Sabian Symbols: History, Info & Articles.

Elven

Hi Lee,
Thankyou for the book info! Its on my 'Wish List' now!! :)

This is a quick reference post:
The Origin and History of the Sabian Symbols

http://www.sabian.org/ssorigin.htm

Blessings
Elven x
 

Lynda

I use Delle Fowler's book almost on a daily basis. It's an interesting read, although I would like to see it expanded.

I bought mine through the net (and I live in Australia) - and it wasn't expensive. You use it with an ordinary set of playing cards, which makes things very easy. I wish my set of cards (for the 360) was as easy as that to instigate! I spent so long trying to formulate how people could pull a Symbol....

Anyways, I've met Delle Fowler and Diana Roche and many of the others.... I spoke some years ago at a Sabian Assembly Conference in Detroit. It was very interesting; the work they do into the mysteries is wonderful.

Greetings from Avalon
Lynda
 

MCsea

Pull a Sabian

Lynda I think your computer program to pull Sabians is the way forward..
it really is the way I use it 99% of the time.. it works so well

Thank you

Marina
 

MCsea

So Busy

I have been SO BUSY I cant beleive it!
Just wanted to pop in and say HI
and give some energy to FINDING ELSIE and promoting the symbols!!

Marina
 

Sophie

What a great thread - thanks to all posters and especially to Elven for your effort!
 

Elven

Hail Symbolers!! :)

Hi, I was looking for the original words of Elsie Wheelers Symbol headings when, as you do, I came across this and thought it very interesting. Some of the spelling of the Headings were changed and words were replaced. Apparently the hand writing was undecipherable on the original writings and has been assumed.



From the website:
http://www.anton-heyboer.org/i_ching/sabian/sabian_symbols.htm

In 'The Sabian Symbols in Astrology' Marc Edmund Jones gives comment on every change he made in the handwritten text on the cards (p.136). He had written the words of Elsie Wheeler down very quickly, so here and there they were hard to read. And he made some changes, but small ones. I am very grateful he gives such a detailed account of every change. I have changed everything back, because I think one cannot change anything in a symbol.

Sometimes errors also have a meaning, and a way of saying something can give another color, even if it is not correct English. I even made airplane to aeroplane again, which is not important, but after all in 1925 it was written that way.

Minor matters of punctuation and some corrections in spelling need no comment. Abbreviations have been spelled out, as in the case of gymnasium for gym and auto-mobile for auto.

Airplane is used for aeroplane (Gemini10, Libra 27). In a few cases the pencil is impossible to decipher with certainty, so that Capricorn 6 could be two instead of ten logs.

Gem was read for germ (Cancer 17) and parts for paths (Libra 15) in preparing the 1931 interpretations. A serpent is coiling, not circling (Aries 14). Side comments have been ignored. Thus the Tuileries card had Paris on the margin (Gemini 3). Taurus 19 was marked tangible, and this idea has been incorporated in the description.

In Sagittarius 17 the word sunrise is inserted, since a notation that it was early a.m. had been jotted down at the edge. In Cancer 10 the diamond is said to be not quite cut instead of not quite carved, as was written on the card. In Leo 6 the word flapper is re-placed with the phrase up-to-date girl, and in Gemini 16 the suffragist is said to be haranguing rather than orating, as the pencil notes have it.

Chocolate is changed to colored in Virgo 4. There is a great mystery, which may be part of what occultists know as the necessary twist in any series of relations of spiritual import, since the cards for Libra 18 and 19 were first in reverse of their present order, and then the descriptions were scratched and repenciled as they are found in all the various versions of the Sabian degrees, and as indeed they seem correctly placed.

There is neither record nor recollection of what happened in this connection, whether originally in San Diego’s Balboa Park or when the first typescripts were made (in 1925, by Elsie Wheeler and written down by Marc Edmund Jones).


**********************************************************
Below:
The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /


The Original Symbol Headings by Elsie Wheeler & Marc E. Jones.

Symbol Groups Numbers 1 - 30.


