The Flowers Of Valentine's Day

Such a beautiful reminder -

Every year on Valentine’s Day, the Sun is on Aquarius 27: AN ANCIENT POTTERY BOWL FILLED WITH VIOLETS. This is a beautiful image that reminds us of love and romance (even if actual ‘romance’ is not in one’s reality or on one’s mind, there’s plenty of romance in life to go around). And, this year, the asteroid Ceres is exactly conjunct the Sun = on the same degree. Ceres represents the mother, relationships with family, agriculture and fertility and renewal. What a glorious image for the Sun and Ceres to be together on this Valentine’s Day. There’s a message there to ‘fertilise one’s garden’.

Remembering that the spiritualist medium Elsie Wheeler brought through the Sabian Symbols in a double blind ‘experiment’, it is astounding how Elsie ‘saw’ the image of flowers in a beautiful bowl to illustrate this degree - it never fails to amaze me. And, of course we know that flowers are a big theme on Valentine’s Day - whether receiving them, giving them or noticing them in your environment.

On a more personal note: I bought a gorgeous bowl from my local thrift store yesterday. It is a glorious purple/mauve colour. I washed it this morning, and, doing so reminded me to make this post. I love how this stuff happens.

Here’s my full interpretation of this degree from my book The Sabian Oracle: 360 Degrees of Wisdom:-

Big doesn’t necessarily mean better. Sunflowers aren’t better than violets. Edna Ferber

Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. Mark Twain

Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the soul. Luther Burbank

We should let our godliness exhale like the odor of flowers. We should live for the good of our kind, and strive for the salvation of the world. Alexander Crummell

Fair flowers that are not gather’d in their prime Rot and consume themselves in little time. William Shakespeare

Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory—Odors, when sweet Violets sicken, Live within the sense they quicken. Percy Bysshe Shelley

Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day—like writing a poem, or saying a prayer. Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Commentary: The image of ‘An Ancient Pottery Bowl Filled With Fresh Violets’ is a reminder of the delicacy and beauty of nature. It can picture flowers in earthenware bowls, mortar and pestles for the preparation of herbs, and things such as flower essences and homoeopathy. There is a feeling here of purity of motive and content. The simpler, more natural responses to problems and society can often bring a sense of refreshment and realignment with what is beautiful. Honest expressions of simplicity and respect for beauty and purity can bring joy. These can be simple gifts given with a sense of giving from the heart.

Oracle: In the situation facing you, there may be a need to remember to employ love, peace, beauty and simplicity. This could be in relationship to you, with yourself, to others or to the environment. Complications and difficulties are much more easily solved if a fresh and simple approach is taken, rather than more complicated, intellectual or highly charged emotional responses. Place a ‘Bowl’ filled with fresh flowers somewhere where it can remind you of the good things in life. Even a simple display of flowers picked from around your neighborhood can bring joy and settle feelings back to a more even keel and can remind you of the true beauty of life in a very simple way. Also, picture yourself as the open vessel, the ‘Bowl’, and allow yourself to receive the blessings of the ‘Fresh Violets’. Soon, things will get better and those things that you need will come to you. It can be a question of asking yourself “what do I need, really?” Simplifying one’s life on some level will lead to more charm and beauty.

Keywords: Returning to ancient sources. Flower and herbal remedies. Beauty. Setting standards for society. Slowing down the tempo to get to the purity of something. Watering the garden. The mortar and pestle. Homoeopathy and pharmacopoeia. Stains and dyes. Flowers. African violets. Dainty, small and lacy things. Antiques and curios. Beautiful reminders of yesterday. Valentine’s Day flowers, roses. Things that remind you of your grandmother. The old supporting and nourishing the new.

The Caution: Lack of subtlety. Insensitivity. Being dried up and withered from lack of water or emotion. Stagnant water. Being shy and unresponsive. “Shrinking violets”. Neglecting the small things. Being so accommodating that one's needs are neglected or trodden on.

Here’s what Marc Edmund Jones, the mastermind behind the ‘experiment’ that was to become the Sabian Symbols had to say about this degree in his 1953 book The Sabian Symbols In Astrology –

Aquarius 27: AN ANCIENT POTTERY BOWL FILLED WITH VIOLETS

This is a symbol of the permanence or changelessness of the real as an ultimate assurance of the human heart. No matter how many shifting forms the face of life may present to man, there are always the surviving tokens of an enduring stability on which the ephemeral and the superficial are unable to make any impact. Where there is replacement of substance and variety of structure there is also an over-all continuance of meaning and identity in which self may anchor itself. The keyword is TRADITION. When positive, the degree is a high realization of values and a real gift for using them, and when negative, a loss of self in conventionality and it’s meaningless trappings.

In the course of the year, there are many other extraordinary link ups between the Sabian Symbols and dates – Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Halloween, and many more.

The Sabian Symbols are amazing… as always!

I wish everyone a beautiful Valentine’s Day filled with joy and the realisation of how beautiful life can be - even in amongst the chaos!

What does the Sabian Oracle say to you?