17 Taurus Sabian symbol

[Flowergirl]

I wonder if anyone would be so kind as to post me a proper explanation/or your own interpretation of
Sabian symbol 17 (16*48') Taurus
A battle between the swords and the torches

I am going to the city soon to buy either one of these books recommended but in the mean time I am burning trying to understand the symbology. It's the SS for my Taurus moon in 2nd house, oppose Uranus (9th) and I am trying to understand the conflict that is there.

When I picture this I think of emotionally being at conflict with swords (air element) and torches (fire element) as in tarot. Are these conflicts within myself or are these conflicts I have with people with a lot of air and fire in their charts? I have a predominantly water & earth chart.

Any interpretation will be welcome. Thanks.

[sdh3]

Originally Posted by Flowergirl

I wonder if anyone would be so kind as to post me a proper explanation/or your own interpretation of
Sabian symbol 17 (16*48') Taurus
A battle between the swords and the torches

I am going to the city soon to buy either one of these books recommended but in the mean time I am burning trying to understand the symbology. It's the SS for my Taurus moon in 2nd house, oppose Uranus (9th) and I am trying to understand the conflict that is there.

When I picture this I think of emotionally being at conflict with swords (air element) and torches (fire element) as in tarot. Are these conflicts within myself or are these conflicts I have with people with a lot of air and fire in their charts? I have a predominantly water & earth chart.

Any interpretation will be welcome. Thanks.

Interpretations from Dane Rudhyar's classic work on the Sabian Symbols, An Astrological Mandala, can be found on line here. In fact, the whole book is on line. Below is the entry for Taurus 17:

PHASE 47 (TAURUS 17°): A SYMBOLICAL BATTLE BETWEEN "SWORDS" AND "TORCHES."

KEYNOTE: Refusing to depend upon the past, the seeker turns warrior, fighting anew the eternal "Great War. "

When Gautama, having sought in vain for the answers to his questions among the teachers of tradition, sat under the Bodhi Tree, he had to fight his own battle in his own way, even though it is an eternal fight. The spiritual light within the greater Soul must struggle against the ego-will that only knows how to use the powers of this material and intellectual world. There is no possibility of escape; it is the energy that arises out of the present moment — the inescapable NOW — that the daring individual has to use in the struggle.

This second stage symbol suggests that salvation is attained through the emergent individual's readiness to face all issues as if there were only two opposed sides. So teaches the Bhagavad-Gita. This is the dharma of this stage of human evolution: a stage of POLARIZATION OF VALUES.

Hope this helps.

thoughtfully
sdh3

[Flowergirl]

Thanks sdh3, that does make sense. I shouldn't give myself such a headache over it. When I meditated over it while washing the dishes, it clicked into place. My Chiron is also in Taurus, conjunct the moon and I understand how this plays in my life better now. Relief.

[piercethevale]

My Sun is in the 17th of Taurus and my Desc. in the 18th of Taurus.
Look at my Birth Chart ...notice that my Asc is the 18th of Scorpio. The Asc. is how you appear to the world, in one sense. Now read the symbol for my Asc.

[from Rudhyar] "A PATH THROUGH WOODS BRILLIANT WITH MULTICOLORED SPLENDOR.

KEYNOTE: The exalted feeling of a work well done and a truly consummated life.

The person who has lived with faith the transpersonal life — the life through which spirit radiates creatively — can experience blessedness and peace, even though his or her cycle of experience nears its end. It has been a life full of seed. The seeds are hidden perhaps, yet they are filled with the power to overcome cyclic death. The soul is at peace. The clear autumnal sky silently intones the great message: "Well done, little man!"

In this third symbol of the five-fold sequence we see the smile of the youth brought to a more mature, more spiritual culmination. Human nature is a magnificent symphony of warm, rich colors, now that the strictly biological green of vegetation experiences its TRANSFIGURTION."

...notice the word "TRANSFIGURTION"?...that tells me I must change that appearance.

Now the Desc. is the "WHERE-TO" [or into what] the chart axis analysis demands. the 18th of Taurus and it's symbol is basically about letting go of all attachment to worldly goods. But, as the Sun is so close [conj.] it adds to the message and it is also part of the crux of the chart axis matrix.
The Sun is the Ego and the symbol for my sun at the 17th of Taurus: [by Rudhyar] as stated above is about the 'Ego' [Sun] succumbing to the Spiritual [Soul].
My Moon conj. the I.C. ...or the bottom of the Crux of the Chart axis is next. The Moon is the Emotional and the I.C. represents the "HOW" of ones dharma in an "involutionary" analysis or the "WHY" in an 'evolutionary' analysis [by Esoteric Astrology technique..i.e. the Theosophists Astrological belief].
The Moon is the emotional...my Moon is at the 25th of Aquarius.
[Rudhyar] " A BUTTERFLY WITH THE RIGHT WING MORE PERFECTLY FORMED.

KEYNOTE: The capacity to develop the rational and fully conscious aspect of the mind ahead of normal evolution.

What seems implied is a kind of mutation, and more specifically the special development of whatever is symbolized by the "right side" of the organism. Here, however, the spiritual body (the butterfly) is what the Image represents. A strong process of conscious individualization is suggested, perhaps at the expense of the instinctual-emotional aspect of the personality (its "left side").

This last symbol fittingly concludes this sixty-fifth sequence, which began with "A disappointed woman . . ." The five-fold set deals with the management of human energies at the emotional level; here management means overcoming — this, on the basis of negative or ego-challenging experiences. This fifth symbol refers thus to the results of a TRANSMUTATION OF EMOTIONAL ENERGIES."

...notice what it says about;"TRANSMUTATION OF EMOTIONAL ENERGIES."...that means my Moon is also upon this crucifix demanding that all three essential parts of myself...ASC. {Personality/Appearance] Sun {EGO] and Moon [Emotional being] are all being crucified demanding they be transformed by the M.C. which is conj. my Part of Fortune at the 26th of Leo and has added symbology by the conjunction to Pluto at the 21st of Leo "THE PREMATURE EXPANSION OF CONSCIOUSNESS"...And Pluto is the Planet of Transformation.
I thought I'd take this opp. to illustrate just how intense the symbology can be in meaning and destiny!

The symbology of the 25th of Leo whether taken as the "HOW" or the "WHY" of my chart axis symbology is almost irrelevant in my case...LOL..but is most significant when considered as the "HOW" as it is also my Part of Fortune which is the bonus symbology as to "HOW" one can best achieve their dharma along with the Part of Sudden Advancement.