Arie 01 A woman rises out of water, a seal rises and embraces her
Gem 01 A glass bottomed boat in still water
Virg 01 A case of apoplexy
Libr 01 A butterfly made perfect by a dart through it
Sag 01 A Grand Army of the Republic camp fire
Aqu 01 An old adobe mission
Tau 01 A clear mountain stream
Can 01 A furled and an unfurled flag displayed from a vessel
Leo 01 A man’s head
Sco 01 A sightseeing bus
Cap 01 An Indian chief demanding recognition
Pisc 01 A public market



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

02 A comedian entertaining a group.
02 Santa Claus filling stockings furtively
02 An epidemic of mumps.
02 The light of the sixth race transmuted to the seventh.
02 The ocean covered with whitecaps.
02 An unexpected thunderstorm.
02 An electrical storm
02 A man suspended over a vast level place
02 A large white cross upraised
02 A broken bottle and spilled perfume
02 Three stained-glass windows, one damaged by bombardment
02 A squirrel hiding from hunters



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

03 The cameo profile of a man in the outline of his country
03 The garden of the Tuileries (Paris)
03 A woman having her hair bobbed
03 The dawn of a new day, everything changed
03 Two men playing chess
03 A deserter from the navy
03 Steps up to a lawn blooming with clover
03 A man all bundled up in fur leading a shaggy deer
03 Two angels bringing protection
03 A house-raising
03 The human soul receptive to growth and understanding
03 A petrified forest



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

04 Two lovers strolling through a secluded walk
04 Holly and mistletoe
04 A man formally dressed and a deer with its horns folded
04 A group around a campfire
04 A little child learning to walk
04 A Hindu healer
04 The rainbow’s pot of gold
04 A cat arguing with a mouse
04 A chocolate child playing with white children
04 A youth holding a lighted candle
04 A party entering a large canoe
04 Heavy traffic on a narrow isthmus



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

05 A triangle with wings
05 A radical magazine
05 Rock formations at the edge of a precipice
05 A man teaching the true inner knowledge
05 An old owl up in a tree
05 A council of ancestors
05 A widow at an open grave
05 An automobile wrecked by a train
05 A man dreaming of fairies
05 A massive rocky shore
05 Indians rowing a canoe and dancing a war dance
05 A church bazaar



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

06 A square brightly lighted on one side
06 Drilling for oil
06 An old-fashioned woman and a flapper
06 The ideals of a man abundantly crystallized
06 A game of cricket
06 A performer of a mystery play
06 A bridge being built across a gorge
06 Game birds feathering their nests
06 A merry-go-round
06 A gold rush
06 A dark archway and two (ten?) logs at the bottom
06 Officers on dress parade



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

07 A man successfully expressing himself in two realms at once
07 An old-fashioned well
07 The constellations in the sky
07 A woman feeding chickens and protecting them from the hawks
07 Cupid knocking at the door
07 A child born of an eggshell
07 A woman of Samaria
07 Two fairies on a moonlit night
07 A harem
07 Deep-sea divers
07 A veiled prophet of power
07 A large cross lying on rocks



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

08 A large hat with streamers flying, facing east
08 An industrial strike
08 A Bolshevik propagandist
08 A blazing fireplace in a deserted home
08 Rocks and things forming there in
08 Beautifully gowned wax figures
08 A sleigh without snow
08 Rabbits dressed in clothes and on parade
08 First dancing instruction
08 The moon shining across a lake
08 Birds in the house singing happily
08 A girl blowing a bugle



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

09 A crystal gazer.
09 A quiver filled with arrows.
09 Glass blowers.
09 Three old masters hanging in an art gallery.
09 A mother with her children on stairs.
09 A flag turned into an eagle.
09 A Christmas tree decorated
09 A tiny nude miss reaching in the water for a fish
09 A man making a futurist drawing
09 Dental work
09 An angel carrying a harp
09 A jockey



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

10 A man teaching new forms for old symbols
10 An aeroplane falling
10 Early morning dew
10 A canoe approaching safely through dangerous waters
10 A golden-haired goddess of opportunity
10 A popularity that proves ephemeral
10 A red cross nurse
10 A large diamond not completely carved
10 Two heads looking out and beyond the shadows
10 A fellowship supper
10 An albatross feeding from the hand
10 An aviator in the clouds



