The Sabian Symbols and the Retrograde Cycle in Astrology | Part 4: Refining the Retrograde Story
This article is the final article in a 4-part series on retrograde cycles. The series was originally published on Astrology Journal in 3 parts. It has been revised and improved for Pass It On Astrology.
Review
In the first article of this series, I introduced the three-part structure of the retrograde cycle, a structure comprised of an opening shadow period, a retrograde period, and a closing shadow period. We can think of the opening shadow period as a reconnaissance period and the closing shadow period as an integration period. In part 2, I introduced the five significant points and three significant degrees that make up the three-part structure.
In part 3, I suggested that this three-fold retrogradation process can be seen as a fractal of what is presumably a larger cosmic, three-fold wave-pattern expressed fractally throughout nature, from the waves in the ocean, to the daily journey of the Sun, to the seasons, etc. This cosmic wave pattern occurs in three parts, first arising, then cresting, then subsiding. Because our human developmental process, when seen in a high-level way, also follows this pattern, we can see it, too, as a fractal of this larger wave pattern. Thus, we can see our human path of unfolding as a natural part of a larger cosmic design.
Retrogrades as Hesitations
As discussed in part 3, our developmental process, according to Josette and Sambhava Luvmour in their book, Natural Learning Rhythms, includes pause periods, which they call hesitancies (and which I am calling hesitations as they relate to retrogradation). Occurring at the end of one stage and before the emergence of the next, these pauses serve as transition periods between developmental stages. During these pauses, according to the Luvmours, we sometimes regress in our behavior.1
The pattern of pausing and regressing in these developmental hesitations closely matches up with the planetary retrograde cycle. As explained in the first article, from our perspective on Earth, planets periodically appear to move backwards (regress) away from the territory they were preparing to enter, just as we turn away from a new developmental stage we are preparing to enter during a hesitation. After their retrograde motion, planets turn forward again, heading towards the same territory from which they previously retreated, just as we turn forward again, emerging into a new stage. We can think of this whole cycle as a pause prior to resuming forward motion.
Wave Metaphor Refinement
Reflecting on this process, I have come to realize that we need to make a refinement to the wave metaphor as it relates to the retrograde and hesitation processes that occur between stages. Rather than a pattern of arising, cresting, and subsiding, these transition periods follow a pattern of approaching, retreating, and emerging. The planet approaches a new territory in its lead-up shadow period, just as we approach a new stage. It then pauses and retreats, just as we pause and retreat after edging up to a new stage. Finally, the planet turns back around, eventually entering into the new territory, just as we resume our forward developmental progress and emerge into a new stage.
This refinement does not suggest a deviation from the wave pattern expressed fractally throughout nature, but a more nuanced view of it. Consider an ocean wave heading to shore. After it crests, it continues to move towards, or approaches, the shore. Then, reaching the shore, it retreats, eventually surging forward, or emerging, again as part of a new wave.
Retrograde Structure: Significant Points and Degrees
The Five Significant Points
In the first article, we saw that there are five significant points that demarcate the outer edges and midpoint of each retrograde cycle. These points are the reconnaissance point, the retrograde point, the solar point, the direct point, and the integration point.
Knowing these five points, we can use them to determine the dates and degrees relevant to a given retrograde cycle. Knowing the dates allows us to locate the retrograde cycle in time and thus connect it to our lived experience. In part 3, I shared some insights about my experience using the dates for the significant points of the Mars retrograde cycle as an example.
Knowing the specific degrees of a retrograde cycle allows us to refine our symbolic understanding of a given retrograde cycle by allowing us to identify the Sabian symbols associated with it, the Sabian symbols being symbolic word pictures for each degree of the zodiac. Before exploring them further, let's review how we determine the three specific, or signficant, degrees.
The Three Significant Degrees
As a planet reaches the significant points of its retrograde cycle, it does so at specific degrees of the zodiac. Because it passes over the same territory multiple times, it crosses certain points and their corresponding degrees more than once. Looking at Graphic 1 above, we can see that the planet crosses or reaches the degree marking the left border of the retrograde territory two times, once at the reconnaissance point (Rc) and once at the direct point (D). Looking at the right edge, we see that the planet also reaches or crosses that point and corresponding degree twice, once at the retrograde point (Rx) and once at the integration point (I). As for the midpoint (M), the planet crosses that point and corresponding degree three times during the cycle, once during each leg.
Thus, we can see that the movement of the planet during a retrograde cycle marks off three defining degrees of the cycle. As shown in Graphic 2 below, we can call these degrees the direct degree, the retrograde degree, and the midpoint degree.
