The Sabian Symbols - Libra 16-30

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SCENE FOURTEEN: RECONSTRUCTION

Dane Rudhyar

(Libra 16° to Libra 30°))

FIRST LEVEL: ACTIONAL

PHASE 196 (LIBRA 16°): AFTER A STORM A BOAT LANDING STANDS IN NEED OF RECONSTRUCTION.

KEYNOTE: The need to keep in operation steady links between the vast Unconscious and the ego-consciousness.

Confrontation with broad issues of relationship and currents of energies released by man's contact with archetypal-spiritual realities often results in temporary destruction. "Boats" normally link distant regions, or enable men to draw food from the sea (i.e. new realizations which so far existed only in the unconscious realm of the planetary Mind). They may also be used to enjoy temporary excursions and the feel of the water and the waves. Any cultured society, however, may be wary of the danger inherent in venturing far away from the consciously defined and socially structured ways of life. Such adventures may indeed turn destructive; the points of contact between the vast Unconscious and the ego-consciousness molded by cultural assumptions and rituals may be wrecked by psychotic storms. The boat landings must then be slowly reconstructed.

This is the first stage in the fortieth five-fold sequence of cyclic phases in human experience. It brings to us vividly the realization that whatever men build in order to be able to venture away from solidly individualized and conscious bases of operation is likely to be damaged by as yet unfamiliar cosmic forces. The tenuous link between two realms constantly needs REPAIR.

PHASE 197 (LIBRA 17°): A RETIRED SEA CAPTAIN WATCHES SHIPS ENTERING AND LEAVING THE HARBOR.

KEYNOTE: The capacity to gain an objective and calm understanding of human experiences in which one was once deeply involved.

Old age may or may not bring to man this objective and calm understanding as one remembers the crises overcome and the quiet enjoyment of great life vistas or "peak experiences," but wisdom and inner serenity can hardly develop save on the basis of the overcoming of struggles and conflicts. The "sea captain" sailed his ship through storms and still waters of consciousness, his mind perhaps battered by gales, his ego-crew perhaps in revolt. Now there is peace and quietude. Another generation is sailing seas better charted perhaps, yet inherently non-rational and at times savage in their fury. He watches. He knows. Others are learning. At any age the ego-will may "retire" and contemplate, and be at peace before a greater voyage over even more poorly charted seas.

At this second stage we sec a picture of true overcoming of storms, in polar opposition to the preceding one which revealed the destructive effect of psychic upheavals tearing apart the occult link — the antakarana — between the incarnate consciousness and the transcendent Soul-field, the CALM MIND beyond struggles and victories.

PHASE 198 (LIBRA 18°): TWO MEN PLACED UNDER ARREST.

KEYNOTE: A breakdown in the constructive relationship between the individual and society, and the expectable result.

If it is to remain steady and consistent, every form of order must be able to protect itself by the application of sanctions. Both a society and a personal ego constitute forms of order. Any form of order excludes what the form cannot securely and safely hold. It excludes, or exiles, the alien, the unassimilable; if it cannot send them to outer space, it must isolate them in a special type of inner space, a prison. The individual whose actions introduce unacceptable principles into the established order runs the risk of being "punished" or re-formed according to this order. The problem for a society is how to include in its patterns of order agencies or channels for transformation — and particularly how to keep them truly operative; for individuals, it is how to make their transforming vision or impulse acceptable to society. The symbol does not reveal what caused the breakdown in the relationship between the individual and society; but if one also considers the symbols that follow, one's thoughts may be led back to the image of the storm that wrecked boat landings (Phase 196). The suggestion is that whatever violence is released originates in unconscious pressures (the sea and the wind). A new step in the evolution of society — the Industrial and Electronic Revolutions of the last hundred and fifty years — caused a collective, world-wide upheaval which led to widespread violence. The fact that two men are pictured under arrest suggests a polarization and a purpose transcending a merely personal fit of recklessness.