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

11 The president of the country
11 A new path of realism in experience
11 Children on a swing in a huge oak tree
11 A professor peering over his glasses
11 The lamp of physical enlightenment at the left temple
11 Man tête-à-tête with his inspiration
11 A woman sprinkling flowers
11 A clown making grimaces
11 A boy molded in his mother’s aspiration for him
11 A drowning man rescued
11 A large group of pheasants
11 Men seeking illumination



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

12 A flock of wild geese
12 A Topsy saucily asserting herself
12 An evening lawn party
12 Miners emerging from a mine
12 A flag that turns into an eagle that crows
12 People on stairs, graduated upwards
12 Window-shoppers
12 A Chinese woman nursing a baby with a message
12 A bride with her veil snatched away
12 An embassy ball
12 A student of nature lecturing
12 An examination of initiates



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

13 An unsuccessful bomb explosion
13 A great musician at his piano
13 An old sea captain rocking
13 Children blowing soap bubbles
13 A widow's past brought to light
13 A barometer
13 A man handling baggage
13 One hand slightly flexed with a very prominent thumb
13 A strong hand supplanting political hysteria
13 An inventor experimenting
13 A fire worshiper
13 A sword in a museum



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

14 A serpent circling near a man and a woman
14 A conversation by telepathy
14 The human soul awaiting opportunity for expression
14 A noon siesta
14 The Pyramids and the Sphinx
14 A train entering a tunnel
14 Shellfish groping and children playing
14 A very old man facing a vast dark space to the northeast
14 A family tree
14 Telephone linemen at work
14 An ancient bas-relief carved in granite
14 A lady in fox fur



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

15 An Indian weaving a blanket
15 Two Dutch children talking
15 A pageant
15 Circular paths
15 The ground hog looking for its shadow
15 Two lovebirds sitting on a fence
15 A man muffled up with a rakish silk hat.
15 A group of people who have overeaten and enjoyed it.
15 An ornamental handkerchief.
15 Children playing around five mound of sand.
15 Many toys in the children's ward of a hospital.
15 An officer preparing to drill his men.



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

16 Brownies dancing in the setting sun
16 A woman suffragist orating
16 Sunshine just after a storm
16 A boat-landing washed away
16 Seagulls watching a ship
16 A big-business man at his desk
16 An old man attempting vainly to reveal the mysteries
16 A man before a square with a manuscript scroll before him
16 An orangutan
16 A girl's face breaking into a smile
16 boys and girls in gym suits
16 The flow of inspiration



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

17 Two prim spinsters
17 The head of health dissolved into the head of mentality
17 A nonvested church choir
17 A retired sea captain
17 An Easter service (early A.M.)
17 A watchdog standing guard
17 A battle between the swords and the torches.
17 The germ grows into knowledge and life.
17 A volcano in eruption.
17 A woman the father of her own child.
17 A girl surreptitiously bathing in the nude.
17 An Easter promenade.



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

18 An empty hammock.
18 Two Chinese men talking Chinese.
18 A teacher of chemistry.
18 Two men placed under arrest.
18 Tiny children in sunbonnets.
18 A man unmasked.
18 A woman holding a bag out of a window
18 A hen scratching for her chicks
18 A Ouija board
18 A woods rich in autumn coloring
18 The Union Jack
18 A gigantic tent



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

19 The magic carpet
19 A large archaic volume
19 A houseboat party
19 A gang of robbers in hiding
19 Pelicans moving their habitat
19 A forest fire quenched
19 A newly formed continent (tangible)
19 A priest performing a marriage ceremony
19 A swimming race
19 A parrot listening and then talking
19 A child of about five with a huge shopping bag
19 A master instructing his pupil



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

20 A young girl feeding birds in winter.
20 A cafeteria
20 The Zuni sun worshipers.
20 A Jewish rabbi.
20 Men cutting through ice.
20 A big white dove, a message bearer.
20 Wind clouds and haste
20 Gondoliers in a serenade
20 An automobile caravan
20 A woman drawing two dark curtains aside
20 A hidden choir singing
20 A table set for an evening meal



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

21 A pugilist entering the ring
21 A labor demonstration
21 Chickens intoxicated
21 A crowd upon the beach
21 A child and a dog with borrowed eyeglasses
21 A woman disappointed and disillusioned
21 A finger pointing in an open book.
21 A primadonna singing
21 A girl's basketball team.
21 A soldier derelict in duty.
21 A relay race.
21 A little white lamb, a child and a Chinese servant.



