The Tao Te Ching for Astrologers: Verses 33 & 34

Hey everyone, this is Acyuta-bhava from Nightlight Astrology. And today, we're going to continue our series on the Tao Te Ching for astrologers by looking at verses 33 and 34 of the Tao Te Ching. This is not something that you need to have been following in order to get something out of; you can jump in on any of the episodes because every one of the verses of the Tao Te Ching is really stand-alone and packed full of wisdom that is useful. Even if you haven't read all the preceding verses, what we're doing is we're reading these verses and reflecting on them in light of our interest in astrology. So people who watch this channel regularly are coming here for astrology, but we have to pause at least once a week. That's my philosophy to say, why are we doing this? And by reminding ourselves of that, I think the astrology has a way of sinking into our bones and speaking to us in a more spiritual way. So that's what we're going to do today.

But before I get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe, share your comments and click on the notification bell for updates. All of that stuff helps the algorithm find, find the channel and share it with other people. So really appreciate it when you guys do that. I'm also really happy to be promoting new courses; I have a pre-registration sale going on right now for two new courses that begin in the new year. So I'm going to take you over the website and show you those real quick. So the first class is called roots and spheres. And it is a course that my wife Ashley and I are teaching. If you go to the nightlightastrology.com website and, click on the Courses tab, scroll down, and you'll see Roots and Spheres. When you click on that, you're going to be taken to the course page, where you can learn all about the program. And if you have any questions after you read it over either of the courses, you can always email us info@nightlightastrology.com.

The gist of the course is that over the course of 2023, Ashley and I will be hosting new and full moon circles, where we will be breaking down the astrology of the new and full moons and the entire the astrology of the entire lunar cycle from new to full and full back to new, giving some advice for how to handle the energies, some different transformational exercises that we have created for each lunar cycle. And then we're also going to be working with 12 different plant diets for each month really easily, you know, easy, accessible, safe herbs that anyone can take. That's optional, but my wife has a lot of knowledge about herbal medicine, and the crossover between herbs and astrology is really at the heart of this program. So check it out. At the bottom of the page, you can learn there's an FAQ section, and we have an early bird payment going on right now. And this pre-registration sale lasts until September 12. There's also tuition assistance in case you need it. The course actually begins on January 19, 2023. So that's Roots and Spheres.

The other class that's starting is a Master Class Series; this is going to meet once per quarter. It is four different topics on the year, four classes per each topic. This is ideal for students of astrology who are looking to take their practice to another level, a deeper level. And we're looking at the mysteries of the moon cycle in the winter seat season for classes. Morningstar Eveningstar the cycles of Mercury and Venus in the spring, Zen in the art of zodiacal releasing, which is a timing technique from ancient astrology, looking at that during the summer of 2023, and then unlocking temperament and personality in the birth chart, which will be a deep dive into the four temperament theory of ancient astrologers that's in the fall of 2023. So you can sign up for one of those classes, or you can pick a few of them or sign up for all of them. It's cheapest if you sign up for all of them. And you can see the variety of payment options that we have here. This is another sale that only lasts until September 12. So just be sure that you take advantage of the pre-registration sale, which is going on right now. So I'll be promoting that over the next couple of weeks. So Ashley will be coming on, and you'll be able to learn more about it from her as well.

All right. Well, that being said, I am excited to dive into today's verses, and I'm going to put them up on the screen so that you can read along if you'd like to. All right. Let's go full screen. Here we go. So this is verses 33 and 34 of the Tao Te Ching. I'm going to read each verse, and then I'll read them through again, and after the second time, I will pause to offer some reflections in light of our daily study and practice of astrology.

So verse 33 reads,

One who knows others is intelligent
One who knows himself is enlightened
One who conquers others is strong
One who conquers himself is all-powerful
One who approaches life with force surely gets something
One who remains content where he is surely gets everything
One who gives himself to his position surely lives long
One who gives himself to Tao surely lives forever

Verse 34,

The great Tao flows everywhere
It fills everything to the left and to the right
All things owe their existence to it and it cannot deny any one of them
Tao is eternal
It does not favour one over the other
It brings all things to completion without their even knowing it
Tao nourishes and protects all creatures yet does not claim lordship over them
So we class it with the most humble
Tao is the home to which all things return yet it wants nothing in return
So we call it "The Greatest"
The Sage is the same way –
He does not claim greatness over anything
He's not even aware of his own greatness
Tell me, what could be greater than this?

Let's go back and reread 33, And then we'll offer some reflections.