The Final Piece: The Sabian Symbols
Being able to identify three significant degrees in every retrograde cycle allows us to draw on the Sabian symbols to craft a more nuanced retrograde story. The Sabian symbols emerged from a collaboration in 1925 between two people - writer, occultist, and astrology teacher Marc Edmund Jones and psychic Elsie Wheeler.2 After Jones published the results of their initial work, others have offered their interpretations of these symbols.3 Thus, we have a number of sources to draw from when working with these symbols (including the insights that come through for us when we contemplate them).
By synthesizing the meanings provided by these symbols with the symbolism of the planet, its associated sign(s), and the developmental framing of the hesitation, we can construct a robust, useful, and individualized framework for any retrograde cycle to help us make sense of our experiences. Below, I share an example of this synthesis, expanding on and further contextualizing the personal story I shared in part 3 regarding the Mars retrograde cycle.
For another perspective on the story of the Mars retrograde cycle, see the article I published on Astrology Journal, called Coming of Age: Mars to the Rescue in These Crucial Times. As I write this article, Mars is in its final integration period, a period that began on February 23, 2025 and that will continue until May 2, 2025. Thus, this other article might offer helpful insight. In it, I draw on the movie Iron Will for my experiential base. I chose that movie because of its exploration of the universal theme of coming of age, a theme that is relevant to Mars’ association with identity formation.
This theme is also relevant to the personal story I share below. Before diving in, let’s walk through the set up for telling it.
Preparing for the Story
Degrees and Dates
The first thing we need to do when preparing to analyze a retrograde cycle is determine the dates and degrees of the five significant points in the cycle. We do so by consulting an ephemeris and, when necessary, using astrology software to zero in on specific dates. I find astrology software especially handy for determining the precise dates for the reconnaissance and integration points as well as for the midpoints for the reconnaissance and integration periods. In these cases, ephemerides can get us close, but not exact.
In the table below, I have included the dates and degrees for each significant point in the retrograde cycle.4
For the degrees, I’ve listed the nominal degree without minutes and seconds. For most sources, to look up the Sabian symbol, we need to round the nominal degree up to the next degree. If we take the degree for the Reconnaissance point (Cancer 17) from the table as our example, to get the Sabian symbol, we need to look up Cancer 18.5
Rounding up is necessary because each of the twelve signs of the zodiac ranges from 0 to 29 degrees rather than 1 to 30 degrees. This numerical system means that 0 is the first degree (not the null degree), 1 is the second degree (not the first degree), 2 is the third degree (not the second degree), and so on. Extending that understanding to our example of Cancer 17, 17 is the eighteenth degree (not the seventeenth degree), so we look up Cancer 18.6
Referring back to Table 1, from the five significant points, we can determine the three significant degrees by condensing the list to only include one occurrence for each degree. When we do that, we get:
Relevant Sabian Symbols
Using James Burgess’ site Sacred 7 Academy as our source for the Sabian symbols, we get the following:
Leo 7: “The constellations in the sky”
Cancer 27: “A storm in a canyon”
Cancer 18: “A hen scratching for her chicks”7
Mapping these Sabian symbols to the five points and their corresponding dates, we get:8
Telling the Story
Having established the nuts and bolts of the Sabian symbols as they relate to the retrograde cycle, we can now look at a specific example to see what insights this approach can yield. As stated above, the specific example we’ll be looking at is my experience during the Mars retrograde cycle. I wrote about this experience in part 3. Here, I will be using the Sabian symbols to expand and contextualize the experience. We’ll start from the beginning, with the reconnaissance period.
The Reconnaissance Period: Approach
“A hen scratching for her chicks”
Mars began its reconnaissance period and thus its retrograde cycle on October 5, 2024 at Cancer 17. The Sabian symbol for that degree is “A hen scratching for her chicks”. While the reconnaissance period represents the approach up to a new stage, the Sabian symbol for its initiation represents what we are going back for during the retrograde period to come.
When I read Burgess’ discussion on this Sabian symbol, what came through for me was the idea of growing into greater self-sufficiency. When we start out our life, we depend on others to meet all our needs. Ideally, these others meet our needs while, at the same time, heeding our developmental imperative to grow into greater and greater independence. In the example of the hen scratching for her chicks, she is not only doing the work of finding the food for her chicks, but also providing an example for her chicks to observe. Presumably by observing her, they learn what they will need to know to do it for themselves when that developmental time comes.
