LUNAR degree: Sabian SYmBol

The Sabian symbol is a series of messages channelled by the medium, Elsie Wheeler, and interpreted by the astrologer, Marc Edmund Jones, during the course of one day in 1925. They give a set of symbols, word associations and images for each of the 360 degrees of the tropical zodiac. The duo believed that they had managed to tap into what Jones called ‘ancient mind matrix’ of the Sabian Brotherhood of ancient Mesopotamia – an occult sect from the city of Harran that was keen to preserve the original Chaldean traditions, centered around moon worship (the name Chaldean literally means ‘moon worshippers’), which underpinned the very earliest beginnings of astrology. This included talismanic or sympathetic magic, which Michael Baigent describes as “the magic whereby a deity’s power is attracted or coerced down to be concentrated into a physical object” using resonant symbols, metals, colours and numbers. We see this continued in texts such as the Picatrix – and later in the natural magic of Marsilio Ficino.

Hexagram 53: Venus-Mars and Sacred Union

Within the system of Human Design, Hexagram (or gate) 53, known in the I Ching as the Marrying Maiden, is all about the rituals and ceremonies that celebrate marriage. It’s so interesting that this particular gate is activated at a time when Venus & Mars are coming together, given everything we discussed around Hexagram 59 back in May 2021 around the Relationship Core Wound.

Indeed, the metaphor tied up in Hexagram 53 of the I Ching centres around the rites and rituals surrounding the Great Marriages, which involve not just two people, but also entire communities, as well as the proper blending of Heaven & Earth, masculine and feminine, body and soul. Like any alchemical operation, when there is a lot at stake and much can go wrong, it becomes important that all the proper customs and rituals are observed, and there is much emphasis in this Hexagram on gradual development – allowing relationships to unfold slowly, for trust to build up, and for feelings to deepen.

There’s also a lot in this moon phase about theelement of water and the natural ebbs and flows of cycles (it forms part of the Channel of Cycles for one – find out more in my videocast), and an emphasis on recognizing that everything happens in its own time, and how trying to prematurely rush this process (very Martian/fiery) can often lead to problems.

I am reminded of the classic Thomas Hardy novel, Far from the Madding Crowd, which is all about relationships. Hardy shows us two examples of what happens when both the feminine and the masculine energies try to force things too quickly – in Gabriel Oak’s case, a young and over-keen sheepdog ends up driving his flock of sheep over a cliff, and in Bathsheba’s case, she allows her lust for the ultra martian Troy, a dashing soldier with commitment issues, to blind her to his faults. In fact, the entire premise of the book rests on the idea of friendship (or the Greek: philia) as the basis for long-lasting connections.

“This good fellowship – camaraderie – usually occurring through the similarity of pursuits is unfortunately seldom super-added to love between the sexes, because men and women associate, not in their labours but in their pleasures merely. Where, however, happy circumstances permit its development, the compounded feeling proves itself to be the only love which is strong as death – that love which many waters cannot quench, nor the floods drown, besides which the passion usually called by the name is as evanescent as steam.”

― Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd

Isn’t it fascinating then that next week’s Venus-Mars conjunction takes place in Hexagram 4, which is all about immaturity and the foolishness of youth! (Perhaps some parallels here to both Parsifal in the grail myth, and the wise Fool in the tarot?) A time when passions and hormones have the potential to run rampant and the desire of Eros can often blur our judgement! However, what’s even more fascinating is that Line 2 of this Hexagram (which is precisely where the conjunction takes place) is all about marriage. In the Total I Ching, Line 2 of the oracle says :

Let in the wife. This young son can control the dwelling.

Karcher, Hex 4, line 2, Total I Ching

Notice that we are told that the masculine energy is the ‘young son’. Not a mature king, but rather a page or knight in tarot terms? Or perhaps the Fool in the tarot trumps? Certainly, there is a degree of innocence here which we could attribute to Mars as ruler of Aries, the first sign of the zodiac. Karcher elaborates, saying that in this context, ‘being hidden and enveloped turns into caring for and protecting someone.’ (Perhaps to keep the connection pure and free from third party interference?) How very Moon in Cancer! And also in keeping with the conjunction between Venus and fixed star Dubhe, which is all about the protective instincts of a mother bear – see above for details, or even better, watch my videocast, which I have especially extended for members. Karcher continues:

It is time to take a wife and establish a dwelling. You have the ability to do this and the time is right.

Karcher, Hex 4, line 2, Total I Ching

LINKS TO ALCHEMY

What’s even more fascinating is the parallels between this and the third alchemical phase of rubeus, or the reddening, which is often depicted as the phoenix – the firey symbol of spiritual resurrection (fire is the element of spirit in hermetic cosmology) – the inner, Christic sun, or Divine Child, born from the union of material and spiritual, who is also referred to as the red-winged lion (as symbolised by the Strength card in the tarot).

In some alchemical texts, this is depicted as a spiritual or second marriage between the pelican (feminine – white) and the phoenix (masculine – red) to create a ‘spiritual body’ which is not material but yet not wholly spiritual either – an etheric body made from the fifth element = quintessence.

We can see this sequence being played out in Trumps 6, 7 and 8 of the tarot in a fascinating way. The pelican representing the selfless love of a mother for her chicks (again, how interesting that this occurs at the Cancer New Moon when Venus is conjunct Dubhe, the star of the momma bear) Like the Chariot card in the tarot, (which many equate with the pelican in alchemy and which is associated with the sign of Cancer) the pelican represents self-control, and emotional self-mastery – qualities needed in order to ‘tame the fiery lion’ of our emotional passions and bodily compulsions, much like the image of the white-robed woman we see in the Strength tarot trump, which is all about learning to hold ones desires back and wait for the right time.

Continuing this theme, I find it interesting that the rubeus phase is often referred to as the ‘red servant’ – the masculine energy that has learned the true meaning of leadership, which is to serve others. Thus, the masculine Grail King’s wound is healed by innocent question of the ‘foolish youth’ which reverses the usual question from ‘Who does the Grail serve’ to ‘Who serves the Grail?’. In other words, the masculine energy has ‘levelled up’ and become less self-centred, and more service-oriented, like the knights in those old chivalric romances about courtly love. Thus, in the I Ching, the male protects the female, and the female protects her young. Everything has a place and a function. (More on this below in the Lunar Face).

Of course, in alchemy and many esoteric eastern traditions, this process is usually not about a literal marriage between a man and a woman, as it tends to be interpreted in both the tarot and chivalric traditions, but instead, a tantric union between the masculine and feminine parts of ourselves – between the spirit (sun) and the body (moon) – the coming together of Shiva and Shakti, which we looked at it in the Pink Supermoon Forecast ( and which, interestingly, featured another bird associated with alchemy, the swan).

Fascinating stuff! Especially when we consider the similarities between these images of alchemical marriages, which often include a third figure, Hermes the go-between or priest (more on which below in the Lunar Face), who unites the two polar yin/yang energies, and the tarot image of The Lovers, which contains a figure that many think is the Archangel Gabriel, (the angel of the cup!) bringing together the two counterparts.

Notice the snake behind Eve (kundalini shakti?) and the flame tree behind Adam (the desire of eros?) and the meeting of heaven and earth, as represented by the mountain and the sun…In this, we recognize the social and cosmological dimensions of marriage, which in the I Ching is summed up by Hexagram 31, which is known as Uniting in Spirit:

There is Heaven and Earth, then there are the Myriad Beings…and then there is Man and Woman…then there is Husband and Wife…then there is Father and Son…then there is Leader and Server, then there is Above and Below.

Total I Ching, Karcher, Hexagram 31