Tao Te Ching Part Six

“The valley spirit never dies;

It is the woman, primal mother.”

‘Valley spirit’ because it’s the Tao that underlies everything that is the primal mother, giving birth to everything in the universe and receiving it back, this is the same as western pagan thought. Diana the goddess giving birth to Herne the hunter at the beginning of each pagan year and receiving him back at the end, the circle of life.

“Her gateway is the root of heaven and Earth.

It is like a veil barely seen.

Use it; it will never fail.”

Seen as feminine because it’s giving birth, nourishing and receiving back. Veiled because the thinking definitive mind can never see or define it, but when we are still and silent, when trying not to define, it reveals itself. It’s always there, a place of refuge and healing. In Buddhism it’s the journey from samadhi (absorption) to vipassana (insight).