The Persistent Lure Back to Fitness
During Mars’ reconnaissance period, I was deep into a return to fitness, something I have returned to repeatedly during my years of illness but have not been able to sustain precisely because of my illness. The draw of fitness has been that it harkens back to my childhood identity as an athlete, an experience both familiar and, until now, unfinished. I say unfinished because, while successful at a local level, I never realized my potential and that left a persistent unfinished feeling in me.
During my illness, I felt compelled to return to an identity I knew and to figure out why I didn’t realize my potential. While each return failed in that I wasn’t able to sustain my efforts, I learned something valuable each time. This time, I was driven to create and show up for a training plan. This drive represented a huge shift. For years leading up to that point, I was not able to adhere to a daily routine as, trying to do so would quickly throw me over the edge into exhaustion.
Developmental Drive
This time around, I felt inspired by the plan and was eager to show up for it. After a few weeks, though, it was clear my training was catching up to me, that I was overdoing. Factoring in my body’s feedback, I decided to finish out the week and then cut back significantly the following week. Wiped, I nevertheless showed up for the final session of the week, a tough session physically and mentally for where I was at.
Determined to meet my goal, I pushed myself beyond my mind’s aversion and my body’s clear signals to ease up. The pushing felt good, psychologically. As I wrote in part 3, it was me determined to show up for a goal I set, me the one compelling myself to keep going despite how hard it felt and not being sure I could do it, and me the one doing something I hadn’t been able to do for years. As important, there was no coach, no trainer, no friend or partner pushing me from the outside - no one to whom I had to answer but myself. This was me flying solo. This was me evolving beyond the need for a mother hen to tell me what to do and not to do. This was me proving to myself that I could do it.
At the end of the session, I felt completely full, my body and being saturated with a combination of exhaustion and satisfaction. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized what was driving me. The feeling was: I had done it. I had set a goal, showed up for it, and, all on my own, achieved it. I was aware that I had overdone it and set myself back, but it didn’t matter. All the feelings of failure I had felt about my early years as an athlete cleared, all the self-doubt, all the insecurities about my abilities to push myself.
Consciously, I was aware that I’d have to rest up for a few weeks. But I assumed I’d be right back at it once my body recovered. On a deeper level, however, it seems my psyche had completed an essential developmental task, freeing me to leave my past behind. It would take some time for that deeper level to impact my conscious expectations and choices.
Thus, as I approached the boundary of the new stage of development during the reconnaissance (or first shadow) period, I delved into aspects of my past that were in need of resolving before moving into the next stretch of my life. The results of delving into these experiences, we could say, were the set up for the retrograde period to come.
The Midpoint: “A storm in a canyon”
Although in the table above I only listed dates correlating to the five significant points, planets cross the degree marking the solar point, or midpoint of the retrograde period (and cycle as a whole), three times during the cycle, once during the retrograde period and once during each shadow period. The midpoint degree for the Mars retrograde cycle is Cancer 26. For Mars' current retrograde cycle, these midpoint passages occur on:
October 24, 2024: Reconnaissance midpoint
January 15, 2025: Retrograde solar point
April 8, 2025: Integration midpoint9
The Sabian symbol for the degree associated with these passages is “A storm in a canyon”. While I didn't experience dramatic shifts on or around the reconnaissance midpoint, I was clearly processing the overtraining I had done as evidenced by the two updates I published on my Running Slant Substack. One was on October 20th, just before the midpoint date, and one was on October 27th, just after it. Looking back on those posts now, I see that my conscious mind remained stubbornly oriented toward training, continuing to frame my situation as a temporary setback from which I would soon recover.
However, by the time of my second post, I was beginning to realize that my recovery was going to take longer than I had been anticipating. Not wanting to accept it, I was nevertheless beginning to feel my spirit flagging as uncertainty about my ability to prioritize training going forward in my life given my age and health began to creep in. Although not consciously accepted, a part of me was reckoning with a major perceptual shift in my reality.
Using the Sabian symbolism, we might say that the flickering light of an approaching storm (fully manifest at the solar point) was helping some part of my mind clarify my reality and path. No longer needing to hang onto my past, the drive to sustain it, perhaps, was no longer needed, explaining my psychic weariness.
The Retrograde Period: Retreat
“The constellations in the sky”
Mars entered its retrograde period on December 6, 2024, at Leo 6. The Sabian symbol for this degree is "The constellations in the sky." This symbol corresponds to the edge of the new stage waiting beyond the retrograde territory. The retrograde period itself represents the retreat from the new stage.
When I reflect on the symbolism of this degree, what comes through is the idea of a new horizon, an evocation of a new path or possibility. This symbol also quite literally evokes the discipline of astrology. Factoring in the symbolism of the retrograde period, we get the idea that for this new horizon to be realized, the old must first recede.
