What do you think?
Rate this book
An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and Its 360 Symbolic Phases
Some three decades ago, in an attempt to produce a series of symbols that would be relevant to contemporary students of astrology, Marc Edmund Jones and a clairvoyant friend formulated the so-called Sabian symbols. Now Dane Rudhyar has taken these symbols and reinterpreted them to emphasize their character as a cyclic and structured series which formalizes and reveals the archetypal meaning of 360 basic phases of human experience. Rudhyar also demonstrates how the Sabian symbols can be used for divination. Like Tarot cards and the I Ching, they provide clues to the best way to face anxieties, or suggest what alternative courses of action might mean in one's life. In the form of pictures that are easily recognizable to people today, these symbols can be said to constitute a contemporary, American I Ching, a series of symbols that goes to the very root of planetary significance for our present era.
392 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
34 people are currently reading
340 people want to read
About the author
Dane Rudhyar
167 books83 followersFrench-American astrologer, one of the most noted and respected astrologers of the 20th century.
He was called a modern renaissance man for his ability to express himself in many fields; music, painting, poetry, philosophy and metaphysics.
He wrote for national magazines since the '30s and was the author of many books.
He was called a modern renaissance man for his ability to express himself in many fields; music, painting, poetry, philosophy and metaphysics.
He wrote for national magazines since the '30s and was the author of many books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 21, 2008
This guy is almost imposssible to understand but I did keep this book - all his others I got rid of.
August 7, 2012
Train wreck...still reading but dint know why
September 30, 2020
Marc Lerner recommends these Dane Rudhyar books:
1 Astrological Signs
2 The Astrology of Personality
3 The Astrological Houses
4 The Lunation Cycle
5 Astrological Mandalas
6 An Astrological Study of Psychological Complexes (Advanced)
7 Triptych (Advanced)
1 Astrological Signs
2 The Astrology of Personality
3 The Astrological Houses
4 The Lunation Cycle
5 Astrological Mandalas
6 An Astrological Study of Psychological Complexes (Advanced)
7 Triptych (Advanced)
August 19, 2015
360 symbolic phases. Am I understanding this correctly that every series of 5 degrees [meaning 72 sequences as sure as 5 x 72 = 360] that every series of 5 degrees has something to do with: day1. New beginnings are surrounded by the seaward or backward pull of one's past experiences (experiences can be good such as positive successes through humble acts of kindness, or not such good things like personal failures through negative actions which may have led to having bad karma put on you, possibly in a past life or prior life style)... day2. With a detached outlook and new objective, this backward pull can be overcome through forward thinking, or by taking an outward direction... day3. A realization fills the hearts and minds (my beat your beat my brain your brain) and that everyone is part of a greater whole (like we are tiny microcosms of a vast and phenomenal greater super-duper macrocosm)... day4. Polarized and filled with awe, the reality can be actual. This can mean any form of integration, from the most possessive ego to the universal Self. (possessive to be in control, universal being common to all)... finally day5. Self-transcending can occur to reach new levels of experience toward a higher consciousness. In short, am I to understand that human beings walk this repetitive rhythm every five days, every week, every month, every year, for one's entire lifetime. And as sure as there are 365 days in a year, what can we expect during the middle of March. Do we just ride around on bicycles for five days in an attempt to free ourselves from the business of interpreting 360 Sabian symbols? To some extent, Dane Rudhyar's explanations of the pictures he describes with words, makes those conditions by Marc Edmund Jones most clear. I also get a sense that Rudhyar is open to letting go the rigor of sorting out a kazillion objects and images all day and night, and that by closing our eyes, we may find some temporary relief. Then again, our dreams can be vivid. Still, I find no evidence of sketches, drawings, photographs or illustrations in this book.
April 17, 2018
Parts of THE ASTROLOGICAL MANDALA - the Sabian symbols - will be useful to astrologers; most of the book will be useful to philosophers who are theosophically inclined. It’s amazing to me how hard Rudhyar works, sometimes, to make everything in life fit into his system of cycles and symbols. His search for meaning and archetypes in everything puts a filter between the viewer and the actuality. I don't think this is a reread book, at least not for me.
His statement of the function of an astrologer is excellent: an “interpreter, whose only function is to help another person to realize himself more fully…” I have found the Sabian symbols to be very useful, whether they are given Rudhyar’s interpretations or those of Marc Edmund Jones.
His statement of the function of an astrologer is excellent: an “interpreter, whose only function is to help another person to realize himself more fully…” I have found the Sabian symbols to be very useful, whether they are given Rudhyar’s interpretations or those of Marc Edmund Jones.
December 27, 2007
Este livro trata a astrologia sob a optica do significado.
May 14, 2017
An amazing book of symbols and deeper understanding of the archetypes of the universe.
December 26, 2025
Interesting contextualization of the Sabian Symbols along with interpretations that can be used as a reference point for each degree. The book also discusses what “symbols” are more generically and what it means to think symbolically, which I thought was one of the more memorable parts of the book.
