[Skydancer]

*You can run but you can not hide!* (hehe)

Yeah, it's me again!

I am liking the book - but am finding that I like picturing the symbols rather than reading about them. I like a lot of what Linda says - don't get me wrong. But I like the "first picture that pops into my head" when I read the symbol better. So far -- I've only had the book for a couple of weeks or so.

For example - "a rug dealer is sitting upon his stack of rugs" paraphrasing a bit I think! Anyway, I'm into mid-eastern culture so I picture a Persian rug dealer. Or Arabic. (Lived there for 3 years back in 1st-3rd grade) However, someone here might see a vast mall with heaps of discount rugs or all shapes and sizes and the salesman stumbling atop while making deals to the people standing around. Same symbol but two different scenes. Neither one is better than the other - it means what it means.

So someone said that a friend of theirs is drawing the symbols and wants to publish a book. Fine; but that by definition limits the vast array of possibilities that just the written discription can conjure up in the mind's eye. I'd rather go with my own imagination and not someone else's ideas. For this type of work. (Tarot is, you know, different!)

I've even found myself thinking up similar one-line discriptions that (so far) I haven't seen in the 360.

So - I'll check in here and see what you guys are up to. I might suggest taking one card (well, two really) at random and put them up here for discussion. People without the book can look them up at Linda's site. The site tells you how to do it for individual cards of your choice.

Later then ~!
*S*

[Lynda]

Hey Skydancer
You are 100% right (IMHO) about illustrating the Symbols - everyone will have a slightly different take on what the Symbol looks like. This, I reckon, is part of the beauty of the Sabian Symbols - they are quite subjective.

When I wrote the book - 360 Degrees of Wisdom - I put on the bottom of each page "What does this Symbol say to you" - and that's what I want people to reach for - their own interpretation.

Greetings from DownUnder
Lynda

[Skydancer]

Oh HI Lynda!! Forgot you might be lurking about!!

I used a wrong word in my post; I said "I like my way better" when I should have said that I feel more comfortable with my way at the moment.

And I did see your notes at the bottom of the pages!! And on the site! I think this is why I like the way your write; you give ideas/hints/interpretations yet want your readers to know that what they feel is equally worthwhile.



Let's get the ball rollin' here! Who wants to go first?

Take care ~
*S*

[MCsea]

Just jumping in here, Im sort'a new here but have been reading for a while, and Im a huge fan of the symbols and of the tarot and wanted to add my two cents worth in the 'pictures of sabian symbols' discussion.....

When tarot were first drawn into pictures.. I wonder how it was recieved, but now hardly anyone uses just a plane deck of cards.. just a thought...

Also when I posted on the sabian symbol website a friend of mine is drawing the symbols, well only one (minor) purpose may be for oracle work, imagine trying to shuffle 360 cards - I think not, but as a tool for meditaion, as a gift as a card to a friend for a sign of hope or of their individual sabian symbol from their natal chart, as a manifestation of their 'essence' astrologically in this world.. well there are many uses for a picture.... a picture may lead us on a track for sure, but whats to say we dont need to explore that to re-define the way we are 'seeing'...

AND as an oracle, cause thats why we are here at AT, we may find the sign we were looking for.. as many different tarot packs appeal to many people I pray one day we have 50 different picture books/cards/buttons of the symbols at our disposal, for usage in the many ways 'we' work with oracles.

There are so many people who dont see as clearly as many of the talented people on this site, but for them (and me) a picture is the gate way to an alternative understanding).

and I LURVE Lynda Hills BOOK! (and Dr Marc Edmund Jones too but its way harder to understand!)

Thank you for reading

Marina

[Sophie]

Marina - I also like pictures

I trust the Universe to provide pictures for the Sabian Symbols. First, in my own mind, because they are so eloquent in themselves. For instance yesterday I drew Aquarius 1: An Old Adobe Mission in California. As soon as I read it I saw the "Old Adobe Mission" in my mind's eye - drawn from many a Western!

Then there is the world around - oracles speak through landscapes we see, words we hear in conversations or songs, smells that bring back a memory...when drawing a Symbol I am attentive to how the world around me will reflect that symbol (and vice-versa, of course!).

