The Tao Te Ching for Astrologers – Verses 67 & 68

Happy Christmas eve if you're celebrating, today we are going to continue our series on the Tao Te Ching for Astrologers by looking at verses 67 and 68 of the Tao Te Ching; you do not have to have seen the earlier episodes in the series to follow along, they all have the verses of the Tao Te Ching standalone, I'm taking them from the Jonathan Star translation published by Tarcher Cornerstone editions, highly recommend picking up a copy so that you can follow along, see if I can get the focus back there we go. And the good thing about having a desk reference of your own is that it makes for great morning meditation; I've been using the Tao Te Ching as a source of centering and inspiration in the creation of my content for probably a decade now. So I think it's one of the best, one of the most brilliant, you know, spiritual treatises in the world. So I hope that you'll check it out and get a copy for yourself.

We're going to read through verses 67 and 68. Twice as always, I read through the first verse and the second verse, and then we go back, reread them and reflect on them. So and we do so in light of our study of astrology. The point of this series is to reflect on the teachings of the Tao Te Ching in light of what ancient mystics said about why we practice astrology, there are a lot of similarities, so it's a valuable text that can accompany your development as an astrologer.

All right, well, before we get into our reading for today, as always, don't forget to like and subscribe, share your comments in the comment section, and help the channel to grow. You can always find transcripts of my daily talks on my website, which is nightlight astrology.com. We are also in the midst of trying to raise the support of 1608. Backers, if you value this channel, if you value the content, both spiritually and astrologically. If you get something good out of it, please consider pitching in and supporting us. We already have 800 people that have supported us; as of the time I'm recording this. We need to try to get to 1600. So we need a big push in the last ten days or so, a little over a week left. In order to reach our goal, you can choose a reward when you donate.

There are lots of different talks I give all of my classes are 50% off; if you bundle them together in a four-pack, they're up to 75% off, and you can get some readings that I offer. So lots of cool stuff there. Check it out. The link to the Kickstarter is in the description of this video in the comments section below. Really appreciate your support and supporting my staff, this channel, and all the good goals we have in the year ahead, including a more affordable reading service that we hope to offer for people. For some of my graduates, my best students, we want to create a service where they can get experience, earn a little money, and people can get affordable readings. So we're going to be in the process of building that through the capital that we develop in the Kickstarter. So if you contribute, you're contributing some really good things. All right, well, let's get into our verses for today. I'm going to put them up on the screen as always; you can follow along if you want to if you don't have the text. So, verses 67 and 68.

Verse 67
All the world talks about my Tao with such familiarity –
What folly!
Tao is not something found at the marketplace or passe don from father to son
It is not something to be gained by knowing or lost by forgetting
If Tao were like this
It would have been lost and forgotten long ago
I have three treasures that I hold dear the first is love the second is moderation the
third is humility
With love one in fearless
With moderation one in abundant
With humility one can fill the highest position
Now if one is fearless but has no love abundant but has no moderation rises up but
has no humility
Surely he is doomed
Love vanquishes all attackers
It is impregnable in defense
When Heaven wants to protect someone does it send an army?
No, it protects him with love.

Verse 68
The best warrior leads without haste, fights without anger overcomes without confrontation
He puts himself below and brings out the highest in his men
This is the virtue of not confronting of working with the abilities you have of complying with the laws of Heaven
This is the ancient path that leads to perfection

Let's go back to verse 67. We'll reread it now and offer some reflections on the similarities between this these two verses and what ancient astrologers said about the spiritual purpose of astrology.

Verse 67
All the world talks about my Tao with such familiarity –
What folly!
Tao is not something found at the marketplace or passe don from father to son
It is not something to be gained by knowing or lost by forgetting
If Tao were like this
It would have been lost and forgotten long ago

Did you know that ancient astrological manuscripts had warnings at the beginning of them that those who took upon the study of astrology for personal gain or benefit or idle speculation or gossip would potentially suffer curses? It would protect the sacredness of the text, sometimes with literal curses. They would also tell people that it was dangerous, especially in India, karmically, to undertake the study of astrology without sincerity, the desire to learn and grow spiritually.

How applicable is this today, and it's very similar to this verse. Tao is not something found at the marketplace talk that people talking about it with such familiarity. One of the things that sometimes bothers me, though, I've learned not to let it get under my skin any longer, but it still will, from time to time, is the fact that there are so many people who are now claiming to be astrologers, who have had no formal training, no serious commitment or study over a long period of time, and yet they speak with such familiarity, such authority about something that they haven't deeply, deeply taken into their life.

Now, you know, I'm not here to be a gatekeeper to say who can or cannot be an astrologer. I feel like that would be real arrogant. But the thing that ancient astrologers said about astrology is that you need it to endeavor upon the art and science, learning of it with a kind of gravitas, a seriousness, a sincerity and integrity, and humility. And one of the ways that you can recognize what kind of astrology is going to be good for you. And what isn't is the degree to which the art or craft is treated like a sacred thing. And that it shouldn't be applied for the sake of gossip and speculation. It shouldn't be deepening our attachment to trivial things, it should be contributing to a soulful life, not one that is more burdened by anxiety about the future.

When we think about the future, we're thinking about it as something preparing us to live soulfully, consciously, and meaningfully. When we think about what astrology is giving us, it's giving us a language through which to relate to the cosmos that we live in and to the living soul that inhabits all things. This is very similar to the Tao. It's not something to walk around talking about lightly or casually. Like an, you know, like a, like an MTV reality show or something. Now, again, I don't mean to act like some kind of all-powerful gatekeeper; get off my lawn or something. But it's true that we're there's, there's a way in which we're expected to hold this, that is sacred, and understanding that this oracle that we speak to is a brilliant, powerful, sort of extra-dimensional teacher and staying humble with that is very important. It's that way for any kind of to stay close to any kind of spiritual intelligence or presence to keep a kind of spiritual alignment in our lives.

