The Sabian Symbols - Pisces 16-30

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SCENE TWENTY-FOUR: PERPETUATION

Dane Rudhyar

(Pisces 16° to Pisces 30°)

FIRST LEVEL: ACTIONAL

PHASE 346 (PISCES 16°): IN THE QUIET OF HIS STUDY A CREATIVE INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES A FLOW OF INSPIRATION.

KEYNOTE: Reliance upon one's inner source of inspiration or guidance.

In this last scene of the great ritual of cyclic existence we are dealing with various aspects of the process that enables man to "con-firm," formulate and perpetuate the original creative impulse which has become self-actualized in a myriad of ways throughout the cycle, short or long as the cycle may be. This first symbol strikes the keynote of truly significant creative processes: their source is above, beyond, but also around the individual creator. The inspiration, original and individual though it may be, is given a form which is conditioned by the cultural, social and religious background of the creative person. In a sense, every genius merely records an answer to the needs of his time. The hands that write, play an instrument, or mold a plastic material are his own; the urge or drive back of the flow of inspiration has arisen in the vast collective mind of Man.

This is the first of the seventieth series of five symbols. The individual aspect of the creative process is emphasized as is the individual's need for concentration and at least inner quiet. He must have faith in his own SUBJECTIVE STRENGTH.

PHASE 347 (PISCES 17°): AN EASTER PARADE.

KEYNOTE: The capacity inherent in all great sociocultural Images to unite the members of a community in a display of excellence.

Here we see, by contrast, the unifying power of great myths and symbols in truly organic and self-perpetuating culture. The Image of the Resurrection spurs all men within the pale of Christendom to appear at their very best and to dynamize themselves in some kind of self-renewal in response to the Christ mythos, and to the call of nature's springtime as well. Wherever found, this symbol emphasizes the value of attuning one's life activities and moods to the ritualistic patterns of society or Earth-nature, rather than acting in complete independence from the group.

At this second stage of the five-fold subcycle the Collective dominates the Individual, Yin overpowers Yang. It is a time for conformity to what constitutes the highest ideals of one's culture and for PARTICIPATION IN COLLECTIVE PEAK EXPERIENCES.

PHASE 348 (PISCES 18°): IN A GIGANTIC TENT, VILLAGERS WITNESS A SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE.

KEYNOTE: The collective appeal of a well-staged and exciting display of skill and/or oratory.

At first, Marc Jones interpreted the "gigantic tent" as the locale for a revivalist's meeting; later he suggested a circus tent instead. In a sense, the basic meaning is the same whether it is the traditional performance of skilled clowns, acrobats or animal trainers, or that of a religious fundamentalist dramatizing an old religious imagery, what takes place is the use of personal achievement and conviction to bring a crowd to a state of enthusiasm sufficient to make it forget its boredom with everyday routine or its familiar sins of commission or omission.

At this third stage of the seventieth five-fold sequence, the individual person and the collectivity are brought together in a significant performance which subtly strengthens the communal spirit directly or indirectly. The implication of the symbol, whenever it is found operating, is that the time has come for the individual to dare to present himself and his works to his community for applause, or for the purpose of attracting a following. What is suggested is PUBLIC SELF-DRAMATIZATION.

PHASE 340 (PISCES 19°): A MASTER INSTRUCTING HIS DISCIPLE.

KEYNOTE: The transfer of power and knowledge which keeps the original spiritual and creative Impulse of the cycle active and undeviated.

The Hindu ideal of the sacred relationship between guru and chela (disciple) has of late become familiar to a vast number of young and not-so-young people. The doctrine of "the Apostolic succession" in the Roman Catholic Church has a similar significance. The Power and archetypal knowledge released "in the beginning" of any cycle (or at "Creation") must be perpetuated until the very Last Day — the Omega state of which Teilhard de Chardin glowingly speaks. This Power is the "self" of the cyclic manifestation, the unchanging Tone (AUM) of all existences within this cycle. It can be transmitted from master to disciple at the latter's "Initiation." It must be so transmitted for when the line of transmission (in Sanskrit, guruampara) is discontinued, the cyclic process begins to collapse in futility and spiritual darkness.

