Blain Bovee - Sabian Symbol Specialist

Sabian Symbol, Virgo 25: A flag at half-mast

A flag at half-mast is best known for a time of respectful mourning when a public figure has passed away.

However, there are other themes within this symbol that can be rewardingly pursued.  For example, that the flag is at half-mast suggests it may be on its way up, or on its way down. Up and down the flag pole... a dynamic pointing to the ups and downs experienced in life. 

An even more intriguing thread of sense can be followed through the word 'mast'. A mast is a pole on a sailing ship from which the sail is suspended. On a single mast ship, the mast defined the boundary between the quarters of officers and crew. 

A yet even more intriguing thread of sense follows 'mast' as deriving from words meaning fallen nuts and food for swine... the stuff that fattens up the animals. From this, there is a meaning associated with 'moistens or wets'... wet feed, of course, tends to ferment and 'go off'. The associations ties mast, perhaps meal, and the nuts and grains from which alcoholic drink is made... hence John Barleycorn?

Sanskrit,  'madati'... it bubbles it gladdens, and Latin, 'madere', to be sodden or drunken, Middle Persian, drunk, and then  Old English 'mele', meaning food and perhaps meal and mash-like food.

But wait! There's more!

Can there be a link to 'mast', the root word for breast. To be fed and nourished from the breast is a very wholesome notion. Themes here may include: a wet nurse, a time when a mother's milk comes in, a possible problem of a mother's milk only partially coming in? Note the opposing symbol, "The purging of the priesthood", which often is found in those with eating disorders, or a bent for fasting and cleansing through diet. Interesting? The nourishing theme is very present.

The following Virgo 26 Sabian symbol, "A boy with a censor", elates here through the cleansing/clearing of the air with a special incense.

While these reflections ignore the 'flag' in the symbol, they point to ways in which we might find more sense in the Sabian symbols. Hope this intrigues.

Remember, there is ever-more sense in a symbol.

Blain Bovee

 

 

Cancer 28: A modern Pocahontas

July 19

 

“A modern Pocahontas” Cancer 28

 

Sabian Sage © 2015 Blain Bovee boveeastrology.com

 

This symbol is illuminated at 8:05 PM EDT,  July 19

 

Seeking agreements

 

Interesting dynamics today may bring communications that take your breath away.

 

Pocahontas has a knack for finding her way between differing camps, bringing messages and helping each to understand the other. There is no prize bestowed for this often very important service, in fact, sometimes the messenger is shot.

 

Some may find a refined sense of themselves through communications with which they simply cannot identify, or communications that shock beyond the boundaries of acceptability. 

 

Therefore, in seeking agreements, the standard is now one of genuine human connection… words to live by.

 

Sagittarius 16, 2014 "Seagulls watching a ship

December 7

 

“Seagulls watching a ship”  Sagittarius 16

 

Sabian Sage © 2014 Blain Bovee boveeastrology.com

 

This symbol is illuminated at 12:04 AM EST, December 7

 

Watch and listen

 

By this point in the journey through Sagittarius, many things have happened regarding allegiances, tribal affinities and the overview of what community can be.

 

It may not seem like it as the days roll along, one after the other, however, many can look back over the past two weeks and be impressed with what has transpired.

 

Seagulls watch a ship. Vigilance. Being present such that space is left for the ship to move, to be seen, to be heard. In human affairs, listen for scraps of information being dropped which may be of significant import. 

 

In terms of group dynamics, the stories will be of leaving a group behind, or of joining a group with different navigational intent.

 

The traces of a ships line of travel soon disappear into the sea. Be alert. Life is a navigation and the course of some ships just turn your stomach sick.

 

 

 

Sagittarius 15, 2014 "A groundhog looking for its shadow"

December 6

 

“The groundhog looking for its shadow”  Sagittarius 15

 

Sabian Sage © 2014 Blain Bovee boveeastrology.com

 

This symbol is illuminated at 12:25 AM EST, December 6

 

A quick look back

 

“When I look over my shoulder, What do you think I see?

Some other cat looking over, his shoulder at me”

 

It is a day for looking back. Memories are not facts that play exactly the same every time. Life, forward and backwards, is a creative flow. We do tend to forget that times past are the stuff of experience and that they are what we make of them. 

 

So, when you look back, you may see someone looking back at you. Who, and from where… past, present or future… do they look at you? And it's strange, sure is strange.

 

Full Moon day. Full reflection night. If there is a hole in the story that emerges… and there is always a hole in the story… it is a liberating, freeing gap which you can pick up like every stitch…

 

Stitches are, either sharp painful little pricks, or laughter as in to be in stitches. 

