Sabian Symbols

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Sabian Symbols." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/categories/sabian-symbols.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Sabian Symbols. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/categories/sabian-symbols

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-sabian-symbols,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Sabian Symbols},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/categories/sabian-symbols},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Origin 1925 (composed); published 1953

Three hundred and sixty short images, one for each degree of the zodiac, taken down in San Diego in 1925 by the astrologer Marc Edmund Jones from the medium Elsie Wheeler in a single sitting. Jones published them in 1953; Dane Rudhyar rewrote the images and added a keynote to each in 1973, and it is Rudhyar's wording, still in copyright, that circulates today. This atlas does not reproduce it. In its place each degree carries the image given by the Welsh astrologer Charubel in his own complete series of 1898, which is long out of copyright and independent of the Sabian set. The history of both, and the case against them, is set out under Western Astrology.

Facts

Origins

Origin Period

1925 (composed); published 1953 1

Place of Origin

San Diego, California 1

Creator / Originator

Marc Edmund Jones, working with the medium Elsie Wheeler, in 1925; the images were later rewritten by Dane Rudhyar. 1

Contested Use

Contested or Appropriated Modern Use

Often presented as an ancient or "Chaldean" degree symbolism. It is not: the set was produced in 1925 and the name "Sabian", borrowed from the Sabians of Harran, records nothing about its origin. 1

Overview

Size of the Traditional Set

360 symbols, one for each degree of the zodiac 1

Structure

One short pictorial image per zodiacal degree, in two versions that both circulate: Jones's original wording and Rudhyar's 1973 rewriting with its developmental reading. 1

Learn More

Three hundred and sixty images of the zodiac

The Sabian symbols are a set of three hundred and sixty short images, one for each degree of the zodiac, used in modern astrology to give a finer, more pictorial reading of a chart than the signs and decans alone allow. A symbol such as "a woman rises from water, a seal embraces her" is attached to a single degree and read for the planet or point that falls there.

They were taken down in San Diego in 1925 by the astrologer Marc Edmund Jones from the medium Elsie Wheeler, who is said to have produced all three hundred and sixty in a single sitting. Jones published them in 1953, and Dane Rudhyar later rewrote the images and gave them a developmental interpretation.

A Modern Degree Symbolism

The Sabian symbols belong wholly to twentieth-century astrology, though they draw on an older tradition of degree symbolism reaching back through several earlier sets. Their interest lies in how a fixed, evocative image for each degree is used interpretively, and in the two influential versions, Jones's and Rudhyar's, that circulate.

The atlas treats the symbols as a modern system with a datable origin, describing how they are used and giving the images. They sit within the degree-level tools of Western astrology alongside the decans.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Entries in This Category

Aries 1

Aries 2

Aries 3

Aries 4

Aries 5

Aries 6

Aries 7

Aries 8

Aries 9

Leo 1

Leo 10

Leo 11

Leo 12

Leo 13

Leo 14

Leo 15

Leo 16

Leo 17

Leo 18

Leo 19

Leo 2

Leo 20

Leo 21

Leo 22

Leo 23

Leo 24

Leo 25

Leo 26

Leo 27

Leo 28

Leo 29

Leo 3

Leo 30

Leo 4

Leo 5

Leo 6

Leo 7

Leo 8

Leo 9

Libra 1

Libra 2

Libra 3

Libra 4

Libra 5

Libra 6

Libra 7

Libra 8

Libra 9

Virgo 1

Virgo 2

Virgo 3

Virgo 4

Virgo 5

Virgo 6

Virgo 7

Virgo 8

Virgo 9

Sources

1. A History of Western Astrology

Nicholas Campion, Continuum, 2009View the Source

Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions

Open Questions (1 open question)

What was Marc Edmund Jones's original 1953 wording for each of the 360 degrees?

The phrasing in general circulation, including every row stored in this atlas, is Dane Rudhyar's from An Astrological Mandala (1973), verified verbatim against the book for all 360 degrees. Jones published his own text in The Sabian Symbols in Astrology (1953), but no accessible per-degree transcription of it was found. Without it, Jones's contribution cannot be distinguished from Rudhyar's rewriting for any individual degree.

What would resolve this A copy of Jones 1953, or a scholarly edition collating the two. This would also let the atlas describe the symbols in wording that is not in copyright until 2069.

History of twentieth century astrology, and archival or library access to a 1953 imprint.Dane Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala

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