Mystic Metaprogramming

Reading for Wednesday November 9th 2022

2022-11-09T17:58:26.000Z

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does the day hold for us?” and it replies:

Foundation
(2S) Humility 謙

⬈

Situation
(RW) Traveling 旅

↓

Approaching
(5W) Conflict 訟

⬉

Anticipation
(5W) Conflict 訟

The Received Gua

Decision

Image

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

The Yao

Changing Line Xxx: Dark|Light Impulse|Ego|Guidance|Connection|Sovereignty|Sagacity, 6|9 at the Beginning

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

The Approached Gua

The Tarot

Conclusion

Reading for Friday November 4th 2022

2022-11-04T19:59:06.000Z

My apologies for missing yesterday’s reading. After working on a new card method that doesn’t generate as many changing lines, I wasn’t feeling up to the task of actually doing the reading.

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does the day hold for us?” and it replies:

Received: 師 Multitude - Six of Wands

Approaching: 剝 Eroding - Three of Cups

The Received Gua

Decision
Multitude
Being resolute, for one of noble spirit,
Brings good fortune.
Without fault.

Image
Water contained under Earth
An image of Multitude
Correspondingly, the sage embraces people
and cares for the Multitude

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Generally a favorable reading for today. Often called “Army,” this symbol is really about working well with the population to prevent the need for force at all. Ancient armies tended not to be permanent, professional outfits like today. Peasants would form militias as needed, then disperse back into the populace when not called upon. This is seen in the trigrams of the gua, where danger hides within the humble earth.

The Yao

Changing Line Two: Light Ego, 9 at the Second
Within the multitude,
Good fortune, without fault.
The king bestows thrice.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

The second position is that of a general or field leader. The strong yang energy here corresponds and supports the yin in the fifth position, representing the confident and trusting ruler. With support from above and from without (the many yin lines representing the people/soldiers/multitude being commanded), this person is in a strong position to act and succeed.

Changing Line Six: Dark Sagacity, 6 at the Top
The great prince issues commands,
Establishing states and noble families.
Inferior persons should not be employed.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Beyond the literal ideas here, establishing dynasties can also be seen as metaphorically what ideas and practices we take into our habits and lives. We should always take care that new practices are beneficial and proper. As the sixth line, this shows the closing ideas of this situation. As the need for the multitude is accomplished, those who aided you most should be rewarded and kept in confidence lest they become enemies. Likewise, don’t let behaviors that served you well in times of struggle become detrimental to you when circumstances change. Learn to let go of that which has served you.

The Approached Gua

剝 Eroding is a familiar site. After establishing the noble houses and building up the kingdom, the leader must naturally shift towards slicing away that which is excessive. This follows well from the last line text in the previous section.

The Tarot

Six of Wands approaching Three of Cups, supported by Five of Cups, and anticipating King of Pentacles. The 6W is a strong central position, representing victory and the dispersal of favor as indicated by the sixth changing line above. 3C as a sign of heartbreak can indicate that not all the plans set into motion now will pay out favorably. The phrase “kill your darlings” comes to mind and it may also be a time of bittersweet loss as you sever off those nostalgic ideas that are no longer helping you.

5C as a lead-in to this situation indicates a rallying after previous losses. There’s been trouble on the path, but success is within reach now. Success, however, is not an end but merely the smooth transition into the next phase. KD indicates a desire for stability and success, for things to just settle down and to be able to enjoy the fruits the victory, but that seems unlikely at this time. This figure continues to serve as a stable target though, and it may yet be achievable.

Conclusion

The new card layout I’m working with tries to incorporate the Majors into the reading, and bring more of a tarot flavor to the overall proceedings. Three cards are drawn: Foundation, Situation, Anticipation. The Situation is the received gua, the Foundation sets the possible changes, and the Anticipation confirms the changes. From these, a fourth spectral hexagram, the approached gua, is derived. Today this method worked very well. When I tried it last night, I drew Star, 豐 Abundance ䷶ (Knight of Discs), and Faith. I determined the approached to be 賁 Adorning ䷕ (Queen of Discs). I was too tired to make sense of it then, and I’ve been puzzling over that reading all day without much further insight. It suggests blessing overflowing from above, that the answers should literally be falling into my lap. Which, fair enough, life is good and maybe I’m being a fool for chasing after phantoms?

Whatever the case of that reading, today’s is clearer that while times may be good it’s no guarantee of a joyful tomorrow, so stock up while there’s a sale.

Reading for Wednesday November 2nd 2022

2022-11-02T13:35:38.000Z

The nature of oracles can be quite fascinating, particularly in the way a reading can cycle back into conscious expression throughout the course of the questioned period. Doing daily readings has certainly opened me up further to the many subtle ways the advice of the Changes can arise. Yesterday’s reading, Stillness, was in my mind frequently as I worked through the challenges of the day. Frustrating blocks at work reminded me to still my hands, consider the problem before working on it. Frustrations communicating with people reminded me to keep the jaws still, consider the words to be said carefully before committing to them. Mostly though, I took the core advice to still the body, the trunk, in mind. Those frustrations had my heart on fire, pounding angrily and ready to lead me right into trouble.

I’m grateful, I suppose, for those frustrations. They pushed me into reviewing the reading yesterday, rereading the related passages and widening my reading to include more sources, more opinions on the matter. None of that changed my thoughts on the reading, but it did all deepen my understanding of the reading and the subtle contours of the situations that 艮 Stilling ䷳ covers. On to today’s reading…

I took some time this morning to write down a somewhat “standardized” version of the “eight phases blessing” I’ve been using to open my divinations. Perhaps it will help put you in a receptive state to hear what the universe is saying too?

☰ Qián opens the way
Heaven guide me
☶ Gèn guards the gate
Mountain preserve me
☵ Kǎn shows the boundary
Water teach me.
☳ Zhèn rouses the spirits
Thunder honors my masters
☱ Duì dance with the dead
Lake honors my ancestors
☲ Lí illuminate me
Fire bless the seeker
☴ Xùn envelope me
Nature bless the oracle
☷ Kūn support me
Earth receive this question/intent

Eight-Fold Blessings

(You can substitute “Mountain” for a spirit/saint/deity that opens paths for you, and “Water” with a being that mentors and guides you.)

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does the day hold for us?” and it replies:

Received: 噬嗑 Eradicating - Queen of Swords

Approaching: 井 Replenishing - Queen of Wands

The Received Gua

After all the stillness and receptivity of the last week or so, it’s nice to see something more active. Not that 噬嗑 Eradicating is a particularly positive draw in most circumstances. Since I was chastened for not showing my full hand yesterday, here we will confront all 7 changes as well.

Decision
Eradicating. Success.
Favorable to administer justice.

Image
Thunder and Lightning
An image of Eradicating
Correspondingly, the ancient rulers
Strengthened the laws and clarified the penalities

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

King Wen is particularly short and to the point on this one. The traditional and commonly translated name for this gua is “Biting/Gnawing Through,” but Huang and a couple of others go for the metaphorical with variations on “Eradicating/Removing Obstacles.” The gua lines are likened to a mouth (compare with 頤 Nourishing) with a bit or rod or stick held in the teeth. Justice is here held to be the balance between the shocking Zhèn trigram (representative of swift action, which may be too strong) and the considered, illuminating Lí trigram (representing flexible clarity, which may be too weak).

The fifth place, the position of the ruler, is a yielding line in a firm place. Normally this could be bad, but with the support of the firm lines around it, the leader is able to achieve balance and administer true justice. While the Major Arcana Justice is an obvious connection here, the Majors represent a more primal, abstract force than the manifest hexagrams. Justice has other manifestations as well. 噬嗑 Eradicating is tied to the Queen of Swords, which loops back to the flexible ruling line in the fifth position. The Swords and Justice are intimately related: Justice carries a sword after all, and both correspond with the Western element of Air. The Queen of Swords is one who is able to calmly (some could even say coldly) make considered decisions.

The Yao

All six lines are changing, which fully inverts the hexagram. Some diviners (Huang and Wilhelm) both recommend looking mainly at the approached gua as if it was received with no changes. Other sources add a seventh “all-changing” line which is to be consulted in this case, where-as normally only the first two gua have this feature. I’m not sure of the origin for this addition, if it has a common source and isn’t just a common extension that many authors have independently come up with. As I have numerous sources on hand, and wouldn’t want anyone to think I wasn’t being thorough in listening to what the cards tell me, I will consult all 7 changes for you here.

Changing Line One: Light Impulse, 9 at the Beginning
Feet in stocks, toes disabled.
Without fault.

One is unable to walk further

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

In any reading, it’s important to understand one’s place within the context of it. Tarot makes this pretty easy because you assign positions in the tableaux to certain persons or situations, and then the meanings and symbols are filled in by the cards. With Yi Jing, the situations and people are often contained within the nature of the gua itself. Symbols and meaning are drawn in from a variety of sources as suits the particulars of the revealed situation.

As such, a typical drawing of the card Justice might leave one feeling that their own punishment is soon to arrive, but the Yi Jing is clear that the querent is the one administering today. All punishments must be measured carefully, with the goal in mind of correcting a maladaptive behavior towards something that is beneficial to the punished and to the greater society. For a first offense, one is restrained such that they can’t move themselves into further trouble.

With yesterday’s reading still in mind, which also discusses the toes in the first line, we see a greater pattern here. It can be favorable, when there’s potential for trouble, to still the feet and consider one’s path before walking. A person who habitually walks into trouble may need restricting to force them into stillness so that they can consider their future courses more carefully.

Changing Line Two: Dark Ego, 6 in the Second
Biting tender meat, burying the nose in it.
Without fault.

The yielding rests upon the firm

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

That bit about the nose is rather contentious. The whole phrase is “噬膚滅鼻”, which could very roughly be taken as “biting skin, exterminates nose”. Most interpreters seem to take it as “biting off” the nose or otherwise removing it. Which seems to me like a rather severe punishment for only the second degree of offense! Huang suggests that many scholars favor “burying” as the meaning of that particular character, as in shoving one’s face into a piece of meat so far that your nose “disappears” into it. Huang goes on to suggest that the image is of the judge “taking a firm bite” to enforce justice, or perhaps giving the punished a firm bite of justice?

The English idiom “to cut off one’s nose to spite their own face” comes to mind, but I don’t think it has much applicability here.

Wilhelm suggests that there is another possible reading that changes the nature of this entire gua. In this interpretation, which favors an image of “the Sun high above, Movement below,” sees instead of a court of justice, a marketplace. Then the “burying one’s nose” is akin to losing track of things by overindulging in sensory experience. Wilhelm also suggests this line means the person is “not covetous” but I don’t know about the Chinese connection between smell and coveting.

We’re left with a somewhat confusing bit of mixed advice here. The clearest advice I’ve gathered from all the sources I’ve checked is that the judge has a lot of enthusiasm about justice, so much so that they are overly firm, taking a huge bite of their meat. This is socially bold, but not improper, and in fact shows that their firm hand is up to the task of administering justice (recall that the second line is often related to the questioner and represents a kind of low official, like a county judge).

Changing Line Three: Dark Guidance, 6 in the Third
Biting cured meat, finds a bad piece.
Slight regret. Without fault.

The position is not appropriate

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

The third place is a firm line on it’s own between yielding lines. This is a dangerous and unstable position. One who works justice from here will find difficulties, and may make some small missteps, but ultimately their course is still righteous and their work correct. The “bad piece” is interpreted variously. Some read it as a poisonous or spoiled bit, Huang regards it as a thick or touch spot in the meat. In either case, the message is unchanged: when chewing through a problem, you will encounter tough bits and bad spots, and you won’t like that, but just keep on chewing. Being a yielding line in a firm place, Confucius draws our attention to the inappropriate position of the line, a warning that one cannot be soft when meting out justice.

Changing Line Four: Light Connection, 9 in the Fourth
Biting dry meat on the bone
Receiving metal arrows (Could also be: Receiving metal/gold/money and arrows)
Facing a difficult task, it is favorable to work hard.
Being resolute brings good fortune.

Their brightness has not yet been sufficiently shown.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Although not the host of the gua, I think this line is probably the most interesting in the entire reading. Certainly the authors saw fit to give it more text than the others. The fourth place is a firm line in a yielding place, but it supports a yielding line in the fifth place above it. We have the image of a firm advisor to a soft ruler. This is good, the gentle ruler needs the harsh advice of a strong minister, but it is an exceedingly dangerous place for the minster. If they overstep, they could anger the ruler and lose their position (among other possible losses!) but if they are too gentle in advising then the ruler will be ineffectual. Too strong a hand and the people will see you as a cruel tyrant, too soft then as a weak fool.

Meat dried to the bone is about as hard and unpleasant to eat as it gets. Gnawing on bones like a dog, the minister has to scrape and chew just to get a taste of the meat. They must be as upright and true as an arrow in flight, as firm and hard as forged metal. Confucius suggests also that their brightness has not yet been shown sufficiently. This is evident here, an established minister would have precedent and trust already, so this is the place of someone who has not yet proven themselves to the task.

Changing Line Five: Dark Sovereignty, 6 in the Fifth
Biting dry meat and finding yellow gold.
Aware of danger in one’s position, they are resolute.
Without fault.

They possess all the qualities appropriate to the position and task

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Now we find the position of the ruler at last, and host of the gua, our Queen of Swords. To receive yellow gold is an ancient idiom, and can be taken as receiving good advice (from the minister in the fourth position). When one seeks to carry out justice, they must remember that the goal is reform and restitution: to make society whole, healthy, and functional again. One who is well supported, who listens to good advice, and who weighs their measures appropriately, will have success.

