Sagittarius 18°: Children playing on the beach, their heads protected by sunbonnets.

12:26, 12/11/2014, Sagittarius 18°





pp. 220-221    AN ASTROLOGICAL MANDALA, by Dane Rudhyar (1973)

PHASE 258 (SAGITTARIUS 18°): CHILDREN PLAYING ON THE BEACH, THEIR HEADS PROTECTED BY SUNBONNETS.

KEYNOTE: The protection society affords to as yet immature individuals as they begin to deal with the powerful energies of their unconscious nature.

What we call "culture" is an attempt to limit and define the areas of consciousness and interpersonal or group behavior within which growth and exploration into superphysical realms can be considered safe and sound. Sun and sea are powerful forces; they can kill as well as illumine and inspire, as can various kinds of forces within man's unconscoius. The cultural and religious institutions of society aim to act as protective agencies, especially for the youth. Overprotection and hypocritical behavior by supposed grownups defeat this purpose, and today we are witnessing an at least partially healthy rebellion against the protective paternalism of social institutions. This, however, does lead to many a symbolic "sunstroke."

This is the third symbol in the fifty-second five-fold sequence. It brings to us a realization of the value of PROTECTIVENESS, yet also evokes the negative possibility that too much protection may be unhealthy and defeat its purpose.
Girlcapsule's Response:

I was so interested to see the way Rudhyar formulated his thought regarding a function of culture as being to shape a container within which the evolution of consciousness happens. In Rudhyar's words, a container "within which growth and exploration into superphysical realms can be considered safe and sound" (1973, p. 220). Yes! let's bring the idea of exploring superphysical realms right up to the surface of our consideration.

I have been attending a class this semester taught Brian Swimme and Richard Tarnas, the title of which is Radical Mytho-speculation. In response to my request that they speak about synchronicity, Rick said that he would first point to Plotinus' recognition of the interconnected nature of the universe—that all things breathe together. Also Aristotle's concept of formal cause, which points to the archetypal pattern as a source of meaning. Jung's definition (that he worked on with theoretical physicist, Wolfgang Pauli,) states that the phenomenon of synchronicity points to an acausal connecting principle that centers on meaning.

Random shot: Research equipment by mostly Korean artists

Characteristic of synchronicity as a phenomenon is some indication that they happen in service of a cosmic impulse toward wholeness, and comes as a kind of communication from the whole to the part. All of this implies a telos of complexification that adds many dimensions to the experience of being including poetic and mythic dimensions, aesthetics and individuation. 

The stuff of existence becomes meaning-saturated and finds a way to communicate with us. The mystery of this remains elusive and in tact. I've heard some people say they feel it will always shrink back from making itself explainable—its function is, perhaps, to re-instill a sense of wonder in beings who are suffering in an existential sense.

Here's an image of Demetra George's brilliant book, from which many of the images from the last post were taken. Specifically, the images of graphic organizers depicting the zodiac and moon phases as experienced from the perspective of Earth beings.

I have to say, I am having a powerful experience of the synchronistic field opening through engaging in this process. I feel affirmed and excited. I also want to invite comments for improving understanding. I think I've been reading too much and talking to others too little. But we can always invite a process of sorting these things out together.

I want to bring to the discussion a way of perceiving time that was characteristic of ancient Chinese metaphysical beliefs and practices for aligning with the music of the spheres. It has to do with number patterns.

Here's an image from von Franz's On Divination and Synchronicity that shows two number patterns. One represents our time-bound experience of the physical world, the other is a deeper rhythm that governs the universe that sometimes makes itself  known.

Marie Louis von Franz: On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance, (1980, p. 13)

 von Franz writes:

The  underlying numerical order of eternity is called the Ho-tou (Figure 3), a mandala and also a cross. There is again 5 in the middle. One counts 1, 2. 3, 4, and then moves to the middle 5, then 6, 7, 8. 9.  and then back to 10—10 would really be in the middle. One must always cross and come back to the middle. Actually it is the movement of a musical dance because it emanates into four and contracts into the middle—it has a systole and diastole movement. The Lo Shou is the world of time in which we live, and underneath is always the eternity rhythm, the Ho-tou. That idea underlay the whole cultural and scientific application of mathematics in China. (1980, p. 14)

Here is a link I will create—a synthesis to be held within view as the conversation goes forward. That is, the concept of the number 5 as being at the center of a rhythm—marking a mid-point through which all else is threaded, as von Franz points out. This center creates a pole of stability; from this central place the breathing happens as life expands and contracts itself into more and more complex forms and expressions.


Keiron Le Grice created this chart (see image below) to show a cross-correlation or comparison of the archetypal energies of the planetary bodies of astrology as compared with Cosmologist, Brian Swimme's working model of Cosmological Powers. I notated numbers next to the cosmological powers—these being the order in which Swimme formally arranges the powers as they are presented in his work. 

Notice the number 5 is assigned the power of cataclysm. This aligns with the archetypal energy of the number 5 in the Minor Arcana of the Tarot. Five is problematic. I should say, 5 is understood to be problematic generally, esoterically speaking.

The Archetypal Cosmos by Keiron Le Grice (2010, p. 247)

To the side is an image from my Ephemeris that maps the planets to the 360° Zodiac. Isn't this a strange process? 


Adopting the interpretive posture of the symbolic attitude need not not exclude grounding into the shared relational field. Astrology demonstrates that the archetypal way of noticing is defined by the relative motion of the planetary bodies of our local star system. Could this reality of our solar system that we bear witness to be considered an echo or cousin of the Chinese conception of universal rhythms underlying the more immediate cycles of time that govern life on Earth?