The Tao Te Ching for Astrologers – Verses 57 & 58

Hey everyone, this is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology, and today we are continuing with our study of the Tao Te Ching. And we're looking at verses 57 and 58 in light of our study of astrology. So you don't have to have seen any of the previous episodes to get something good out of this one; you can just dive right in. Every verse in the Tao Te Ching is packed full of wisdom and doesn't necessarily follow the previous verse. They can all be read as standalone verses. So what we're doing is we're reading two verses at a time. And then we're pausing to reflect on those verses in light of our study of astrology and what ancient mystics had to say about, you know, the spiritual purpose of astrology. I'm using the Jonathan Star translation of the Tao Te Ching, which is a Tarcher Cornerstone publication. It's a part of their Tarcher Cornerstone editions, which has a lot, actually, a lot of good texts. I did a series on the Hermetica some years ago and used their addition as well. Of course, they published my book. So I'm biased at any rate, so today versus 57 and 58, with some reflections for us.

But before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe, share, comment, and share some of your own realizations that help the algorithm pick up on things, I guess. You can always find a transcript of any of my daily talks on the website nightlightastrology.com.

We're going to take you right now because this Saturday, my new class, Ancient Astrology for the Modern Mystic, begins. It begins on November 12. If you go to the course Courses page and click on the first-year course at nightlightastrology.com. You can learn more about it again; it starts on November 12. Classes are two to three hours on Saturdays from noon to about two to 3pm. Eastern time. They're all recorded. If you can't make it live, a lot of people attend the class remotely and watch the videos of the class recordings on their at their own pace. Of course, we do have an interactive group forum discussion where you can ask questions year-round, whether you're attending live or remotely. And we have tutors that are there to answer your questions within 24 hours. We have breakout study sessions with tutors in between major units of study.

It is a great program. You can learn more about the specifics of it on the course page; there, at the bottom, you will find several options for registering. The early bird payment saves you $500 off. Take advantage of that and save; it's a good way to go before the start of class, you have a payment plan, and some people will use that; you can stretch it out over 12 months. And then, if you need any help, we do have a few need-based tuition contracts left. So we do have some of those available, they are almost out. So be sure that you apply now. And that is for people who, for whatever reason, you're maybe experiencing a little bit of financial hardship, or you have a very set and constrained budget. And you need to work within that budget so that you don't go into any major amount of debt. And so we appreciate that and make that available for people so that nobody is priced out of studying spiritual science. All right, well, I hope to see some of you in class soon. And let us now get into our verses for the day.

Wednesdays are always dedicated to spiritual content because it's important to me that we pause, or at least that I pause and ask myself, what the heck am I doing? Why? Why do I do astrology? And I think for anybody who takes in astrological content regularly, it's good to pause once in a while and reflect on what the early mystics said about this practice of astrology in what it is meant to do for the soul. Now whether you believe it or not, it can also just be interesting things. These verses have a lot of interesting things to think about that are applicable regardless of what you believe or don't believe what your own viewpoint might be. So anyway, let's get into it. We're going to read both verses. Then we'll return to read them again and pause after each verse to reflect.

Verse 57
To rule the state have a known plan
To win a battle, have an unknown plan
To gain the universe, have no plan at all
Let the universe itself reveal to you its splendor
How do I know this should be so?
Because of this –
The more restrictions, the more poverty
The more weapons, the more fear in the land
The more cleverness, the more strange events
The more laws, the more lawbreakers
Thus the Sages say,
Act with a pure heart and the people will be transformed
Love your own life and the people will be uplifted
Give without conditions and the people will prosper
Want nothing and the people will find everything

Verse 58
When the ruler knows his own heart the people are simple and pure
When he meddles with their lives they become restless and disturbed
Bad fortune, yes – it rests upon good fortune
Good fortune, yes – it hides within bad fortune
Oh the things that Heaven sends –
Who can know their final aim?
Who can tell of their endless ways?
Today the righteous turn to trickery
Tomorrow the good turn to darkness
Oh what delusion abounds and every day it grows worse!
But the Sage is here upon the Earth to gently guide us back
He cuts but does not harm
He straightens but does not disrupt
He illumines but does not dazzle

Beautiful verses, let's go back to 57. We'll read it again now and we'll offer some reflections.