Changing Line Six: Light Sagacity, 9 at the Top
Wearing a cangue. (A kind of wooden collar worn to punish criminals)
Ears vanish.
Misfortune.

They hear but do not understand

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

This is the only bad fortune reading in the entire gua. This line is not central, and it is not correct (firm line in a yielding place). It is also unsupported, leaning on the gentle ruler below it. The top line is often seen as exiting the situation, which has already reached climax and resolution in the fifth place. What we have here is one who is too strong when they should relent, who punishes too late to affect the criminals behavior or to make amends to the victims. One who comes to this position might as well have their ears blocked, because they won’t take the advice given anyway.

All Changing: Approaching 井 Replenishing
Eradicating all obstacles
Justice corrects the people’s way
They gather around the well
To Replenish what has been drained.

I’m not too sure about writing my own little faux-wisdoms to act as all-changing lines, but the examples I have on hand don’t really meet my expectations and it feels wrong to just bang out a paragraph of my usual prose and call it a day. Hopefully my little poem captures something of the energy I’m feeling in this reading. All lines changing represents an upheaval, the situation is highly chaotic, highly energized.

I would tend to regard such a situation in a few ways. As these daily readings are meant to be more general than something I’d do specifically for myself or another, I prefer to list out these options and let the reader decide what feels appropriate to their specific manifestation. So I see three possibilities here:

First, it is possible the subject is meant to briefly take in the knowledge of 噬嗑 Eradicating, then consult 井 Replenishing for their reading today, in which case, see below. I think of this as the “locked past” reading, that the all-changing gua has actually already happened, you just missed it, and now you are actually in the first phases of the new gua as it settles into place. This is the reading I’d suggest for a casual reader.

A second possibility, a stance I’ve taken for myself today, is that the lessons of Yi Jing need to be broad and encompassing. The reader is meant to fully understand all that 噬嗑 Eradicating has to tell, including how it finally changes entirely to the next situation. Call this “the sage’s reading” if you like. If you see yourself in a position to do some judging soon, I would recommend reading over everything and trying to internalize the full lesson.

The third reading is how I usually approach these things, which is to consider that each changing line is just a possibility. This is fully the opposite approach from the first reading. The more changing lines present, the more avenues you have open, and you should consider each line’s changes in isolation as well as in possible connection with others to understand which possible futures are open to you depending on which actions you take. With 6 changing lines, you could actually move into any other gua from here depending on which changes “activate,” which is why I see it as a highly chaotic situation. I admit this is an unconventional approach to the Yi Jing, but it’s one that has worked very well for me. The Yi Jing doesn’t tell you the future, it tells you which futures arise from your actions in various circumstances.

The Approached Gua

井 Replenishing - Queen of Wands

Decision
Replenishing.
A village can be moved,
but not the well.

People coming and going.
They draw from the well,
but it neither increases nor decreases.

When one comes close to the water,
but the rope is too short or the bucket breaks,
then there is misfortune.

Image
Water over wood, an image of Replenishing.
Correspondingly, the sage encourages the work of the people
and urges them to help one another

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Most translators call this one “The Well” even though as Huang points out, historically the 井 Jing is more like a plot of land with a well in the center, which eventually through metonymy came to mean just the well itself. The word still carries the meanings of both a well or a square-shaped pit, or a hometown. I also prefer Huang’s approach where the names should be related to the action of the hexagram.

This makes sense to me as the approach for an all changing reading from Eradicating. After a long day of meting justice, the judge will be exhausted and the people no doubt fuming from so much chastening. However, the result should be a much stronger society that looks to their wise and fair ruler for guidance. Still, everyone is going to need a drink after that, and by gathering around the well we Replenish both our personal emotional and physical reserves, but also our spirits and communal powers.

The Tarot

As a consequence of my tarot assignment scheme, all hexagrams within a particular rank are inversions and reversals of each other. So changing every line in Queen of Swords creates the Queen of Wands. (Flipping either of them over would produce the other two Queens.) The Queen of Wands is honorable and friendly, if a bit rustic and casual in demeanor. While I connected the Queen of Swords with the fifth place in the reading above, as a whole rank, the Queens generally represent the sixth position. The Sword Queen is commonly seen as icy and too severe, which the sixth line of Eradicating shows us with one who is too obstinate to measure their own behavior. On the other hand, the 5th and 6th positions of Replenishing are both very favorable and show the actions of a ruler who uplifts their people and refreshes their spirits.

There is the expression of a broad principle here: that once a ruler has wielded the sword of justice to separate good from wicked, they must take up the staff of life to administer relief to the people in equal measure.

A somewhat alternative reading here is that there are two unbalanced forces in play today. Initially, you find yourself at the mercy of the judge, but there is a path towards the loving caretaker. If these cards resonate to you as two people in your life, then treat the “Queen of Swords” with deference and care, while looking for how you can support your “Queen of Wands.”

Conclusion

I think this is probably the longest reading I’ve done for the blog so far, particularly since it includes a full recounting of 噬嗑 Eradicating ䷔, which at least I can use as part of my writing for further projects. What are we to take from all this? My Major draw today was the Star, paired with the rune ᛏ Ti. These represent guidance from above, but ᛏ Ti specifically is also a guardian of justice and the legal process. ᛏ Ti can help you win a legal case, but only if you are actually in the right because it ensures justice. Everyday, we all face trials, but sometimes we also stand to judge them. It’s worthwhile to keep in mind the goals of true justice: to make right. Ask yourself through the day: “Does my judgement create rightness? Does it correct wrong behaviors, does it repair what is broken?”

Reading for Tuesday November 1st 2022

2022-11-01T13:43:01.000Z

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does the day hold for us?” and it replies:

Received: 艮 Stilling - Eight of Swords

~~Approaching: 節 Boundary - Rider of Cups~~
Approaching: 旅 Traveling - Rider of Wands

The Received Gua

It’s been a busy holiday weekend – I was blessed to be able to provide several Tarot readings for friends during this spiritually active time – it can be quite a relief when the Yi Jing offers that it’s a good day for keeping still. As I’ve talked extensively on this gua recently, I’ll just point you back to those posts. Suffice to say, the text recommends contemplation and consideration before any actions can be undertaken.

The Yao

Once again, the 5 changing lines we initially draw seems excessive, so we’ll take only the unchanging line into consideration. My two-card-draw oracle produces more changes than most other methods, something that has me pondering alterative draw methods to get somewhat more in line with the expected odds for coins or counting stalks. Huang’s reduction rules are a useful patch on the issue, but not really a solution. I think the key lies in the integration of the Majors, which I’m also still struggling with.

Changing Line Four: Dark Connection, 6 at the Fourth
Stilling the trunk
Without fault

Keeping free from reckless action

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

A favorable change for this gua, yao four tells one that while they can operate within their immediate sphere (hands and feet and mouth aren’t told to keep still), it would be trouble to try and relocate or make any big moves. Confucius suggests that in keeping the core of the body still, one limits their ability to indulge in recklessness.

The Approached Gua

旅 Traveling is one of my favorite signs to draw, particularly for it's association with the Rider (male knight) of Wands, a card I've always been deeply drawn towards. "Fire on the Mountain!" the image text says, a beacon in the sense of both where the Traveler is headed but also the Traveler's campfire itself, a beacon in turn for others to follow. The image of the Hermit comes to mind as well, his lantern of wisdom visible from far away. Everyone is a traveler in the journey of life, sometimes a guide to others and sometimes lost in our own wilds.

After keeping still, we are able to perceive the dim light of wisdom and may begin our journey towards it again.

Conclusion

The major pull for today is the Priestess, a powerful card for diviners and spirit workers of all types. As we move into the darkest parts of winter, the need for beacon lights to guide travelers to safe inns and camps increases. Spiritually, socially, with economic downturn still plummeting and our society’s fracturing reaching critical points, the need for interconnection and guidance has never been so great. Take this day, this moment, of stillness for the blessing it is, because stillness may not be afforded again for some time.

Reading for Monday October 31st 2022

2022-10-31T13:37:39.000Z

Halloween! Samhain! Dia de los Muertos! The days of all saints and souls. Modern capitalist society has driven us towards the commercial consumerist consolidation of all our spiritual days, yet there is a spirit secreted in this season that remains untouched. The autumn is a liminal time, daylight hours shift rapidly, the weather cools, storms make their erratic rounds. School semesters start, summer joys retire and pass, and the winter looms ahead. No one talks about “autumn cleaning” like we do in the spring, yet winterizing and preparation are quite similar (if potentially more dire) activities. Fundamentally, it’s a time of intense annual change, and any lingering unresolved changes and crises will ache for completion before winter brings it’s unique challenges upon us.

The calendar of the sky marks these spirit holidays at nearly the halfway mark between equinox and solstice. While most religious calendars use those solar days to mark the beginnings of fall and winter, for me it really is Halloween that marks the climax of autumn and the start of the downhill ride to full winter. At these times, we sense the transitory nature of the world and ourselves, and connect more deeply to the questions of our souls.

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What remains unresolved as we transition the seasons?” and it replies:

無妄 Sincerity (25) - Lady of Swords

~~Approaching: 泰 Advance - Seven of Swords~~
Approaching: 否 Hindrance - Seven of Wands

The Gua

We last saw 無妄 Sincerity as our received gua in the Reading for Saturday October 15th, 2022, and again as the approached gua a few days later. I hadn’t decided to post my interpreted versions of the Yi Jing text yet, so I’ll do that now. I want to take a fresh look at the gua as well, in light of today’s unique question and circumstances.

Decision
Sincerity.
Supreme success. Favorable to be resolute.
When a person acts with insincere intent, there is trouble.
Unfavorable to travel.

Image
Under Heaven, Thunder rolls.
An image of all things in the natural state of Sincerity.
Correspondingly, the ancient kings
cultivated their virtue in harmony with the time
fostered and nourished all things.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

The notions of truth and sincerity are frequent guests in these texts. Just in the Yi Jing there’s also 中孚 Inner Truth ䷼ which is sometimes translated “Inner Truth”. The literal translation of gua 25 is “Without Falsehood.” The Yi Jing expresses many times the idea that people (all things in fact) are born into a state of true innocence and sincerity. I’ve seen plenty of children lie in my time, so if our inherent nature is to be honest then lying is a skill we learn from each other very early on. There’s probably some interesting thoughts to mull on in the Christian inversion of this thought too: that humankind begins in a state of blissful deception and that knowledge of the truth of good and evil (the knowledge of the tree) is what corrupts their innocence and leads to the exile from the Garden.

In light of our question today, there is a kind of dual answer here. This sign represents our current state and our foundation, what we can build from in response to question. Gua 61, despite being labeled as “innermost sincerity” by Huang, is more about society, leadership, and the interactions of community with sincerity. Gua 25, being in the first book of the King Wen sequence, is about the personal and one’s own approach to sincerity. As the decision indicates, we must approach change with sincere intent, we must know ourselves and our desires, or else there will be trouble and misfortune.

The Image provides the other part of the answer: thunder within is the intent to act, a restless drive that must erupt into motion! Heaven without is the righteous strength to overcome obstacles and accomplish great things! When we act with a strength that is driven by our inner honesty, great things are possible!

The Yao

Today’s changing lines have done something really wild, that I have never encountered before! First off, 5 changes is too many! And yet not quite a total inversion of the gua which would result in a unique reading for that circumstance. Instead, following Huang’s rules, we should look at only the unchanging line as though it were the yao. Let’s start there, then I’ll discuss what’s so unique about this reading.

Changing Line One: Light Impulse, 9 at the Beginning
Without falsehood (Sincerity).
Going forward, good fortune.

One’s will shall be fulfilled

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Straight forward and simple, this is about the plainest the Yi Jing ever gets. “Here is the symbol of being honest! Be honest, move forward, and it will be good.” The first line is the host of the gua, so a change here is also cutting right to the heart of what the gua is really about.

The Approached Gua

So initially, with 5 changes, we were in motion to 泰 Advance ䷊. This is a great outcome, Advance is the sign of the first of Spring: a time of great growth and blessings. “The small departs, the great arrives” the Decision tells us. Kind of a strange reading for getting into the coldest part of Autumn. THe huge number of conflicting changes required to get there should be a hint at something being wrong here. I read this as, while sure it would be nice to get everything resolved before Winter sets in, that isn’t really possible and it’s certainly not an honest assessment of most people’s current situation. Not mine, for sure! Trying to navigate the five phases of change (many which carry warnings and troubles of their own) would leave your energies expended in every direction and while you will probably move forward it’s impossible to predict how so many interlocking forces would ultimately settle out.

Instead, with taking only the one change, we get motion into 否 Hindrance ䷋. This is the reverse gua of the one previously discussed; from Advance to Hindrance. I’ve never seen where the approached gua could be one of two opposites. “The great is departing, the small arrives,” the Decision text tells us. This is also a wonderful example of the nature of reversal in the Yi Jing. The opposite of advance isn’t retreat, things don’t “regress” here. Hindrance indicates a time when energies stagnate, or more positively when they rest because progress is blocked. Like seeds waiting until spring, sometimes projects need to wait until the conditions are right for planting, otherwise we’re just wasting the ideas.

