Sabian Symbols

A single figure standing at the threshold of an enormous gate or doorway
The Gate Is Here. The Task Is Now. Nothing Else
At Virgo 30°, a man bends over the job in front of him so fully that every voice calling him elsewhere simply fails to reach him. The final degree of... Read more...
A solitary figure bent over an ancient scroll in a dimly lit study
After the Revolution, the Scroll
At Virgo 29°, someone hungry for hidden knowledge bends over an old scroll, and the words light up the mind reading them. After the upheaval of the previous degree, this... Read more...
A powerful, bald-headed figure standing at the centre of a scene of transformation
The Will That Has Decided
At Virgo 28°, a man with a bare, shaven head has just taken control of something that used to belong to someone else. The act is done; the question left... Read more...
A group of elegantly dressed older women gathered around a formal tea table
The Pinky That Knows Why It Is Raised
At Virgo 27°, a gathering of noblewomen moves through the formal steps of a court occasion, each greeting and pause carried out with practised poise. The degree asks what ceremony... Read more...
A young altar boy in ceremonial robes swinging a golden censer
The Smallest Act in the Largest Room
At Virgo 26°, a young altar server swings a censer beside the priest, close to the centre of the rite but with no words of his own to say. The... Read more...
Virgo 25° - A national flag hangs halfway down its pole outside a stone civic building on a still, grey morning.
What Remains When Everything Else Has Passed
At Virgo 25°, a flag has been brought halfway down its pole outside a public building, and everyone passing knows a loss has been marked. The degree asks what a... Read more...
A small girl walking along a country path, a white lamb close at her heels
What the Lion Tamer Must Remember on the Way Home
At Virgo 24°, a girl walks to school and her small lamb trots after her, unbidden and unashamed. Coming straight after the lion tamer, the scene sets mastery down and... Read more...
A lion tamer standing in a circus ring facing an elegant and powerful male lion at close range
The One Who Enters the Cage Must Know the Animal Better Than Themselves
At Virgo 23°, a trainer steps into the ring with a lion and shows the crowd both his skill and his character. The animal stays wild, and what holds the... Read more...
An ornate royal coat of arms rendered in vivid detail heraldic animals
Every Jewel on the Shield Is a Debt
At Virgo 22°, a royal shield hangs studded with gems, each stone set there by people who came before. The degree asks what such a display demands of the person... Read more...
A women's basketball team in coordinated movement
The Ball Goes Through the Ring Because Five Players Made It Possible
At Virgo 21°, a team of young women moves the ball around the court, passing, screening and cutting until one of them can score. The degree shows individual skill finding... Read more...
Virgo 20° - A long line of mixed cars drives together along an open highway toward a distant western coastline.
Everyone in Their Own Car, All Going the Same Direction
At Virgo 20°, a line of cars crosses a continent together, each driven by its own people, all bound for the far western shore. The degree shows cooperation that keeps... Read more...
Virgo 19° - Several swimmers race side by side down marked lanes in a pool, arms reaching forward through the water.
The Race Is With Yesterday's Version of Yourself
At Virgo 19°, several swimmers are racing down their lanes, each one alone with the resistance of the water. The degree asks what we are competing against: other bodies, or... Read more...
Men reading a ouija board on a table under the light of candles
The Hand That Moves, Who Is Moving It?
At Virgo 18°, a board printed with the alphabet lies on a table, and fingertips rest on a small pointer that drifts from letter to letter as if steered by... Read more...
A volcano in full eruption at night, lava flowing down the mountainside in rivers
The Mountain That Has Been Holding Too Much for Too Long
At Virgo 17°, the ground splits open and a volcano throws out fire, rock and ash after a long season of pressure underground. What is held without release does not... Read more...
A large orangutan facing a little boy, they are observing each other in peace
What Looks Back at You from Behind the Glass
At Virgo 16°, a group of children are led up to an orangutan and find themselves eye to eye with it, close enough to study its hands. Having looked at... Read more...