Verse57
To rule the state have a known plan
To win a battle, have an unknown plan
To gain the universe, have no plan at all
Let the universe itself reveal to you its splendor
How do I know this should be so?
Because of this –
The more restrictions, the more poverty
The more weapons, the more fear in the land
The more cleverness, the more strange events
The more laws, the more lawbreakers
Thus the Sages say,
Act with a pure heart and the people will be transformed
Love your own life and the people will be uplifted
Give without conditions, and the people will prosper
Want nothing and the people will find everything

So I like how he says, You know what kinds of plans to have for worldly things if you're a statesman or general of an army or something. But if you want to gain the universe, theTao Te Ching says to have no plan at all. I love that because I believe that is the essential thing that we start to learn. The more that we study astrology, the more we start to take it in at a deep level. One of the things that happens when you study astrology, and you track the transits, and you see the movements of the planets, the aspects, the sign changes, reflected in the events of your life is that you realize that there is an intelligent design. So it's intelligible, you can understand it. And it is revealing to you your reason for being here or something that there is to learn within each situation that you experience.

And so, I find that while astrology on the surface looks to be a predictive science, a science of reading and predicting omens about the future, it can be that but for the astrologer who is simply tracking the planets in a devotional lifestyle, and you're devoted to your life, and you're devoted to understanding and living your best life, and you pay attention to the planets, what you find is that the universe is revealing itself to you. This divine intelligence that you both use and is speaking to you is constantly showing you that, yes, this is a divine place, and your life has meaning. And nothing is excluded, like little things or big things. I've seen astrology, like a horary chart, helped me locate missing objects, or speak to the winner of a sporting event that I'm wrapped up in.

And I've also seen it address major changes in consciousness through challenging events, job changes, marriages, divorces, death, disease, you know, the birth of children, all sorts of things. The big life events and the tiniest little things are all reflected by the planets. The planets are capable of reflecting anything and everything in our lives. And so there's something that grows inside of me every day as an astrologer now for 12 going on 13 years that it's like a voice that's constantly saying, you live in a sacred and holy place, and all you have to do is keep showing up with an attitude of curiosity, reverence, humility, fascination, and the universe will just keep revealing it to you. It'll be revealing itself to you.

And I like what is said here in this verse. How do I know that you shouldn't have a plan and just let the universe reveal itself to you? And then the Sage goes on to say, because the more rules that you have, the more poverty there is, the more weapons that you have, the more fear that there is, the more clever that you try to be planning and controlling things, the more bizarre things happen. The more laws, the more lawbreakers. So there's something here that's essentially telling us to just chill out. Don't have such a plan; try not to have such a plan, such an agenda to control and manipulate the plotline in your favor. And when you do that, then the universe can reveal itself to you. Thus, the sages say, act with a pure heart, and people will be transformed. Love your life, And the people will be uplifted; give without condition that people will prosper. Want nothing, and every people will find everything. And all of that goes back to not having a plan. And I find that the more that I study astrology and the more that I know that there's this divine intelligence at play in the universe, not a blade of grass moves without it. The less I feel like I have to control things, and astrology goes from obsessiveness about the future to this very beautiful companion that is helping me to hear the music of the universe to help me perceive the language of creation and appreciate the unfolding of things, the universe revealing itself.

Verse 58
When the ruler knows his own heart the people are simple and pure
When he meddles with their lives they become restless and disturbed
Bad fortune, yes – it rests upon good fortune
Good fortune, yes – it hides within bad fortune
Oh the things that Heaven sends –
Who can know their final aim?
Who can tell of their endless ways?
Today the righteous turn to trickery
Tomorrow the good turn to darkness
Oh what delusion abounds and every day it grows worse!
But the Sage is here upon the Earth to gently guide us back
He cuts but does not harm
He straightens but does not disrupt
He illumines but does not dazzle

Well, the piece of this verse that I like the most for us as students of astrology is the piece where he talks about good and bad fortune. Listen to some of these verses from Vettius Valens. For God and his desire that man should, and this is an ancient astrologer speaking excuse me, for God and His desire that man should foreknow the future brought the science into the world. A science through which anyone can know his fate in order to bear the good with great contentment in the bad with great steadfastness. Accordingly, then the initiates of the Tsar, those wishing to have knowledge of the future, will be helped because they will not be burdened with vain hopes, will not expend grievous midnight toil, will not vainly love the impossible nor in a like manner will they be carried away by their eagerness to attain what they may expect because of some momentary good fortune. A suddenly appearing good often grieves men as if it were an evil. A suddenly appearing evil causes the greatest misery to those who have not trained their minds in advance.

