Sabik
Eta Ophiuchi · Ophiuchus
Last updated
Position (2026)
♐ 18°20′ Sagittarius
Magnitude
2.43
Planetary Nature
Saturn / Venus (Robson)
Robson: Saturn and Venus. Eta Ophiuchi.
Alvidas: Jupiter / Venus
Spectral Type
A2.5Va
Appearance
A white binary on the left knee of the Serpent Bearer
Name Origin
Language
Arabic
Original Form
Al Sābiq
Meaning
The Preceding One
Eta Ophiuchi. From the Arabic Al Sābiq, the Preceding One, likely referring to its position relative to other stars in the constellation figure. Allen gives limited commentary on this star compared to the more prominent stars of Ophiuchus.
Known As
Near the Serpent Bearer's knee, Sabik belongs to the figure of Asclepius, the physician who restored the dead to life. Pluto feared for his kingdom and persuaded Jove to strike the physician with a thunderbolt. The old lists place sincere conviction and artistic ability beside uncertain rewards; research and alchemy enter later. Sabik concerns work pursued for its own value, with enough independence to question accepted ideas. That persistence has a cost when defending a belief takes the place of testing it. Skill can develop for years with little recognition, and commitment can make a change of mind difficult.
Sabik's reputation for wastefulness sits awkwardly beside Robson's description of an honorable Sun conjunction. His general entry condemns the star, then his planet entries describe artistic ability and perseverance, with material success under Jupiter. [1] A conviction or talent might cost more to pursue than it earns. With Sabik, ask what you are willing to spend on work that matters to you and whether you have chosen that cost.
Ptolemy gives Ophiuchus Saturn with some Venus; Robson follows that assignment for Sabik and reports Alvidas's alternative of Jupiter and Venus. [3][1] Robson describes ability developing without much financial reward, and success arriving with criticism. Loving the work does not make uncertain rewards easy to live with. Neither does poor payment tell you how good the work is.
Sabik by birth year
On 1 January 2026, Sabik stood at ♐ 18°20′ Sagittarius in the tropical zodiac.
It has been in Sagittarius since before the year 1000 and stays there past 2400.
Positions are for 1 January of each year; a star moves about 50 arcseconds a year, so a birth late in the decade sits close to the next row.
| Born in | Position |
|---|---|
| 1900 | ♐ 16°35′ Sagittarius |
| 1910 | ♐ 16°42′ Sagittarius |
| 1920 | ♐ 16°51′ Sagittarius |
| 1930 | ♐ 16°59′ Sagittarius |
| 1940 | ♐ 17°08′ Sagittarius |
| 1950 | ♐ 17°16′ Sagittarius |
| 1960 | ♐ 17°25′ Sagittarius |
| 1970 | ♐ 17°33′ Sagittarius |
| 1980 | ♐ 17°41′ Sagittarius |
| 1990 | ♐ 17°50′ Sagittarius |
| 2000 | ♐ 17°58′ Sagittarius |
| 2010 | ♐ 18°07′ Sagittarius |
| 2020 | ♐ 18°15′ Sagittarius |
| 2030 | ♐ 18°24′ Sagittarius |
From latitudes poleward of 74.2° N it never rises, and from latitudes poleward of 74.2° S it never sets (geometric horizon, refraction ignored).
Computed by the Augurine engine on the apparent equinox of date from HYG coordinates with proper motion applied (engine build 1c1cc33).
The Sun that contradicts Sabik's reputation
Influence. According to Ptolemy it is of the nature of Saturn and Venus; and, to Alvidas, of Jupiter and Venus. It causes wastefulness, lost energy, perverted morals, and success in evil deeds.
With Sun. Sincere, honourable, scientific, religious and philosophical interests, unorthodox or heretical, moral courage, bad for gain.
With Sabik on your Sun, you might pursue an unpopular line of study at the cost of income. Read Robson's general condemnation as historical moral language, then weigh the specific planet's tendencies against the whole chart. Spending effort on poorly paid work looks wasteful to an outsider even when the person doing it has chosen freely. Ask where the effort goes before deciding that it has been wasted.
Robson's lists depend on the planet involved. With the Sun, his scientific interests sit beside religious and philosophical ones, and his unorthodoxy sits beside sincerity. [1] Holding an independent conviction need not make every disagreement a test of courage. Leave room to revise a position after learning something new, even if defending it has cost you a great deal.
Ptolemy assigns Saturn and Venus to Ophiuchus, while his serpent receives Saturn and Mars. Hephaistio repeats that distinction as Kronos with some Aphrodite for the bearer, and Kronos with Ares for the serpent. [3][4] Robson's Sun persists with a difficult line of thought when agreement or payment is slow to follow. [1] Check which planet contacts Sabik before interpreting that persistence as a problem.
Sabik and Suk at the Serpent Bearer's knee
Notes. A pale yellow star situated on the left knee of Ophiuchus. From Sabik, Preceding One.
Allen finds Sabik, the Preceding One, in Al Tizini's catalogue, with neighboring Zeta Ophiuchi sometimes sharing the title. Beigel preferred Suk, the Driver. Allen also records Sung, an early Chinese feudal state, for Eta, while Zeta was Han. [2] Eta Ophiuchi identifies Sabik unambiguously where those older names overlap.
Robson places Sabik at the left knee; Fiorenza puts it at the point from which the right-leg stars extend. [1][6] The posture varies with the author's picture of Ophiuchus. Locate Eta Ophiuchi before using the figure's anatomy to interpret a contact.
The cost of Sabik's convictions and work
Augurine's calculator uses a one-degree conjunction orb for Sabik. With your Sun there, your convictions and the work you choose to do because of them are central. With the Moon, the conversation moves closer to home. Robson lists jealousy and trouble through relatives alongside success without wealth, and he includes success in breeding stock. [1] The Moon contact concerns how family expectations affect satisfaction. Achievement may feel less rewarding when it attracts rivalry from people whose approval matters to you.
For Mercury, start with the cost of a dispute. Robson describes open enemies and weak support from friends, with business difficulties and legal losses. [1] Examine whether an agreement is clear and how much help is available when negotiations fail. Review the actual terms of a commitment before arguing harder for the principle behind it.
Venus has Robson's musical and artistic ability with limited financial advantage. Mars has unorthodox religious views that provoke trouble, along with domestic conflict and difficulties in love. [1] With Venus, separate the quality of your work from what someone currently pays for it, then consider what makes continued practice affordable. With Mars, defending an idea risks becoming a quarrel with someone you care about. Pause when you find yourself arguing with the person instead of discussing the idea.
Jupiter has the clearest financial success in Robson's Sabik entry. He includes advancement in church or law under criticism, with gains through large animals and trouble through relatives. [1] A promotion and an argument about the promotion sometimes happen together. Separate criticism that identifies something you could improve from disagreement with the position itself. Progress within an institution leaves you answerable to people who object to how you work.
With Saturn. Industrious, persevering, economical, strong passions, trouble through some active indiscretion affecting whole life, trouble and disappointment in love affairs, secret help from female friends which may cause scandal, success especially in latter part of life in affairs of an earthy or Sagittarian nature, but little prominence.
Robson describes an economical Saturn, despite calling Sabik wasteful in his general entry. His later success with little prominence separates becoming good at something from becoming publicly known for it. [1] With Saturn, look at what sustained work leaves for private commitments. Name the reward you want before committing years to a pursuit that might give you skill without recognition.
Robson's Uranus is sincere and patient in trouble, yet disappointed by the results of good works. His Neptune includes sensitivity and success as a writer or speaker, with gifts used for scientific purposes. [1] With Uranus, examine the expectations you place on helping others. With Neptune, discuss what you do with imaginative ability or support received.
Extending those planet delineations to the angles puts conviction into different parts of life. With Sabik on your Ascendant, look at how openly you express a conviction in first encounters. On the Midheaven, compare the work you respect with the work that earns recognition. At the Descendant, discuss the cost of persistent disagreement in partnership; at the lower meridian, discuss family expectations around your choices. A planet also conjunct Sabik makes the interpretation more specific. Read the Sun's independence differently from Saturn's persistence.
From Asclepius to Fiorenza's Sabik research
Brady treats Ophiuchus as Asclepius the healer and connects the constellation with medicine and drugs. Robson also discusses medicine in his Ophiuchus entry. [5][1] Fiorenza names Sabik individually in his modern reading of medical research and alchemy, alongside meditative techniques. [6] For someone already engaged in research, ask what holds their attention long enough to investigate it. Then look at how the contacting planet describes their approach to that work.
The Anonymous of 379 describes help through Asclepius or Serapis, or through physicians, in a configuration involving an unnamed bright star near Scorpio's 27th degree. The author gives no Eta Ophiuchi identification. [7] Firmicus describes people born with the Serpent-Holder rising in the first degrees of Capricorn as snake charmers. [8] These accounts concern encounters with healers or snakes; neither supplies a named Sabik research reading.
With the Sun, Robson's scientific interests and willingness to depart from accepted views sit alongside Fiorenza's research emphasis. [1][6] Ask how you test an unconventional idea and what would persuade you to revise it. A result that contradicts your original idea still answers something you set out to investigate.
Finding Sabik's Sagittarius degree for a birth
Sabik was at 16°51′ Sagittarius in Robson's 1920 list. [1] Its tropical position for 1980 is 17°41′ Sagittarius, and for 2026 it is 18°20′ Sagittarius. A planet close to the modern degree may have been farther from Sabik at birth. Use the birth-year position when deciding how much weight to give a narrow conjunction.
Fiorenza writes from a sidereal framework, so his printed longitude differs from these tropical positions. [6] In a tropical chart for 2000, Sabik is at 17°58′ Sagittarius. A planet at 18° Sagittarius is almost exactly conjunct it, a contact you could miss if you were working from Robson's 1920 degree.
Sabik and the physician struck by a thunderbolt
Brady identifies the Serpent Bearer with Asclepius. Apollo's son learned healing from Chiron and served as surgeon aboard the Argo. He became skilled enough to restore the dead to life. He is pictured holding a stick with a serpent coiled around it. [5]
After the Argo's voyage was over, Asclepius became skilled enough to restore Hippolytus to life. Four horses had torn Hippolytus apart; at Neptune's request, the physician joined the pieces of his body together and revived him. Serpents accompanied the worship of Asclepius, with wisdom and the discovery of healing herbs among their meanings. Allen tells of these cures before the attempt to revive Orion. Pluto feared that a physician who returned the dead to life would threaten the continuance of his kingdom. [2]
But several such successful operations and numerous remarkable cures, and especially the attempt to revive the dead Orion, led Pluto, who feared for the continuance of his kingdom, to induce Jove to strike Aesculapius with a thunderbolt and put him among the constellations.
How the authors read Sabik
| Source | Nature | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Ptolemy | Saturn, with some Venus | Ptolemy gives this mixture to Ophiuchus. The serpent has Saturn and Mars instead. [3] |
| Hephaistio | Saturn, with some Venus | Hephaistio repeats the mixture for Ophiuchus as Kronos and somewhat Aphrodite in Book 1, section 4. [4] |
| Anonymous of 379 | no planetary mixture given | The Anonymous discusses an unnamed Ophiuchus star in a therapeutic configuration. Sabik has no named entry in the planetary-mixture roster. [7] |
| Robson | Saturn and Venus | Robson follows Ptolemy and reports Jupiter and Venus from Alvidas. His planet entries range from the sincere Sun to the materially successful Jupiter. [1] |
| Brady | no planetary mixture given | Brady reads Ophiuchus through Asclepius and healing at the constellation level. [5] |
| Fiorenza | no planetary mixture given | Fiorenza names Sabik in his modern reading of medical research and alchemy. [6] |
Natal Conjunctions
Find your conjunctions →Sabik Conjunct Sun
Independent conviction takes priority in this reading, including the cost of pursuing an unpopular idea. Robson describes sincerity and honour with scientific or religious interests, alongside unorthodoxy and poor financial returns. The combination suits someone prepared to continue a line of study without much agreement from others. It also raises the question of how readily you revise your position. A result that changes your mind can justify the work as fully as one that supports it.
Sabik Conjunct Moon
Something goes well, but the reaction at home leaves you reluctant to take satisfaction in it. Robson's Moon entry combines jealousy and difficulties through relatives with success that falls short of wealth; he also includes stock breeding. For a personal reading, examine whose approval matters when something goes well. You may find yourself reducing the importance of an accomplishment to avoid a family dispute. Satisfaction needs some independence from the reactions of people who have their own expectations of your life.
Sabik Conjunct Mercury
A dispute can cost more than the principle at stake first suggests. Robson describes open opposition and little assistance from friends, with business difficulties and legal losses; he also allows some gain. Read Mercury through the terms you agree to and the support available when those terms are challenged. Clear communication matters, particularly when a partner's relatives become involved. An agreement that each person understands gives the discussion a firmer basis.
Sabik Conjunct Venus
Musical or artistic work deserves attention apart from its current income. Robson gives Venus ability in those fields while describing limited financial advantage. That suggests a reading concerned with the conditions that let a talent develop, especially when payment arrives slowly or inconsistently. You may need another source of income to keep practising at the standard you value. When another income pays for time to practise, each piece has room to develop without having to cover your living costs.
Sabik Conjunct Mars
Defending an unconventional belief becomes more difficult when the argument enters a close relationship. Robson's Mars entry concerns religious dissent that provokes trouble, alongside domestic friction and difficulties in love. The useful reading examines how a disagreement about ideas becomes a personal confrontation. You may be trying to secure agreement from someone whose affection matters more than their opinion. A pause can allow the relationship to continue while the difference of belief remains unresolved.
Sabik Conjunct Jupiter
An appointment that advances your career might also give relatives fresh grounds for criticism. Robson gives Jupiter material success and preferment in church or law, with gains through large animals, while retaining trouble through relatives. This is a reading of progress that attracts objections, including objections from people close to you. A successful appointment may create fresh arguments about the work or the way it was obtained. Listen for criticism that identifies a practical problem you can address within the new role.
Sabik Conjunct Saturn
Sustained effort has more weight here than public prominence. Robson describes industry and economy, with perseverance and later success, while his private-life list concerns indiscretion and disappointed attachments. Read the conjunction through the reward you expect from continued work. Becoming proficient may be satisfying even when recognition stays modest. The pressure develops when a demanding routine leaves private commitments unattended, so the reading needs both the work you maintain and the relationships that share your time.
Sabik Conjunct Uranus
Patient work undertaken to help others can yield less than hoped. Robson's Uranus is sincere and retiring, with patience in trouble and a religious connection. His severe accounts of disability and sorrow belong to his 1923 register. In practice, examine the expectation behind the help you offer. A worthwhile effort may need a smaller aim or a different approach before the person receiving it can benefit.
Sabik Conjunct Neptune
Sensitivity has a public outlet in writing or speaking in Robson's Neptune entry. He describes success and friendships, with gifts or legacies put to scientific use. His fatal medical ending belongs to his 1923 predictive language and needs weighing against the whole chart. The working reading concerns what you make from an imaginative response or support received. An audience or a gift can give a sustained project the practical means to develop.
Sabik Conjunct Pluto
The cost of a conviction becomes harder to assess when changing course feels like surrendering your identity. Applied to Pluto, the reading of committed work concerns the pressure to keep investing after the original purpose has changed. You may become absorbed in proving that the effort was justified. A careful review can reveal which part still deserves attention. The point to watch is whether you can revise the aim while keeping the part of the work that still matters.
Sabik Conjunct North Node
The work that holds your interest may reward effort differently from the path your circle expects. This application to the Node follows Sabik's contrast between sustained ability and uncertain recognition. An affiliation can help you develop a serious interest while offering little status in return. Notice whether the work itself remains worth the commitment. Development can include finding collaborators whose expectations allow the practice to continue.