June 9, 2025
If you want a fascinating window into Rudhyar’s visionary, astrological process, I would completely recommend this work. If you want the privilege of seeing through Rudhyar’s symbolic eyes, then look no further. If you want a palette of meaning with which to paint your proverbial life experience, then this is for you.
Before I fangirl too much, I should describe what this work is offering. This book contains Rudhyar’s interpretations of the symbols that were channeled by Miss Wheeler and Marc Edmund Jones. These symbols are available online, but there is something about reading the book cover-to-cover that allows one to experience the entirety of the book-mandala in its cyclic unfoldment. In that way, there is an understanding of the symbols both in space and in time. For instance, one can understand the seasons by how they relate to each other in time. Reading this book then feels like following the yellow-brick road through the changes of seasonal consciousness, and then realizing that we always have the power to return home our own natal charts with a renewed sense of our place in the cosmos.
The Mandala in the title can then be understood as a symbol for the cyclic consciousness that can be developed to read the unfoldment of the seed of the birth chart. Plus, Dane Rudhyar describes how one can read the mandala at the beginning and end of the book, so that one doesn’t get tempted into reductionism in associating each numerical degree with the description of each point, which admittedly in the western way of thinking is all too automatic.
To describe this form of thinking, Rudhyar introduces the term "cyclicity". He states, “This more transcendent kind of consciousness deals with the essence of events and the quality of being which undertones the functional activity of the planets. It seeks to transcend the usual kind of astrology by dealing directly with the phases of all cycles-one might say, with ‘cyclicity’ itself” (p. 314).
This sense of cyclicity is anything but reductive as it is cyclic motion in time that is ever-changing, but is meaningfully consistent. This cyclical, relational way of thinking can help us find our place in the mandala of planet Earth, and allow us to navigate these changes with our own cycles in alignment. We can meet the events of the daily transits with our own archetypal endowment and in that way feel a deeper participation in the flows of life. In that way we are both autonomous and connected to the whole.
Furthermore, reading this book helped develop the faculty of truly reading an astrology chart circularly, with each degree as a symbol in space. In a way Rudhyar also plays the sky mandala as an instrument, as each degree he “improvises” and gives his interpretation. The experience then feels like listening to Rudhyar’s astrology music through symbolism. Each degree gives a tone in relation to each other degree or note. Music is motion in time, one can only enjoy the notes as one moves to the next.
In the Introduction, Rudhyar share’s his wish for this book: “I can only hope that in these pages the attentive reader and user of the symbols will find, distilled into significant statements and consciousness-expanding vistas, much of the harvest of a long and complex life span of experience in many fields of creative and philosophical activity-a life concerned with significance and understanding” (p.5).
All I can say, Dane Rudhyar, is that your hope for this book came true for this grateful reader.
Before I fangirl too much, I should describe what this work is offering. This book contains Rudhyar’s interpretations of the symbols that were channeled by Miss Wheeler and Marc Edmund Jones. These symbols are available online, but there is something about reading the book cover-to-cover that allows one to experience the entirety of the book-mandala in its cyclic unfoldment. In that way, there is an understanding of the symbols both in space and in time. For instance, one can understand the seasons by how they relate to each other in time. Reading this book then feels like following the yellow-brick road through the changes of seasonal consciousness, and then realizing that we always have the power to return home our own natal charts with a renewed sense of our place in the cosmos.
The Mandala in the title can then be understood as a symbol for the cyclic consciousness that can be developed to read the unfoldment of the seed of the birth chart. Plus, Dane Rudhyar describes how one can read the mandala at the beginning and end of the book, so that one doesn’t get tempted into reductionism in associating each numerical degree with the description of each point, which admittedly in the western way of thinking is all too automatic.
To describe this form of thinking, Rudhyar introduces the term "cyclicity". He states, “This more transcendent kind of consciousness deals with the essence of events and the quality of being which undertones the functional activity of the planets. It seeks to transcend the usual kind of astrology by dealing directly with the phases of all cycles-one might say, with ‘cyclicity’ itself” (p. 314).
This sense of cyclicity is anything but reductive as it is cyclic motion in time that is ever-changing, but is meaningfully consistent. This cyclical, relational way of thinking can help us find our place in the mandala of planet Earth, and allow us to navigate these changes with our own cycles in alignment. We can meet the events of the daily transits with our own archetypal endowment and in that way feel a deeper participation in the flows of life. In that way we are both autonomous and connected to the whole.
Furthermore, reading this book helped develop the faculty of truly reading an astrology chart circularly, with each degree as a symbol in space. In a way Rudhyar also plays the sky mandala as an instrument, as each degree he “improvises” and gives his interpretation. The experience then feels like listening to Rudhyar’s astrology music through symbolism. Each degree gives a tone in relation to each other degree or note. Music is motion in time, one can only enjoy the notes as one moves to the next.
In the Introduction, Rudhyar share’s his wish for this book: “I can only hope that in these pages the attentive reader and user of the symbols will find, distilled into significant statements and consciousness-expanding vistas, much of the harvest of a long and complex life span of experience in many fields of creative and philosophical activity-a life concerned with significance and understanding” (p.5).
All I can say, Dane Rudhyar, is that your hope for this book came true for this grateful reader.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews