The Sabian Symbols - Scorpio 16-30

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SCENE SIXTEEN: FAITH

Dane Rudhyar

(Scorpio 16° to Scorpio 30°)

FIRST LEVEL: ACTIONAL

PHASE 226 (SCORPIO 16°): A GIRL'S FACE BREAKING INTO A SMILE.

KEYNOTE: The fervent reaching out on the part of the young of heart to new experiences.

Faith in life and in other human beings enables us to go forth toward relationships with whatever attracts our senses or stirs our imagination. Smiling is perhaps a uniquely human characteristic because it implies a conscious acceptance of relationship, thus a choice. The animal, on the other hand, is compelled by unconscious instinct, at least in its natural state. It is not free to choose between love and hate.

This is the first symbol of the forty-sixth five-fold sequence. It introduces us to a series of responses to human experience and pictures a glowing WARMTH OF FEELING.

PHASE 227 (SCORPIO 17°): A WOMAN, FECUNDATED BY HER OWN SPIRIT, IS "GREAT WITH CHILD."

KEYNOTE: A total reliance upon the dictates of the God-within.

In contrast to the outgoing smile of the girl in the preceding symbol, here we see the result of a deep and complete concentration reaching to the innermost center of the personality where the Living God acts as a fecundating power. This reveals the potency of the inward way, the surrender of the ego to a transcendent Force which can create through the person vivid manifestations of the Will of God.

This second phase of the forty-sixth five-fold sequence brings to us the realization of normally hidden potentialities in the average human being of our day. Faith in the Divine is shown here being concretely justified. The human person becomes a "mother of the Living God." This is THE TRANSPERSONAL WAY of existence. It is the way that leads to creative mutations.

PHASE 228 (SCORPIO 18°): A PATH THROUGH WOODS BRILLIANT WITH MULTICOLORED SPLENDOR.

KEYNOTE: The exalted feeling of a work well done and a truly consummated life.

The person who has lived with faith the transpersonal life — the life through which spirit radiates creatively — can experience blessedness and peace, even though his or her cycle of experience nears its end. It has been a life full of seed. The seeds are hidden perhaps, yet they are filled with the power to overcome cyclic death. The soul is at peace. The clear autumnal sky silently intones the great message: "Well done, little man!"

In this third symbol of the five-fold sequence we see the smile of the youth brought to a more mature, more spiritual culmination. Human nature is a magnificent symphony of warm, rich colors, now that the strictly biological green of vegetation experiences its TRANSFIGURTION.

PHASE 229 (SCORPIO 19°): A PARROT REPEATS THE CONVERSATION HE HAS OVERHEARD.

KEYNOTE: The capacity to transmit transcendental knowledge.

To the individual who lives in a state of ardent and sustained faith it may become possible to become a channel for the trans-mission of a knowledge or wisdom that transcends his normal mental understanding. The mind that has learned to be silent and attentive can become attuned to the rhythm of utterances which he may not comprehend intellectually, yet which may truly manifest superhuman realizations. Discrimination is needed here to balance the over-eagerness of faith.

At this fourth stage of the five-fold sequence of symbols we are given a hint as to man's capacity to attune himself to sources of higher wisdom if he can be sufficiently attentive and careful in channeling a "higher Voice." To stress here the negative element of automatism and unintelligent repetition is to use only one's intellect. All birds in symbolism suggest spiritual faculties or forces. What is evoked is the possibility of learning from higher Intelligences. Keyword: CHANNELSHIP.

PHASE 230 (SCORPIO 20°): A WOMAN DRAWS AWAY TWO DARK CURTAINS CLOSING THE ENTRANCE TO A SACRED PATHWAY.

KEYNOTE: The revelation to the human consciousness of what lies beyond dualistic knowledge.

The "Woman within" — the faith that is rooted in the deepest intuitions of the soul — is seen here as the hierophant unveiling the realities which the either-or, pro-and-con mind of man alone cannot perceive. The path to the mystic's "unitive life" is opened up once the darkness of fear, egocentricity and dualistic morality is removed.

This is the last symbol of the forty-sixth five-fold sequence. It reveals what a positive reliance upon faith and intuition can bring about. Courage is needed to go through the veiling darkness — the courage to venture beyond the familiar and the traditionally known, to PLUNGE AHEAD INTO THE UNKNOWN.

SECOND LEVEL: EMOTIONAL/CULTURAL

PHASE 231 (SCORPIO 21°): OBEYING HIS CONSCIENCE, A SOLDIER RESISTS ORDERS.