Although seasonally this gua represents August and the start of autumn, I think it’s certainly more fitting outcome. A line in the image of this approached gua seems telling to me, “The sage relies on inner virtue to avoid calamities, they should not pursue high status or great payment.” Winter is a time of tightening belts and hearts. Whether asking a superior for better payment or seeking to collect debts, most people will take requests for more resources right now in an unkind light.

The Tarot

The Lady of Swords is riding out, past the battlefield where 7 Swords are thrust from the ground, and towards a dark wood where 7 autumn-held trees mark the entrance like blazing torches. The Lady, like all knights, is a messenger, and her message is one of cutting truth: slice away that which doesn’t matter, to reveal the sincerity in your heart. The 7s are generally a rank of unresolved circumstances. The 7 of Swords, which we’re bypassing today, can carry messages of deceitful conduct in pursuit of victory or gain. Instead, we take the hard path of the 7 of Wands, which often depicts an embattled soldier fending off unseen foes with just his staff for protection. We shouldn’t be afraid to sometimes hold our ground and inch out small victories.

Runes, Majors

The Fool and the rune ᛗ Mann seasoned this reading with their presence. As a “rune of the mind,” ᛗ fits in well with the suit of swords that was prevalent in today’s reading. The Fool is us at the start of every new journey, a reminder that winter hindrances are not endings, just a different kind of beginning. Though this is the season of spirit, ultimately all spiritual practice is in the service of deepening our connection to all humankind and helping each other on our collective journey.

Conclusion

Halloween is a time when we put on masks to reveal who we truly are inside. It leads right into the season when many religions have many festivals in celebration of community and the ways in which the ancestors and the earth are entwined within those communities. Be true in yourself and don’t try to accomplish everything. Prepare for things to move into a restful state, to be put on hold for a while. Connect with your neighbors, your ancestors, and yourself, and allow those connections to strengthen you.

49

The sage has no settled mind, for the mind of the people is theirs.

When people are good, the sage is good.
When people are wicked, the sage is also good.
Therefore, good is always achieved.

When people are sincere, the sage is sincere.
When people are insincere, the sage is also sincere.
Therefore, sincerity is always achieved.

The sage withdraws themselves from the world
and blends themselves with the world.
(The sages actions become indistinguishable from the world’s.)

The people follow with their eyes and ears.
The sage, childlike, treats the people as children too.

Lao TsuDao De Jing

Reading for Friday October 28th 2022

2022-10-28T16:48:22.000Z

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does the day hold for us?” and it replies:

剝 Eroding (23)

Tarot: Three of Swords
Approaching: 小畜 Small Power - Two of Wands

The Gua

Decision
Eroding.
Unfavorable to travel.

Image
Mountain rests upon the Earth.
An image of decay and Eroding.
Correspondingly, those above strengthen those below,
By building up their houses and giving generously.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

I finally found a decent online Chinese text of the YiJing, and the last line of the image is a great example of why that can be valuable to the serious YiJing scholar. Huang translates the last couplet as “In correspondence with this, that which is above becomes benevolent to those below, as if building houses on solid foundations. Wilhelm/Baynes take it as “Thus those above can ensure their position only by giving generously to those below.” Here is the actual Chinese text: “上以厚下，安宅。” Auto-translate provides “The top is thick and the bottom is safe/built.” Tweaking the sentence a bit changes how auto-translate sees it and so the last word’s meaning is contentious.

What to make of this? First, I think it’s very amusing that Wilhelm’s “Thus” and Huang’s frequently repeated “In correspondence with this” are both interpreting the juxtaposition of the lines as indicating a correspondence. They’re the experts, and the Dao De Jing is full of that sort of thing too, so I’m sure that makes sense but it is funny how many words in English get added for what is, in actuality, nothing. The Chinese text I can read a little, I at least recognize 上 and 下 as above and below, and the last character I thought was 家 at first, which also means home and is also part of the name of 家人 Household ䷤. I’ve tried to split the difference a bit on the two main interpretations I use, while honoring the original text.

As to what it means, well, this one is short and sweet huh? I was wondering if I should go out tonight, it being Halloween weekend, and here is the answer to my unasked question: nope. The whole week’s readings have broadly suggested stillness, receptivity, and gathering of resources. As a culmination of that week, 剝 Eroding would seem to indicate how to make use of our accumulated power: give it away! That can be a hard lesson, but it’s fundamental to Daoist thought:

The sage does not hoard.
As they provide to others, the more they gain.
As they give away to others, the more they are enriched.

Lao TsuDao De Jing 81

The Yao

Too many changing lines today, so keeping with Huang’s rules we look only at the uppermost unchanging line, which happens to be the uppermost line.

Changing Line Six: Light Sagacity, 9 at the Top
A large fruit is uneaten.
The superior person receives a carriage.
The inferior person’s house is eroded.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

This is rather dangerous gua in general, many of the line texts predict misfortune of varying degrees. Only the third and top lines carry favorable outcomes. Huang likens the image of the gua to that of an avalanche or landslide. Before the landslide, there is great destructive potential: the stored energy of the mountain rests, waiting to tumble down. The sixth place is seen as favorable for two main reasons. As the top line, being fully infused with yang energy means it will transition to yin, making our actual approached gua 坤 Responding ䷁, a frequent sight this week.

I haven’t discussed them before, but gua 2 is also the “mutual gua” of the original. The mutual gua is formed from the middle four lines of a hexagram, and Yi Jing scholars regard it as carrying the inner lesson of the hexagrams. I like to think of the operation as akin to taking the derivative of the hexagram, it gives you some broader notion of the movement that hexagram represents on the whole. Applied twice, all hexagrams reduce to one of four: 乾 Creating ䷀, 坤 Responding ䷁, 既濟 After Completion ䷾, and 未濟 Before Completion ䷿. It’s hardly an accident those are the first two and last two hexagrams in the King Wen sequence. As mutual (or double-mutual, which I like to call “core”) hexagrams, the energies of these can be seen correspondingly as: initiating, receiving, beginning a (sub)cycle, and ending a (sub)cycle.

If the energy of the overall hexagram is towards receptivity, then why this emphatic yao text telling us to be generous and giving? As the sixth line, this powerful yang energy is on the way out. That’s why the first and last lines are discarded when forming the mutual gua: the first is too young, the situations is not yet fully begun, while the last line is too old and is now leaving the situation. (Again, note how this movement is mirrored and expressed by the final two gua. Just a bit of the beautiful symmetry of the Yi Jing as a whole!) As this energy is leaving, it can express something of the opposite nature from the rest of the gua. You’ve done the work storing up and gathering the resources, now you’ll get the most benefit of them by spreading them into the community. We saw this same lesson at work yesterday too.

The other reason the top yang line gets a good reading is because it is the only yang line, trying to manage a big crowd of rowdy yin lines. By strengthening this line, we emphasize the need for strong moral guidance from the sage (the sixth position is that of the wise person, the sage, the diviner, the priest(ess), the magician). Once properly guided (and made prosperous by the generous giving), the people will be receptive and ready to begin building up, just as new seeds sprout after a long winter.

As one final side note, I am still drawing the Major Arcana, just not reporting at the moment. Today I drew the Chariot, which is an interesting parallel with the “superior person receives a carriage” line. The “carriage” here is a sign of acclaim, honor, and influence. In effect, it represents control, a common keyword for The Chariot. Perhaps this reading is for me: an affirmation that I’m on the correct track by giving away what wisdom I can through these writing? Or perhaps not, but I like to think so!

The Approached Gua

We had been going towards 小畜 Small Power ䷈ but reducing our changes leads us instead to 坤 Responding ䷁, which I’m honestly getting a little tired of talking about this week! Perhaps unsurprisingly, the lesson of 小畜 Small Power isn’t too far off from what’s been discussed so far anyway. The decision text for it tells us, “Clouds gather, yet no rain.” Another image of accumulating for the future. And in the image text, we find a suggestion that the superior person takes this time to cultivate their good qualities. The Yi Jing is nothing if not consistent: accumulate power, not for yourself, but to aid those in need. When you cannot give aid to others, grow your inner strength through virtue and cultivation.

The Tarot

The Three of Swords is a rather cruel implementation of Eroding’s ideas. With many of the other changing texts, it would be spot on as well with it’s meanings of grief, heartbreak, and pain. Today though, as only the top line changes and we see a literal overturning of the gua, I think we need to take the 3 in it’s reversed form, where it carries the meanings of forgiveness, reconciliation, and recovery. Wealth and access to power aren’t the only things that a wise sage can share with the people. The Dao De Jing tells us that we have three treasures: compassion, frugality, and humility. From compassion and humility arises the virtue of grace. One who recognizes humbly their own faulty humanity, and who is able to carry within them true compassion for all beings, must then be filled with grace. In Christianity, His boundless grace is one of Almighty God’s greatest gifts. In Yi Jing thought, I believe grace is seen as the Earth’s gift. As it carries us all upon it, so can we learn to carry all people within our heart: good or bad, saint or sinner. It’s very easy to give generously to those we see as worthy, but can you give even to those who hate? Maybe even those whom you hate? Can you find the divine grace within yourself to forgive?

In progress to gua 2, which is the Ace of Cups, we again see an image of endless grace: love and compassion pour endlessly from the Cup. The original approached gua is paired with Two of Wands. Common imagery here is a leader looking over their realm from a high cliff. Those who are high above must give to those below, strengthen their foundations, lest the very earth fall away from their feet.

Conclusion

I found out today that Twitter, where I post daily about readings and also have a personal account for my own amusement, has been purchased whole by one of the wealthiest men in human history. If there’s anyone I wish I could impart the lessons of generosity and compassion into, it would be the billionaire class who claim dominion over all of our shared Earth. Somehow, I don’t think that’s the lesson they want to hear though. Our lives are filled with petty tyrants though. They see how the billionaires callously treat other humans and take that for their model. From your boss at work to the manager of a local restaurant, the world is full of vulgar kings and their paltry fiefdoms. Those people, we do have a chance to reach. Sometimes, we are those people, and I hope these lessons are reaching them. Change begins from below, the Yi Jing is clear on this and Daoists are the oldest anarchists around. From the bottom up, that’s how we change society. That’s how we improve the lives of our fellow people. That’s how we win!

Dao De Jing 1

2022-10-27T21:27:52.000Z

The Eternal Dao

A dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao.
A name that is known is not the eternal Name.
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of all things.
Those who are eternally without desire look to the mysterious.
Those who are eternally desiring look to the manifestation.
These arise together but are known differently.
Their common source is called obscure.
Obscurity within dark mystery,
this is the gateway of understanding.

Commentary

Another of my long running projects is to interpret the Dao De Jing for myself. I have access to about 60 English translations that vary wildly across all variables. Some are very literal, others florid and poetic. Some try to transmit what the translator sees as the “true essence” of the text, others seem fine to intuit their own ideas or attempt to “modernize” it with seemingly only a casual regard for the original text. I’m sympathetic; the Dao De Jing isn’t just a beautiful book of poetry, wisdom, and philosophy. It’s an ancient text, much touched upon over the millennia, full of wordplay and strange imagery.

Famously, from the first, we’re told that the Dao can’t be taught anyway. I’m reminded of the Buddhist story about looking at the teacher’s finger pointing and not seeing the full moon, and I doubt I’m the first to make the comparison. Coming back to this text, as I have many times over many years, I’m struck now by how obvious it all is? Upon learning about the Big Bang, many people will naively ask, “Ok but what came before that?” without realizing the question is, to a certain view, nonsense. The Big Bang is when time itself started, there wasn’t anything “before” that. As we learn much later on in chapter 42: the Dao births the one, which births two, then three, then all things. The mystery, the obscure, lies before and around everything. Yet our means and minds, made of manifest matter, are not equipped to see before their own origins. We can trace these back to a certain point, but then it’s like trying to walk north forever on a globe. To reach all the way back to the Dao, one has to emulate it. One must become empty themselves, then they can touch briefly upon the nature of the eternal, the constant, Dao.

There’s stronger indications of the link between Dao and meditation, but I love that even at the first we’re being told how to seek our dao. To be desiring is to be bound up in the web of manifestations and reality. I’m not a Buddhist, I don’t think that it’s bad or wrong to be desiring and caught up in reality. Not every person will be ready in this life to give up desires and seek for the mystery. I’m not even sure that I am! This doesn’t feel like the life when I escape Samsara and reconnect with the great Dao. Maybe I just do some training and prep work this time, and my next life is the one I ascend in? Or the next. Or the next. I’m not in a hurry, life is too enjoyable and full of wonders to leave just yet!

Reading for Thursday October 27th 2022

2022-10-27T14:07:23.000Z

Last night was an invigorating experience, as I read some of my writing on stage for the first time since the pre-COVID times. Today I’m feeling somewhat drained by the experience, still processing through the emotions of it all. It feels like a good reminder that when we reach a creative pinnacle, a high-yang condition, the inevitable turn back to the receptive and nurturing yin is quite welcome.

As I’m still getting the correspondences worked out, I’m going to discontinue drawing majors and runes for now, at least publicly on this blog. I think I’d rather get them solidified a bit and then incorporate them fully into the readings, rather than this half-measure I’ve been experimenting with.

