The Tao Te Ching for Astrologers – Verses 55 & 56

Hey everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology. It is Wednesday, and so we are continuing with our series on the Tao Te Ching for Astrologers. We're going to be looking at verses 55 and 56, and we will read through each of the verses twice. After the first time, we're just reading to kind of take them in the second time through; we're going to pause after each verse and sort of reflect on that verse in light of our study of astrology. I do this every week in order to pause and take a moment to reflect on our underlying intentions. Why are we here? And why are we studying astrology? And I think it's important to take some time out and look at different sacred texts from around the world and see what different sages have had to say about life. And I think a lot of this from the Tao Te Ching is super applicable to us as astrologers. So that's why we're doing it. You don't have to have tuned in to any of the previous episodes to get something good out of this. Every verse is sort of standalone in the Tao Te Ching. And so I invite you to take it in, reflect, ponder, and come to your own conclusions if you'd like as well.

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Today, we are looking at verses 55 and 56 of the Tao Te Ching and trying to draw on these verses as astrologers. What did these verses have to say to us as astrologers? So verse 55, I'm going to read the two verses, and then we'll go back through them a second time and reflect on them.

Verse 55
One who embraces Tao becomes pure and innocent like a newborn babe
Deadly insects will not sting him
Wild beasts will not attack him
Birds of prey will not strike him
He is oblivious to the union of male and female yet his vitality is full
his inner spirit is complete
He can cry all day without straining
so perfect is his harmony so magically does he
blend with this world
Know this harmony – it brings the Eternal
Know the Eternal – it brings enlightenment
A full life – this is your blessing
A gentle heart – this is your strength
Things in harmony with the Tao remain
Things that are forced, grow for a while but then wither away
This is not in keeping with Tao
Whatever is not in keeping with Tao comes to an early end

Verse 56
One who speaks does not know
One who knows does not speak
Shut the mouth
Close the gates
Blunt the sharpness
Loosen the knots
Temper the glare
Become one with the dust of the world
This is called "The Secret Embrace"
One who knows this secret is not moved by attachment or aversion, swayed by profit or loss, nor touched by honor or disgrace
He is far beyond the cares of men yet comes to hold the dearest place in their hearts

Okay, we're going to read those verses again and then pause to reflect on both of them.

Verse 55
One who embraces Tao becomes pure and innocent like a newborn babe
Deadly insects will not sting him
Wild beasts will not attack him
Birds of prey will not strike him
He is oblivious to the union of male and female yet his vitality is full
his inner spirit is complete
He can cry all day without straining
so perfect is his harmony so magically does he
blend with this world
Know this harmony – it brings the Eternal
Know the Eternal – it brings enlightenment

Now, on the surface, this verse might seem like a description of something that's unobtainable and highly unrealistic. And in a sense, it is for most of us, you know, none of us are going to be the Taoist hermits living high in the mountains. But there's something important that this verse is saying, and I think it's really applicable to us as students of astrology. First of all, when we observe the movements of the planets day in and day out, it has a way of affirming the nature of any and every type of experience, to the point where, even though we have experiences, we are not discriminating amongst them in the same way. It's not that discrimination is gone, in the same way, that we might become oblivious to the union of male and female or to, let's say, the differences between male and female. And yet, it's not that it is because we lack any kind of sexual energy or potency. So what I love about this verse is that when you become sort of pure and innocent, and you develop this, let's call it, an appreciating capacity for the nature of experience itself. The experience is divine.

And the planets are reflecting that to me all the time. If I pay attention, I see where they're going. And then I see and notice the way they play out in my life. And it helps me embrace and affirm all manner of experiences as part of the cosmic play. So I'm developing a deep sense of Yes. Not a yes that is like, contrary to No, but just a sense of acceptance, a sense of flow, a sense of alignment. This is, I think, something like the Tao. When we do that; The way we discriminate between things, man, woman, good, bad, up, down, left, right; those things may soften. But they don't soften in a way that somehow dulls our vitality or our actual engagement with the world.