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

22 The gate to the garden of desire
22 A barn dance
22 A carrier pigeon
22 A child giving birds a drink at a fountain
22 A Chinese laundry
22 A rug placed on a floor for children to play
22 White dove over troubled waters
22 A woman awaiting a sailboat
22 A royal coat of arms
22 Hunters starting out for ducks
22 A general accepting defeat gracefully
22 A man bringing down the new law from Sinai



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

23 A woman in pastel colors carrying a heavy and valuable but veiled load
23 Three fledglings in a nest high in a tree
23 A bareback rider
23 Chanticleer
23 Immigrants entering
23 A big bear sitting down and waving all its paws
23 A jewelry shop
23 Meeting of a literary society
23 An animal trainer
23 A bunny metamorphoses into a fairy
23 Two awards for bravery in war
23 Spiritist phenomena



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

24 An open window and a net curtain blowing into a cornucopia
24 Children skating on ice
24 An untidy unkempt man
24 A third wing on the left side of a butterfly
24 A bluebird standing at the door of the house
24 A man turning his back on his passions and teaching from his experience
24 A mounted Indian with scalp locks
24 A woman and two men on a bit of sunlit land facing south
24 Mary and her white lamb
24 Crowds coming down the mountain to listen to one man
24 A woman entering a convent
24 An inhabited island



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

25 A double promise
25 A man trimming palms
25 A camel crossing the desert
25 Information in the symbol of an autumn leaf
25 A chubby boy on a hobbyhorse
25 A butterfly with the right wing more perfectly formed
25 A large well-kept public park
25 A dark shadow or mantle thrown suddenly over the right shoulder
25 A flag at half-mast
25 An X-ray
25 An oriental-rug dealer
25 The purging of the priesthood



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

26 A man possessed of more gifts than he can hold
26 Winter frost in the woods
26 A rainbow
26 An eagle and a large white dove turning one into the other
26 A flag bearer
26 A hydrometer
26 A Spaniard serenading his senorita
26 Contentment and happiness in luxury, people reading on Davenports
26 A boy with a censer
26 Indians making camp
26 A water sprite
26 A new moon that divides its influences



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

27 Lost opportunity regained in the imagination
27 A gypsy coming out of the forest
27 Daybreak
27 An aeroplane hovering overhead
27 A sculptor
27 An ancient pottery bowl, filled with violets
27 A squaw selling beads
27 A storm in a canyon
27 Grande dames at tea
27 A military band on the march
27 A mountain pilgrimage
27 A harvest moon



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

28 A large disappointed audience
28 A man declared bankrupt
28 Many little birds on a limb of a large tree
28 A man in the midst of brightening influences
28 An old bridge over a beautiful stream
28 A tree felled and sawed
28 A woman pursued by mature romance
28 A modern Pocahontas
28 A baldheaded man
28 The king of the fairies approaching his domain
28 A large aviary
28 A fertile garden under the full moon



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

29 A celestial choir singing
29 The first mockingbird in spring
29 A mermaid
29 Humanity seeking to bridge the span of knowledge
29 A fat boy mowing the lawn
29 Butterfly emerging from chrysalis
29 Two cobblers working at a table
29 A muse weighing twins
29 A man gaining secret knowledge from a paper he is reading
29 An Indian squaw pleading to the chief for the lives of her children
29 A woman reading tea leaves
29 A prism



The Symbols are in this order:
1. Aries / 2. Gemini / 3. Virgo / 4. Libra / 5. Sagittarius / 6. Aquarius /
7. Taurus / 8. Cancer / 9. Leo / 10. Scorpio / 11. Capricorn / 12. Pisces /

30 A duck pond and its brood
30 Bathing beauties
30 An unsealed letter
30 Three mounds of knowledge on a philosopher's head
30 The Pope
30 The field of Ardath in bloom
30 A peacock parading on an ancient lawn
30 A Daughter of the American Revolution
30 A false call unheard in attention to immediate service
30 The Halloween jester
30 A secret business conference
30 The great stone face


I will also post this list of Symbols in a seperate thread as Sabian Symbols: Original Headings.