This is the third stage of the fortieth sequence. Negative as the image may seem, one may see implied in it the power in every individual to assume social risks in order to express his convictions or deepest desires. Nevertheless, one thing is needed: FACING THE CONSEQUENCES.

PHASE 199 (LIBRA 19°): A GANG OF ROBBERS IN HIDING.

KEYNOTE: Protest against disharmonic social privilege.

It is questionable whether the formulation of the symbol at this place is adequate, but it is kept on general principle. One might rather think of Robin Hood and his band, or early Bolsheviks in Russia robbing banks to finance the revolution. The protest against an unbalanced society with its rigid stratification into classes can be seen as a positive factor, even if it challenges the principle of order, for it reveals dynamic qualities in individuals and the will to transformation. In another sense, it is the dark shadow of the ideal of "nonpossessiveness." The question is: How valid and effectual is this kind of protest?

The fourth stage in a five-fold sequence of symbols and phases usually presents us with at least a hint of technique. What can this mean at this level? Perhaps the fact that any effective resistance to the momentum of crystallized institutions should be organized if it is to be effective. Individuals alone are impotent in producing actual changes in social consciousness. A "group" must be formed. The Keywords are GROUP PROTEST.

PHASE 200 (LIBRA 20°): A RABBI PERFORMING HIS DUTIES.

KEYNOTE: The ability to draw on the power of an ancestral tradition in order to serve and inspire one's fellowmen.

Here we see at work the constructive use of rather rigid yet effectual sociocultural and religious patterns. The energies of the collective Unconscious are channeled through well-defined, age-old forms and formulas. This implies limitations and the possibility of sclerosis or inertia when confronted with new situations, yet there is beauty and wisdom in such a ritualization of behavior and of thinking.

This is the fifth stage of the fortieth five-fold sequence. At this stage the relation of man, the individual, to his community — and beyond it, the universe — is seen in stabilized and effective operation. INHERITED WISDOM can be focused through a person who accepts its limitations.

SECOND LEVEL: EMOTIONAL/CULTURAL

PHASE 201 (LIBRA 21°): A SUNDAY CROWD ENJOYING THE BEACH.

KEYNOTE: A revivifying contact with the Mother-force of nature and of social togetherness.

The sea is the vast matrix from which living organisms originally emerged. It also symbolizes the collective Unconscious, the "matricial" envelope of the biosphere within which consciousness takes individualized forms. The consciousness of human beings is given specific form by the culture in which they live and the particular occupations they carry on in everyday work. But it is very good and healthful for their minds to become revitalized by collective experiences and deep feelings of undifferentiated unity as they merge in the vast refreshment of the planetary "Mother" where "she" is most dynamic, unlimited and unconfined by boundaries.

At this first stage of the forty-first five-fold sequence of symbols we see the foundation on which coming developments will be based. It is in a sense a biodynamic foundation, but it reaches beyond even the biosphere to what in all cosmic types of organization is the Mother-principle — for instance, galactic Space. We may speak here of OCEANIC FEELING, born of attunement to the most basic rhythms of existence, at whatever level it might be.

PHASE 202 (LIBRA 22°): A CHILD GIVING BIRDS A DRINK AT A FOUNTAIN.

KEYNOTE: The concern of simple souls for the welfare and happiness of less-evolved beings who thirst for life renewal.

The original statement of this symbol is far more significant than the later formulation, for what is expressed here is a reversal of the operation mentioned in the preceding symbol. Man, who has built the fountain — perhaps on arid land and through skillful work — gives the life-bestowing water to the thirsting birds. He does not go to the sea, but he brings the purified, drinkable water to the birds needing it. The connection between "child" and "birds" implies a spontaneous, nai've rapport at the spiritual level, a soul-touch at the level of pure feelings. At this second stage of the five-fold process the contrast with the first takes on a suggestive aspect. What you received from the Infinite, you can give to the finite beings that thirst for it. Man does not need to destroy nature's wilderness through greed and carelessness; he can transform this wilderness into a garden, whose singing fountains will attract birds. We can use here Marc Jones's Keyword for this degree: SOLICITUDE.