It is as though you might think of, you know, you could think of an ascetic as someone who they don't see male and female any longer and their sex drive is gone. But this is different. This is telling us, No, you'll remain filled with the potent energy of life, that primordial energy that is so vital to a sex drive. But at the same time, you're sort of oblivious to the drama of sex life, let's call it that. Similarly, you feel complete, you could, but you could cry all day long. You could have grief and deep mourning and loss, and you know, this verse is saying you could cry all day, but you wouldn't be straining when you cry.

So there's something about this verse that is telling us what ancient astrologers told us, which is that experience itself is sacred. And the planets are affirming that, helping us to appreciate that and see that every day all day long. And when we develop that Spirit inside of us, although the world is filled with distinctions, like male and female, or something attractive and desirable, versus something repulsive or ugly to us, all of those distinctions remain just like crying versus laughing remains. And we will move through all of those experiences while also, in some ways, becoming detached from them. Detached from them in the sense that they can't own us or possess us or turn the lights off in our hearts or our mind.

Know this harmony – it brings the Eternal
Know the Eternal – it brings enlightenment

So what we're talking about, in a sense, is the planets leading us into the experience of eternity that we are actually participating in right now. And as we do that, it doesn't negate a sex drive, doesn't negate good or bad or male or female like it doesn't negate distinctions in this world crying versus laughing, but it allows us to inhabit those things from an eternal standpoint, which is the soul standpoint, the soul is an eternal being experiencing eternity.

A full life this is your blessing. See, there it is. A gentle heart, this is your strength. And the gentle heart is not weak passive. A gentle heart is one that has been cultivated through this appreciation of experience itself. Things in harmony with Tao remain
Things that are forced, grow for a while but then wither away.
This is not Tao;
Whatever is not Tao comes to an early end.

That's interesting. It's interesting to note that the Tao tells us here's a hint look at your life and see what's growing and being sustained. Look at your life and see what you're trying to force, and it grows for a little bit and then falls away really quickly. So it's a really good hint. Well, interestingly enough, the planets do that all the time as well because when we pay attention to the planets day in and day out, they are literally mirroring to us all of our attempts at happiness that kind of rise up and fall away. Every moon cycle shows us those things.

Often the moon cycles show us those things. Whereas over time, over long periods of time, if you pay attention to astrology over a decade or two decades, you start to notice what kinds of things have grown in the garden of your heart that have remained of benefit, that grant virtue, that grant things like peace, patience, humility, love, tolerance, compassion, a soft but firm strength of character. And you start to notice those things. You start to realize the difference between Oh look; it's a sparkly transit. You know, it's a Uranus Venus transit. I'm gonna go get a crazy tattoo. And like, fine, there's no I have no problem with tattoos. And in fact, I encourage people to do crazy fun things under Uranus Venus transits, but over time, you may become more discerning about what kinds of things are just passing flickering things, including the own processes of your mind and the questions that come up the attempts that you have to try to answer the questions that come up. You learn how to work with your own mind over time because you have the transits alongside you.

I would like to say astrology is meditation for people who are maybe, maybe their preferred mode of meditation is in and through experience. And it helps you to realize that your experience is a form of meditation. And you do have to take there is a reflective quality that has to come in, and astrology does give us that. So, at any rate,

Verse 56
One who speaks does not know
One who knows does not speak
Shut the mouth
Close the gates
Blunt the sharpness
Loosen the knots
Temper the glare
Become one with the dust of the world
This is called "The Secret Embrace"

How beautiful is that? I mean, first of all, I feel like a fool coming on and reading a verse that says, One who speaks does not know as I'm up here, pretending like I know anything you know, you know, one who knows does not speak. But I will tell you that I can at least affirm that in moments in my life. And I'm sure you guys can relate to this. In moments when I truly have understood something, I don't talk.

