Sabian Symbols: A sleigh without snow

A sleigh without snow

This universal idea is best expressed through planets in

Taurus 8 (7°- 8°)

ALIGNMENT WITH THE FUTURE
The importance and value of anticipating
​what inevitable changes are coming
"Making something out of nothing with creative optimism"

Following a major setback and significant process of letting go, we must look forward to the future with optimism and imagination. What we have managed to learn and earn become the building blocks and resources of a future as yet to be created out of our thoughts.

Rudhyar:
A SLEIGH ON LAND UNCOVERED BY SNOW

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​A sleigh on land uncovered by snow

Sustainment

​A sleigh without snow

A creative optimist will make something out of nothing

Although a sleigh is usually associated with snow, there could be many other uses for it that are not contingent upon a very specific set of natural phenomena.

With the right imaginative attitude of mind, we will find sustainment in Nature for all our needs to be met, since Nature’s key feature is prodigality. Every need we have can be satisfied by the resources we find available. If we expect to find abundance, then we will find it in life at every turn.

It is a question of aligning ourselves elegantly with what is; only then will we be able to resonate with the full potential inherent in any set of circumstances. Our expectation itself is a creative force that attracts satisfaction.

Surely this is how we cope with everyday living? We rise to deal with whatever comes up, with whatever we can find close at hand. To do so often requires that we change our perception from pessimism to optimism.

Something out of nothing

​There is magic in our ability to make something out of nothing. Firstly we have to see that there can never be nothing – that there is always something available. Secondly, we need to use the mind as a tool for change – it can manipulate reality to conform to our imagination.

What is the alternative? A life-attitude based on needless acceptance of defeat – tolerance of today’s frustration in the vague hope of a better tomorrow? This viewpoint is indeed widespread, and is the cause of so much disappointment and cynicism.
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Trust is a learned skill of the mind – it requires that we look confidently upon the present and optimistically towards the future. With good humour we downplay our frustrations, which we learn to interpret as signals that a mental readjustment is called for.

Commentary from Mara
​Having a sleigh before any snow arrives implies a need to prepare for the future. We know it will snow in the winter so we prepare accordingly. What if, however, it does not snow? Does the sleigh stand idle all winter or do we find ways to utilise what we have as best we can?

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Advanced Level: Elven Star Analysis

​Although we can find relevance in some way to all 360 degrees, each degree resonates particularly, and mysteriously, with the 6 other points of its Elven Star and clues, from the 7 Words System, and the Sabian Journey, are shown in the text below. This third degree of the Expression "Effectiveness" is the Reconciling principle.

The scope of Taurus 8 is "Making something out of nothing with creative optimism", and its means of expansion is Libra 12, "Moving from unconsciousness into the light". Its preferred path, Pisces 16, "Connect here and now with the eternal everywhere", leads to its principle challenge, found in Leo 20, "Honouring primitive impulses to praise God".

Awareness of its spiritual purpose is described in Capricorn 25, "Blending spiritual ideas within ordinary events and traditional culture", which generates the feedback found in Gemini 29, "Finding what makes us excited about life" and thus the evolutionary gateway offered by Sagittarius 3, "Carefully choosing the optimal path". 

​(This list will differ slightly from your Elven Star points unless your degree is exact, such as Taurus 15:00 not Taurus 15:39)