This fourth stage symbol gives us a clue to the supreme technique necessary for the continuation of all manifestations of power and spiritual understanding. The transmission is from person to person; it follows a general, unchanging pattern, yet it operates in terms of particular and individual circumstances. Keyword: INVESTITURE.

PHASE 350 (PISCES 20°): A TABLE SET FOR AN EVENING MEAL.

KEYNOTE: An indication that in the end and at the appointed time the individual's needs will be met among those to whom he is linked by a spiritual (or biological) web of energies.

The significant element in this scene is not only the meal, but the fact that it is an "evening" meal. To use traditional symbolism, after a long chain of personal existences the Soul returns to its spiritual home at the close of the day-of-manifestation. There it finds that which renews and amply sustains; the happiness of the "beyond of existence" is experienced — if all has gone well.

This last symbol of the seventieth five-fold sequence promises a satisfying or fulfilling end to whatever one has been undertaking. As the life closes, the Soul-consciousness finds NOURISHMENT in the harvest of whatever, during the whole life, has been relevant to the archetypal purpose and destiny of the Soul — one of the myriad of aspects of the divine creative word which began the cycle.

SECOND LEVEL: EMOTIONAL/CULTURAL

PHASE 351 (PISCES 21°): UNDER THE WATCHFUL AND KIND EYE OF A CHINESE SERVANT, A GIRL FONDLES A LITTLE WHITE LAMB.

KEYNOTE: Growth in consciousness in its earliest tactile awareness of the wonders of unsophisticated living.

This symbol recalls the one for Phase 174 (Virgo 24°) — "Mary and her little lamb" — but it occupies a different position in the five-fold sequence and a new factor is added: the "Chinese servant." According to the occult tradition, the original Chinese race was an extension of the humanity (or "Root Race") preceding ours — thus the stress upon the biological factors of family and ancestors, and also on the dualism of the Yang and Yin interplay. The "Chinese servant" represents the past as a servant of the new evolution. (The "white lamb" suggests the sign of all beginnings, Aries.) This new evolution is just about to begin during the late Pisces phase of the year cycle. It is as yet an ideal, a white loveliness. The girl discovers the new feeling of the touch of wool and of animal warmth. The preceding five-fold sequence began with a symbol suggesting the inspiring revelation of new truths or facts which the creative person is seeking to formulate. Now we witness another kind of discovery — a sensuously emotional discovery, perhaps a presentiment of the mother-feeling.

This is the first symbol of the seventy-first sequence. It brings together past and future, an overlapping of levels. The Chinese kindly watching the white girl; the girl fondling the white lamb. There is charm and ingenuousness in the scene — a vision of WHITE HOPE, a hope for a future that can only be felt, almost naively.

PHASE 352 (PISCES 22°): A PROPHET CARRYING TABLETS OF THE NEW LAW IS WALKING DOWN THE SLOPES OF MOUNT SINAI.

KEYNOTE: The need to bring down to the level of everyday existence the clear realizations made manifest in a great "peak experience."

The symbol obviously refers to Moses after he received from the God of his people the basic principles upon which a new religion, and even more a new ritual of living, should be founded. This basic "Law" has to be "brought down." It represents a descent of formative and structuring power, a divine Revelation. This type of revealed knowledge contrasts with the kind of knowing born out of the experience of touch, of feeling, of warmth of contact. This second stage symbol pictures a process to which a religious God-given character has been attributed in the past, but which today is being investigated at the personal and psychological level. The important point here is: what do you do after you have a peak experience, an inner revelation? The Keyword MANDATE is appropriate; but the basic problem is how to fulfill it in the right spirit.

PHASE 353 (PISCES 23°): A "MATERIALIZING" MEDIUM GIVING A SEANCE.

KEYNOTE: The ability to give of one's own vital energy to substantiate one's conscious ideals or unconscious desires.