Because that understanding lives in me, and I recognize, well, if I talk this, understanding is like a presence that lives with you. And you have to, you know, you gotta be careful with it. And I know that if I say too much, it'll be gone. So shut the mouth, close the gates. A way of saying go within blunt the sharpness, be careful of having a sharp mind or sharp temper sharp speeds, loosen the knots take apart complicated things make them simple. I feel like Eastern philosophy, especially the further east you get, is like very minimalist. And there's an aesthetic in that's really beautiful.

Temper the glare
Become one with the dust of the world
This is called "The Secret Embrace"

So it's like minimizing the amount of drama that we create inside of ourselves. All the planets help us with this as well. If you study the planets over a long enough period of time, one of the major byproducts of doing so in my experience, in my humble opinion, and I've seen this in myself and my students in my clients who like astrology. You become much more sensitive about your own chart when it comes to when should I or should I not approach my chart? When should I have a concern and go to my chart and try to find an answer? When should I just let things happen?

It is amazing how over time, astrology, more than anything else, teaches you to go with the flow. Astrology teaches you you don't need to obsess over your birth chart. The birth chart isn't causing anything to happen. The birth chart doesn't determine anything that's going to happen. It's simply a reflection of what is happening or maybe what will happen. It's not causing any of it to happen. And so you become very select, like astrology having it as an everyday part of my life. I don't regret at all having it as a medium through which to reflect upon experience and embrace and appreciate experience. Yes, having it as a way to get more obsessive about experience or more controlling about experience or to feed into my paranoia or my neurosis about my experience. Not so helpful.

But it is amazing how over time, astrology helps us to create this what I think that is being called The Secret Embrace here, which is why I share the grabbed episodes. If you really listen to the grabbed episodes, the stories as well as the reflections at the end. What we're doing is just sort of throwing up our arms and being like, This is amazing. This life that we live, and if astrology can give us that, I think it's doing the deep work for us.

One who knows this secret is not moved by attachment or aversion, swayed by profit or loss, nor touched by honor or disgrace
He is far beyond the cares of men yet comes to hold the dearest place in their hearts

See, this is saying it's not that your callous, cold, disengaged spiritual bypasser you know who has nothing to do with experience who shuns that, who shuns the world, who tries to go transcend everything? No. It's saying you live a life. Let's call it this, a life of planetary appreciation. Through the planets, I grow to appreciate my life and To the experiences that are flowing around me all the time. I live in a magical, magical world. And all experiences are part of that magic without exception. That such a person, in a sense, has gone beyond attachment and aversion to experiences. No, they will experience attachments and aversions. They've gone beyond profit or loss that they will experience profits and loss on or disgrace. They go beyond the cares that most people are completely encaged by while still experiencing a life. These people are somehow the dearest; when we meet people like this, they leave such an impression on us. There's something carefree about them that we just are so attracted to. And I believe that's why I love hanging out with people who love astrology so much. You know, it's people who really deeply embrace the astrological worldview are just remarkable people, always interested, always curious, always accepting. In it while reflecting on it at the same time. It's pretty beautiful. I truly believe that astrology is a meditative lifestyle, and it is an artistic lifestyle. It's about the art of experience and the art of your life. Anyway, those are my ramblings for today. I'll have more next week that reflect what little I know.

So. So I hope you guys are having a great week and that this spiritual content on Wednesdays is useful for you. Sometimes we'll do the bhakti Wednesday content on my throat, something like that. I don't think I'm gonna be doing it every week. I think it's a little bit much for me to produce. So especially at the same time that I'm doing the Tao Te Ching series still on Wednesdays. Well, after we finish that series up, though, we'll always try to include some spiritual content every week. Let's see what the new direction is after the series is done. Alright, that's what I've got for today. Hope to see you guys in class soon. Don't forget that it starts on November 12. Sign up on the website nightlightastrology.com, And we'll see you again tomorrow. Bye, everyone.