude (whoops, there's that sultan again), taking things far too seriously, people with "highbrow" attitudes, etc. 

Moments after the new Moon, Venus goes into Scorpio. The Sabian Symbol is Scorpio 1: A Sightseeing Bus Filled With Tourists. This speaks of observing life, seeing how other people live, watching from afar, tourists, traveling, buses, planes, suitcases, luggage, cameras, pictures, souvenirs, tour guides, timing and being on time, the untried and untrodden or the same old road, getting lost in something for hours, foreign territories, new ways of seeing. 

We take snapshots of life with Venus on The Sightseer degree. 

Mars is on a degree that asks us whether we want to employ power and force or love and acceptance to situations. The Sabian Symbol is Libra 26: An Eagle And A Large White Dove Turning Constantly Into Each Other. 

The keywords are: tempering one's will with love and bolstering up one's emotional responses with strength, cooperation of mind, will, spirit and heart, eagles and doves, being strong and soft at the same time. It can, especially with Mars on this degree, show being "all over the place" with reactions, being changeable, not acting for the purpose of a definite outcome, confusing others with conflicting behavior, not knowing what to expect next, one one minute - off the next.

Saturn is on the very last minute of Libra 5: A Man Teaching The True Inner Knowledge Of The New World To His Students. Saturn may be asking if we're getting the message, learning the lessons, teaching what we know, walking our talk, being an example to others, etc. There can be a purity of knowledge with this degree. There can also be, as Saturn is here, lessons brought about by a refusal to observe, listen or learn. This can be quite a karmic placement of Saturn. What are you giving out and what are you taking in?

Directly after the new Moon, Saturn swiftly moves onto Libra 6: A Man Watches His Ideals Taking A Concrete Form Before His Inner Vision. With Saturn here, there can be vivid confrontations with one's objectives, imagining things - for better or for worse, meditations and affirmations, putting things out into the universe, making things happen, seeing things take shape and form, getting published, etc. It can also show issues or problems arising from situations that were not taken seriously enough. What is it that you're creating in your life? Is it a long-term solution? Are you seeing things coming to light that feel somehow karmic or fated? Saturn on this degree can show us how we create our own reality, and, it can bring things to the surface for a healing - especially with the Moon and the Sun on the Volcanic Eruption degree shortly after the new Moon. 

Pluto's message has long been one of wanting us to find a transformation in our lives and it's currently on a very transformative degree. The Sabian Symbol is Capricorn 3: The Human Soul, In Its Eagerness For New Experiences, Seeks Embodiment. This is a very creative degree and can show the experience of "being born again". There can be a very strong urge to experience life passionately, meaningfully and fully in every sense of the word.

The Moon's north node shows the possibility, or the need, to let go of the old stories of your life. The Sabian Symbol is Capricorn 10: An Albatross Feeding From The Hand Of A Sailor. This speaks of feeding one's higher nature with good nourishment, banishing worries so that one can fly ever higher, overcoming superstitions or beliefs that hinder. The north node is asking us how long we can go on carrying things around our necks like the sailor in "The Ancient Mariner" story. Time to break free of constraints and to let go of those old stories?

The Moon's south node is on Cancer 10: A Large Diamond In The First Stages Of The Cutting Process. This speaks of coming to terms with inner wealth, the first stages of developing or building something really wonderful and worthwhile, it can show beauty that is within, even if it has flaws, potential, self development courses, craftsmanship and knowing when to start and when to finish. This degree can speak of a "diamond in the rough" and perhaps our ongoing journey is one of cutting, shaping and honing to get that gemstone that we are more and more perfected!