Sabik Conjunct Ascendant
A new acquaintance hears your conviction before they have much chance to learn anything else about you. Robson's Sun independence and Saturn perseverance provide the basis for this extension to the Ascendant. A serious manner may suggest commitment, yet also make an ordinary difference of opinion feel consequential. Examine how you introduce what matters to you. There is room to state a position clearly while allowing a new acquaintance time to understand it.
Sabik Conjunct Midheaven
You might be doing work you respect long before it receives public recognition. Robson's Venus has artistic ability with limited gain, while his Saturn develops later success with little prominence. Applied to the Midheaven, that asks how you assess a career when useful work receives uneven attention. Fiorenza's medical research emphasis may fit when that investigation is already central to the profession. A durable practice needs conditions that let you keep working between periods of recognition.
Paran Interpretations
Parans describe what happens when Sabik and a planet simultaneously occupy the four angles (rising, culminating, setting, nadir) at a given location.
Sabik in Paran with Sun
Rising
A serious interest pursued despite limited agreement or reward gives Robson's independent Sun reading an early setting through Brady's angle timing.
Culminating
Pursuing an unpopular idea has a visible cost at the height of your work. Growing professional responsibilities test how much room you have for intellectual independence.
Setting
A belief held for years may meet a different perspective through a later partnership. Discussion can change the position without diminishing the work behind it.
At the Nadir
An idea examined closely remains open to revision. Private study still offers satisfaction in this reading after public ambitions ease.
Sabik in Paran with Moon
Rising
An early achievement prompts comparison with a relative, and their approval matters. The reading concerns how that family response complicates satisfaction.
Culminating
Accomplishment puts family tensions in view as your work gains recognition. Your satisfaction depends partly on how much weight you give relatives' reactions.
Setting
Different measures of success have room to develop as family life changes over time. Each person's achievement need not satisfy the whole household.
At the Nadir
Unspoken rivalry may affect the private meaning of an accomplishment. Recognising whose expectations you have adopted helps distinguish them from your own preferences.
Sabik in Paran with Mercury
Rising
Support from friends might prove less available than expected during early disagreements. Clear terms matter when you have to explain the agreement yourself.
Culminating
A negotiation risks absorbing more work than expected during a time of professional visibility. A contested agreement needs attention before the dispute grows.
Setting
Relatives or longstanding partners may become involved in a later disagreement. Each person's actual responsibility needs to remain clear within the discussion.
At the Nadir
Correspondence preserves the details of an unsettled commitment for private review. Later reflection might reveal where two people understood the agreement differently.
Sabik in Paran with Venus
Rising
Music or art attracts your interest early in this reading, before payment is realistic. Encouragement and regular practice give it room to become a skill.
Culminating
An audience for your art need not mean the income you expected. During public recognition, the work might still require financial support.
Setting
Creative practice can remain satisfying in later life as ambitions change. A partner's support may help preserve time for work with modest financial returns.
At the Nadir
Continued practice preserves a piece's private value long after the occasion for selling it has passed. The work still matters to you.
Sabik in Paran with Mars
Rising
When you first challenge an accepted belief, people close to you might feel the friction. Early arguments teach how conviction enters a relationship.
Culminating
A public argument might continue at home after the working day ends. At the height of your work, defending an unconventional position tests private relationships.
Setting
A later partnership may require living with an unresolved difference of belief. Affection can continue while each person maintains a separate position.
At the Nadir
Rehearsing an argument keeps domestic tension active in private. Recovery has room to begin when agreement feels less urgent than preserving the relationship.
Sabik in Paran with Jupiter
Rising
A first institutional opportunity encourages ambition in this reading, while criticism tests your approach. Progress requires attention to the duties that come with advancement.
Culminating
Material success or an institutional appointment attracts attention at the height of your work. Objections might concern your approach as much as the position itself.
Setting
Supporting others within an institution becomes possible through influence gained over years, even while relatives continue to dispute the choices behind your success.
At the Nadir
Success has a private value distinct from public standing. The opportunities you created remain part of a legacy even when criticism continues.
Sabik in Paran with Saturn
Rising
Working carefully with little recognition gives perseverance an early setting. You develop skill while public encouragement remains scarce, with economy helping the practice continue.