The person who believes he or she has a mission or mandate, or any special gift that can be of value to his community, must substantiate this belief. He has to produce results. Sometimes this involves difficulties and special conditions or circumstances; it always demands to some extent the gift of some power of value which is deeply one's own. The thought of sacrifice was suggested by the "white lamb" in the first symbol of this five-old series. Something precious involved in a deeply personal experience has to be surrendered, offered to others. The medium's psychic substance provides the materials made visible in the phenomena, if the latter are genuine. After the séance, the medium is usually exhausted. The performer gives of his very life to the performance.

This refers to the third stage in the seventy-first five-fold process. The display of psychic power that the symbol depicts can be interpreted positively or negatively according to the motives that induced the "medium" to give the seance. In its most constructive aspect it suggests the Keyword: SUBSTANTIATION. The shadowy aspect of the process is "deception."

PHASE 354 (PISCES 24°): ON A SMALL ISLAND SURROUNDED BY THE VAST EXPANSE OF THE SEA, PEOPLE ARE SEEN LIVING IN CLOSE INTERACTION.

KEYNOTE: The need to consciously accept one's own personal limitations in order to concentrate one's energies and to live a centered and fulfilled life.

Every individualized person is a small island in the vast ocean of mankind. The ego fulfills a necessary function, as it sets boundaries and gives a specific character to the consciousness. Within these boundaries a complex interplay linking and integrating the various aspects of the personal life can operate constructively. In time, these ego-boundaries can not only expand, but can become a zone of intense interchange between the inner and the outer, between the individual and the community, between man and the universe.

This fourth stage symbol tells us that the first duty of any man or woman is to be truly what he or she is as an individual. But this individual has a particular dharma, i.e. a place and function in a vaster whole. The island's inhabitants get subsistence from the sea, and in time learn to navigate this sea and interact with other islanders — and all eventually will come to realize their oneness within the whole Earth, which includes everything. An appropriate Keyword would be CENTRALIZATION.

PHASE 355 (PISCES 25°): A RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION SUCCEEDS IN OVERCOMING THE CORRUPTING INFLUENCE OF PERVERTED PRACTICES AND MATERIALIZED IDEALS.

KEYNOTE: The power of the Soul to intervene in the personal life and to induce necessary catharses.

The necessary centralization of the conscious attention and will symbolized by the preceding picture most often bring negative results — exclusivism, pride, jealousy, greed for power and wealth. Every man is a Church that has the Soul as its god, but most men forget the Soul and live according to dogmatic rules and habits which not only have become empty of inner meaning, but very often have been perverted by the demands of the senses and the emotional nature, and by the ego with its rationalizing intellect. A purging or catharsis is needed to restore not only fresh and creative spontaneity, but even more the contact with the Soul and the God-ordained dharma.

This is the last stage in the seventy-first subcycle. It leads significantly to the series of five symbols which concludes the vast cycle, because the final consummation of the process of actualization of the potency inherent in the original Creative Act requires moments of crisis and PURIFICATION.

THIRD LEVEL: INDIVIDUAL/MENTAL

PHASE 356 (PISCES 26°): WATCHING THE VERY THIN MOON CRESCENT APPEARING AT SUNSET, DIFFERENT PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THE TIME HAS COME TO GO AHEAD WITH THEIR DIFFERENT PROJECTS.

KEYNOTE: A keen appreciation of the value of individualized responses to any challenge of life.

The rather obscure original notation for this zodiacal degree, "A new moon that divides its influences," when translated into practical terms refers to the fact that, confronted with the opportunity to expand their energy along new lines, modern individuals will react according to their own personal characters. One basic cosmic-spiritual impulse will lead these varied personalities to take equally varied steps. In any society that glorifies individualism, everyone should therefore accept this fact and not try to compel other individuals to conform to a single pattern of response.

