“Always keeping first things first.”
Let us proceed to a study of this day’s septenary or 7-fold geometric model of the Sabian symbols, which constitutes a mandala of 360 astrological degrees as developed by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones in collaboration with and channeled by Elsie May Wheeler in the spring of 1925.* Additionally, by utilizing the ancient esoteric writing, The Emerald Tablet, Tablet III by Thoth, we adopt a ready and constant framework for our deeper reflections. The chakra system is also made available for the additional insights it may provide; the geometric designs provided are based on the work of Frank Chester and may be used to cut out and assemble a Chestahedron for meditation.
Thoth: All eyes do not see with the same vision, for to one an object appears of one form and colour and to a different eye of another. So also the infinite fire, changing from colour to colour, is never the same from day to day.
Man is a star bound to a body, until in the end, he is freed through his strife. Only by struggle and toiling thine utmost shall the star within thee bloom out in new life. Wisdom cometh to all her children even as they cometh unto wisdom. All through the ages, the light has been hidden. Awake, O man, and be wise.
Before the Lords of hidden Amenti learned I the wisdom I give unto men. Masters are they of the great Secret Wisdom, brought from the future of infinity’s end. Seven are they, the Lords of Amenti, overlords they of the Children of Morning, Suns of the Cycles, Masters of Wisdom. Formed are not they as the children of men? Three, Four, Five and Six, Seven, Eight, Nine are the titles of the Masters of men.
Far from the future, formless yet forming, came they as teachers for the children of men. Live they forever, yet not of the living, bound not to life and yet free from death. Rule they forever with infinite wisdom, bound yet not bound to the dark Halls of Death. Life they have in them, yet life that is not life, free from all are the Lords of the ALL.
Forth from them came forth the Logos, instruments they of the power o’er all. Vast is their countenance, yet hidden in smallness, formed by a forming, known yet unknown.
THREE holds the key of all hidden magic, creator he of the halls of the Dead; sending forth power, shrouding with darkness, binding the souls of the children of men; sending the darkness, binding the soul force; director of negative to the children of men.
The Root Chakra awakening: “Always keeping first things first.”
Pisces 24° An inhabited island
This is a symbol of the self-adequacy of experience on the objective side of everyday reality, and of man’s gift for the organization of his own private world in any area of his special interest. He is always able to function in a complete independence of the alien or the unfriendly, and to develop adequate resources for his need in what at the beginning might seem to be the most barren of situations. He capitalizes on the potentials among which he finds himself, and nurses the least of promise to its fruits.
The keyword is CULTIVATION.
When positive, the degree is achievement through a creative opportunism or inventiveness of exceptional order, and when negative, snobbish complacency and self-indulgence.
FOUR is he who looses the power. Lord, he, of Life to the children of men. Light is his body, flame is his countenance; freer of souls to the children of men.
The Sacral Chakra awakening: “We may soon achieve our goal!”
Taurus 15° A man muffled up, with a rakish silk hat
This is a symbol of absolute self-integrity at a simple extreme of self-consciousness, or of the human spirit in its inherent supremacy over all possible limitations or embarrassments. There is here a sure dramatization of self, or a continual and effective awareness of a role to be played in life. The individual is willing to utilize whatever arises in experience, but he refuses to accept any dictation from any least part of it.
The keyword is SOPHISTICATION.
When positive, the degree is a superb aplomb arising from the constant rediscovery of greater powers latent in selfhood, and when negative, marked insensibility to all deeper impulses and complete surrender to superficial self-interest.
FIVE is the master, the Lord of all magic – Key to The Word that resounds among men.
The Solar Plexus Chakra awakening: “Are you coming or going?”
Cancer 7° Two fairies on a moonlit night
This is a symbol of nature’s illimitable potentialities on the side of the release she offers man from his physical or psychological involvement, and of the necessity that he achieve some measure of lightness in self-expression as a balance for the strain of everyday existence. Here is an exaltation of fancy as a dynamic factor in all self-realization, and of the quiet moments of experience as a real opportunity for self-orientation. The magic of selfhood lies in its ability to rise above whatever may threaten its well-being.
The keyword is ASCENDANCY.
When positive, the degree is a transforming sensitivity or a healing imagination, and when negative, a senseless retreat to make-believe.
SIX is the Lord of Light, the hidden pathway, path of the souls of the children of men.
The Heart Chakra awakening: “Conceptual melody.”