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does the day hold for us?” and it replies:

坤 Responding (2)

Tarot: Ace of Cups
Approaching: 益 Increasing - King of Discs

The Gua

A duplicate today, twice in a row no less! Astrology Twitter has been abuzz about lingering eclipse energy, and a continuing condition of overall Responding is in line with that. Please look at yesterday's post for the detailed breakdown. It wouldn’t be correct to suggest we are in a blocked condition, as there is and has been change and movement within the lines. Rather, what we see is that our condition returns to the Receptive again and again, flowing away but then prematurely returning, reminiscent of 復 Returning ䷗. This makes sense as our first changing line, were it the only one, would take us to that gua.

The Yao

Our changing lines today are very different from before. For one thing, there’s a lot fewer of them! Still, quite a few changes, indicating that the chaotic energy of this eclipse week is only just starting to settle.

Changing Line 1: Dark Impulse, 6 in the First
When treading on hoarfrost,
Solid ice is soon to come.

Yin energy is condensing

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

In the Chinese lunar calendar, gua 2 represents the 10th month, when frost first begins to appear on the ground. I think the Game of Thrones saying is pretty well known and cliche by now, but when frost appears one truly knows that winter is on the way. More broadly, this yao tells us to pay attention the little signs to know when trouble is on the horizon.

Changing Line 5: Dark Sovereignty, 6 in the Fifth
Yellow lower garment.
Supreme good fortune.

There is beauty within

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

The fifth line is not generally considered the host of this gua, even though it often is in others. Rather, the second line is considered key to interpretation. Still, a changing fifth is extremely good here. The imagery of the yellow garment is, according to Huang, meant to represent the common uniform of a scholar, in which a long black robe covers a lower-clothing of yellow. Yellow, being the color associated with earth in five-element theory, is representative of humility and keeping to the central path. Confucius’ commentary about beauty within is referencing this hidden yellow garment: humbly within, in accordance with correct principle.

There’s kind of an implicit warning here. It’s a good time to “fall in line” is what’s being said here. It’s not a good time to try and change the rules, rebel, or otherwise push against the general current. But if one is able to adopt this attitude, it can serve one extremely well through this period.

Changing Line 6: Dark Sagacity, 6 in the Last
Dragons fighting in the wilds
Their blood is midnight blue and yellow.

Dead end is reached

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

When the yang power rises to it’s ultimate point, there is nowhere to go and so conflict with the yin is certain. Heaven is dark blue and Earth is yellow, so the blood is symbolizing the conflict of diametrically opposed elements. When we reach an extreme, we reach an end. The only places to go are: back as we came while changing in the reversal, forward and through at great pain, or to freeze up and fall apart. Stagnation is almost always considered the worst case. If you can’t bear to back down, then accept the difficulty of fighting through.

The Approached Gua

益 Increasing is, despite some of the difficulties in navigating those changes, a positive and welcome outcome.

Decision
Increasing.
Favorable to travel.
Favorable to cross great rivers.

Image
Wind and Thunder in mutual support.
An image of Increasing.
Corresponding, the sage follows the good when seen
And corrects faults when they are found.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

I’ve been changing the translations of “favorable to have somewhere to go” or “furthers one to undertake something” as “favorable to travel.” I’m not sure that’s always the best reduction but the other two are very clunky and appear frequently. Likewise, I don’t love “favorable to cross great waters” in general. None of the translations seem to capture the intended spirit to me. “Favorable to travel” is really indicating that it’s a good time to take on… something: a project, a long trip, getting people organized, etc. Similarly, “crossing rivers” is an image frequently used to indicate the completion of projects. It shows up prominently in the names of the final two gua, which literally are “Before fording [the river]” and “After fording [the river]”.

So the approached gua is telling us that after we navigate the difficult changes of this yin time, we will find ourselves in an excellent position to either start or finish a project. The image of the gua, that of Increasing, is particular to the idea that good leaders can bring strength to an organization, and that all should benefit from this overall Increase.

The Tarot

Our tarot connection is looking really good today. We discussed yesterday how the Ace of Cups corresponds with 坤 Responding. 益 Increasing corresponds with the King of Discs, also called Pentacles or Coins. I use Discs, and I know this is a bit silly, simply because no other suit or rank starts with a ‘D’ so it’s convenient when writing shorthand!

Anyway, the King! Of Discs! The King of wealth and material mastery! Here we see the image of that good ruler discussed in the lines. Representing the yang line in the fifth position, the King shares his great prosperity with his subjects. This is true wealth: the power to improve lives and make the world great. Most of our “kings” today are reversals of this: cruel tyrants who see wealth only as a hoard to show off or a tool to ease their personal lives. Don’t be that way! When you act as a true king, the flood of your largess becomes a tide that lifts the whole kingdom up. This is true in our meager lives too. When we share our good times and good fortunes, we build a strong community that is powerful throughout. By strengthening our world when we have strength, we have a strong community to help us when we are in times of weakness.

Conclusion

This is a good followup to yesterday. Then, we were told that we navigate a dangerous time but to keep our resources in reserve for when we can make good use of them. And here is the sign that now we are prepared to put those energies to use! More specifically though, as we approach the close of the week, it’s a bad time to just muddle along with a project that’s in a half-way state. Close out the week strong by finishing something or getting a good start on next week’s projects! If you find yourself in a leadership position, be a good leader who uplifts those below them. If you are beneath a leader, look to how you can be supportive and encourage that leader towards the virtue that will most help them and yourself!

Reading for Wednesday October 26th 2022

2022-10-26T14:48:36.000Z

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does the day hold for us?” and it replies:

坤 Responding (2)

Tarot: Ace of Cups
Approaching: 小畜 Small Power - Two of Wands
Major & Rune: Death & ᛠ Ēar

The Rune and Major

Death is of course the infamous card of transformation. I think most readings demand some form of inner change, so to be forewarned must indicate a greater need for change or an inside-out dynamic pushing change into the physical realm. ᛠ Ēar, the rune of grave soil and death, is a natural partner to the card and speaks in a similar voice. There are several runes with connotations of death and transformation, but ᛠ Ēar tends to indicate slow and inevitable change. Positionally, as the first card drawn, we can take this as Foundations and our thesis. If you are just coming out a big transformation (as I myself am) then perhaps we’ll see how to move forward from that. If you are still awaiting transformation, then perhaps how to approach it?

The Gua

Decision
Responding. Sublime success.
Favorable to have a mare’s resolve.
The sage has somewhere to go,
Yet leading takes one astray.
In following, one finds guidance.
Find friends in the south and west.
Lose friends in the north and east.
Being composed, content, and resolved;
Brings good fortune.

Image
The nature of earth is devotional responding.
Corresponding, the sage cultivates their virtue
So that they may carry all beings.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

坤 Responding, as the second gua in the King Wen sequence, carries a fundamental lesson about the nature of yin. In order to transform, we must often be receptive to what the world is sending to us. Cultivating virtue is like any other exercise, and we must continually build on our understanding of when to initiate change, and when to receive it. This gua, like the first, carries all four words of supreme good fortune, but tempered by the image of a "mare's resolve." The horse is seen as a symbol of the active yin: not docile like a cow but active and powerful in it's own right. A mare can run wild and that is it's nature, but humans must regulate their activities and so become like a horse and rider, initiating and responding in turns to create a more powerful whole.

The Yao

There are five changing lines in this reading. The earth can be so receptive that we pile all of our energies, our worries, our hopes onto it. An all changes reading would shift us to Initiating, indicating a time of great upheaval and good fortune as the receptive energies are fully activated, dragons in flight and all that. With 5 though, we’ll look only at the unchanging line and try to understand where this yin blockage is.

Changing Line 4: Dark Connection, 6 in the Fourth
Tie up a bag
Without blame
Without praise

Through caution, there will be no harm.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Sometimes, everything you say and do seems to make things worse. In these circumstances, the Yi Jing recommends putting all that in a sack, tying it off, and hiding away those ideas until a later time. This won’t earn you recognition, doing the right thing usually doesn’t, but the lack of harm is it’s own hidden reward. The fourth place usually supports the fifth, and corresponds with the first. This line is correct (a yin line in a yin place) but nothing else is really working for it. Thus the recommendation: it doesn’t do any good to be a perfectly virtuous person in a den of thieves, hide away those virtues in your burglar’s bag and and try to get out!

The Approached Gua

Well, so far this has been a mess of a reading. When did we find ourselves in so much trouble? Did last night’s eclipse darken the whole world around us? Perhaps the approaching gua will give us some further insights.

小畜 Small Power can also mean "little accumulation" as in a small amount of saved resources for later need. This is an extension of the previous idea. First we tie off our sack of virtues to keep away from trouble, then that turns into a small reserve of power we can make use of, but not yet! Trying to tip our hand too early would waste this time of cultivation. When the time of transformation is come, we'll be thankful to have saved up the power needed to follow through on it.

The Tarot

Here we have Ace of Cups in the present moment, moving towards the Two of Wands. One becoming two is a natural progression, as we see in the natural movement from reservation in the face of trouble towards accumulation of power to overcome that trouble. The Ace of Cups corresponds to the Dao itself, an endless vessel that can pour out endless love or accumulate and contain infinite troubles. It also represents a first step in emotional growth: before love and relationships, before drive and prosperity, there is the hollow of the cup and the space it provides for us to begin filling it with the soul we are building. The Two of Wands shifts us into western fire and the yang condition. The Two is usually seen as a trigger towards starting projects: a figure surveys their territory from above as though planning their route forward. I think the association with 小畜 Small Power is an effective warning that putting your power into full effect so early in the process can be very risky. You’ve escaped the thieve’s den and found a good overlook to survey the land from. Take this time to think about your route, don’t just ride down into the valley to get started!

Conclusion

For a Wednesday, this isn’t the most positive reading. Instead of getting a go ahead to finish out the week strong, we’re being advised to hold something back. There’s more darkness around than you think, and waiting until you can see more clearly will give you a stronger position to act from going towards the weekend. Considering there’s a big holiday this weekend and probably lots of people doing Halloween parties and gatherings, perhaps you can see why you might need some strength in reserve?

Reading for Tuesday October 25th 2022

2022-10-25T12:58:08.000Z

The Reading

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does the day hold for us?” and it replies:

小過 Small Exceeding (62)

Tarot: Ten of Wands (Reversed)
Approaching: 蹇 Hardship - Nine of Swords
Major & Rune: Martyr & ᛏ Tī

The Rune and Major

I didn’t have a lot of extra to say up top, but the runes today are showing me perhaps an error in my arrangement. I currently have ᛏ Tī paired with the Martyr, better known to most tarot practitioners as The Hanged Man. I base this on a pretty common interpretation of the rune as meaning self-sacrifice. This is shaky though, as a primary meaning of ᛏ Tī is Justice, a more prevalent pairing. We say Justice yesterday, which I had paired with ᛁ Īs, another loose association. Also, ᛏ Tī is associated to the Norse god Tyr, while the Hanged Man is usually considered a strong reference to Odin and his self-auto-sacrifice for knowledge that mythically led to the reception of the runes in the first place! Odin’s runes are tricky in the Northumbrian futhorc, because of the split of ᚩ ōs, ᚫ æsc, and ᚪ āc. None of these, to my present understanding, have much to do with the Martyr card, and none of the cards assigned to them would make much sense as the bearer of ᛁ Īs, which would seem to be the free rune to rotate into assignment after moving Ti and one of the vowels.

Anyway, as a launching off point for the reading today both symbols send a signal of readying oneself to be brave, in order to give something of oneself in the pursuit of a higher goal.

The Gua

Decision
Small Exceeding. Prosperity.
Favorable to be resolute.
Small things may be done,
Great things should not be done.
A flying birds brings a message:
Inappropriate to ascend.
Appropriate to descend.
Great good fortune.

Image
Thunder on the Mountain
An image of Small Exceeding.
Thus the sage measures their own conduct:
Better in behavior to have too much humility than excess arrogance.
Better at a funeral to have too much sorrow than excess expense.
Better in spending to have too much frugality than excess luxury.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

小過 Small Exceeding is generally a good reading to get. There are many of the stock good fortune phrases here: prosperity (heng), favorable (li), resolute (zhen), great good fortune. In a way, this is just another of the Yi Jing's means of saying to keep humble. The specifics in this case though point to a situation of great possibility. The "exceeding" is an abundance of resources and opportunity to make great changes. However, one must be cautious not to overextend just because there's a little reserve right now. Maybe it's actually best to stash some away for savings, and wait until a strong moment comes along to make best use of those resources.

The Yao

We have two lines of change today, so I’ll check both, particularly as they are the fourth and fifth lines. The fifth line is usually an important one, being the Sovereign position, and the fourth supports the fifth so this is like a major regime change in the gua. Also, while I haven’t been doing reversals for the tarot before, I’d like to begin incorporating those. It doesn’t affect the gua reading (if we flipped it, we’d often get a totally different hexagram!) but by treating the associated tarot card as reversed, we can add some shades of meaning and influence our understanding of the changing lines. The ten of wands reversed is about a lightening of burdens, so we should look for that in the yao text.

Changing Line 4: Light Connection, 9 in the Fourth
Without blame.
Don’t go too far; meet without passing by.
Going forward is trouble; one must be on guard.
Do not act; be always resolute.

Changing Line 5: Dark Sovereignty, 6 in the Fifth
Dense clouds form yet no rain from the west.
The prince shoots, and hits what is in the cave.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

The fourth line, a strong energy in a weak position, is a person who’s inner righteousness can carry them and hold them back from excess, yet there is always the temptation to overextend. The ten of wands reversed often has the meaning of lessened burdens through sharing them with helpers. For a second day, we have a reading about the vital necessity of seeking help from others when we find ourselves overwhelmed. We see this again in the fifth line, a flexible person in a strong position: they have good ideas but the time is not right for them. This is why the dark clouds won’t yield rain, they must be patient and wait until a more auspicious moment.