This first symbol of the seventy-second and last series of five stresses the essential nature of the cyclic process of actualization of human potential, i.e. the emergence of the individual (cf. symbol for Phase 1). This should lead to a realization of THE FALLACY OF TOTALITARIANISM: at times we can all act like despots, demanding that others react to any situation exactly as we do.

PHASE 357 (PISCES 27°): THE HARVEST MOON ILLUMINES A CLEAR AUTUMNAL SKY.

KEYNOTE: The light of fulfillment that blesses work well done.

For astronomical reasons the full moon of early autumn, the harvest moon, appears slightly larger than all other full moons. In our temperate Northern Hemisphere, these are the days when the green of summer fields and woods has turned gold and warm brown — days for the reaping of the good harvest, if all has gone well. This symbol brings us the message that the time has come to reap what we have not only sown, but also cultivated — or failed to cultivate.

This second stage symbol once more stands in opposition to the one for the preceding stage — new moon having now become full moon, indeed the fullest of all full moons. The Keyword is CONSUMMATION. But in this consummation — this "karmic" moment — the seed of the new cyclic manifestation is already latent.

PHASE 358 (PISCES 28°): A FERTILE GARDEN UNDER THE FULL MOON REVEALS A VARIETY OF FULL-GROWN VEGETABLES.

KEYNOTE: The full satisfaction of the individual's basic needs.

This symbol would seem a duplication of the preceding one, but if it is related to the first of this five-fold series (Phase 356) it’s meaning becomes clear. What is stressed now is not the full moon itself or its light, but the moon's power to call forth the instinctive urge for growth; many things respond in many different ways. The symbol refers to a typical garden, not to a field. Such a garden contains a variety of plants, herbs and vegetables grown specifically to fill an equal variety of human needs and tastes.

In this sense the third symbol of this seventy-second sequence combines the meanings of the first two. It is a symbol of ABUNDANCE, an abundance fitted to individualized requirements and wants.

PHASE 359 PISCES 29°): LIGHT BREAKING INTO MANY COLORS THROUGH A PRISM.

KEYNOTE: The analytical power of the mind necessary for the formulation of life processes in their many aspects.

Cycles of existence begin in unity and end in what I have called "multi-unity." At the stage of consummation the many individual differences are totaled; they constitute a sum. Within that sum — a unified total — the inevitability of the future process of differentiation is implied, because every cycle leaves a mass of waste products slowly returning to the unconscious state of chemical matter, of "humus." What the symbol tells us is that unity will always break again into multiplicity. The "prism" is always there. There is no absolute unity; if anything could be called "absolute" it is the relationship between the One and the Many.

This fourth stage symbol of the concluding five-fold sequence of phases points to the fundamental type of operation in all modes of existence. The most beautiful and seemingly everlasting experience of unity will in time be superseded by the need to attend to a multiplicity of details. Existence implies DIFFERENTIATION.

PHASE 360 (PISCES 30°): A MAJESTIC ROCK FORMATION RESEMBLING A FACE IS IDEALIZED BY A BOY WHO TAKES IT AS HIS IDEAL OF GREATNESS, AND AS HE GROWS UP, BEGINS TO LOOK LIKE IT.

KEYNOTE: The power of clearly visualized ideals to mold the life of the visualizer.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "The Great Stone Face" is used here in an allegorical sense to show the capacity for self-transformation latent in man. This power can be developed through visualization, when the emotions and the will are poured into the visualized mental image. At the highest spiritual-cosmic level this is the power used by the God-like Beings at the close of a cosmic cycle in projecting the basic Formula (the Word) which will start a new universe. In a biological sense, it is the power latent in all seeds — the power to produce and guide the growth of the future plant. A most fitting symbol for the last phase of the cyclic process. Within the end of the cycle the seed of a new beginning exists in potency — unless the entire cycle has proven to be a failure.

This is the last stage of the last scene of the great ritual play of cyclic transformations. It brings to us a realization of the power of archetypes as factors conditioning life processes. Thus we could use as a final Keyword: ARCHETYPALIZATION.

An Astrological Mandala