The Tao Te Ching for Astrologers – Verses 47 & 48

Hey everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from nightlight astrology, and today we are continuing our series on the Tao Te Ching for astrologers. We're going to be looking at verses 47 and 48 of the Tao Te Ching. If you are new to this series, don't worry, you don't have to have seen all of the previous episodes; you can jump in anywhere. We are reading some of the verses from one of the world's classic wisdom texts and looking at it in light of our study of astrology. So we take two verses at a time. I read from the Tarcher Cornerstone edition of the Tao Te Ching. It is translated by Jonathan Star; I really liked this edition. And so, if you want to pick up a copy and follow along, you can do it that way. I also put the text up on the screen as we go along each week.

So before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe and share your own thoughts and wisdom in the comment section. I like hearing from you guys every week. If you want to find a written transcript of any of my talks, you can hit up the website nightlightastrology.com. They're posted there every day. Also, the new class, Ancient Astrology for the Modern Mystic, my year one program, begins again on November 12. We have enrollments every six months. And we start on Saturday, November 12; this new section, so really excited to begin a new class so you can learn more about what the class includes. It is a one-year immersion into ancient Hellenistic astrology with an emphasis on the underlying mystical and spiritual foundations of the practice and an eye for developing divinity story sensitivity.

So we spend a lot of time in this class talking about how to create that radical moment in a session, in a reading with someone, when suddenly Spirit is speaking. And it's that that actually leads our craft and our techniques to awaken something special that can be said to someone or that can be shared with someone through the symbols of the birth chart. That's a huge emphasis in this course, especially in the last section of the course we have live. Live clients come in, and I read for them. And then, we talk about that reading and what made each reading unique. So it's 30 classes on the year, and you can hear what some of the alumni had to say about it. There are 12 additional guest lectures we have interactive group forum discussions with that are staffed by my tutors; they answer your questions within a day always. We have breakout study sessions in between units as well with staff. So there's plenty of support there for you; you can email me anytime throughout the class. At the bottom of the page, you'll find the early bird payment that saves you $500 off. You can do a 12-monthly payment plan. So you can spread it out over a year. A lot of people do that option. It's really helpful. And then there's also need-based tuition. So if you are someone who can't do the cost of the course, but you still want to study astrology, check that out, and tell us about your situation. We're glad to help people out. If you have a very fixed budget and you need to work within it. We like to try to make that possible for people so that people aren't priced out of learning something spiritual. So that's something we've been doing for a long time, and glad to help people out there.

All right, well, we are continuing today, the Tao Te Ching, and we are looking at in particular verses 47 and 48. Let me just make sure I get to the appropriate verses; here we go. We're gonna read through them twice, and then we will reflect back on them. So here it is.

Verse 47
Without going outside one can know the whole world
Without looking out the window one can see the ways of Heaven
The farther one goes the less one knows
Thus the Sage does not go, yet he knows
He does not look, yet he sees
He does not do, yet all is done

Verse 48
To become learned, gain daily
To obtain Tao, reduce daily
Reduce and reduce again until all action is reduced to non-action
Then no one is left
Nothing is done yet nothing is left undone
One who gives freely and without attachment gets a full life in return
One who gives with the secret hope of getting is merely engaged in business
Truly, they neither give nor receive any of the treasure from this world below
Heaven

Let's reread verse 47. And I'll offer some reflections in light of astrology. This is a text that I have long looked to for advice and support when it comes to crafting my daily content. So I think there's a lot to be gained for us, and there's a lot of parallels between this, and you know why we study astrology.

Verse 47
Without going outside one can know the whole world
Without looking out the window one can see the ways of Heaven
The farther one goes the less one knows
Thus the Sage does not go, yet he knows
He does not look, yet he sees
He does not do, yet all is done

Well, I find this text to be one of the more overtly astrological, you know, maybe one of the more overtly astrological parallels in the entire Tao Te Ching. The reason for that is that we have the statement here that without looking out of your window, one can see the waves of heaven. That is to say that the very same intelligence that is moving in the planets, the other synoptic cycles, and all of the laws of nature that constitute the heavens, the heavenly motions, and bodies, which the study of astrology is comprised of, that you can observe those things within yourself. This is the famous hermetic axiom as above, so below as within so without.

So the Tao Te Ching is fundamentally telling us the same thing that ancient mystics who practiced astrology were telling us, which is that the Way of Heaven is the same way of the heart; it lives inside of us. And when we track astrology, you know, we're looking at Mercury returning direct this week in an opposition with Neptune, or whatever the case might be, upcoming eclipses or Pluto going into Aquarius, whatever these things are. We're not paying attention to them, primarily because we are fixated on outcomes as much as we are learning to identify the movements of the heaven with the movements of our own minds and heart. Because when we study them, in parallel, we become wise we learn how to navigate life with greater ease and reflectiveness. It doesn't make life any more comfortable in the uncomfortable moments unnecessarily. But it keeps us curious and interested; it keeps us laughing and alert. It keeps us in touch with that living presence that is flowing through every single event that the planets are pointing to symbolically.

And so I love that this verse is really just saying the same thing. It's like, Look; you don't have to go outside and memorize all the facts about nature. You can know that very nature by looking inward. Similarly, you could look up at the stars and the heavens, and learn a lot about those laws and observe them. But you can observe the exact same thing by looking within. It's collapsing the distinction that we might make between, you know, knowledge and wisdom; if I know a lot of stuff, then that makes me wise. But oftentimes, there's something about not looking for things or not trying to learn things or not trying to accumulate a bunch of knowledge that makes us wise, in the same way that by just living our life and with astrology in our lives, if we reflect on the events of our life, in light of the movements of the gods in the heavens. It's as though, by means of those symbols, we come to understand what's within ourselves. And as you keep going, as you reflect on what is within yourself, it enhances your understanding of the symbols; there's this reciprocity that grows, and it's very beautiful; you start to feel like you're living in a cosmos. And what is the word Cosmos mean; shares, similar connection to the word cosmetic, like a well-arranged whole.