Around the time that the retrograde period began, it was clear that my recovery was going to take much longer than I had originally anticipated. On a deeper level, it was as though the old wave of identity - my athletic self - was starting to recede. While I continued to hang onto it consciously, on a deeper level there was a growing sense of acceptance, of a willingness to let this old part of me fall away.
As the retrograde period progressed, my identity progressively shifted away from fitness and towards astrology as my primary endeavor, with key moments of clarity surfacing. Indications of it can be seen in the article I posted on January 4th resurrecting this Substack and in an article I posted on Astrology Journal on January 6th articulating my clarified intention for that newsletter.
The Solar Point: “A storm in a canyon”
The Sabian symbol for the solar point at Cancer 26 is “A storm in a canyon”. To my surprise, around the time of this solar point on January 15, 2025, I did not experience any kind of crisis in the conventional sense of that word. Instead, I remember feelings of peaceful ease, acceptance, and satisfaction with my new focus on astrology. It was finally ok to not be an athlete.
This doesn’t mean, by the way, that I’ve given up on physical activity being possible again and that I don’t look forward to partaking in it when that time comes. It does mean, however, that, psychologically speaking, my relationship with fitness has shifted dramatically such that it no longer needs to be primary. As this shift happened, I felt a balanced sense of peacefulness inside and could imagine a life where fitness was a part of my life, but not the whole thing, an enjoyable past time that rounded out my life rather than an egoic compulsion dominating it.
This experience gave me new insight into the midpoint: rather than a crisis in the conventional sense of that word, it is a point of clarity. To the extent that our experience does manifest as crisis in our usual way of thinking of that, the purpose of it, I would argue, is to clarify something. Thus, if we do experience crisis, we can ask ourselves what inner or outer dynamic is surfacing for resolution.
Reflections on the Retrograde Period
My experience during this retrograde period as a whole helped me see that the regression of the retrograde period can manifest as a clearing away of something old, not just a retreat into past behaviors. In my case, the resurrection of my past pursuit began before the reconnaissance period began, carrying into it. Then, during the retrograde period, the old began to withdraw, revealing something new.
The structure of the retrograde cycle suggests that the new that has been revealed is not the same as the emergence that comes at the end of the cycle. However, since Mars has not yet completed its cycle, I am not able to provide an experiential perspective on that distinction at this time.
The Integration Period: Resumption and Emergence
“A hen scratching for her chicks” and “The Constellations in the Sky”
Mars’ integration period began on February 23rd when it stationed direct and will continue until May 2nd when it leaves the retrograde territory. During the integration period, we resume our forward momentum towards the new stage until finally emerging into it at the end of the cycle. The Sabian symbol for the start of Mars’ integration period is “A hen scratching for her chicks”. The Sabian symbol for the end of the integration period is “The constellations in the sky”.
During this integration phase, my heart has sometimes felt like it is going to burst from yearning, as though caught between where it has been and is (dependent on support) and where it longs to be (supporting myself), with astrology, rather than fitness, as the focus of this yearning. Knowing that I shut down during adolescence, I suspect that this feeling of yearning is what teenagers feel as they transition from child to adult, longing to be their own person but still dependent on their parents. I consider the emergence of this yearning in me a heartening developmental sign.
While my exact path is not fully clear at this time, what is clear is that, as I metaphorically look up at the stars, the yearning I feel is for the path of my adult life to make itself known. Before, I had no sense of a future, nothing to yearn for, no concept of adult. How could I when my psyche was still wrapped up in an unresolved dynamic from my childhood past? The emergence of yearning tells me that the old dynamic has resolved and that my life force is once again flowing as it is meant to.
Conclusion
In this 4-part series, I have presented the perspective that the review and revision aspects of planetary retrogrades are an essential part of a larger developmental process, one that correlates to the transitional hesitation period in our human path of unfolding and that we can think of as a fractal of a larger cosmic wave pattern. With this perspective, we have a more holistic way of understanding retrograde transits and our developmental process.
In this holistic perspective, the temporary inconveniences and setbacks we associate with retrograde periods can be understood as signs of a deeper developmental process - a necessary transition process preparing us for a new stage of growth about to emerge.10
The implicit perspective underlying this perspective and approach is that our path as humans is fundamentally developmental. I am arguing that supporting and informing our every thought, action, and perception is a developmental context shaping our psychic reality at any given time. I am also arguing that this developmental context is 1) a fractal of a larger cosmic pattern and 2) the path of spirit in human form.