The prince making a shot in the dark is a bit more cryptic. Huang is the only author I have ready access to that even addresses it, saying that it represents the lines correspondence with the 2nd line, which also being weak yin, is not able to offer full support and thus again cautions waiting. I imagine there’s an old parable we’re not privy to that might further elaborate on the idea. Shooting an arrow into a dark cave and hitting anything would be quite a feat. And while the text doesn’t seem clear on what is being shot, Willhelm ties it back to the flying bird from the gua text. So, shooting the messenger? If we took it that way, we might read that when one has strong support (like from a prince) then it becomes favorable again to ascend. Or perhaps we can take it as a warning that even though opportunities seem in front of us, trying to take them on will be like making a shot in the dark?

The Approached Gua

蹇 Hardship indicates a time of difficulty. Not necessarily a bad time or a dangerous time, but a hard one. As is often the case, the Yi Jing suggests cultivating virtue and inner strength through this time. One interesting connection in a line in the decision about the favorability to see great persons. We might tie this back to the prince of the fifth changing line. If we were waiting for the right time to begin, it may start with meeting your sure-shot prince. Watch for the appearance of a capable friend who can help you take that shot in the dark to signal the start of what you've been waiting on.

The Tarot

I’ve already mentioned the ten of wands (reversed) a bit. The approached is associated with the nine of swords. We have a decline in energy and a shift from the creative aspect of the wands into the mental aspect of the swords. Swords nine is sometimes called the card of Nightmares, and represents worry and dread. In times of hardship, we are often overburdened not just with external difficulties but also with our own fears and anxieties.

Conclusion

The reading today seems to indicate a difficult time, which will only grown more so. What starts as a feeling of being overwhelmed turns into anxiety about our inability to ever get free of those burdens. But the rain will come. Until the clouds do open, we must hold our virtues close like a desert plant hides moisture deep inside. Through the seeking of strong advisors and helpers, and through the self-sacrifice of that which holds us back, we can overcome even these troubled times.

Reading for Monday October 24th 2022

2022-10-24T13:05:34.000Z

I had hoped to maintain a daily schedule of updates, but I knew that would slip sooner or later. Missing the weekend will probably be a frequent skip. I did do some divinations, but I wasn’t in position to record them, nor were they to share. I get a little carried away talking about new books, and then get to the reading somewhat further below. Have a nice week!

I also did some heavy reading this weekend, after a slew of new books showed up. Michael Nylan’s “The Elemental Changes” arrived, which is a popular publication of her translation of the Tai Xuan Jing. It is much more substantial than Walters’, being over twice as long just on page count, and includes all the commentaries and autocommentaries that come attached with the standard transmission of the text. I can see Walter’s point now about how cutting all that shows off Yang’s poetry better, but I do feel like something is lost as a divinatory or wisdom text that way. Perhaps I’ll do a full review for the site of both books once I’ve had a chance to absorb more of them.

I also received Maja D’Aoust’s The Occult I Ching: The Secret Language of Serpents which mixes western new age magic traditions with pop culture and the Yi Jing. It’s a heady blend, and Maja’s boldness in reinventing ancient ideas to suit her modern work is both interesting and somewhat inspiring. I often struggle between tradition, free-expression, and numerological considerations in the changes and adaptations I make in pursuit of my own projects. Her I Ching is also interesting for some unique features of it. Her primary source seems to be Stephen Karcher’s Total I Ching which I don’t have, so I guess there might be yet another Yi Jing text in my future, and I don’t know which features she’s adapted from his book and which are innovations. She includes the oracle script, like Huang, but a little more flowing and loose in style. She also includes the rare “All Changing” line text which I’ve only seen in one other place. I’m now wondering if Karcher is the common source of those.

Particularly interesting to me is that she includes a tarot card connection for each hexagram. Unlike some internet version I’ve seen that just line up the King Wen sequence with some ordering of the cards (usually Ace to King, starting at Wands) and then just pair up, her version at least seems driven by intuition and a knowledgeable desire to connect similar ideas. She also lacked the insight of the 64 card Cary-Yale Visconti deck, which is what led me to first connect the tarot and the Yi Jing. So to make up for the difference, several hexagrams must be assigned to the majors, which also leaves many cards unassigned then. I don’t think of this as a huge flaw, but it does bother me. It has been fun to see how our assignments line up, which is, almost not at all! We often get the same suit or explore a similar theme, but my card assignments have been all different so far.

Anyway, it’s certainly a lot of new material to think about and potentially incorporate into my own work. Haven’t worked any Tai Xuan Jing in yet. Whereas the English Runes fell in line naturally to me with the Major Arcana and immediately began to add meaning and nuance to my readings, the Tai Xuan is such a complete system in itself (including it’s own form of calendar and thus astrology) that it’s hard to know where to begin. It doesn’t help that Yang’s poetic “Commends” (the line texts) make a new art out of being inscrutable bits of wise-sounding parable. So I wouldn’t say I “trust” the Tai Xuan as an oracle yet. Let’s get back to the Yi Jing then!

The Reading

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “How do we watch out for those who are in our charge?” and it replies:

艮 Stilling (52)

Tarot: 8 of Swords
Approaching: 咸 Xián - Mutual Influence - King of Cups
Major & Rune: Justice & ᛁ Īs

The Gua

Decision
Stilling one’s back
Feeling not one’s body
Walking in one’s courtyard
Seeing not one’s people.
Without fault.

Image
Mountains standing close
An image of Keeping Still
Knowing this,
the sage prevents their thoughts
from going beyond the situation

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

A repeat today, of a repeating hexagram no less! The lesson reminds me of the safety guidelines one will hear anytime they fly on a commercial plane: before helping others, make sure your own breathing mask is secure. We aren’t in a good place to assist others if we don’t know the firmness of our own footing. This is the role of stillness, of inner vision. Before acting rashly, take time to understand the situation fully. In some cases, this can be enough: just being a stable presence in a person’s life can often help give them a landmark to orient around.

The Yao

We have three lines in change, so I will only look at the middle one. The Major, Justice, also hints to me that we should cut away the excess imbalances and focus on the central change. I will look at the others of course, to check in.

Changing Line 5: Dark Sovereignty, 6 in the Fifth
Keeping one’s jaws still.
Words have order.
Regret vanishes.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

The fourth changing line cautions to keep the trunk (here, the heart and the ego) still, but promises no blame. The changing sixth line shows a completion of Stilling and promises good fortune, here we see that achieving true stillness brings goodness. The fifth however, is more cautious advice. We aren’t exactly being told not to speak, but rather to be aware of the order of words. That words have a power, and speaking them without due consideration will lead to remorse. Before speaking, try stillness, and see if the words still demand to be said after a moment.

The Approached Gua

If we take only the fifth yao, we arrive at hexagram 53, Developing Gradually. This is a solid read for a follow up. As we move beyond stillness, the exterior mountain trigram becomes gentleness. In this way, stillness moves into gradual change. We choose our words carefully, and they have lasting impact, but progress is slow and steady.

Mutual Influence (咸 Xián) was the original approached gua, where the entire upper/exterior trigram is changed to it’s inverse: stillness becomes joy. I see these interactions as all possibilities. In this case, I feel the strongest advice to focus on stillness of words, and this will lead to a good outcome of progress. Focusing on stilling the heart and spirit will also lead towards the stronger state of Influence, whereby both parties change each other. In both cases, the Decisions indicate perseverance is favored. This is a somewhat unusual circumstance in that we have a choice of gradual or faster change, with the understanding that faster change must also change us in the process. We can guide one with our words through danger without being ourselves involved, or we can jump in with them to provide immediate support. How to judge which though?

The Major and Rune

Justice, as a foundation for this reading, is here to tell us about discernment. To administer justice, one must be still of mind and even-handed in decisions, taking into account not just the past and what transgressions might have occurred, but also the present (what actions, punishment, and pronouncements will achieve justice) and the future (what outcomes will result from the decision, what precedents will be set).

The rune ᛁ Īs may be an unusual pairing, it’s one I’m still trying out. Initially though, I don’t dislike it. One reading of ᛁ Īs is stillness or stasis before a big decision. I would say normally that’s in the sense of being “frozen up” in the face of a big call, but I think it can also positively be seen as the necessary quiet one should achieve before judging things. Justice must be somewhat cold, dispassionate. As always, we must take our lessons in the spirit of balance. Being totally frozen and never deciding, never acting, is very bad. Likewise, acting out of pure, hot passion will typically lead to wild trouble. Only by weighing options in our scales, by dividing even portions with our bright swords, can we make the good judgements that help ourselves and others.

The Tarot

Stillness is the Eight of Swords and Influence is the King of Cups. Developing Gradually is paired with the Maiden of Wands. Let’s talk about the eight in full and then discuss the possible outcomes a little through their tarot forms.

8 of Swords
Suit: Logic, Ideas, Intellect
Rank: Action, Change, Regeneration
Key: Meditation
Rev: Empty Mind, Aphasia
Image: a figure (usually woman) stands bound and blindfolded amidst a field of 8 swords like bars or barricades around her
Meanings: Imprisonment, Powerlessness, Self-Victimization
Reversed: Self-Acceptance, New Perspective, Freedom Proposal; Volatility

Last time this came up, I discussed the dark side of stillness: being bound and forced into stillness. One of the possible translations of 艮 (the one used in the wikipedia list of the hexagrams in fact) is “Bound” so the connection is definitely there. Can I just casually mention that Justice is often also depicted as a blindfolded woman, often carrying a sword?

Our possible outcomes are here represented by a King and Princess. Here, perhaps, we see more details to aid our choice of paths. Mutual Influence is the path of most stillness. If we are able to fully master discernment, of when to still and when to move, we might yet become the King of Emotions. One who not only is in command of their feelings, but in some sense rules them, is able to regulate their passions not in a controlling way but in a masterful way, a way that turns them into power. If we are not, if we can at least achieve stillness in our words and speak carefully, we might achieve the Maiden of Creation. The Princess of the Wands is capable of great artistic works and of great passions, once she gets rolling on them which may require help or resources or just time to get moving on the project. Lacking the full initiating energy of the yang-oriented Page/Prince of Wands, she instead is receptive for a trigger that will “activate” her latent potential and put it into use.

Conclusion

Monday, especially after a big weekend, can often be a challenge. There’s a full shifting of many energies from private, weekend time into productive, shared work time. Here, we ask the oracle for advice on bridging that change. How do we help those we feel some protection or care or responsibility over? And our answer is to perhaps not be so eager to immediately jump into other people’s business. Weigh your words carefully, still your mind, and then you will find the right opportunities! I wish you all a blessed day and a glorious beginning to the week!

Reading for Friday October 21st 2022

2022-10-21T16:25:06.000Z

A new day, a new chance to receive divine wisdom! My mind has been supremely hungry for knowledge lately, so I’ve ordered a few more books. Walters’ translation of the Taixuanjing is a fun read but I don’t agree with his decision to cut all the commentary out of the book. The “eight phases” through which I prepare for divination is based on this protocol which I’ve adapted to be based around the 8 trigrams. Step 4 is to seek the blessings of past diviners who laid the foundations of our techniques. I feel like cutting the commentary is disrespectful in some regards to the sages who transmitted that text forward in time and added their wisdom to it. The Western obsession with “retvrns to tradition” and the sacrosanctity of old text has also bothered me. I find the ancient Chinese tradition of commentary quite invigorating and wise; each new scholar is in conversation with the future and past, and rather than pretend that you are a passive student here to read and be silent, I feel like there’s a natural understanding that you also will enter that timeless conversation.

Anyway, I also picked up another Yi Jing interpretation (this one a little more esoteric) and a second book specifically on the Anglo-Saxon runes to supplement Blum’s (in)famous Book of Runes and the web resources I’ve been using. And now, the reading!

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

豫 Yù - Delight (16)

Tarot: 2 of Discs
Approaching: 晉 Jìn - Promotion - 5 of Discs
Major & Rune: Deluge and ᛰ Ior

The Hexagram

Decision
Delight.
Favorable to delegate.
Favorable to mobilize multitudes.

Image
Thunder resounding from the Earth
An image of Delight.
Thus the ancient kings composed music to honor merit and virtue;
With gilded splendor, they offer it to God,
and invite the ancestors to share in it.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Wow, this was a tricky one to nail down my interpretation on. Huang calls this gua “Delight,” drawing from the archaic meaning of 豫 Yù as “relaxed, content, happy.” Other ancient forms of the word also apparently meant “precaution” and also “price gouging; market manipulation.” What a set! Precaution is certainly the lesson of the gua, because almost every changing line comes with a warning. This is a time for gratitude! Those who brag and celebrate their own prosperity will soon suffer for it. Better then to lift up the voice of celebration to the ancestors, to God (or the gods, the supreme unity, however you like it), and to the people from where the leader’s power ultimately derives.

Wilhelm calls it “Enthusiasm” which is a stretch to me but I get the idea. I’ve decided to stick with “Delight” as nothing else quite captures that mix of giddy joy at one’s prosperity, but I would remind you of the other archaic meaning, “to take precautions”, as we move forward.