Culminating
Years of practice have given you competence that public recognition might not match by middle life. Private commitments need time alongside the work.
Setting
Substantial achievement may receive quiet appreciation later in life. Satisfaction rests in the practice you have developed through years of continued effort.
At the Nadir
Those who know your practice from within might understand its continuing value best. Private routines preserve what decades of work have produced.
Sabik in Paran with Ascendant
Rising
Expressing conviction is immediately personal in this birth-angle reading. Early encounters can reveal how strongly others respond to your stated position.
Culminating
Your independence becomes visible in work that departs from your circle's expectations as you mature. Public attention makes that difference more apparent.
Setting
Close partners may encounter the persistence behind your first impression. Later relationships can allow disagreement without requiring either person to abandon a serious interest.
At the Nadir
Reconsidering an independent position takes room away from an audience. Private doubt concerns the cost of holding a conviction over time.
Sabik in Paran with Midheaven
Rising
Work chosen through conviction receives early emphasis when the star is angular at birth. Questions about recognition and income arise from the beginning.
Culminating
Professional visibility makes the relationship between talent and reward explicit. The most respected work may require a different source of financial support.
Setting
The practice sustained between periods of recognition matters when you look back on a career, alongside the work that received public attention.
At the Nadir
Research or creative work done outside public attention forms part of a professional legacy when others are able to continue using it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Sabik conjunct the Sun mean?
With the Sun, conviction and intellectual independence come with uncertain rewards. Robson describes sincerity and honor with scientific or religious interests, unorthodoxy and limited financial gain. [1] Discuss what makes the work worth doing and how readily you revise an idea when further study contradicts it.
What degree is Sabik in 2026?
Sabik is at 18°20′ Sagittarius in the tropical zodiac in 2026. Robson listed 16°51′ Sagittarius in 1920. [1] For a natal chart, use the position at birth so that the conjunction you interpret fits that chart.
Is Sabik a malefic star?
Robson's general description is adverse, yet his Sun has sincerity, his Venus has artistic ability, his Jupiter has material success, and his Saturn has perseverance. [1] Read the contacting planet before applying a malefic label. It describes what develops and where the difficulty lies.
What does Sabik conjunct Saturn mean?
With Saturn, sustained work may yield achievement with little recognition. Robson's Saturn is industrious and economical, with later success and little prominence, alongside difficulties in private life. [1] Discuss the reward the person wants from their work and what their commitments leave room for.
What does the name Sabik mean?
The name Sabik comes from Arabic: Al Sābiq, meaning "The Preceding One." Eta Ophiuchi. The star is known by 1 different cultural name across world traditions.
Sources
- Vivian E. Robson, The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, American Federation of Astrologers, Inc., 1923. Used for Sabik entry 88 and its planetary combinations, the 1920 degree and Ophiuchus constellation entry.
Text of the 1923 edition; the site quotes a 2017 reprint.
- Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Dover Publications, Inc., 1899. Used for Sabik and Suk, the shared Zeta title, Chinese names Sung and Han, and Asclepius's voyage on the Argo and death by thunderbolt.
- Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, translated by Frank Egleston Robbins, 1940. Used for the separate natures of Ophiuchus and Serpens in Book 1, section 9.
- Hephaistio of Thebes, Apotelesmatics, Book I, translated by Robert Schmidt, The Golden Hind Press, 1994. Used for the Ophiuchus and serpent distinction in Book 1, section 4.
- Bernadette Brady, Brady's Book of Fixed Stars, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998. Used for Asclepius and healing in Ophiuchus.
- Nick Anthony Fiorenza, An Introduction to Astronomical Astrology, 2015. Used for Sabik's research and alchemy reading, sidereal coordinates and right-leg description.
- Anonymous of 379, The Treatise on the Bright Fixed Stars, translated by Robert Schmidt, The Golden Hind Press, 1993. Used for the unnamed Ophiuchus star in the therapeutic configuration.
- Firmicus Maternus, Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice, translated by Jean Rhys Bram, Noyes Press, 1975. Used for the Serpent-Holder rising account in Book VIII.
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