PHASE 203 (LIBRA 23°): CHANTICLEER'S VOICE HERALDS SUNRISE.

KEYNOTE: A creative and joyous response to life processes.

The cock that crows as the first coloring of dawn appears at the eastern horizon is a beautiful symbol of the ability, demonstrated by all pioneers and cosmically attuned individuals, to give voice to what is as yet unmanifested, but is on the way to manifestation. At the ego level, chanticleer may feel that he makes the sun rise; but someday he will learn through painful experiences that to create is only to reveal what essentially is. It is the vivid recognition of the as-yet-unknown in the known.

This third stage symbol should make us think afresh about issues we too often take for granted. At every "sunrise" there are a few isolated witnesses that herald the coming of a new day. What is at stake here is the individual's capacity of RESPONSE TO LIFE'S RENEWALS — renewals which are cyclic, predictable, yet always new, always creative.

PHASE 204 (LIBRA 24°): A BUTTERFLY WITH A THIRD WING ON ITS LEFT SIDE.

KEYNOTE: The ability to develop, for inner strengthening, new modes of response to basic life situations.

The butterfly is the ancient and traditional symbol of the results of the process of spiritual rebirth. If the butterfly has three wings instead of two, a special development of an aspect of the spiritual life is shown. Three is a symbol of fulfillment. Some power has been added to the normal spiritual life of the individual person. The left side usually refers to the instinctual field of the consciousness, but it is also the heart's side. A new strength is shown, perhaps as yet unrealized.

A fourth stage symbol usually refers to some kind of technique or technical achievement. What is implied here is that the contact with the revivifying Life-force (cf. the first stage symbol) can result in the appearance of a new faculty, the use of which may not as yet be consciously evaluated. Indeed it is the establishment of such a contact which constitutes a technique for ORIGINAL MUTATION.

PHASE 205 (LIBRA 25°): THE SIGHT OF AN AUTUMN LEAF BRINGS TO A PILGRIM THE SUDDEN REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY OF LIFE AND DEATH.

KEYNOTE: The ability to discover in every experience a transcendent or cosmic meaning.

The mind open to the multifarious wonders of natural processes, because it sees everything with fresh eyes, not only witnesses simple facts, but pierces through appearances and perceives the great rhythms of universal life. Without such a faculty the aspirant to spiritual realities is always looking for "elsewhere." Yet the spirit, life, God is ever present, here and now. And every death is an omen of rebirth.

At this fifth stage of the forty-first five-fold sequence of phases of the cosmic process, the implications of the four preceding stages are brought to a new state of consciousness which is truly the spiritual state. It is a state of CLAIR-SEEING, or "seeing through." This world is illusion only to the individual who cannot see through its phenomena and fails to apprehend the reality these phenomena reveal even as they conceal it.

THIRD LEVEL: INDIVIDUAL-MENTAL

PHASE 206 (LIBRA 26°): AN EAGLE AND A LARGE WHITE DOVE CHANGE INTO EACH OTHER.

KEYNOTE: The interaction of the spiritual Will and of the Love principle when critical needs arise.

This sequence of symbols concluding the Libra phase of the cycle deals with problems met by the seeker for the fulfillment of a higher life of Relationship. Implied here is a kind of Yang-Yin interplay. When the circle encompassing both principles rotates fast, they appear to change into each other. Consciousness operates beyond duality, because the polarized energies of the Soul (or spirit). Will and Love, though ever distinct, work for a single purpose.

This is the first stage of the forty-second five-fold set of symbolic phases. It represents a new, higher approach to the use of polarized forces within the personality which has been ever so little transformed and operating within a new framework. The Keyword ADEPTNESS fits this phase — but there are many levels of "adept-ship"!