The lines of the decision reference another gua, 師 Shī - Multitude (7), sometimes called “The Army” and that’s how Wilhelm calls it in both places. Multitude is also a gua consisting of all yin lines with a single controlling yang. There are 6 such gua: ䷆ Multitude (7), ䷇ Union (8), ䷎ Humility (15), ䷏ Delight (16), ䷖ Eroding (23), and ䷗ Returning (24). All of them represent some form of human interactions. The first four, which deal with single yang lines in the “core four” yao, are all mostly concerned with the governance of peoples. They represents different circumstances a leader finds themselves in: managing a disparate multitude, managing a unified people, humbly dispensing wealth in times of need, and modestly celebrating in times of plenty. The final two we discussed yesterday somewhat, representing situations where misfortune is just on the rise or just on the exit.

In times of plenty, armies can grow restless and so it favors the wise leader to put their idle multitudes to task on some great work. The Image referencing the production of music also points to this: great works of art honor the ancestors, the people, the gods, and the country. The fortune that is is “favorable to delegate” is an interesting interpretation of mine. Wilhelm softly says, “it furthers to install helpers” while I think Huang is more directly literal, “favorable to set feudal lords.” I think “helpers” is kind of a weak modernization and obviously most of us aren’t divvying up our massive land holdings to share with our buddies who will become the feudal lords. Rather, reading into it, this is like the advice to mobilize your “armies.” Sitting idle and partying invites corruption, so delegate some power and resource (and some of that success!) to those who can help you manage it.

The Changing Lines

Changing Line Six: Dark Sagacity, 6 at the Top
Delusional delight.
Make a change.
Without fault.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

“Delusional delight” is compared by Wilhelm to a drunken night out. As the top line, this change represents an energy that is exiting the situation. So having a big celebration for yourself, getting totally caught up in it, isn’t such a big deal if you realize the mistake and take corrective action. One might see this as the “hangover” of the yao. Thus, “make a change; without fault.”

The Approached Gua

晉 Jìn - Promotion (35) is an excellent and quite favorable outcome! Where Dimming (36) is about a person of merit having to suppress their good qualities to survive a dark time, this gua is about a person whose merits are recognized and valued for what they bring to society! Even here, the Yi Jing is cautious to advise that the sage uses this time to brighten their virtues even further! This is, perhaps, what I love the most about the Yi Jing. In times of trouble, it guides how to survive and make the best. But in good times, it tells us how to make the most of them, how to express our joys and successes in ways that invite others to share in them with us.

The Tarot Link

2 of Discs
Suit: Earthly, Material, Sensual
Rank: Decisions, Balance, Partnership
Key: Planning
Rev: Irresponsibility
Image: a figure, like a jester, is engaged in juggling two discs which are bound into a looping figure either by a ribbon
Meanings: Balance, Priorities, Adapting to Change
Reversed: Loss of Balance, Disorganized, Overwhelmed

There’s several fun connections between Tarot and Yi Jing here. The dancer/juggler might be listening to some of that celebration music! Moreover, the lesson of both is pretty similar: it’s one thing to have money in hand, another to know how to use it. We might read this in conjunction with our changing lines as a warning against excess and imbalance. Times are pretty good right now, don’t get caught up in it and overextend now, or there’ll be future problems.

The Yi Jing is usually pretty vague on what exactly the good fortunes will be. With Tarot you can look to the suit as a division of the world into spheres of material, emotional, cultural, sexual, spiritual, and mental. With Yi Jing, sometimes you get hints towards a particular one but it largely deals with situations which can have complex interplays of these forces.

The Major and the Rune

The Deluge is one of my new Major Arcana, reversed I have it labeled as “Ark.” I was thinking I might make the upright image “The Serpent” in honor of the linked rune Ior, but I’m worried that’s overloading the direct imagery. “The Deluge” is a very personal touch in the deck too, coming from my experiences living in Louisiana. The possibility of flood is never far from our minds. Those terrible waters are catastrophic in change, like a water-aspected Tower. They also represent the deep, dark waters that are the Great Serpent’s domain. The dark waters of the deep unconscious.

Conclusion

I have been quite full of enthusiasm lately: my blog is going well, I feel more deeply connected to my spirituality than ever, and life in general is good! It’s a good time to share those things, but not to get too caught up in my own Delight! I draw the major into the middle slot today, antithesis. The serpent has a warning: delight, but do so well properly, this will transform you, and you’ll find the Promotion to that next step.

So, have a wonderful day! I hope you also find yourself in Delight, and we’ll talk tomorrow to see if any progress was made!

Reading for Thursday October 20th 2022

2022-10-20T15:06:20.000Z

I’m coming to the oracle late today. My reading of the Tai Xuan Jing goes well, though I find myself bristling at having only one translation to use. Walters makes some choices that strongly influence the entire shape of the book. I’m not sure I agree with those choices and find myself wishing for the Nylan version now as well, to compare. In any case, the allure of the ternary pattern in the the Tai Xuan’s diagrams has taken hold of me and I do find my thoughts drifting towards the potential applications of it. Time and spirits will tell.

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

復 Fù - Returning (24)

Tarot: 3 of Discs
Approaching: 明夷 Míng Yí - Dimming (36) - 5 of Swords
Major and Rune: Chariot and ᚱ Rād.

The Hexagram

Decision
Returning. Smooth success.
Going out and coming in. Without problem.
Friends arrive. Without fault.
Dao of eroding and returning.
It is the Dao of Heaven
Returning on the seventh day.
Favorable to have somewhere to go.
One can see the heart of Heaven and Earth

Image
Thunder beneath Earth, an image of Returning.
Thus the ancient kings closed the gates of the passes
On the winter solstice
Strangers and merchants did not travel,
And the king did not tour the provinces.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

This gua (which Huang calls “Turning Back” and Wilhelm gives two names for, calling it “Return (The Turning Point)”) has a complex relationship with it’s partner, 剝 Bō, which I favor translating as “Eroding.” Wilhelm goes with “splitting apart” which recalls several meanings along with “peeling” and “skinning” and “shelling”. Generally, to remove the outer cover of something. Huang goes with “Falling Away” and references the meaning of 剝 for erosion, avalanches, and similar “tearing away” of surfaces. I think the compromise of “Eroding” loses a little in the way that erosion and skinning are similar processes but certainly one is more severe and immediate than the other.

However, note the appearance of “eroding” in the Decision, which Huang renders as “the Tao of falling away and turning back” and Wilhelm changes to “to and fro goes the way.” Wilhelm seems to see “dao” as lower case “a way” here while Huang (echoing Confucius’ commentary) sees it as “The Dao”, also of waxing and waning, the way of heaven. I don’t have a Chinese text handy to check the precise character, but assuming that the names of the two hexagrams are appearing in the Decision, I opt for “returning” and “eroding” to represent the dual processes of gradual addition and subtraction. In true Yi Jing fashion, these are complements rather than opposites. One can see “returning” both as “returning to the source” like an addition but also as “turning back” as in reversing course and seeking to undo what has been done. Likewise, “Eroding” can be to strip off from the source, but also in the way one can fix their course by eroding away the doubts.

The Changing Lines

Changing Line Three: Dark Guidance, 6 in the Third
Returning repeatedly.
Trouble.
Without fault.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Wilhelm uses “danger” for the middle line, while Huang uses “adversity”. Again, no Chinese text to reference, but I’m going with “trouble” for now as a compromise. The general “vibe” on this one is that sometimes a person makes a mistake or a poor choice. Realizing that a bad outcome awaits, this person then turns back. No progress is made, but not harm is done, and the person should be held “without fault” even though they might repeat the mistake many times before realizing the correct underlying principle.

The Tarot Link

3 of Discs
Suit: Earthly, Material, Sensual
Rank: Growth, Creativity, Expression
Key: Taking a Risk
Rev: Bad Outcome
Image: a group works at producing a sculpture with the 3 coins of the suit within it
Meanings: Craft, teamwork, overcoming the first hurdle in a project
Reversed: Disruption, disagreement, going back to the drawing board

The tarot link for today is an excellent example of why I’m doing this blog: daily readings get me to exercise the system in a real way, exposing flaws and inconsistencies in the system. The system I used to assign tarot cards to Yi Jing diagrams ultimately is down to my own intuition of what makes sense, but I tried to find numerological or other systematic ways to assign them so it wasn’t pure guesswork. The current arrangement was made by grouping Yi Jing hexagrams into sets of 4: usually of a gua, it’s inversion, and the negation of those two. Then I assigned one packet to each rank of the tarot, and assigned the individual elements to what looked best to me at the time.

Well, this one originally had the 3 of Cups assigned, which when I went in to do today’s reading I found made absolutely no sense. I’d been going off the name of the gua without any deeper reference initially, and “turning back” has connotations of reunion, which is part of what 3 of Cups is about. Really though, Returning (復 Fù) is about coming to terms with the initial moment that darkness turns back to light. Sometimes, first progress is halting, full of false starts. If Aces are the initiation of energies, and twos are the first interplay of those energies with the world, threes are the “first children” of the suits. For this reason, I do often think of the Pages and Maidens as being closer to the 3s than the Aces. If the face cards are the real, actual “children” though then that means the Threes are more about the abstract consequences, the first products and troubles of a project. That’s why the 3 of Swords is heartbreak and loneliness, a kind of “turning back” in another way. And so the Three of Discs, which is about teamwork and craft, makes a lot more sense in connection to “Returning.”

“Friends arrive. Without fault.” This part of the Decision I find especially connective to the Three of Discs. It isn’t just that sometimes teamwork is good and needed on larger projects. Working together, as friends, is fundamental to our progression as a species. Moving the 3 Discs necessitates moving the other threes around, but thankfully I only needed to swap it with Encountering (姤 Gòu), which also makes much more sense as the 3 of Cups, to be discussed when we next draw that one!

The Approached Hexagram

明夷 Míng Yí - Dimming (36) is an interesting and complex reading. It represents a time when darkness reigns and the brilliant, the wise, must hide their light lest it be snuffed out! Less dramatically and more generally, it can also simply be a time of adversity when a person must put their heads down and persevere until the darkness passes.

Huang calls it “Brilliance Injured” which is an excellent and descriptive interpretation. Most others seem to go with something close to the literal which is “Darkening of the Light.” I think “Dimming” captures the idea pretty well into a single word, which I prefer for the names of the gua.

I associate this hexagram with the 5 of Swords. This card traditionally represents adversity and sometimes outright defeat. I like that in the traditional Waite-Smith imagery, the primary figure can be interpreted as either a warrior walking away in defeat (as at a tournament), or as having won but suffered injury in return.

The Major and the Rune

Just like yesterday, I pulled Chariot/Rad in the position of “Synthesis,” so acting as a launch point for further ideas. In general, I think that’s a power of this card: to launch forward, to persevere. I’m working on the associations of the majors to each of the less-than-6-grams of the Yi Jing. That is, each would be associated with a monogram, bigram, trigram, tetragram, and pentagram. At current, my associations are very provisional, but I happen to have assigned the Thunder trigram (☳ 震 zhèn) to it, along with similar tetra- and pentagrams. This notion of needing a shock to move forward resonates with me today in regards to Returning and with that changing line, of being stuck in a mistake loop without being sure what the trick is that will put one back on the right path.

Conclusion

Today feels like a day where not much will happen, and so far that has proven out. Sometimes we can see that the things we’re trying just aren’t working, and so we turn back again and again, trying slight variations looking for that right answer. What the oracle tells us today is, keep trying! Don’t brag, don’t try to shine right now, just keep at it until the work is done. Or at least until this current obstacle is behind you. Otherwise, there’s a real risk here of things running away from you, or taking off in a bad direction.

Reading for Wednesday, October 19th 2022

2022-10-19T13:50:06.000Z

Feeling pretty lethargic today; it’s the first really cold morning we’ve had this Autumn, and it was a record setter! So I’m going to try and keep it concise. We’ll see though, I just picked up The Alternative I Ching translation by Derek Walters, which is one of the few English translations of the Tai Xuan Jing (太玄經), The Book of Supreme Mystery, by Yang Xiong (揚雄). It’s rather interesting so far, perhaps I’ll do a review / overview of it once I’ve finished reading it fully?

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

艮 Gèn - Keeping Still (52)

Tarot: 8 of Swords
Approaching: 困 Kùn - Exhausting (47) - Queen of Cups
Major and Rune: Chariot and ᚱ Rād.

The Hexagram

Mountains doubled is the image of Keeping Still, usually a pretty straight forward reading. I tend to regard Keeping Still as indicating a need for inner calm, an admonition to focus on meditation and recuperating the mental facilities. It’s not as insistent that you act passively, like Marrying Maiden, but neither is it indicative of stillness due to accumulated nor accumulating resources, as with Well or Breakthrough for example.

Decision
Keeping still at one’s back
Feeling not one’s body
walking in one’s courtyard
Seeing not one’s people.
Without fault.

Image
Mountains standing close
An image of Keeping Still
Knowing this,
the sage prevents their thoughts
from going beyond the situation

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

The last line of the image splits somewhat between Huang and Wilhelm. Huang says “beyond his position” which preserves the character of the Yi Jing as it often pertains to (or analogizes with) ministers and officials. Wilhelm says “beyond the present situation” which I do like for being more general advice about keeping one’s thoughts focused. As I thought too, the initial reading is to be fully immersed in stillness, meditation. Lines like “feeling not one’s body” are pretty clear that this stillness is meant to be so, so deep.

The Changing Lines

We have here a shocking 5 changing lines, true chaos has suffused the divining table! Per Huang’s advice, we will only look at the first, unchanging line as though it were the change.

