Dane Rudhyar on Astrology, the Eternal, the Sacred and the Profane

by Robert Wilkinson

Dane Rudhyar, one of the greatest astrologers of all time, said something profound about astrology in the last part of his masterwork, “An Astrological Mandala,” where he reinterpreted the Sabian Symbols used by so many in the craft. Today is a tiny but significant piece from that work.

For your consideration, from the section titled “The Symbolic Life,” the words of the venerable Rudhyar.

The significance of astrology is that it can transform the profane into the sacred, the facts of astronomy into the revelation of a cosmic order manifest in the cell and the human person as well as in the solar system and the galaxy. To try to make astrology a “science” based on empirical facts and statistics is to deny its essential and ancient nature. Astrology deals with the mythos of the Sky. The elements it uses are archetypes. Therefore, to live one’s life in terms of the revelatory message symbolically implied in one’s birth chart is to live a life in terms of the “sacred” character of existence. It does not mean to feel oppressed by “bad” aspects or elated by “good” ones. It does not mean to avoid confrontation with existential facts and to escape into fanciful dreams of pseudo-occult transcendence. It demands instead that life be lived strictly on the basis of non-escapism - that is, an attitude of acceptance of what is, but an “is” that remains transparent to the “eternal.”

Alas, the words “eternity” and “eternal” have been made to refer to an escape from minds haunted by a desperate urge to transcend biological and intellectual compulsions, just as nirvana in its popular sense has been equated with a concept of negation and annihilation. These perversions are at the root of the deepest tragedies that mankind is now experiencing. An eternity is a complete cycle of time. The consciousness which can perceive things and events in their eternal nature is one which sees every happening as definitely related to a particular phase of some more or less vast cycle of existence.

Comments

[Layli]

Greetings, Robert:
Inspired by your frequent references to the exact meaning of specific degrees along the zodiac, I have just started researching Sabian Symbols and I am about to invest in one or more books by Dane Rudhyar (is the Astrological Mandala a good place to start?). I've found some Sabian sites online, but my question is, within Rudhyar's system, when going to a degree to get the interpretation, how do I know which degree to look at? For example, if I am looking up 19'15", do I go to the Sabian Symbol for 19 degrees of 20 degrees? It seems the latter, but I am unsure, so your clarification would be helpful!
Thanks,
Layli

[Robert]

Hi Layli - Definitely start with the Astrological Mandala. And yes, 0 degrees + any minutes = 1 degree. 1 degree + any minutes = 2 degrees. 29+ = 30. So 19 degrees 15 minutes = 20 degrees.

[Layli]

Thank you. You've got me off to a great start!
Layli

[franklin maia]

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