One who knows others is intelligent
One who knows himself is enlightened
One who conquers others is strong
One who conquers himself is all-powerful
One who approaches life with force surely gets something
One who remains content where he is surely gets everything
One who gives himself to his position surely lives long
One who gives himself to Tao surely lives forever

A beautiful verse. And I think there are a few direct parallels to our study of astrology that come to my mind right away. One is the study of astrology if you read some of the earliest source texts, and I'm thinking now of some of the earliest Hellenistic authors, Firmicus Maternus, Vettius Valens, and others. One of the things that you hear, I believe it was Valens; I might be messing this up; it's either Firmicus Maternus or Valens said that when we have studied this art to the point where the soul is confident, then we'll be able to withstand the fluctuations of the world because we've learned to take joy or delight in the soul. Now, that's not an easy task, and I don't pretend to, you know, be there myself. But that is the goal and aim of my own yogic practice and the foundational belief of my astrology practice, which is that when we study astrology every day, we have a choice, we can live in the world. And we can use astrology as we live in the world, to measure ourselves in comparison to other people, to measure ourselves according to what the world defines as great or valuable, or how happiness is defined by others or the world. And by others, I don't mean others that we love or who were close to; I mean just the general sense of social convention.

What I found in my life is at the time that I have invested into my own heart and soul, whether that's playing my guitar, or studying sacred texts, or meditating or learning about things that really interest me, or spending time with people that I really love, without any goal orientation, that the more that I come to know myself and understand myself. And I find this great treasure within my own heart and soul. The more I realized that you know, this is the real goal of life. We have to be in the world, of course, and every day, there's, you know, there's, there's a social awareness that we all have to carry.

But what I love about this verse is it starts off by saying you can be you can become very intelligent by understanding the socially contingent reality. And that reality is temporal. Society and cultures, and civilizations come and go, like the rising and the setting of the sun. Rome came and went, and so will even this planet; eventually, this planet and the star that is at the center of our solar system will burn out. So that's, that's not to say that nothing of this world is important or valuable or beautiful. But it is to say that the thing that doesn't die is the soul. And the aim or goal to understand ourselves to know thyself is at the heart of why we're doing astrology. If we're only doing astrology to double down on our investment in the transient events of the world, we're not really doing what astrology is designed for; one who conquerors others is strong, one who conquers himself is all powerful. It's easy, you know, this world is if you understand what people want and expect. And if you understand how to be better or stronger or faster or more accomplished than other people, you can feel intelligent and strong in the world. But if you learn to overcome your own shadows, your own limitations, your own fears, that's when you have a strength, a sense of strength that is of deep value to your soul, you feel strong inside. And that kind of strength is the kind that gives us real happiness because it's not dependent upon beating other people or being better than other people.

One who approaches life with force, you can get something, but if you remain content with where you are, then you get everything. It's a simple truth that has been spoken in so many different traditions, and many people will criticize. They'll say, oh, yeah, you know, this is just a philosophy that's encouraging you to continue participating in disempowerment. You know, this kind of thing? Well, you know, if you practice contentment, my experience is that those voices are just more noise. And that contentment is not a practice that has anything to do with denying, negating, ignoring other people or the world. It has to do with the expectations that we have being released in favor of a peacefulness and a curiosity, and a presence that is like an overflowing fountain. It's always nourishing us if we learn how to stay near to it, and it's easy to drift away from it.

One who gives himself to his position surely lives long; one who gives himself to Tao surely lives forever. Oh, you know, you can live a long life. If you really dedicate yourself to, you know, your role or your position in life, you try to do it. Well, you can get something out of that. But this verse, one who gives himself to Tao surely lives forever because the Tao is the way of life, of which the soul is a part that extends beyond the temporary positions of any given lifetime or incarnation. So simple truths, but this is what astrology is all about. We're studying the karma of the soul so that we can live a soulful life while also walking through the fate, destiny, or karma of that lifetime. And astrology is there to give us that perspective to keep that perspective awake within us.

Verse 34

The great Tao flows everywhere
It fills everything to the left and to the right
All things owe their existence to it and it cannot deny any one of them
Tao is eternal
It does not favour one over the other
It brings all things to completion without their even knowing it
Tao nourishes and protects all creatures yet does not claim lordship over them
So we class it with the most humble
Tao is the home to which all things return yet it wants nothing in return
So we call it "The Greatest"
The Sage is the same way –
He does not claim greatness over anything
He's not even aware of his own greatness
Tell me, what could be greater than this?