Changing First Line: Dark Impulse, 6 in the Beginning
Keeping one’s toes still
Without fault.
Continued perseverance furthers.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Movement begins with the toes, as the gua begins with the first line. Mistakes are least costly to find and fix in the beginning of a project, so it behooves anyone setting out on a new venture to take that extra moment of stillness before the first step to make sure everything is in order. Huang adds that as a yielding line in a yang place, so the yao text adds that extra steadfastness (perseverance) is required to support the weak energy of the line.

The rest of the changing lines, for summary purposes, indicate that one should have stopped at various other organs (calves, hips, sacrum, trunk, jaws) and the misfortunes that may arise for not keeping those parts still! In this case, with every piece being arrested, I am quite satisfied with only taking the first line’s advice and never beginning motion at all.

The Approached Hexagram

困 Kùn - Exhausting (47) would be the original approach, but I think in this case we should follow up on just that single line. Exhausting is, rather bluntly, about how one deals with the state of being exhausted, stretched beyond one’s means and energies. I think this reads well as what will happen if Keeping Still isn’t obeyed: one will become Exhausted.

Instead, we approach Adorning (22). Adorning is about using good etiquette, and leveraging that into gentle social change and movement. It’s a good time for doing little works but a bad time for asking big favors. That feels right to me, after Keeping Still, we express our stillness with social grace and use that accumulated power to gently ramp up our efforts.

The Tarot Link

8 of Swords
Suit: Logic, Ideas, Intellect
Rank: Action, Change, Regeneration
Key: Meditation
Rev: Empty Mind, Aphasia
Image: a figure (usually woman) stands bound and blindfolded amidst a field of 8 swords like bars or barricades around her
Meanings: Imprisonment, Powerlessness, Self-Victimization
Reversed: Self-Acceptance, New Perspective, Freedom Proposal; Volatility

I like that the tarot card shows a kind of darker side of what mystics regard generally as a healing practice. When one is bound and caged, stillness isn’t an option. One must either use the stillness they’ve been forced into, or strain against it. The lesson of the card though is that this imprisonment is self-committed. In a sense, we throw our own swords into the fields, creating a sharp maze we have to navigate later. Stillness, in this case, is the answer to our inner jailer. A calm mind is a free mind, and a free mind can hopefully lead to a free person.

The Major and the Rune

Finally, let’s see what kind of launching off point the major gives us. Chariot, paired with ᚱ Rād, is essentially the polar inverse of this reading. The Chariot is about movement and control, sometimes travel. Rad is also about movement and travel, but not often control. Honestly, this reading feels so surface as to be making itself. Obviously, after keeping still and evaluating the course, one then must walk the path. Keeping Still never lasts forever, and the next step is the first step. What the Chariot is reassuring of is that a journey taken from a starting point of true stillness will be one we have more control over, not just a wild ride into an unknown future!

Conclusion

It’s a good day for a calm morning. Meditate, consider the course carefully, and then set out. This might seem like odd advice coming in the middle of the week, but midway through any journey is an excellent time to come into stillness. From that point high on the mountain, one can see where they’ve come from and where they hope to go.

Reading for Tuesday October 18th 2022

2022-10-18T13:18:30.000Z

Yesterday was a burst of creativity for me! Not only did I feel a deepening of my connection through ᛰ Ior, but I channeled that energy into completing the wood-burning of my rune tiles. Prior, I just had a bag of wooden tiles with pencil marks on them. Exciting times! Let’s get to today’s casting.

Through the eight phases we prepare, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

節 Jié - Boundary (60) approaching 蹇 Jiǎn - Hardship (39)

Major and Rune: Devil and ᚻ Hægl

The Major and the Rune

Devil is a classic Arcana that’s been in the Tarot for about as long as it has existed. With good reason too! Aside from his place as the great antagonist to Christians, the Devil has always represented the darker sides of the human experience: temptation, lust, desire, and through those things illusions, bindings, and pain. The Devil can tell us that now is a good time to indulge and treat ourselves, and it can tell us just the opposite too!

I still have the world serpent on my mind too, because I can’t help but to see the Devil hiding in another Serpent who came bearing knowledge. I’ve long found it in the nature of what contacts me to come with paradox and riddles. As I was drawing this card, before seeing it, I had this thought: “The serpent in the garden, offering fruit.” As I was raised Christian, I admit a hesitancy and worry in my associations here. I have to say though, if there was a Snake in God’s garden, only One person could have put it there and that person is supposed to be all-knowing and all-loving.

Sins and temptations are “bad” in the sense they lead to undesirable outcomes: usually harming yourself or others. But an indulgence isn’t always a harm! The lesson of the Devil is, as I often find when analyzing a paradox, not to reject or immerse in sin, but rather to step back and understand the place of the Devil and his power within the greater sphere of the grand design.

Currently, the order of my majors is all out of sorts, so the “fool’s journey” view will have to wait until I’ve mapped out the new route that old bumbling wanderer must take. So we’ll continue using linked runes as a tool for greater exploration. I’ve associated the Devil primarily with ᚻ Hægl, which means “hail” and represents delays, inconveniences, and troubles more broadly. I feel like the rune-keepers out there might yell at me over that, maybe preferring something with more ties to illusion or temptation or whatever other intersection of rune and Devil makes sense. And those are all correct! I’m, of course, even seeing aspects of Ior in the Devil-as-serpent, but I think as a general notion, trouble and the Devil go hand in hand.

Bad weather and natural disaster are often blamed on the Devil, even though these are just the natural unfolding processes of the earth (well, lately combined with our own collective climate sins!) The Devil, in tarot, is rather more a source of self-generated trouble. ᚻ Hægl tells us that thankfully trouble is temporary but no less a problem for us in the moment. And trouble that you’ve created can be an especial problem. We often don’t feel entitled to help with situations of our own making, which can leave us stuck in a permanent state of trouble, frozen out in the hail. That the Devil usually shows two chained persons might make you think that asking for help is burdensome, inviting someone else to be chained to your troubles. But that isn’t how I read it, rather I see this imagery as saying that we are all chained to our troubles. In that light, who else could help us, let alone even understand those burdens, than a fellow sinner?

The Hexagram

Today instead of quoting Huang or Wilhelm, I’ll be synthesizing my own interpretations from their words.

Judgement
Boundary. Success.
Do not persevere against bitter restriction.

Image
Water over Lake, an image of Boundary.
In this way, the sage takes numbers and measures,
And discusses virtues and moral codes for social conduct.

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

Almost everyone translates this gua as “limitation” or “restricting” but that meaning strikes me as aggressive in a way that I don’t think is intended. I imagine some old priest yelling at people that they’re sinners and in need of a good repent! A 節 Jié is the joint in a piece of bamboo, which acts as a connector in the overall structure, but slice open bamboo and you see that the joint is an internal wall that separates hollow chambers in the bamboo. So I take it more to be about boundaries. The wise sage measures things to know their extent, then marks that extent as the boundary. The sage looks at human behavior and asks, “Which actions lead to social and personal harm?” Seeing this, the sage sets out moral codes to guide the people in correct behavior. These aren’t “restrictions” in the sense of some authority enforcing them (though they can and often have been!) but rather these are “natural restrictions,” lines in the sand that anyone is free to cross. The Dao only asks that you understand what consequences are brought on by crossing lines.

All Yi Jing gua are active processes, so “setting the Boundary” or “boundary-making” is probably more accurate as well. This dual nature of joining-and-separating is, surprise, Jörmungandr’s domain, another reason why “Boundary” calls to me for this gua. The trigrams also present an image of the boundary. On top, we have Water, representing water as it powerfully flows, like a river roaring through a deep chasm it has carved. On bottom, the inner gua, we have Lake representing water stored and at rest. One is active energy, one is kinetic energy. Where is the line between them?

In Louisiana, where I live, water is everywhere and forms the (forgive the pun) undercurrents of everyday life here. When a river changes course, it often leaves little oxbow lakes behind, loosely connected to the river still. When does the river become the lake, and when does that water become river again? Obviously, these are divisions that humans have created because we think about lakes and rivers differently, it is useful to distinguish them even though nature doesn’t have clear lines. This act, of deciding when the water is one thing or another, is the act of boundary-setting, line-drawing, or meaning-making.

Since I drew a rune of trouble and hardship, I think it appropriate to preserve the approached gua we drew, so we will look at all 3 changing lines.

The Changes

Changing First Line: Light Impulse, 9 in the Beginning
Not going out from the inner courtyard.
No fault.

One knows when their time is smooth and when it is obstructed

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

You’ve got to love a reading that tells you, “Just don’t go out today.” I suppose one could take that literally, but the metaphor here is a little more layered. Who has inner courtyards to stay in are the ministers and priests who order society. The first line gives us a warning to set boundaries even upon our boundaries. Sometimes, it is best not to set limits on people or oneself, because the rebellion against it or the failure to uphold it will be worse than the person’s natural behavior! Confucius offers the advice that only you know when a limit has been set upon you, and must act in your own good judgement of when the time is correct for which measures. Note that this change takes the lower trigram from Lake to Water, by cutting a hole in the banks of the river, you create a dangerous flood!

Changing Second Line: Dark Ego, 6 in the Second
Not going out from the outer courtyard.
Misfortune.

One misses the crucial moment

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

This change takes the lower trigram from Lake to Thunder! And what a shock it would be to act against this advice. As Confucius hints to us, the issue here is waiting too long to go out and missing the critical moment of action. The “inner courtyard” above is also clearly the inner mind, indicating that self-restriction. Here the “outer courtyard” is our outward actions. When we don’t act to set the correct bounds at the correct time, that’s trouble.

Changing Third Line: Light Guidance, 9 in the Third
Those without boundaries lament and sigh.
No one else is at fault.

Laments and sighs over no restriction.
Who should be blamed?

Wen/ConfuciusYi Jing

I like this as a closing point to the changing first line. It is important to hold yourself to account, especially before you go about the business of telling others how to act. If you set too many bounds (as in the first line) then you invite trouble. But if you set no restrictions for yourself, then who else can you blame for trouble but yourself? “Lament” is an interesting notion here as well, more the idea that overindulgence will leave one sad and drained, rather than just that generically following no rules will get you in trouble.

The Approached Gua

So far, the message has been clear. Set boundaries, look for where in your life lack of restraint is causing issues. Where is all this going? The oracle says 蹇 Jiǎn - Hardship (39). The trigrams paint the image of danger above inner stillness. When there’s trouble around us, we must still our hearts and endure the hardship. The judgement suggests that it’s a good time to see a great person, and that being virtuous will lead to good fortune. This tells us that in times of trouble, people will seek leaders and wise-ones for help. If a person takes on this “great person’s” ideas with grace and a virtuous heart, then everything will work out.

The Tarot Link - Rider of Cups

Suit: Emotions, Feelings, Relationships
Rank: The Messenger, The Deliverer, The Disruptor, Lord, Older Sibling
Key: Pilgrim
Rev: Rake
Image: a dark knight carrying a chalice comes riding over a bridge, his cup aloft and water spraying back from it
Meanings: Invitation or Opportunity Coming; Arrival; Approach; Advancement; Attraction; Inducement; Appeal; Request; Challenge; Proposal; Volatility
Reversed: Subtlety; Artifice; Trickery; Deception; Fraud; Swindler; Sly and Cunning

Now here’s an interesting connection for us to explore, not quite so straight forward as some previous card links have been. The knight riding out to deliver the words of his lord (or his own?), the Rider of Cups reminds me of those first few changing lines. I can see him in the inner courtyard, putting on his under clothes, debating his place in things. The knight rides out from the outer courtyard, running late, will he make it in time to deliver his message? A cup holds water, of course. Water is shapeless, and the water of these Cups we know to be ever-flowing. So the chalice forms the boundary between the water and world. In the language of Tarot, that water is our emotions and inner self. When we don’t enforce a good boundary, our inner self spills out (as anger, as sadness, as mania). Without a good boundary, the world spills dirt and rain and bugs and all kinds of nastiness into our cup, polluting our inner self. A dash of spice in a drink is seasoning, a huge pour of salt into your cup will ruin it. This is why it is essential to set our boundaries, enforce them like there’s a knight on watch, and then carry that protected inner self out into the world to mingle within the limitations we have set.

Conclusion

Boundaries and hardships aren’t the brightest parts of life, but they are essential, and natural. As the Knight reminds us, there is opportunity in hardships, but to take advantage of them we must time our approach and have our rules set in place before we head out.

May the spirits bless your way!

Reading for Monday October 17th, 2022

2022-10-17T14:24:41.000Z

Had a profound experience yesterday where an excess ᛡ Ior I’d drawn in the daily reading decided to manifest very strongly late in the day. I had decided I would stop drawing explicit runes and start relying on the Major link to help tune those, but had already pulled the rune. Perhaps I’m being hasty if the rune-tiles themselves are so eager to be heard alone still? Whatever the case, I’ve now been feeling the weight of a sublime serpent coiled around me, and I thank them for their guidance.

Through the 8 phases we prepare this space, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

Kun - Responding (2)

Kun in movement to Wu Wang - Sincerity (25). Major and Rune: Ferry (21) and Lagu ᛚ (21).

