(Revised and Updated 2/9/2020)
This post offers an abbreviated discussion of how the Sabian Symbols have influenced astrology, why I chose the name Seed Work for this site, and an example of how these concepts or philosophical ideas can be integrated into a reading.
I chose the term Seed Work for two reasons. The most obvious being
that the seed is a symbol of beginnings, of a concentration of power
held within a tiny germ. Not only does it hold the genetic material that has the
potential for life, it represents the cycle of birth death and renewal. Living to our
fullest potential is what so many want out of life, but to be truly fulfilled we also need to learn to accept life for what it is and embrace the difficult with the easy. We are shaped by events and
situations that can thwart us on our path, or make us
stronger. The idea is that life is a journey
The
overarching reason for the term Seed Work is that it speaks to the way humanistic astrology approaches the chart, as a symbol of a cyclic process of
growth. It honors the potential for autonomy as well as the innate potential inherent within, that which we bring with us from the past. Astrology is a language of symbols that human beings have been
learning since the ancient Sumerians. The natal chart, like a seed,
unfolds.
The concept
of person-centered or humanistic astrology was re-introduced by Dane
Rudyar and Marc Edmond Jones in the early part of the 20th century.
Jones brought to life the work of harmonics through the channeling of
the Sabian symbols- a symbol for each degree of the zodiac - by the
clairvoyant Elsie Wheeler. Jones believed that he and Elsie had tapped
into the well of ancient Sumerian culture and wisdom by establishing a
rapport with the ancestral spirits or seed men and women. It was the
Sumerians that first perfected the science and art of astrology. The
symbols, like the I Ching, provide profound insight into the cyclic
character of human experience.
In Dane Rudyar's An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and its 360 Symbolic Phases he writes that the symbols are meant to arouse in the student a realization of the power of his own creative spirit . . to inspire us to live our lives instead of being lived by the events of our lives. To access our power, instead of being swayed by natural forces, to live from the creative spirit within. "The symbol is the key to the adjustment between the individual act, problem or situation and a universal frame of reference."
My approach is also what I believe to be transcendental, and at times have used that term to describe my work because it speaks to the process of
developing meta-awareness with regard to our lives, our choices and
crisis. Transcending the confusion through structure, through
compassionate acceptance of ourselves. Transcendence does not mean
avoidance, side stepping our role in life's drama, nor does it mean
passively passing through it without giving it the sense of meaning
required to master the lesson and move on; the process of expanding
consciousness.
There are times when it seems that other
words or terms would be a better fit, as this one, Transcendental, has
developed an elastic quality that could easily be stretched beyond
recognition. Dane Rudyar waxes on about his reasons for choosing
Transpersonal as the frame word for his school of astrology.
Transpersonal implies that we are all a part of a greater cosmic plan,
or at least that we affect and are affected by the ebb and flow of all
life, that we are have the choice to react, instinctively to what comes
our way, resisting in our attempt to alter it, or, be like the sieve,
allowing the experience to flow through us, through the framework of our
personality, but without reacting negatively in our attempt to alter
the experience that it might better align with our assumptions of
ourselves and of the world.
I would love to know your thoughts.:-)