Enjoy
Many Blessings
Elven x
 

Elven

Gemini 3: THE CHARMING COURT LIFE AT THE GARDEN OF THE TUILERIES IN PARIS

I have never been to Paris :( - only on the net, so when looking at the Sabian Symbol:

Gemini 3: The Charming Court Life At The Garden of the Tuileries in Paris
I became interested in what the gardens looked like an their history. After reading some of the information available, I think I have a better idea of what the gardens were about. The Palace has a great history, but not longer exists. It opens up my meaning on the Symbol and adds to its interpretation.

Below is an extract of a glimps of the gardens The Tuileries Gardens - A Short Dark History
By Jacqueline Donnelly
Paris Kiosque Volume 3 #9.

To see the corresponding photos for the article:
http://www.paris.org/Kiosque/sep96/tuileries.html

Enjoy

I confess that of all of the monuments and spots I have discovered on foot, I have had the least respect for the Tuileries Gardens. To me,they were always the predictable ho-hum, formal 17th century garden , with 18 statues (albeit nude) and the predictable fountains.
The gardens served as a quick walk-through from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde allowing me to avoid the tourists on the rue de Rivoli. Even the name seemed bizarre, like the tinkling of bells rather than the reference to "tuiles" or roof tiles which the factories produced for centuries near the present site of the gardens.

Oh how I have changed my mind! Having researched the dirt (forgive the pun) I find the gardens to be a contradiction - today a place for children to play , lovers to meet, and yesterday the site of great slaughter, the extension of a royal palace and a royal prison.

In order to appreciate the gardens you must sit quietly and see the invisible. Imagine a large, rather cumbersome palace that resembled the Louvre and formed the eastern edge of the side of the garden. It was built by Catherine de Medicis, an incredibly powerful and supersitious queen whose actions were determined by her soothsayer long before Nancy Reagan had the idea.

Her stay at the palace was abruptly interrupted when she learned that she would die near Saint-Germain. Since the Tuileries Palace was in the parish of the church Saint-Germain-Auxerrois, Catherine packed her bags, took her furniture and left. As history tells us, years later, on her deathbed at the royal chateau of Blois she received the last rites from Father Julien de Saint-Germain!


The Tuileries Palace can be seen in this map of 1870. It encloses the western side of the present day Louvre, connecting the Denon and Richelieu wings.

The great Louis XIV resided at the Tuileries Palace while his chateau, Versailles, was under construction. When he left, the building was abandoned, used only as a theater, until the return of the ill-fated royal family - Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, their children plus a handful of servants, who were expelled from Versailles and forced to enjoy the hospitality of the mob of Paris in October of 1789, two months after the storming of the Bastille.

What a fall from glory to leave the palatial spendor of Versailles, for the musty, cavernous halls of the Tuileries Palace.

I can see the queen playing in the garden with her children, exposed to the stares of the people, like animals in a zoo, or the well-worn paths taken by the king, as he meditated on philosophy and history in denial of the danger and inevitabily of the demise of the monarchy which would take place two years later with his execution on 21 January, 1793.

The royal family attempted escape. They slipped out of the palace, disguised as servants, praying for release from this capitivity, only to be captured in Varennes, a town on the border of Germany, recognized by a peasant from the resemblence of Louis to his coin!

They were dragged back to the Tuileries, now under strict guard. The palace and the gardens were to be their universe until the most dramatic day of the French revolution - August 10, 1792 when the bells of Paris rang in every working class neighborhood and the people stormed the palace in anger.

The royal family fled to the General Assembly hall near the Place de la Concorde. The faithful Swiss guards, loyal to the end, defended the palace, unaware that their royal charges had deserted the building.

The rabble stormed the doors, massacred the guards, looted the palace and left. The palace and once quiet garden were strewn with over 1000 corpses. The King himself could not stop the slaughter as he cowered with his family in a room of the assembly.

This revolt confirmed in the insurgents' mind the justification for dismantling the monarchy and establishing the "Commune", the first government of the people. It is not in the fall of the Bastille but in the slaughter in the Tuileries that the French Revolution made its mark!


The burned out hulk of the Tuileries Palace as it was after the Commune. (Image used with permission, Northwestern University Library; Special Collections, The Siege and Commune of Paris, 1870-1871).