KEYNOTE: A readiness to face the results of a refusal to follow the authoritarian patterns of an aggressive society.

As a person finds himself involved in activities which are traditional in his particular culture — and in many instances in all societies at this stage of human evolution — he often faces a conflict between his own individual sense of value (his conscience) and the demands of society. The conflict may be most typical in terms of the armed services — thus this symbol. In it we find the individual asserting his own values, though he cannot escape the consequences of his decision. In such a case he has to be quietly ready to face these consequences, whatever the cost.

This is the first stage in the forty-seventh five-fold sequence of phases in the great cyclic ritual of activity. The issue it presents is clear. Society in this situation seems to be all-powerful; yet the individual need not be spiritually bound, even if imprisoned. He still can display INNER FREEDOM and prove himself an "individual."

PHASE 232 (SCORPIO 22°): HUNTERS SHOOTING WILD DUCKS.

KEYNOTE: The socially accepted release of an individual's or a group's aggressive instincts.

What this symbol clearly stresses is the socialization of man's primitive instincts according to a cultural ritual. Social hunting is a regulated seasonal outlet for male aggressiveness — a safety valve for emotional pressures in human beings in whom animal compulsions and bio-spheric values are still strong.

In this second stage symbol we find a strong contrast with the first. In the latter, the individual proved himself truly "man" by refusing to accept the practices of war imposed upon him by his society; in this symbol for Scorpio 22° it is society that willingly accepts — and in accepting, ritualizes and to some extent refines — the aggressiveness inherent in most individuals. The Keywords are SOCIALIZATION OF INSTINCTS.

PHASE 233 (SCORPIO 23°): A RABBIT METAMORPHOSES INTO A NATURE SPIRIT.

KEYNOTE: The raising of animal drives to a higher level.

The rabbit is traditionally a symbol of an overabundance of progeny, thus of a great stress on procreative and sexual processes. "Nature spirits," on the other hand, represent the higher aspect of life energies, as they are said to guide those normally invisible forces controlling the growth of all living organisms, particularly in the vegetable kingdom. Thus the symbol refers to the transmutation of the generative power into a more ethereal and subtle form of potency.

This is the third symbol in the forty-seventh sequence. It brings a new dimension to the preceding two. Whether it is the sexual desire for a progeny, or aggressiveness, the instinctual urge can be raised to a new level. The course can become subtle through a process of TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

PHASE 234 (SCORPIO 24°): AFTER HAVING HEARD AN INSPIRED INDIVIDUAL DELIVER HIS "SERMON ON THE MOUNT," CROWDS ARE RETURNING HOME.

KEYNOTE: The need to incorporate inspiring experiences and teachings into everyday living.

Today we hear a great deal about "peak experiences" (Maslow). The great problem facing everyone who has had such experiences is how to assimilate what has been felt, seen or heard, and how to let it transform his everyday consciousness and behavior. If this is not done the experience may turn confusing or toxic and perhaps destructive of the integrity of the person.

This fourth symbol as usual suggests to us what has to be done or how to do it. The "return home" from the high mountain, or from any "upper chamber" of the consciousness, may lead to a sense of oppression by the normal realities of existence, or else the soul that has been illuminated may retain enough of that light to transfigure every daily situation. This is the great CHALLENGE TO TRANSFORMATION.

PHASE 235 (SCORPIO 25°): AN X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH.

KEYNOTE: The capacity to acquire a knowledge of the structural factors in all existence.

The true philosopher is able to grasp and significantly evaluate what underlies all manifestations of life. His mind's eye penetrates through the superficialities of existence and perceives the framework that gives an at least relatively permanent "form" to all organized systems. Thus if the structure is weak, deformed by persistent strain, or unbalanced, the basic causes of outer disturbances and dis-ease can be discovered.

This symbol concludes the forty-seventh five-fold sequence. It gives an added dimension to the preceding four. For instance, it provides the conscience of the individual who refuses to obey his society with a depth-understanding of what is wrong in the situation he faces. Beyond the powerful feeling quality of "peak experiences," the mind can understand the great Principles of which they were the manifestations. This is STRUCTURAL KNOWLEDGE in contrast to existential knowledge.

THIRD LEVEL: INDIVIDUAL/MENTAL

PHASE 236 (SCORPIO 26°): AMERICAN INDIANS MAKING CAMP AFTER MOVING INTO A NEW TERRITORY.

