Sabian Symbols: A tree felled and sawed
A tree felled and sawed
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This universal idea is best expressed through planets in
Aquarius 28 (27° - 28°)CAREFUL USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES
A tree felled and sawed to ensure a supply of wood for the winter
Working in a forest to make a generous woodpile is a wonderfully fulfilling experience. It requires mental clarity to employ machinery, usually camaraderie between men, foresight, and muscular strength – and is profoundly enhanced by the knowledge that the task’s result is to offer warmth to one’s family and community. If this task is undertaken only when the weather gets cold then it is too late because there is a process to go through including allowing a period of months for the wood to season. We need to remember in springtime that winter is coming and do whatever is necessary even though it feels non-urgent. Rudhyar: A TREE FELLED AND SAWED TO ENSURE A SUPPLY OF WOOD FOR THE WINTER |
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A tree felled and sawed to ensure a supply of wood for the winter
Immediacy
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Total concentration and complete lack of inhibition bring beauty and sacredness
Certain aspects of life are immediate and inescapable, such as our need for food and warmth. Because they are unavoidable requirements, they serve as the base-line foundation of all we do. Whether we do it ourselves, or we interact with another, someone has to prepare our firewood. At times we may be reluctant to engage with the nuts and bolts of daily life, and so often we use our first surplus to get others to do practical things for us. Yet there is incomparable benefit to be gained from such work. Our ability to cope with crises so often depends upon the personal qualities that grow through simple tasks. Great satisfaction is to be gained when we learn how to use basic skills and materials – real happiness is so often found in having a spirited enthusiasm in the mundane. We may seek and find pleasure in a casual, inconsequential social life yet to find a deeper joy we must invest ourselves thoroughly in some activity that is both absorbing and real. We see complete lack of inhibition so rarely in adults – yet we cannot half-heartedly fell a tree. It requires a blend of two opposing attributes of mastery – passion and concentration. When these are operating simultaneously we move into another dimension of being in which breakthrough occurs both externally and internally. Sometimes life is dangerous and requires our full attention. There is great beauty, and a type of earthy sacredness, when what we are doing is absolutely full-on – especially when it requires total focus and is immediately useful. We are thus brought into the here and now, the location of reality, whose essential beauty and sacredness are then revealed to us. Very often we seem to be engaged in a lesser reality – chopping wood – when at another level of awareness we are in fact serving a much higher purpose – earthy prayerfulness. When this occurs, so that what serves the physical also serves spirit, we are well-positioned in life. If we see these tasks as hard or unrewarding then we lack imagination or wisdom. It may be useful to place ourselves in a position where our creature comforts are not all available at the push of a button so that we are forced to engage with life at the immediate physical level. This is grounding; it puts us in touch with what is real, and has immediate implications upon our sense of wellness and relatedness to everything else. |