The Tuileries Palace had seemed hexed. Catherine de Medicis abandoned it, Louis XIV tolerated it, Louis XVI was prisoner, ....and in 1848 during a revolt, the people of Paris sacked it; it was restored under Napoleon-III to a sumptuous palace only to be burned in the 1871 during the confrontation with another Communard government.

The accursed palace loomed, charred and in disgrace for 12 years on the site of the present expanded Tuileries gardens.

What a great concentration of French history has taken place in what today appears only to be a classical, French garden.

But, let's not leave on a dismal note. Today, lovers meet, and children play, hurried Parisians shortcut through the park, tourists wander, and life goes on.

But because we now know the story, we will not see the former palace and the present gardens in the same way.

The End.


Many Blessings
Elven x :)
 

MCsea

Ahh

Thanks Elven, this indeed is a welcome insight to this symbol, I often wondered about the symbol, but now I see it is a circle (as all the symbols are) of life death and resurrection if that is an OK word to use, I will make sure I remember this part of the story before interpreting this symbol in the in the future...

All the symbols have so much more to them... so much to learn experience and enjoy....
 

Elven

MCsea Hi,

I also saw this Symbol quite diferently after reading the history of the gardens. Whats seems as an apparently beautiful place of nuturing and growth has been marred with death and destruction and down fall only to be (as you said) ressurected and sustained, cared and tendered, for other to enjoy.
To know at one stage there were over a thousand dead bodies strew in the gardens - I cannot imagine what they would have been like! I wonder what other significance I can bring into the Symbol now knowing these facts. The Charming court life was no all that charming, short lived and almost illusionary.

The Gardens are still everchanging. Storms in the last decade and wiped out some of the oldest standing trees that had been planted. Now, sadly, not many remain. The garden seems to be in a constant state of evelotion through the force of man and nature. The Gardens hold so much Symbology.

Many blessings
Elven x
 

Elven

Looking through the Symbols opens up a realm of education! LOL!!! :)

I was looking through the Symbols and came across:
PISCES 3: A PETRIFIED FOREST.

I visited a Pertified Forest in Arizona in 1993. A beautiful place, mysterious and surreal. It looked alive but was stone cold 'frozen' in time, and yet was full of life and wonder. The colours and textures were amazing.

After a few web searches - I realized that there are some wonderful things about the pertification process, how the forest came into being, and recent developments and discoveries. These beautiful forests of the ancients can be found in other places around the world like Australia, New Zealnad, Argentina, USA, Baltics and China.

To stand in one of these forests is an experience that, like the forest itself, leaves an everlasting memory and becomes more precious in time.

I have taken a few article pieces which I hope enspire not only to 'see' the meaning of the Symbol, but one day may inspire you to see them yourself.
It is such a spiritual experience!! :) Enjoy! :)



Metaphysical Attributes of Ancient Woods

 provide strength and a safe, secure feeling
 represent and develop the connection and love of earth and nature
 bring patience and assist inner transformation
 strengthen the body and self-determination
 assist in the removal of worries caused by petty annoyances.
 help one strengthen one's backbone physically and in terms of self-will.
 be used to help heal back problems
 create a sense of agelessness as if you can go on forever
 calm anxiety and fears about survival matters
 help one become grounded
 aid in the ability to recall past lives

**********

Ancient Uses to the 21st Century

Between 6000 BC and 1450 AD petrified wood was used by Native American people. Known uses include arrow heads and small structures.
When the railroad went through the northern Arizona region in 1880, ancient logs still lay strewn over the ground as the natural result of uplifting and erosion. Consequently many more people “discovered” the ancient silicified wood. Some of them also discovered it had a place in manufacturing. Sadly, millions of tons of this irreplaceable national treasure were ground up to provide industrial abrasives.
Chemically, ancient wood is silicon dioxide and quartz is a form of this. Therefore, it is not unusual for veins of gemstones such as amethyst, citrine, quartz crystals, rose quartz, chalcedony, agate, carnelian, even opal to appear in ancient wood. For this reason more of the petrified wood was smashed by gemstone hunters seeking gem quality crystals.
The destruction and removal of the ancient wood was what brought about the creation of The Petrified Forest National Park, where collecting is NOT allowed. It also necessitated the regulation of collecting petrified wood on other government owned land. Happily we learned to appreciate and value the beauty of this unique national treasure and protect it before it was too late.