I have also followed Elven's trace and draw a Tarot card at the same time as my symbol (generally before the symbol, so I can concentrate on the image; then I draw the symbol for the day). For instance, yesterday I drew the As de Denier (Ace of Coins) - a gorgeous sun-like creation surrounded by vines. When I drew my Sabian Symbol for the day, I saw the California sun baking the adobe, making the house solid. I saw the spiritual connection between the three-circled coin and the mission-house. I took heed of Lynda's caution of indoctrination and not doing violence to myself or others in the matter of belief - and saw that the way to avoid that was to use that Sun-like Coin as a gate to the invisible, and to joy. As I looked at the coin, I saw it as a flower too (it is sprouting a flower in its centre), and imagined flowers all around that old adobe mission house.

Both the Ace and the Mission house are old: the mission house expressly so, where the coin has an antique patina and design from another age. Both were telling me of the link between material security and the spirit, the spirit and material security; and teaching me that abundance comes in plain things - plain adobe houses in the sun, surrounded by roses. They also taught me to seek wisdom in old things.

It rained all day yesterday, but sun, solidity and flowers were all around and within me - not one picture, but a whole film!

[Lynda]

Originally Posted by Helvetica

Thanks to Lynda's book that arrived this morning, and to a very kind person on this forum who sent me a set of cards I can participate. I am less than a neophyte, but interested.

Just so everyone knows, the book comes with a set of cards in the back that you can tear out. I know they're not on first rate cardboard, but they are there. I hope that Penguin does a better job of them sometime in the future! but they can be used.

Just to clear that up

It's great that there is burgeoning enthusiasm for the Symbols on this board - thanks to all who contribute and thanks for Elven's wonderful insights and time and energy!!

Greetings from the Blue Mountains
Lynda

[Pipistrelle]

I've been using the cards from the back of the book and have found them to be fine. If I had to make my own before I could start I would never start!

I may just trim them very slightly to tidy up the perforated edges but otherwise, they suit their purpose well.

And Lynda, that the cardstock used for the cards is the only thing most of us would improve about your book is indeed a sign of a job well done!

Pip

[Elven]

Hi Lynda, just a question about the Publisher - Penguin, and the book - 360 Degrees of Wisdom, and the cards.

Originally Posted by Lynda

Just so everyone knows, the book comes with a set of cards in the back that you can tear out. I know they're not on first rate cardboard, but they are there. I hope that Penguin does a better job of them sometime in the future! but they can be used.
Lynda

I went to the Penguin website where the book is:
http://www.penguinputnam.com/nf/Book...285410,00.html
and found that they say this in the review about the book concerning the cards: From the Penguin books website USA.

In 360 Degrees of Wisdom, Australian astrologer Lynda Hill introduces the first easy-to-use guide based on the 360 Symbols and their meaning. Illuminating both the concrete and mystical qualities of each Symbol, this book is full of intuitive advice. No knowledge of astrology is necessary, and unlike many astrology books, every page reveals answers for you about your life and what is happening around you. Ask a question, then pick a red card and a blue card from the specially designed pack of cards included with the book, and let the Symbols lead you to the answers you seek. More accessible than the Tarot and more relevant to modern life than the I Ching, 360 Degrees of Wisdom will help you discover a fascinating branch of astrology—and will guide you on your journey through life.


Do they mean 'with the book' or 'in the book'.

I was going to write to them, but Im not sure if this is the same publication as the book with the cards in the back.

Blessings
Elven x

[sunflowr]

Probably both. With the book, but IN the book. I've never ever seen or heard of it in any other form.

[Lynda]

Hi Elven
The cards are on cardboard and in the back of the book. They are perforated and can be torn out for use. A girlfriend of mine, Elizabeth Avedon, designed the card layout. It is a great idea, it's just that the cardboard is rather thin and some people don't realise they are there.

For those who might not understand, Elven has a self published version - I published it in 2002, and it comes with a separate pack of cards... the Penguin edition came out last November.

Hope this makes sense!

Greetings from Avalon
Lynda