Verse 48,
To become learned, gain daily
To obtain Tao, reduce daily
Reduce and reduce again until all action is reduced to non-action
Then no one is left
Nothing is done yet nothing is left undone
One who gives freely and without attachment gets a full life in return
One who gives with the secret hope of getting is merely engaged in business
Truly, they neither give nor receive any of the treasure from this world below
Heaven

There was an ancient astrologer named Manilius who wrote a text called The Astronomica. It's one of the earliest texts that we have from the Roman Empire on astrology. And in that text, he says that our goal in penetrating into the heart of heaven with our, our minds, with our hearts in the study of astrology, although we live under the laws of fate in this universe, although we're subject to the laws of the universe, is to develop a consciousness that is not bound, that is somehow free. And he says, a master of the universe, even though we live under the law of fate.

And in my mind, this is a transition that shift of why am I doing astrology. I'm doing astrology because I'm trying to shift my consciousness. And that is the great gift. It's a fundamental change that happens in how we take in astrological material or how we relate to astrology itself. And it happens subtly over time. For example, there is a sense in which we hope if I act right, or if I do the right thing, or if I'm in the right alignment, then these planetary transits at this time will give me something good in return. And so we pay attention to the planets, and we try to align our lives with it. But it's because there's the subtle feeling that, Well, I want to get the best possible outcomes from the planets. And this happens all the time. I see it every day. I'm not exaggerating because every time I talk to clients, like very frequently, a client will come in and, and no criticism; it's very natural. We all do it. They'll say, How do I get the most out of X, Y, or Z transit that's coming up? I know a little bit about astrology. I know you know a lot about astrology. How do I get the best out of a Pluto transit? And by the best, they mean? Like how do I not get, you know, slapped around? And how do I get something good like a good result?

Now, again, I think that's human, and I don't judge it or look down my nose at it. But it's true. Also, it's it is also true that over time when you practice astrology, what's happening is you're learning to have less attachment to outcomes. And when you have less attachment to outcomes, you're not secretly hoping to get something, and then you move out of a transactional relationship with the gods, with the planets. And when you do so, most traditions tell us the grip that karma itself has on you starts to change. And the byproduct of that is that your karma, voila, it gets better, but not because you're attached to the karma getting better, but because you're detached from the karma getting better. And instead, you're living a life that is simply open to what the planets bring.

It's the same kind of wisdom here; one who gives freely and without attachment gets a full life in return and one who gives what the secret hope of getting is merely engaged in business. Similarly, with astrology, there was a verse in Firmicus Maternus where he says that, at the end, when he's talking to the students of astrology, he says, I hope that it is not so much by the things that you've learned in these books. But by the transformation of your mind, your mind is becoming more divine in nature, more like the Divinity, that is in all things that you when your consciousness takes on a higher quality, so to speak because you've worked on yourself. And as you've done that, then let it be that and not the rules that you learn in these books about astrology that teaches you how to do astrology. It's a profound statement, right? Several thousand years ago. That's Firmicus Maternus saying that in the same way, the Tao is saying, if you want to become learned, gain daily, but if you want to obtain Tao reduce daily, reduce and reduce again, it st you know, be humble, empty yourself out, be less goal-oriented, attached, passionate, grinding away trying to get things which can happen to us, when we study astrology, let me accumulate all of the knowledge that I can.

When we pair astrology with any daily practice of any kind of spiritual practice that helps us go inward, when we do that, and we release the expectation of what we get out of doing astrology, or where it takes us or what the transit brings, or anything. And we let astrology be the means by which we deepen our heart and its connection to others in the world. When that is what leads the way, then it's amazing how this natural intelligence is kind of; I was talking earlier in this video when I was talking about my class about how we talk about a divinatory moment, which is a moment where the symbolism starts to speak. And then your rules are used artfully.

And when that moment starts to happen, you can feel it, and it's magical. And the use of all the rules and techniques that you've accumulated are put into service of something higher. That is what the best astrologers always have. They always have that quality. Every astrologer I've ever visited with who really blew my mind, I could tell that they were, they were empty. They were not full of themselves as astrologers. They didn't know everything. They didn't even know if they'd be able to say anything of value, but then something clicked, and all of a sudden, you know, the whole chart, the symbols start speaking and coming to life, and it's because they were in an empty enough space to let almost like a non-action lead the way; that chart reading happens. It's a beautiful thing that I've observed in my own readings when I'm on point, you know, it's that kind of experience. So I think these teachings are deeply applicable to our practice and study of astrology. So that's why we pause to do this every week, just to tune in and remind ourselves, you know, why are we here? Why are we doing this?

I hope that it's inspiring for you. I hope that it, you know, gives you some, some sense of the path that you're on and affirms it as a good thing in your life. Alright, well, that's what I've got for today. Don't forget to like and subscribe, share, and comment in your own reflections. I'd love to hear it. You can always find transcripts of the talks on the website. And the new class starts on November 12. I hope to see some of you in class soon. We talk a lot in my programs about the spiritual background of astrology on all levels. The craft of astrology is deeply informed by spiritual philosophy, which, when you learn it in from the ancient roots up, really transforms the way that you approach things. So that's what I love about the way that we've designed I've designed the course and that we've with my team have developed it over the years. So hope you guys check it out, or that's what I've got for today. Have a good one, everyone. Bye