********

Ancient wood requires no polishing to keep its mirror finish. Maintenance is just normal dusting, or wipe with a damp cloth, or mild soap and water, or glass cleaner, or ammonia water – that’s it!
All in all, under normal usage it’s pretty close to being indestructible. One piece, having been in a very severe house fire, was broken and badly damaged. After undergoing expert repair and restoration it was returned to its full beauty.

********

Petrified wood is also known as the Scholars stone.

********

Petrified Wood in China

The name 'Muhuashi' derives from wood buried in the earth a hundred million years ago that has silicified over time, a process that yields some good stones. Xylon in the wood has been replaced by silicon dioxide (SiO2), but the wood texture remains. Petrified wood is quite hard and most are brown or yellowish brown. They have a jade-like feel and were objects of appreciation as early as the Tang dynasty. There are two examples of petrified wood collected in the Ming dynasty in Zhejiang province.

********

Did you know that wood can 'pertify' in the right natural conditions within a year?

********

Petrified Forest National Park Arizona

Pics: http://scienceviews.com/photo/parks/PetrifiedForest1.html
http://www.lookoutnow.com/parks/pet-for.htm

********

About Petrified wood

Wood opal is formed by the replacement of the wood by siliceous material. Ancient forests which became immersed in water containing silicas are the basis of petrified wood. Scientist can still not adequately explain the process. The final product looks like wood but it actually is a stone. The decaying cells of the wood were replaced by the silica and, because each growth ring in any particular tree varies in hardness, decay seems to have taken place at varying rates. The replacement by the silica has been at different times with the result that the wood opal has different colors showing in the same stone. Many people are amazed when they see it.

Wood opal or petrified wood should really be included in the quartz group of stones, but it is not normally accepted as being a true mineral and is frequently protected as a national relic in countries where it is scarce. The unique collection that we at the mineral gallery have comes from Zimbabwe. They are part of a protected forest that has complete petrified trees. See our bookends made out of 200 million year old petrified wood or our slices which we sell in sets of 6 as coaster sets. We also have complete stumps polished on the one side.

Petrified wood is the result of a process called petrifaction (or petrification), meaning "to change into stone." The process involves mineral emplacement, in which dissolved minerals are carried by groundwater into the porous parts of buried wood (or shells or bones), where they crystallize out and settle, filling the pores. An object so impregnated with minerals is denser, heavier, and more resistant to destruction than it was originally. The term petrifaction is also used to designate the process in which minerals completely replace the original material, which has been slowly dissolving away. A distinction is sometimes made between these two processes, the first being referred to as permineralization, the latter being called mineralization.

During the Triassic Period, from about 225 million to 190 million years ago, two major elements of the dominant flora were the cycadophytes and the conifers. The cycadophytes were relatively small cycadlike trees, but some of the conifers grew to about 60 m (220 ft) in height and 3 m (10 ft) in diameter. The conifers often grew in large forests, in marshes, and in other very humid habitats. Many of these wetlands had previously been shallow seas, and at the end of the Triassic the shallow seas returned and submerged the forests.

The drifting logs or upright stumps of the forest remains were eventually buried in volcanic ash or other sediments, and the process of permineralization began. The waters penetrating the sediments were rich in mineral salts, which reacted with the plant matter inside the cell walls of the trees. The most common of these minerals were silica, occurring as quartz, of which chalcedony and jasper were part; calcium carbonate, occurring as calcite; pyrite and dolomite; and iron and magnesium oxides, which give petrified wood colors of red, yellow, and orange.

As the mineral salts penetrated into the cells and started to crystallize, they usually left the cell walls almost completely intact. Thus petrified wood, although of rocklike density and weight, consists of both organic (1% to 15%) and mineral matter. Complete crystallization of the cell cavities was a very rapid and extremely efficient process that left fossils so well preserved, with such excellent clarity and transparency, that they can be studied through a microscope in the same manner as recent biological material.

Eventually, the shallow seas once more withdrew, leaving great depths of sediment behind. Erosion by wind, rain, and other agents began and eventually exposed the petrified trees.

http://www.juliusnickel.com/Petrified Wood.html