Astrology provides us with a rich symbolic language, with each symbol consisting of shards of meaning that we can fashion into coherent individual stories. Once we have these pieces and individual stories, we can craft them into more complex narratives. When we use a developmental filter to organize these stories and then overlay them onto our experience, we open up the possibility of discerning subtle but meaningful developmental thrusts to our experiences. This shift in perspective can help us align with our healing and growth processes in a more conscious and honoring way.
Planetary retrogradation is a distinct, geocentric phenomenon that reflects back to us a fundamental developmental aspect of our human experience, that of a hesitation, or pause, between stages. This hesitation, like the retrograde process, consists of three parts - an approach to a new stage, a retreat from it, and then an emergence into the new stage. More simply, we can say that it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Wired for story, we can help ourselves make sense of our experiences by shaping the retrograde symbolism into this natural narrative construct of beginning, middle, and end. We can then use that story to help us understand the experiences we are having within the framework of a natural and necessary hesitation process.
Practically speaking, to tell the retrograde story, we identify the planet and sign(s) involved, the five significant points, the three significant degrees of the given cycle, and the relevant Sabian symbols. We then use the framework of the developmental hesitation to craft all that symbolism into a coherent narrative. Finally, we overlay that narrative onto our experience to see if it provides insight.
What do you think? Does this framing provide you with the context you need to better understand and appreciate your experience? Does it help you find more peace within, better tend and care for yourself as you grow, better befriend yourself? Feel free to leave a comment.
Previous Articles in Series
Cover Image Credit
Updates
March 6, 2025
I added the subheading Wave Metaphor Refinement to the Review > Retrogrades as Hesitations section to differentiate that section, making it easier to find on scanning.
References
Burgess, James. “Sabian Symbols.” Sacred 7 Academy. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.jamesburgess.com/sabian-symbols.html
Luvmour, Josette & Luvmour, Sambhava. Natural Learning Rhythms: Discovering How and When Your Child Learns. Berkeley, California: Celestial Arts, Revised edition, 1993.
Roche, Diana E. “A Photo Essay of the Life and Work of Dr. Marc Edmund Jones.” Sabian Assembly. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://sabian.org/marc_edmund_jones.php
Planet Position Sources
Pottenger, Rique. (2012). The New American Ephemeris for the 21st Century, 2000-2100 at Midnight (Michelsen Memorial Edition). Starcrafts Publishing. (Based on the earlier work of Neil F. Michelsen)
Shimchenko, Roman. Astrological Charts Pro (Android app)
Sabian Resources
Burgess, James. “Sabian Symbols.” Sacred 7 Academy. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.jamesburgess.com/sabian-symbols.html
Hill, Lynda. “Symbols.” Sabian Symbols. Accessed March 4, 2025. https://sabiansymbols.com/symbols/
Jones, Marc Edmund. The Sabian Symbols in Astrology. Santa Fe, NM: Aurora Press (1993).
Rudhyar, Dane. An Astrological Mandala The Cycle Of Transformations And Its 360 Symbolic Phases. New York: Vintage Books (1973).
Notes
See Luvmour, pp. 13-14.
The intention of their collaboration, as I understand it, was to tune into a non-physical source from early Egyptian times who would then convey to Wheeler psychic images for each degree. In this collaboration, Jones served as the space holder, recorder, and interpreter of the images that Elsie brought through. (See Roche.) Also, the assumption that Jones was creating the space for Elsie to channel a non-physical entity from early Egyptian times is based on my memory of something I read about the occasion from another source, possibly the introduction to Jones’ book on the Sabian symbols, but I am not certain and don’t have access to the book at this time.
See Jones for the original book on the Sabian symbols. For other interpretations that followed, see Burgess, Rudhyar, and Hill in the Sabian Resources section.
For the dates, I used a combination of The American Ephemeris for the 21st Century and the astrology software program Astrological Charts Pro. (See the Planet Position Sources section.)
This approach is true for all the resources listed in the Sabian Resources section above except for Lynda Hill’s Sabian Symbols site. When looking up a Sabian symbol on her site, you use the nominal degree instead of rounding up. Thus, if a planet is at Cancer 17, on her site, you look up Cancer 17, not Cancer 18.
See footnote 5 for an exception to this rule.
See Burgess for all three Sabian symbols used in this article. The specific web page for each Sabian symbol is hyperlinked to the symbol quoted.
See Burgess for the Sabian symbols used in the Graphic 3.
See footnote 4.
The Luvmours talk about the behaviors that arise in developmental hesitancies as signals letting others know that the child is preparing to enter a new stage of development. I am applying that insight to retrogrades. See Luvmour, p. 13.