Even if we frequently fall out of it. It's very important that we carry a certain kind of mature, healthy, love-tender devotional respect for what we're doing. And he talks about the Tao this way here; I really liked this. He goes on to say,
I have three treasures that I hold dear the first is love the second is moderation the
third is humility
With love one in fearless
With moderation one in abundant
With humility one can fill the highest position
Now if one is fearless but has no love abundant but has no moderation rises up but
has no humility
Surely he is doomed
Love vanquishes all attackers
It is impregnable in defense
When Heaven wants to protect someone does it send an army?
No, it protects him with love.

I love this piece of the verse. It's just straight-up teaching. And it is a teaching that you will find mirrored in many of the spiritual traditions that practice astrology in the ancient world in general, which is that if astrology is something in your life that is contributing to the development of love or devotion, I would also call it moderation as in you know, nothing too extreme, walking a kind of sacred middle path and being humble. Not getting out over our skis, not being arrogant, not being self-righteous, so love moderation and humility.

If astrology is teaching us these things, then it is in line with sacred traditions like the Taoist tradition, the yogic tradition, the Buddhist tradition, the Hermetic tradition, the Christian tradition, some, and so many others that aren't, you know, different, different paths all over the world. These virtues are essential.

I asked myself that a lot; I say, am I having fun on this channel while also resembling a spirit of love, temperance, and humility. Because those are important, it's important to me, because I, I feel better. And the voice of the Oracle, whether I'm reading charts, making content, or teaching classes, is always clearer and more eloquent and beautiful, as something that I have to tune into and somehow communicate is like a hermetic practice. When I am practicing love, temperance, and humility, I'm not always very good at those things, but I know what they feel like when I'm in them. And I know that it leads to the best, clearest relationship with the signs and symbols of astrology with the Oracle itself.

So we have to do things in our lives; however, we do them that foster those qualities in our, in our consciousness, in our hearts. And I'm not saying there's only one way to do it. But I know that reading this text and reminding myself of these things, is a big thing for me. This is one of my favorite verses of the Tao Te Ching, almost into the I-Ching, which I also read a lot too. With love, one is fearless with moderation, abundant with humility one can feel the highest position. Now if one is fearless but has no love abundant but has no moderation rises up it has no humility, surely he is doomed. That's Karma. And ancient astrologers definitely believed in Karma as well.

Love vanquishes all attackers impregnable in defense; when Heaven wants to protect someone. Does it send an army? No, it protects him with love. There's a sense when you live an astrological life that you are perfectly protected, not protected in the sense that you get everything you want and that nothing that you don't want ever happens. But protected, in that your life is guaranteed to be meaningful and graceful, and the cosmos will be experienced as merciful and meaningful. And you're sort of guaranteed that the more you study astrology. Verse 68, this one's short.

Verse 68
The best warrior leads without haste, fights without anger overcomes without
confrontation
He puts himself below and brings out the highest in his men
This is the virtue of not confronting of working with the abilities you have of
complying with the laws of Heaven
This is the ancient path that leads to perfection.

Now, this might be instruction like literal military instructions, but it can be taken, I think, in another way, and one that is compatible with what ancient astrologers said about the practice of astrology. There were raging debates in the ancient world among astrology, astrologers, and astrological pundits and practitioners, about whether or not one should try to manipulate the gods, whether through timing or, you know, talismans, or whether one can or should manipulate the energies in order to get something that they want. Largely, the ancient astrologers seem to have, although there were certainly magical astrology practices, and some of them probably have very high integrity in terms of healing and medicine and things like that.

But there was a clear sense that the more that one tries to assert oneself, the more that one will end up falling down. The more that one tries to get something, the more that one will eventually be stripped of that thing. And the key to being powerful is to be humble and be content with what comes. And to be open-minded and curious about what comes, especially in the way of astrological transits and seasons in your life, rather than saying, How do I optimize this transit? You treat the transit like it's a visiting angel coming to your house for dinner, and you stay curious, and you assume the best, and you treat it with great care and respect. Stay open-minded, and whatever comes on the outside, however it may look, if you've taken your ego out of it and treated that transit like a visiting God in your home, in your heart. It will gift you with things that you couldn't have even known you needed or wanted it. And that's significantly better than trying to assert something over the planets. So, I think that's a very similar line of thinking.

This is a verse saying, look, if you want to be a leader, if you want to be strong, be humble. And if you are more concerned with going along with the flow of the Tao, that is what will lead you along to any kind of perfection, any kind of strengthening, any kind of forward development or progress comes from that, not from the super ambitious, domineering attempts. And we can do those same things with the planets all the time; we listened to the astrology trying to figure out how I can somehow Jimmy rig, you know, the planets to get what I want. And the secret is really in treating them like guests. And not being someone who is in a state of want or need or, you know, trying to stay full and satisfied in the heart and treating the planet like a guest. They come bearing gifts. That's how the planets are.

So anyway, I hope that this has been a useful exploration today. I hope that you, if you're celebrating Christmas that you have a very Merry Christmas and a nice Christmas Eve. If you're not celebrating, we'll hope you had a happy Solstice this week. And we will be back together again on Monday for more. Don't forget; we are still trying to get as many backers as we can to get our 1608 backer goal by New Year's Eve. If you like this kind of content, it does something positive for you. Please consider pitching in five bucks or ten bucks, or choose a reward and donate a little bit more. We have all sorts of reward tiers. Find the description and the link to the Kickstarter in the description of this video or the comments section. Alright, you guys have a great weekend. We'll see you again Monday. Bye.