PHASE 207 (LIBRA 27°): AN AIRPLANE SAILS, HIGH IN THE CLEAR SKY.

KEYNOTE: A consciousness able to transcend the conflicts and pressures of the personal life.

This picture symbolizes the capacity, latent in every individual, to contemplate the stress of existence in our world of duality from a higher level. Through the use of his mind, backed by the efforts and struggles of past generations and the cooperation of other men, the individual can gain a new perspective on human problems and reach freedom and peace in a supernal realm of being.

This second stage symbol contrasts with the first, for while the first dealt with the cooperation between polarized energies, this one introduces us to the realm of unity beyond polarity. It is a stage of TRANSCENDENT REALIZATION.

PHASE 208 (LIBRA 28°): A MAN BECOMING AWARE OF SPIRITUAL FORCES SURROUNDING AND ASSISTING HIM.

KEYNOTE: The realization, at any level of existence, that one is never alone, and that the "community" — visible or invisible — is sustaining one's efforts.

Every individualized organism is part of a larger organized whole, whether or not it is aware of this or of the sustaining power of the whole. A man, however, can deliberately choose to follow the dark path of ego-isolation which sooner or later always leads to destruction and self-loss in "matter." At the animal level, the whole biosphere is the community; for the ordinary human being, it is the tribe or family, the village community, the nation. As the individual expands his consciousness, he may become aware of a spiritual community, even beyond the "noosphere" (the one Mind of humanity), i.e. the realm of the pure light of the "Supermind," which is what the concept of the "White Lodge" suggests.

This is the third stage of the forty-second five-fold sequence. To the man who has ever so little transcended the world of conflicts, and, for a moment at least, experienced the oneness of all existence, this stage should bring the realization of "belonging" to a greater whole. This produces a state of INNER ASSURANCE.

PHASE 209 (LIBRA 29°): MANKIND'S VAST AND ENDURING EFFORT TO REACH FOR KNOWLEDGE TRANSFERABLE FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.

KEYNOTE: A deep sense of participation in, and commitment to, social processes which seek to bring to all men Truth and a greater Life.

The most characteristic trait in human nature is the ability to "bind time" (as Korzybsky once stated): that is, to transfer to other men as yet unborn the harvest of his conscious experiences and his deliberate endeavors. This ability far transcends instinct and biological mutations, for it is based on consciousness, choice, will and self-sacrifice for the sake of future human beings. It rests upon a deep feeling of the value of "community"; its use increases this feeling and eventually destroys the roots of loneliness.

This fourth stage symbol suggests the technique that makes a life truly "human." To join other men and women in the vast process of a living civilization is to fulfill the basic implications of the human stage of cosmic evolution — a stage characterized by CONSCIOUS PARTICIPATION.

PHASE 210 (LIBRA 30°): THREE MOUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE ON A PHILOSOPHER'S HEAD.

KEYNOTE: The fulfillment of man's power of understanding at whatever level of existence the person operates.

A true philosopher is a man who is able to "understand," not merely "know," the processes of life as he comes to experience them directly. He is the man of wisdom, different indeed from the man of science; for while there must be knowledge before understanding, knowledge alone can be both barren and destructive of wisdom. This peculiar symbol refers of course to "phrenology," which is usually considered a pseudo-science, but may provide significant indications. Number 3 always indicates a state of completion. The symbol implies a fulfillment of philosophical understanding, which obviously has nothing to do with academic degrees or the writing of successful treatises on abstract concepts.

This fifth stage symbol is the last of the Libra series: Understanding and wisdom develop in terms of the life of community and through experiences provided by interpersonal and group relationships. Cultural factors are always involved, even though true wisdom transcends cultural values and is rooted in the essential nature of Man. What is at stake here is A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO KNOWLEDGE, based on universals.

An Astrological Mandala