Yeah, I love this one. Firmicus Maternus is another ancient astrologer; this study will most successfully bring us to the point where our souls will despise everything which is considered evil or good in human affairs. For when we learn of the approach of difficulties, we despise the threat of evils because we have learned from our doctrine about things to come. We do not shrink from dangers once foretold. By recollection of its majesty, our souls have formed themselves to withstand these things. We are not overcome by bad fortune nor elated by the promise of high office.

Here's Ptolemy. For, first of all, it is necessary to consider that even for events that will necessarily result in the unexpected is apt to cause delirious confusion and mad joy will, for knowing habituates and trains the soul to attend to distant events as though they were present and prepares it to accept each of the arriving events with peace and tranquility. Yeah, it's beautiful. There are a couple of others that are really nice, too, but that's from Chris Brennan's textbook on Hellenistic astrology. And some of the quotes are from ancient authors in the Hellenistic tradition. But the point is that in each of those authors, some of them are Stoics, and others come from other philosophical schools. But across the board, ancient astrologers believed that good and bad fortune were. They were two sides of the same coin. And that astrology helps you to live a life that is rooted in the soul's experience rather than a sort of temporary, fleeting roller coaster ride of attachments to the good and the bad alike. And so we have to develop an appreciating capacity for experience itself, all different kinds of experiences. And in this verse, really simply, he's saying, you know, the ruler, let's see, this is a book that's often applied to political leaders.

Think if you can imagine if we had political leaders who knew their own hearts and did not try to meddle with their lives, that's an interesting statement. And then he goes on to say that bad fortune and good fortune rest upon each other. And then he says, Oh, the things that Heaven sends, who can know their final aim? Who can tell of their endless ways? Well, that's a direct reference to the powers of Heaven that, in ancient astrology, would have been understood as the powers of the planets and the gods.

And he's just saying, if you rely on those planets, if you, if you are not developing a soulfulness, then you will just be turned around and around by them. And the good people turn to bad people and the, you know, things turn in a wheel, on and on. It goes on to say that the Sage is here upon the Earth to guide us back, back into alignment with the Tao, the Tao being that way of living life that is not talking about becoming neutral is like putting the car in neutral. But it's a way of being able to appreciate the highs and the lows. Because we see them as sacred. We see them as movements of the Tao; we understand them as the sacred; we understand all events as part of the sacred unfolding of the universe itself. Going back to verse 57. And that is specifically what all ancient astrologers said about the purpose of astrology. It is not so much to prognosticate and develop a deeper attachment to the events of the future or even the current events of our life for society. We will live those lives, and there's nothing wrong with being involved in them. Of course, we have to live a life. But this study is meant to help us see our lives and go walk through our lives with an eternal perspective. An eternal perspective means a timeless one, one that appreciates the timeless, eternal archetypal nature of what is happening.

So isn't it amazing that we can take a look at what's coming in the month ahead, or what Mars Retrograde will bring, or what the eclipses will bring, or anything else. And we can say, Okay, it's good to know. But at the same time, if you keep going like this year in and year out, tracking, astrology, following it, and seeing the ups and downs, you start to realize that this is just the intelligence of the Divine orchestrating all things. And you go back to the beginning of verse 57; You let go of the need to have a plan.

And that is deeply relieving. And in a sense, that's the point of astrology itself. You start trusting that, you know, we each have a little bit of control, and we have free will. But there are forces so much bigger than us. And astrology is really teaching us to trust in those forces and to trust in the nature of the way things unfold that it is a beautiful thing to behold and what an amazing thing that we have this language of astrology to help us do just that. That's what I've got for today.

I hope that these two verses were inspiring if they conjure up some of your own thoughts and reflections I'd love to hear them. I always learn a lot from reading what you guys have to say about these teachings as well. Don't forget the new class starts on Saturday. I'd love to see some of you there. We spend a lot of time looking at what ancient astrologers had to say both theoretically, philosophically, and spiritually as we learn to read birth charts. That begins on Saturday, November 12. So I hope to see some of you there. And hope you guys are having a great week and we'll talk to you again tomorrow. Bye.