Rocky Mountain Guidance

[sdi]

My family and I are on vacation: we're exploring the Rocky Mountains, which we've never seen before. I still do my daily divinations while on the road, of course, and I got another one of those funny charts today:

Once again, it's a felicitous chart. Of particular interest is Conjunctio rejoicing in the first in company with Albus in the second (of my property), fifth (of created objects, and given the Mercury association, I might assume books?), and eighth (of things owned by others). Looks like my angel's again got something set aside for me which they would like me to read. Just like before, Via rejoices (guidance, direction) and Lætitia rejoices (blessings).

We stopped in town to pick up some supplies and my wife suggested we go to a bookstore a friend of hers recommended. Sounds fine to me, of course, so I poke around. The only book that stood out to me was in the "Metaphysics" section, Susan Levitt's Taoist Feng Shui. I flipped through it and it seemed interesting, but I'm studying so many things already... I figure it's probably best to leave such a thing for another time.

As I'm putting the book back on the shelf, though, my angel says to me, clear as day, "You sure you want to put that one back?"

"Oh," I said, "is this what I was supposed to look for, today?"

"You should give it a try, I think you'll find something interesting in there."

So, I bought it. Indeed, after doing so, my family and I went over to a cafe next door and I read the first chapter while sipping some tea; and, indeed, I noticed something interesting. The first page of the book, introducing the Tao, quotes the Tao Te Ching XXV:

The Tao is great.
The universe is great.
Earth is great.
Each human is great.
These are the four great powers.

A human follows the earth.
Earth follows the universe.
The universe follows the Tao.
The Tao follows only itself.

Having read Plotinus, I can't help but see his four levels of reality in this: "the Tao" is the One, "the universe" (e.g. the cosmos, all that is) is the Intellect, Earth (e.g. the living world) is the level of souls, and "a human" is the level of bodies. Maybe it's time to give the Taoists another look, after all...

In any case, don't be too surprised if you start to see musings along those lines in the near future.

Comments

[boccaderlupo]

Good deal, listening to the angel!

Reading the Tao back when I was in my teens was a major spiritual shakeup for me. "This book gets it," was my first reaction. I can't help but feel that few books better intimate some of the ever-elusive qualities of The One.

Look forward to the posts.

Axé

[sdi]

Me, too: prior to reading the Tao Te Ching, I had become disillusioned with religion (including atheism), as I'd only ever seen it wielded as a weapon of abuse. Laozi demonstrated that there's a spiritual side to it, too; and Zhuangzi was where I had the "hey, this guy really gets it" reaction. :)

[temporaryreality]

How delightful! Looking forward to more such posts, and I'm glad you're on vacation - sounds lovely to stop into bookstores on a whim while spending time in the mountains.

Best to you all!

[sdi]

Thank you! Maybe I'll finally get into the I Ching, too! :P