A lot of things I like about this verse that also apply to us as astrologers, I think. First of all, it's important to realize that astrology is teaching us how to go, how to see the eternal within the temporary. So life is filled with all sorts of moral adventures, where the fight between good and bad or the heroic need to overcome darkness in favor of light is a real part of the journey. But this verse reminds us that the universe doesn't exclude dark, it includes it, and it fills everything to the left and to the right. And you see this, you know, in so many different places in the world, one party rises to power, then it loses power, and the other party rises to power, and then it loses power. And you see the alternation of light and dark in the 24-hour day. You see good things happening and bad things happening, seasons of plenty and seasons of scarcity. You see winter, and you see summer.

And astrology is teaching us how to have an appreciation for the fact that eternity includes everything in its scope, and love and soulfulness accepts that reality, stays curious, and stays close to that reality. And is very cautious not to get too wrapped up in attachments to any one dimension of this great, this great energy that's moving through all different dimensions of experience. That's not to say, again, people hear that, and they think, oh, that means that you can't, that you can't have a moral opinion about things so that you can't be in the world doing, you know, being involved like you have to go off to a cave and somehow just stay neutral. No, neutrality is a way of life that can happen even in the midst of all of the ups and downs. It is possible.

Tao is eternal; it doesn't favor one over the other. It brings all things to completion without their even knowing it, the good and the bad, the up and the down. Tao nourishes and protects all creatures yet does not claim lordship over them. So we class it with the most humble. Imagine something that's in control of everything, nourishing and protecting everything. And yet it does not claim any kind of ownership. That's the definition of humble. Tao is the home to which all things return. Yet it wants nothing in return. So we call it "the greatest." It's not that Tao is greater than you or greater than me. It's that because Tao is the home to which all things return because it is the source of all things yet it demands nothing, asks for nothing, wants for nothing. We say that that is great. Not great isn't better than you are better than me. Just say. That's amazing. And so one of the reasons that I like this so much is because when I look at the karma, the day-to-day that the astrology presents to us, I see things going up and down, and I see good transits. And I see bad transits. I see the challenging transits. And I see the ones that are, you know, relatively more exciting. And I see the spectrum of different possibilities represented by each archetypal combination of the planets. When you see that, and you just live it, and you see it in other people, you see, like the grabs stories that we share, all across the board, all the different kinds of things that people experience.

And you see that there's this, there's this unifying field that we're all in and a part of. And this field allows for everything, takes care of everything, provides us with choices, responds very intelligently to those choices, guides us along, doesn't demand anything, keeps it open, the center is always open and free. That's great, that's beautiful. And if astrology isn't helping us see that and bring that same beautiful center, or see it or recognize it in our own hearts, then it's not really working. So this is why every week, I tell people all the time, and every week I have at least one episode where I say, why are we doing this, and make sure that you pair astrology with a spiritual practice. Every day, spend a little time with your soul. Spend a little time with the soul of your soul, your divine source; however that looks for you. And just be there with it. See what comes out; see what speaks. See how it changes your perception; see how it gives you insight or advice.

And for all of us who study this, there's a good chance that at least for some people in our lives, we may be a source of wisdom or inspiration. A lot of the time, if you're into astrology, there's a good chance that some people in your life aren't or don't have any kind of spiritual practice or interest. Remember that people who are really wise, they don't really claim to be wise. They don't claim that they have any great or special knowledge. And that's a key part of why people end up taking interest and why people end up getting involved or interested in spiritual things themselves. They see this is making a meaningful difference. And this person is kind, loving, sweet, patient, funny, curious, and I'm attracted to that. What are they doing? Oh, they're doing astrology. Oh, they study the Tao Te Ching Oh, they study yoga, they study Buddhism, whatever it is, and they seem happy. And they're not pushing it on anyone. Boy, I'm attracted to that.

So just kind of the last piece of advice that I like about this is that you know, we know there's a lot of people who like that you get really excited when you get bit by the astrological bug, and then you want to go share it with everyone. And I do too, you know, but I've learned over the years that if you just live it and share it with people who ask or are interested or share your affinity, you'll be a lot more successful than if you go into evangelist mode about astrology. Right?

Well, anyway, that's what I've got for today. I hope that this was helpful for all of you, and I hope that you'll take up reading the Tao Te Ching I-Ching is great too. Tao Te Ching. The book that I use is the Tarcher Cornerstone edition, translated by Jonathan Star. So check that out. If you haven't already. Don't forget to like and subscribe, share your comments click the notification bell for updates, and don't forget the pre-registration sale for my new classes last until September 12. The Master Class Series for 2023 is available to sign up for the roots and spheres class the planet and planet Moon circles were conducting begins in January; those sales last until September 12. You can go to the website to learn more at nightlight astrology.com. Alright, so I've got Take it easy, everyone. Bye