Leo 28° Many little birds on the limb of a large tree
This is a symbol of the transcendence of the lesser things in life by a continual expansion of higher considerations, or of the individual’s ability in a crisis to center his attention on the enduring orientations through which he gains his own assurance. Here is a happy lightness of the human spirit as it rejoices in its infinitely varying relations with the beautiful and the good, or as its experience is poised at a point of highest satisfaction.
The keyword is RAMIFICATION.
When positive, the degree is man’s effective mobilization of all the unrealized possibilities of his destiny, and when negative, an enjoyment of confusion or the momentary self-importance it brings.
SEVEN is he who is Lord of the vastness, master of Space and the key of the Times.
The Throat Chakra awakening: “Remember The Golden Rule.”
Libra 19° A gang of robbers in hiding
This is a symbol of the periodic exercise of man’s freedom of spirit and soul in a complete if often unhappy deviation from his normal impulses or attitudes, dramatized here on the side of a practical or everyday self-fulfillment. Emphasis is on every person’s disturbing capacity for antisocial or even self-perverted practices, or for self-involvement in potentials which may have imaginative but hardly intelligent sustainment in his consciousness. The reversed symbolism reveals his need for initiative, and for a more challenging perspective.
The keyword is DIVERGENCE.
When positive, the degree is alertness to every threat against a true individuality, and when negative, abnormal mistrust of everything worth while.
EIGHT is he who orders the progress; weighs and balances the journey of men.
The Third Eye Chakra awakening: “In the face of adversity.”
Sagittarius 11° The lamp of physical enlightenment at the left temple
This is a symbol of the enlarged understanding which comes from an inner and spiritual outreaching, and of the rewards following on a ceaseless experiment with one or another mode of self-expression. Here is self-orientation through a continual balancing of consequences and meanings in everyday activity and relationship. The world is seen as a laboratory for the soul, able to provide each individual with the reality he seeks for himself.
The keyword is RECONCILIATION.
When positive, the degree is personal effectiveness through an intelligent capitalization on past achievement, and when negative, witless trial and error leading to an utter confusion of ideas.
NINE is the father, vast he of countenance, forming and changing from out of the formless.
The Crown Chakra awakening: “When fire touches water.”
Aquarius 2° An unexpected thunderstorm
This is a symbol of nature’s potentialities as they lie beyond any individual control, as well as of the tendency of all things to come to some dramatic head in either physical or psychological terms. The primitive symbolism emphasizes the necessity that every living spirit remain wholly self-quickened within itself, and be alert to its more or less inevitable participation in every shifting pattern of events. The convergence of relations in some climax of experience is man’s real opportunity for self-fulfillment.
The keyword is ACCIDENT.
When positive, the degree is creative opportunism and a genius for shaping all eventualities to some desired end, and when negative, complete temperamental instability.
Meditate on the symbols I give thee. Keys are they, though hidden from men.
Reach ever upward, O Soul of the morning. Turn thy thoughts upward to Light and to Life. Find in the keys of the numbers I bring thee, light on the pathway from life unto life.
Seek thee with wisdom. Turn thy thoughts inward. Close not thy mind to the flower of Light.
Place in thine body a thought-formed picture. Think of the numbers that lead thee to Life.
Clear is the pathway to he who has wisdom. Open the door to the Kingdom of Light.
Pour forth thy flame as a Sun of the morning. Shut out the darkness and live in the day.
Take thee, O man! As part of thy being, the Seven who are but are not as they seem. Opened, O man! Have I my wisdom. Follow the path in the way I have led.
Masters of Wisdom, SUN of the MORNING LIGHT and LIFE to the children of men.
“Always keeping first things first.”
Thank you for visiting the Sabian Symbols Septenary.
The featured artistic renderings of the symbols are provided by Ruby Fumizki.
The tagline phrases and 7 gem images of the Chestahedron are by Saijin.
The interpretations are the official ones provided by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, from his book, Sabian Symbols in Astrology, the 1953 First Edition, published by The Sabian Publishing Society, New York; printed in the United States of America by the Roberts Studio Press, Arden, Delaware.
To learn more about The Sabian Assembly, the organization founded by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones on October 17, 1923, where seekers are bound by “searching for competent rather than easy answers to the problems of life”, please visit The Sabian Assembly at sabian.org.
To learn more about the Sabian Symbols
Saijin invites you to visit her on-line at SabianGeometry.com
on her YouTube channel at Sabian Geometry
and on Facebook at Sabian Geometry with Saijin.
If you are interested in studying the Sabian symbols in their models of the Cross (4-fold, structural) and the Star (5-fold, creative), she invites you to purchase her book:
On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology
On the Shoulders of Giants: Advanced Techniques in Sabian Symbology
Saijin's Sabian Symbol Septenary 