Sabian Symbols - Who Saw Them First & What Are They?

Sabian Symbols
Who Saw Them First & What Are They?

​The book, An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and Its 360 Symbolic Phases  by Dane Rudhyar includes Sabian symbols for each of the 360 degrees of the Zodiac which were received originally in 1925 by a clairvoyant medium by the name of, Elsie Wheeler in San Diego, California, of which were recorded by Mark Edmond Jones.


Ms. Wheeler is rarely spoken of when speaking about the Sabian Symbols, which I find rather interesting as it is she who brought forth the 360 symbolic images. Images that were written down by Mark Edmonton Jones. He is written to have created the symbols with the assistance of Ms. Wheeler.


Dane Rudhyar, American Author (3/23/1895 - 9/13/1985), was very interested in Jones’ work and deeply studied his teachings. Rudhyar even went to visit Ms. Wheeler twice in her home in 1936. She was, and I quote from Rudhyar, “A lovely woman crippled by arthritis and confined to a wheel chair…” She is said to have been a Seer, a medium and had a number of clients and she was known to have seen symbols. 


The story goes that Miss Wheeler and Mark Jones went to a park in San Diego. Jones had a card deck which he showed to Wheeler. Each card had a constellation with a corresponding number on it of which Elsie (and Jones) could not see. Jones flashed half of the deck to Wheeler in the morning and the rest in the afternoon. She saw images and Jones wrote them down.


These symbols were to be developed by Jones and published in his book Sabian Symbols of Astrology in 1953, of which he made hardly a mention of Wheeler. Jones added his personal perspective to the images/symbols as a social psychologist and abstract philosopher. His good work is appreciated by many.


Dane Rudhyar, however, after having met Marc Jones during the 1930s in Los Angeles, California, became so intrigued with the symbols that he studied them and wrote about them for many years before taking the symbols to a new level of Astrology.


With Rudyhar’s background in musical composition, Hindu philosophy, the I Ching symbols, divination, theosophy, and the deep writings of Carl Jung, the translations from the original symbols expanded the series into a more “cyclic philosophy of existence.” Many use the symbols today to help unlock the secrets of vibration that continue to live in the images, the keynotes and the deep translations. 


In reference to the name, “Sabian” the etymology follows: an adherent of a religious sect mentioned thrice in the Qu'ran (in which they are classified with Christians and Jews as monotheistic "true believers" tolerated by Muslims, 1610s, from Arabic, but a word of uncertain origin. As an adjective from 1748.


In other sources we find the word association with the “occult” (hidden) and refers to Babylonia. Those that have been upon the Spiritually Awakened Path of Truth will more than likely get “triggered” by the name, Babylon and rightly so. That is one of the single most important times and places to understand in the history of humanity.


Wisdom, treachery and deceit were rampant in those early days, and as we have come to know, that which was good became infiltrated and inverted and weaponized against humanity. It is my humble opinion that the wisdom still hides in the symbols and vibrations seen by a gentle American woman in the year 1925.


Author
Kristen Farquhar
Initially written August 2021
Updated July 1, 2025


Photograph
Elsie Wheeler 
Attribution: Lexicon