Single Astrology Text
Many years long distant, I asked — via email — about another astrologer’s favorite book. I think I posited the question as the desert island scenario, like, “Can only take one astrology text, what would it be?”
The answer amused and intrigued me. Why I respect certain thinkers in my field — it’s not rote learning but extrapolation and synthesis.
The answer?
So that was probably 15, 18 years back, early double-aughts be my guess. Maybe earlier. My copy of the text looks like it came from the old New Age Bookstore — seriously old Austin — most of which is now long gone. Subsumed by progress?
Over the years, I’ve used a couple of other texts for reference manuals, namely Marcus Aurelius and 101 Zen Stories. For sure, I’ve got weathered and beat-up copies of both books, as paper books, not digital. I’m using a second or third copy of Marcus Aurelius with various editions seen here.
The Sabian Symbols is an interesting choice, veering into channeled material, but also drawn from that circle of life. It was authored by one of the great scientists in my field of astrology — one of the revolutionary, modern thinkers about this art and science.
The basic format assigns a simple paragraph with a clear archetype, or perhaps an over-arching thematic element, to each of the degrees in the zodiac, 30 degrees per sign, 360 in the circle. So that works out to 360 entries, each a short paragraph, and while cryptic at times, yet also resonates with kind of clarity.
Glancing through yet again, it’s easy to understand why this is the epitome of the material I work with. It covers in a succinct fashion, covers the subject matter, but as each and every spot in an astrology chart has an assigned number, a degree? Breaking it down, this text offers an almost unlimited ability to find deeper meaning where its lurking (in an astrology chart).
By now, times being what they are, I’m sure there’s a website that offers the Sabian Symbols in interpretation, with meaning, and updates, transits, progressions, and whatever else.
For me, that simple text with its delightfully deep material serves well enough.
Cover image of my copy is here, with suitable notations, a “Borders” bookmark, and one from Hatchard’s, as well. Kind of cool.
The Sabian Symbols in Astrology: Illustrated by 1000 Horoscopes of Well Known People
