Not the Sabian Symbols

Comment: For every degree of the zodiac, there is a corresponding symbol. Look up the degree of your ascendant (or sun, or moon, or ruling planet) & that is your personal symbol. Of many such books, M.E. Jones's Sabian Symbols is today the best known - but these two sets, one by Charubel & another by Sepharial, first published a century ago, are, by consensus, by far the best. Find out why!

Charubel (1826-1908), was the pseudonym of John Thomas, a Welsh clairvoyant, occultist & healer. As a young man he studied for the ministry, but when forced to choose between religious life & his psychic abilities, he chose the later. He founded (and later dissolved) an occult order. He published numerous books & was editor of several periodicals. His symbols were the result of his own investigations & were first published in Alan Leo's Astrologer's Magazine in 1893.

Sepharial (1864-1929) claimed his symbol set was a translation of La Volasfera, by Antonio Borelli (or Bonelli), but attempts to find the original have failed. (It would not surprise me if Sepharial found the original on the astral plane. He was comfortable on the astrals & there is a lot of unique stuff out there.) Until they were supplanted by Jones' Sabian Symbols, these two were the most popular of the many degree-symbol sets.

Click here for a PDF of the intro & the beginning of Charubel's section.

Astrology Classics, 136 pages.

Comment: This is the result of careful study of the degree sets of Pietro d'Abano (aka Johannes Angelus), the Theban Calendar (attributed to P. Christian), and the better-known sets by Charubel & Sepharial. Carelli believes the reason these four are different is that each author understood only a fraction of what each degree is trying to express. He has searched to find the core idea for each degree, which, he says, lead him to conclusions that were often strikingly different from his printed sources. One of the best of the degree books.

AFA, 253 pages.

Contents:

Introduction

Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces

Comment:

This book is similar to Donna Walter Henson's book (above), in that the author has dissected a great many charts to find what is common to each degree of the zodiac. These are mostly Sun degrees, and they start at 0 and go to 29 of each sign. For each degree, the author gives its essence, and then a list of people who had it prominently in their charts, noting when it was not the Solar degree. Some typical entries:

0 Scorpio: Scorpio comes in with a great deal of strength - strength of character and of intelligence. But these people are also good-natured. Plus the usual big ego. But people with this degree can have a lot of trouble with partners, "It's my way or the highway." Actress Sarah Bernhardt, author Michael Crichton, dictator Rafael Trujillo, actor Kevin Kline.

1 Scorpio: The green-eyed monster. A strong music degree. Also a scientific side. A strong leader. Some of these people have problems with partners or lose them. A jealous degree. Composer Georges Bizet, composer Maurice Ravel (Jupiter), singer Helen Reddy, scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek, astrologer R.C. Jansky, King James II.

2 Scorpio: Strength of mind and character. Good degree for a politician. The statesman. There is also a concern for the mystical and the occult in early Scorpio degrees. And the traveller. Artist Pablo Picasso, explorer Richard E. Byrd, politican Francois Mitterand, politican Hillary Clinton, actor John Cleese, singer Katy Perry.

At the beginning of the book the author gives some fascinating highlights. Here are some of them:

• All beginning degrees are ego degrees. Not just Aries.
• All ending degrees have a difficulty. They are not characteristic of either the outgoing sign or the incoming sign, and sometimes they are a subtle blending of both.
• Middle degrees (15) are usually odd, and not really typical of the sign.
• All 13 degrees are unlucky. . . .
• All 3 degrees are powerful, and usually an area of genius. The 26 degrees are usually strong, too. (pgs. 1-2)

This is far and away my favorite book of this sort. It is utterly fascinating.

AFA, 125 pages.

In the Foreword, the author writes, This work is a attempt to produce a useful astrological Encyclopaedia of Character, and, as far as data permit, of Disease.... Some reference might perhaps at this point be made to the study of the local zodiacal influences which are frequently mentioned herein. Even from the earliest times certain parts of the Zodiac, usually identified with nebulae or fixed stars, have been considered to possess peculiar powers. Medieval writers also published lists of degrees to which they assigned special names & qualities, such as azimene, pitted, smoky.... Recently Mr. Maurice Wemyss has published, in the pages of Modern Astrology, numerous articles dealing largely with degree-influences, treated in pairs of opposites - 0 degrees Aries-Libra, and so on - and it is now widely held that the study of the individual characters of degrees is one of the most promising fields of astrological research.... My own investigations in this direction, while stimulated by Mr. Wemyss's valuable work, are the results of original study. I am not prepared to say whether the influences in question are inherent in the degree, or for some reason originate in a wider zodiacal area. In some instances the peculiarity seems very local; in others much more extensive. In some cases it seems to derive from one degree only; in others, from a pair of opposite degrees; in others again, from the corresponding degrees in the four signs of the quadruplicity. In any event, the reality & value of these local effects are beyond question, although our knowledge of them is in its infancy. It should be noted that the values of degree-areas are often to be seen in progressions as well as in the natal figure. (pgs 5-6)

Sometimes known as Carter's Little Green Book. Often witty, always surprising, a book you will use forever. Includes six nativities of interest, and a table of local influences mentioned in the book. Click here for a PDF extract.

Astrology Classics, 199 pages, paper.