 

“Oh o Oh” Must be the season of the witch!” 

 

With an acknowledging nod to a very fine song by Donovan.

 

Sagittarius 14, 2014 "The Pyramids and the Sphinx"

December 5

 

“The Pyramids and the Sphinx”  Sagittarius 14

 

Sabian Sage © 2014 Blain Bovee boveeastrology.com

 

This symbol is illuminated at 12:45 AM EST, December 5

 

The need to speak

 

You will recall times when something seemed to well up inside you and come out as words… or more like a block of sense… that you can hardly recognize as your own.

 

Unplanned communications?

 

This is not at all like saying, “I will have the dark roast… leave room for cream.” The day may hear some things said borne out of a driving need for personal fulfillment. It is as if from out  of the monumental depths of the human psyche, a voice emerges. It will be important to listen to that voice… even if it is your own. 

 

The intention may be to say one thing, when, like the man from whose mouth frogs escaped whenever he opened it, another emerges out of the darkness. 

 

The voice is the medium; your sense of what you have in mind to say is but a coating… mere frost on the window. From behind, where the mountain ranges stretch, shift and shake, and where valleys and plains tremble like filaments excited by titan footsteps, thought blocks will pass through the throats of the thoughtful ones.

 

Please let me know your own experience on this day. Could be monumental.

 

Sagittarius 13, 2014 "A widow's past brought to the light"

December 4

 

“A widow’s past brought to light”  Sagittarius 13

 

Sabian Sage © 2014 Blain Bovee boveeastrology.com

 

This symbol is illuminated at 1:25 AM EST, December 4

 

When memories rake the mind

 

Often the illumination of a widow’s past is a harrowing time.

 

Joys of love turned over in fields of sorrow, lament can repeat again and again, unless…

 

Here is a secret. Do not tell anyone. If you have placements here in Sagittarius 13, or come to some other sorrow by another adventure, there is a way to work creatively with your lived experience. Treat it like a song.

 

Yes, as you spin round and round, down and further down into memories of lost loves and loved ones, know the tune, tone and tempo of it all is everything.

 

“Why are ye singin’ Clancy?” 

 

“Ah, me mudder past last Sunday and she aways liked a good lively tune.”

 

Life realities are harsh but as you’ll recall it, it is in how you sing them that makes the tune.

 

Rake, rack and gather will heap heavy piles, but jig, reel and diddy turn sorrows into smiles.

 

Sagittarius 12, 2014 “A flag that turns into an eagle that crows”

December 3

 

“A flag that turns into an eagle that crows”  Sagittarius 12

 

Sabian Sage © 2014 Blain Bovee boveeastrology.com

 

This symbol is illuminated at 1:25 AM EST, December 3

 

When ideas become real

 

Good day to examine an idea or concept. 

 

As so often happens, yet strangely not often enough, an idea can take wing, come alive, seem to soar with sense and majesty. Intellectuals know of this when, as young an energetic flag wavers, a perspective on the world would take hold like sinking talons into the marrow meadows of their minds, fly far to another planet and cry, “From Mars you all look the fools!”

 

It feels good to feel so alive, eyes bright, mind moving along, the crisp quickness of wind, the horse’s neigh from across the field. The poems of mystics flow down the mountain path. Even political tomes of the thoughtful private persons seem wise and beautiful. Not everyday is it thus.

 

When something makes beautiful sense, all normal rational analysis is no longer the test of truth. This can be a good thing, however, even vicious ideas can swell in the rain.

Sagittarius 10, 2014 “The lamp of physical enlightenment at the left temple”

December 2

 

“The lamp of physical enlightenment at the left temple”  Sagittarius 11

 

Sabian Sage © 2014 Blain Bovee boveeastrology.com

 

This symbol is illuminated at 1:44 AM EST, December 2

 

A new idea

 

A lamp shines in the temple. 

 

There are plans and reasonable expectations. When it does not look like these expectations will work out, the tendency is to experience disappointment. However, from out in left field, an unanticipated wrinkle enters late in the game. It is a good wrinkle. It will probably make things better than originally conceived. 

 

Feel blessed. It is a quiet inner space available in loving ways today. It is like, after sitting forward on the edge of your chair all day, you sink back into the soft supportive cushions, sigh a sigh of relief, and feel blessed.

 

A lamp shines in the temple. It comes in from left field.

 

Blain Bovee on the Sabian Symbols, Podcast

http://www.holestoheavens.com/exploring-sabian-symbols-blain-bovee/

Exploring Sabian Symbols with Blain Bovee

http://www.holestoheavens.com/exploring-sabian-symbols-blain-bovee/

 

Exploring Sabian Symbols with Blain Bovee