This post is a continuation of the last post about the Cardinal Cross and Venus’ function within that.  In the post below we went over the idea that Libra and Aries are related to each other symbolically by both celebrating symmetry.  The difference is that Aries likes to fight and be number one.  Aries has to be number one because it just IS number one.  It is the first day of spring when the leaves push through the pavement.

The Tao Te Ching states: “one produced two, two produced three, three produced all numbers”.  If one is Aries then 2 must be Libra.  Libra is opposite Aries.  Libra is female and Aries is male.  Libra introduces the concept of partnership, and the “other”. In the last post we explored the phenomena that Capricorn (the Sea Goat), the 4th sign on the Cardinal Cross, seems to be a marriage between Aries (the Ram) and Cancer (the Crab).

A man (Aries) marries the woman (Libra) and makes a family (Cancer).  It looks a lot like Cancer is number 3, symbolically, in terms of the Tao Te Ching.

In these terms then “all numbers” as stated by the Tao Te Ching would then be society, everyone else in the world.  Families multiply the population of the world and we have a thriving planet of constant expansion.

So the 4th number is the Capricorn, the Sea Goat, and it represents “all numbers”.  Interestingly enough Capricorn’s planet, Saturn, is displayed as an upside down 4.  In the last post we discussed how the imaginary Sea Goat representing the planet of concrete reality (Saturn) was a bit of a paradox.  But that might make sense because it came out of the magic of Venus (marriage) and Venus to begin with represents opposites and paradox.  And here again, the Tao Te Ching coincides with Capricorn being the 4th number and voila- there it is- just upside down!

Psychologically, the ONE could be “I” and the TWO could be “anything I am noticing” making the 3 “my connecting what I notice to some internal truth” and then the FOUR “experiencing the unus mundus, or the one world” where we realize that duality is an illusion.  This is the place of synchronicity that Carl Jung talks about.  It is a “time out of time”.  It is “once upon a time”.

So perhaps that is what lies behind the double paradox of Capricorn, as number four.  The imaginary Sea Goat and the upside down number 4 points to stepping back into a place, even if just for a moment, where we experience the one world.  It is there that we become momentarily disillusioned.  Libra wants to take us there.  The number 2 (Libra) beckons the number one (Aries) to make the number 3 (Cancer) from where we can experience the number 4 (Capricorn).

Libra is also the artist.  Let’s look at how Art can perform this magic.

Art (#2 Libra) beckons the onlooker (#1 Aries) to make an inner connection (#3 Cancer) in which you experience a momentary glimpse of the interconnectedness of everything (#4, “all numbers” Capricorn).

Makes me want to reread the entire Tao Te Ching!