KEYNOTE: The ability to adjust swiftly to a new situation by tuning in to its requirements.

He who lives in harmony with nature, moving on as new needs arise, finds himself intuitively at home everywhere. He does not make demands upon life, for he has identified himself with the great rhythms of the biosphere and he functions at peace with what they produce. This is the message of the American Indian culture which European invaders so wantonly and meaninglessly destroyed nearly everywhere. Western man has lost faith in life because he wants to dominate and enslave manifestations.

This represents the first stage of the forty-eighth five-fold sequence in the cycle of experience. It brings to us a message we greatly need today — the message of peaceful adaptation to nature, and through adaptation, of EFFICIENT FUNCTIONING in all life situations.

PHASE 237 (SCORPIO 27°): A MILITARY BAND MARCHES NOISILY ON THROUGH THE CITY STREETS.

KEYNOTE: The aggressive glorification of cultural values.

Every cultural-social collectivity sooner or later tries to impress the value of its achievements forcibly and noisily upon all those who belong to it, as well as upon foreign onlookers. At the individual-mental level the member of such a collectivity swells with pride and excitement when a display of the excellence of that in which his consciousness and personality are deeply rooted is publicly affirmed. Thus the feeling of social unity binds the individuals of a culture through collective pride.

This second stage symbol contrasts sharply with the first one. Our aggressive, tense, domineering Western civilization is indeed in opposition to the natural spontaneity and instinctive adjustment to nature of tribal societies. The Keyword here is POMP.

PHASE 238 (SCORPIO 28°): THE KING OF THE FAIRIES APPROACHING HIS DOMAIN.

KEYNOTE: The capacity in man to recognize and to pay homage to an integrating Principle at the core of all existence.

This rather peculiar picture tells us perhaps a good deal about the limitations of the mind of the clairvoyant who saw it, though it can be related to the symbolism of the various creatures of a spirit world mentioned in some alchemical and Rosicrucian books. What seems to be implied is that beyond both outer nature and the realm of the proud ego, a spiritual world exists to which the intuitive consciousness of man can pay allegiance. In that world, all manifested entities are seen as multiple aspects of a central Power and Consciousness. It is such a central principle of unity that human societies have sought to revere symbolically in human, all-too-human kings. In an individual sense, this principle is the Self.

This is the third stage in the forty-eighth five-fold pattern of symbols. It adds a new dimension to the two preceding ones. At this stage the presence of a spiritual unifying factor begins to be sensed by the individual perhaps weary of the outer shows of his culture. An INNER ALLEGIANCE begins to polarize the consciousness.

PHASE 239 (SCORPIO 29°): AN INDIAN SQUAW PLEADING TO THE CHIEF FOR THE LIVES OF HER CHILDREN.

KEYNOTE: Love as a principle of redemption.

Here the soul is presented as a mother whose sons (i.e. her active energies) have become disruptive forces in the collective life of the tribe. She seeks to counteract the karma of their misdeeds through her love and implorations. The soul is responsive to the experience of unity (the spiritual king or chief) but the energies of human nature often follow their self-seeking, divisive tendencies.

This is the fourth symbol of the forty-eighth sequence. It presents us with the value of prayer. The principle of wholeness in man — the soul — acts to offset or attenuate the dictates of karma. In a religious sense, Mary, the Mother, is seen as the Mediatrix, in constant acts of INTERCESSION for the sake of waylaid individuals.

PHASE 240 (SCORPIO 30°): CHILDREN IN HALLOWEEN COSTUMES INDULGE IN VARIOUS PRANKS.

KEYNOTE: The periodic outlets society furnishes within traditional limits to still-immature energies.

In the symbol for the first degree of Scorpio we see individuals beginning to be involved in the collective life of a large city. This leads them to a great diversity of experience which stimulates their sense of belonging to a vaster whole; or it may stimulate their rebellious instincts. Some of the latter in most cases cannot be completely overcome, but society has built in several ways of allowing them to operate under ritualistic procedures that are sufficiently safe to the collectivity. Wherever this symbol is found, the need for such outlets is shown to exist. But the rules of the game have to be obeyed.

This is the last symbol referring to Scene Sixteen of the great ritual of cyclic being. It tells us that in any feeling experience of collective living and inter-human relationships one has to deal with unregenerated and centrifugal elements. These should be carefully managed. They can also be controlled by the power of mind – the Sagitarrian way. The symbol points to an imaginative RELIEF FROM TENSION.

An Astrological Mandala