A delicate antique lace handkerchief draped over a woman's open hands
The Smallest Thing in the Drawer
At Virgo 15°, a square of delicate lace, handed down from forebears who showed courage, rests in someone's keeping. What grew slowly through a family's endurance comes to flower here... Read more...
Virgo 14° - A large illustrated family tree with many generations of names spreading from old roots out to the newest branches.
The Strength in the Trunk Is the Strength of the Root
At Virgo 14°, a family's lineage is drawn out as a great branching tree, generation after generation, with the living at its tips. What we are often grew slowly through... Read more...
A politician standing in the middle of an agitated crowd
The Steady Hand in the Room Where Everyone Is Shouting
At Virgo 13°, a public figure of real stature stands in front of a crowd gripped by political panic and brings it back to its senses. The authority here does... Read more...
Virgo 12° - Just after the vows, a groom swiftly lifts the veil from his bride's face as she stands before him.
The Face Behind the Veil Was Always There
At Virgo 12°, the ceremony is over and the new husband pulls the veil from his bride's face in one quick movement. The face was there all along; the gesture... Read more...
Virgo 11° - A mother holds her newborn son close and studies his face with the recognition of a long wish come true.
The Dream That Becomes the Child That Becomes the Dream
At Virgo 11°, a mother looks at her newborn and finds in him the son she spent years longing for. A longing held steadily enough can help call its own... Read more...
Two figures standing side by side at the edge of a vast luminous landscape
The Two Faces Looking Past What Divides Them
At Virgo 10°, two heads gaze out together past the shade that surrounds them, toward a brightness neither one owns. Every position we take throws a shadow simply because it... Read more...
Virgo 9° - A painter works at an easel in a cluttered studio, laying down bold, unnatural colours with quick and forceful brushstrokes.
The Drawing No One Has Made Before
At Virgo 9°, a painter stands at the easel making a picture that does not copy the world but shows what it feels like from inside. The degree separates originality... Read more...
A small child of about five years old standing in a dance studio facing an instructor
Before the Dance, the Lesson
At Virgo 8°, a small child stands on a studio floor for the first time, waiting to be shown how to move. The degree is about the willingness to be... Read more...
Women in elaborate traditional dress gathered in a richly decorated interior space
What You Do With the Waiting
At Virgo 7°, women live out their days in the closed quarter of a household, behind walls they did not build and a door they cannot open. The degree asks... Read more...
A brightly painted old-fashioned carousel in full motion
Round and Round, Up and Down, and the Ring You Might Catch
At Virgo 6°, a fairground carousel turns to its music while riders rise and sink on painted horses, passing the same places again and again. A repeating cycle can feel... Read more...
A man standing at the edge of an ancient forest at dusk
The Man Who Looked at the Garden and Saw Something Moving
At Virgo 5°, a man stands in an ordinary place and slowly begins to sense the living presences that move through it, forces he had always walked past. Perception widens... Read more...
A group of children of different ethnicities running and playing together
The Difference That Makes Us Richer
At Virgo 4°, a Black child and a white child are absorbed in the same game, laughing, with no sign that anyone has explained to them why they should keep... Read more...
Two luminous angelic figures flanking a lone human
You Were Never in the Wilderness Alone
At Virgo 3°, two guardian figures keep watch, one on each side, over whoever walks between them. Support often arrives like this, from both flanks rather than as one overwhelming... Read more...
Virgo 2° - A tall white cross stands on high ground and can be seen across the fields, roads and villages below it.
What Gets Raised Has First Been Carried
At Virgo 2°, a tall white cross stands over open country, visible from every road and field around it. What the land now lifts up was first borne in private,... Read more...
Virgo 1° - A painted portrait of a man in which the artist has brought out the lines and features that show who he is.
The Face That Knows What It Has Become
At Virgo 1°, a painter has finished a man's portrait and let the telling features of his face stand out from the rest. A camera records everything with the same... Read more...