The Major and the Rune

Let’s again discuss the major arcana pull and rune as they are first drawn. Ferry is a new major, one who’s position and meaning are still somewhat in flux. The Ferry is, on one level, the boat of Charon. The pilot of the river Styx is another aspect of ubiquitous Death, the power of transformation and change that suffuses our lives and oracles alike. The Ferry is a further iteration of transformation. Death tells you, “Ready or not, transformation is coming!” Charon asks for your obol coin before granting passage, in effect asking a harder question: “Have you embraced the transformation? Have you fully integrated it? Are you ready now to sacrifice the symbols of your old life and take on fully the journey into the new?” Alternatively, the coin can be the profit of your transformation, showing that you are willing to share the gains fate has brought you. Either way, the Ferry is voluntary transformation with cost.

My favorite version of Death is in Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s Shadowscapes Tarot. Her Death is a glorious Phoenix in the roaring midst of a burning rebirth. I’ve never shaken that association of Death with the cleansing and renewing fire (I feel like most deck’s paint Death as airy, a relative of the Sword suit). So in the yitarot, I offer Ferry as a water-based counterpart to fiery Death-as-Phoenix. This correlation then explains my link with Lagu ᛚ, the rune of water. Lagu invites you to explore the deep waters of the self and spirit, while also casually representing journeys over water and the flowing nature of water itself. All these meanings are also available to the Ferry.

The Ferry also stands in some ways as a contrast to the Chariot, which represents journeys over land among many other things, but this function isn’t relevant to the present reading.

As follow up to my experiences last night with the World Serpent, I feel their invitation here to dive deep, to not just drink but breathe in those waters. I am an Aries and associate strongly with the Wands in tarot, so I see the Ferry here as a strong call out to me. “Are you ready to submerge those fires? To see how deep your depths may go? Pay the coin, take the ride, the boat is waiting.”

The Hexagram

I can say off the jump that drawing Responding with so many changing lines is really carrying that sense of aquatic charge. Responding is almost less a situation than a principle of the Yi Jing as a whole. Be yielding, it tells me, for now is the time to receive in great measure. The many changes feel like turbulent water, filled with creatures just below the surface stirring things up.

The Judgement
The Receptive brings about sublime success,
Furthering through the perseverance of a mare.
If the superior person undertakes something and tries to lead,
They go astray;
But if they follow, they find guidance.
It is favorable to find friends in the West and South,
To forego friends in the East and North.
Quiet perseverance brings good fortune.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

In much of the Yi Jing, one will encounter four supreme virtues that some gua are said to possess. Only 6 hexagrams possess all four, and only the first (the Creative) has all four unconditionally. These four qualities are Yuan (sublime), Heng (success), Li (furthering), and Zhen (perseverance). They are often paired, as in the first two gua, for Yuan-Heng (sublime success) and Li-Zhen (furthering through perseverance). In the Receptive’s case, the condition is that it possesses these qualities but as “of a mare.” The Yi Jing uses horse-metaphors in a few places, and Daoist thought is rife with them.

But what do these 4 qualities (or two as often paired) even mean? Huang adds that when applied to human behavior, these four manifest as the core virtues of the superior (Confucian) person: benevolence, courtesy, righteousness, and wisdom. Generally speaking, I think “success” is pretty well understood and as you’d expect, it’s presence in a reading just indicates a trend towards favorable outcomes. The “sublime” part of “sublime success” indicates the will of Heaven in action. It isn’t just that what you do works, it works because you follow the guidance of heaven and your actions are backed by the force of the universe. Likewise, “furthering” means that the actions are beneficial and good, but which actions? There is benefit and progress when you persist in virtue. Zhen can also be taken as “steadfast and upright.” When you act in a way that others will look favorably upon, when you aer moral and stand ground for what is right, that is “furthering through perseverance.”

Back to the horses. In Chinese myth, the dragon rules the skies but the horse rules the earth: roaming free over the plains. However, the horse is also one of humanity’s great companions. A wild horse that acts against the rider is no good to either. Only when horse responds to the intent of the rider, but must also make their own decisions about the course to take within those directives. This is why the rune of horses, Ehwaz ᛖ, is also a symbol of partnership.

So we must seek wise partners, and the Judgement gives advice on where to look. What is up with those directions? These tie into the specific associations of directions with the trigrams and the seasons. The short version is that South and West (related to Summer and Autumn respectively) are where companions and guides are found. East and North are where a person’s superiors live, so one receives orders from the East and reports on outcomes to the North, both considered activities requiring solitude and objectivity.

The Image
The earth’s condition is receptive devotion.
Thus the superior person who has breadth of character
Carries the outer world

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

The earth, as presented by the doubling of the earth trigram, represents boundless space. All things good, bad, and otherwise are carried upon the earth without judgement. It’s devotion and sustaining power are likewise without end. By emulating this breadth of experience and extreme receptivity, we too can gain a portion of the earth’s endurance.

The Changing Lines

Four changing lines is too many to reckon with I think, so we’ll apply the rule that in this case means we only take the lower unchanging line as though it were the change.

Six in the second place means:
Straight, square, great.
Without purpose,
Yet nothing remains unfurthered.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

In Chinese cosmology, the Heavens are round and the Earth is square. And yet, the Creative is point-like or line-like in it’s aspect. To move in a straight line without deviation is pure yang. In this we see the interplay of the forces: yin earth gives closure and bounds to the straight infinity of yang, thus creating the square/cubic/solid Earth. Not discussed in the Yi Jing copies I have, but seemingly obvious, is that the converse is also true. The round “dome” of heaven is a consequence of the endless Creative wrapping around the welcoming earth. Yin is gravity, yang is light. I suppose the strong and weak forces must also be ultimately yang but perhaps they apply more to young yin and yang, where their interplay has just begun? In any case, one has to be careful how far they take metaphors: the spiritual and the scientific play together but ultimately serve unique purposes that shouldn’t dilute each other.

As a changing line this is a pretty straight forward one. “Be like the Earth: receptive, without judgement, and great!”

If you are curious about the other lines I’m not examining, I do encourage you to read the changes on your own and see what speaks to you from them. For me, this second line is really an excellent summary of the overall changes. The other specific ones are often just variations on, “Here is a more specific way that people often oppose the natural way, don’t do that.” The second line is considered the minor leader of the hexagram, like a local mayor. This is in contrast to the fifth line, which is said to “respond” to the second, and is the strong leader of the hexagram, like the king or regional ruler.

Hexagrams also have a “governing line” or two. These are very often the second and fifth lines, but not always. For the Receptive, the second line is also the prime governor of the line, representing in some sense the ultimate outward expression of the gua. For these reasons, I am again very comfortable using just the second changing line.

Approached Hexagrams

The originally drawn approach was Sincerity (Wu Wang - 25), which we’ve covered in some detail a couple of days ago. I think there’s some poetry and value in seeing that the future is a gua we’ve seen before as the present. One really feels the cyclical nature of change, that one day we can practice Sincerity so that on another we can stumble into it.

If we take just the one changing line though, the approached is Multitude (Shih - 7). Some authors call this one The Army, but I like Multitude for taking some focus away from the war-like connotations. As seen just in it’s composing trigrams, the Multitude indicates a time when there is great receptivity outwardly (an army is assembled to follow orders) but also danger within, the capacity of the Multitude for violence but also for generally bad, undirected actions.

This is an interesting contrast to yesterday’s Gathering Together. Gathering indicates a people who come together as a group for collective action, but often who benefit from guidance or leadership. Multitude presents a loosely organized group who need a leader for direction, otherwise they are likely to scatter. That the leader is a strong line in the second place means that this isn’t a King who can use the Multitude to accomplish great things, but rather is an efficient general who can keep the soldiers in line.

Tarot Link - Ace of Cups

Suit: Emotions, Feelings, Relationships
Rank: Beginnings, Potential, New Initiatives
Key: Great Capacity for Love
Rev: Suffering
Image: a cup appears, overflowing, above the vast expanse of the earth
Meanings: New Love, Overflowing Feelings, Creativity
Reversed: Wasted Emotions, Blocked Creativity, Emptiness

The tarot link here reveals some fascinating surprises about the connections between symbol systems in use across the Tarot and the Yi Jing. In eastern thought, “the earth” is the most receptive, most yin symbol, while water is seen as yin but with some aspects of yang blended to it. The suit of Cups is all about water, but in western symbology water is the conduit for spiritual energy and thus also, supremely, for love and emotions to flow. And so we find the Ace of Cups standing as a representative here of the eternal Dao. Like the water that ever-flows from the cup when you pour it, there is endless capacity within the Dao for love and connection. Yet amazingly, you an also pour water back into this cup and it will never fill up!

This is the nature of Love and the Dao: boundless, ever-flowing out, and yet also totally empty and with infinite capacity to receive. The Tarot gives us hints as to how to enact the Yi Jing’s ideas. It’s one thing to just tell a person, “you should try being more receptive” but I don’t think people find themselves closed off from the world because they actively were looking to build walls. Rather, I think people usually establish one little barricade after another and before they realize it their heart has become a castle and even just cracking open that gate a little feels too dangerous and foolish to consider. Rather, we must emphasize that the heart has no limit in how much love it can make. There’s no need to open the castle doors, just keep filling yourself with love and eventually it will overflow those walls and begin spilling out. Then water will do it’s work to erode those walls, slowly and gently.

Conclusions

It’s a new week, Autumn is moving fully into position, and it seems like new (well, very old but new to me!) gods are watching over us. It’s a good week to make progress on your personal projects of transformation. Just don’t get lose in the depths, and remember to let love be your guide!

Reading for Sunday October 16th, 2022

2022-10-16T13:46:50.000Z

As I develop this oracle system, I’ve been focusing for now on a modified 3-card draw. I lay out three positions on my table: Foundations, Challenges, Dreams. To these places, I draw two minor arcana and one major from separately shuffled decks. Today I drew the rune and major first. Perhaps I should always draw them in this order? Using the Rune/Major as Foundations offers a pleasing notion of drawing upon primal strength. The present moment, Challenges, is represented by the first card which sets our Yi Jing hexagram. Finally, the last card goes to Dreams, the future, and sets our changes and one likely possibility for the approached gua. (I’m still working on a plugin for the blog to better show this tableau without me just taking photos of the actual cards.) Anyway…

Through the 8 phases we prepare this space, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

Cui - Bringing Together (45)

Cui in movement to Guai - Breakthrough (43). Major and Rune: Hope (7) and ᚪ (Ac - 25).

The Major and the Rune

Let’s just discuss the major arcana pull and rune since I drew them first. Hope is one of the Christian virtues, which were present as Major Arcana in many of the earliest decks. The symbology of Hope eventually merged into the Star in Waite-Smith tarot. With Yitarot, the Star is more closely a card of guidance and emergence. Hope, then, pulls back it’s original territory of, well, Hope! Hope is a temporal virtue, something that we must discover and learn during our mortal lives. And indeed, with perfect clarity of all time, divine beings have no need of hope. It is we for who the future is clouded that faith, hope, dreams, and all those ideas about seeking for the best path through a murky uncertainty exist. Hope is our shared dream, which is why it is a virtue. A singular person can have dreams, even wildly delusional dreams, but a people need hope.

Ac ᚪ, the Oak tree, represents endurance and strength. Moreover though, it represents the idea of a lightning rod, a trouble magnet. This isn’t just endurance or strength in a general sense, but rather the specific will to overcome challenges which only in turn invites new challenges. It is a shining beacon that inspires people even as it awes them. Hope, in other words, is based in righteous endurance that channels the bright strength of heavens into the inspiration of the people.

The Hexagram

The Judgement
Gathering Together. Success.
The king approaches his temple.
It furthers one to see the great man.
This brings success. Perseverance furthers.
To bring great offerings creates good fortune.
It furthers one to undertake something.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

The Image
Over the earth, the lake:
The image of Gathering Together.
Thus the superior person renews his weapons
In order to meet the unforeseen.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

After all that I just said about hope and inspiration, here are the gathered masses awaiting their inspiration. Lake over Earth indicates a kind of stillness, a build up towards cataclysmic release. Like a earthen embankments around a rice field, the people are held in check by their leaders and by the mutual restraint of people still mustering strength for their common cause. Faced with the unknown, the wise make their tools ready for the challenges they anticipate, and sharpen their spirits for the challenges they haven’t! While this hexagram can indicate a precarious circumstance, it is overall a very good reading and indicates that if you were waiting to start a project or have a big conversation then now is the time!

With the 3-card draw, we get three changing lines, the entire bottom hexagram flips from Earth to Heaven and the results, without even consulting the individual line readings, I can tell you will be potent! The approached gua, Breakthrough, is the image of water overtopping a levee. Likewise, the full reversal from receptive, waiting Earth into active, forceful Heaven means that we have shifted the full force of that lake into action! This is very dangerous though, because the inner trigram has shifted. That means the inner will of the people has moved to force, but the outer expression (the joyful lake) remains the same. We could compare this to the healthy spring flooding of a river that renews the fields for the next plantings. All those shifting yin lines represent also a tremendous burst of old yin power: destabilizing in the short term even if everything ultimately settles out.

However, I should mention that I generally prefer to limit changing lines to 1 or 2. If the Major draw doesn’t give me some indication that I should ignore the changes (a rune of stasis like Is or a card with opposing meaning from the main cards), then I will employ Alfred Huang’s advice on selecting a singular changing line. I will enumerate these rules elsewhere on the blog, but in this case, the diviner would only read the center changing line, so the 6 on line 2. For clarity though, I will post all 3 changes, but consider the middle one to be “most active” in the reading.

Six at the beginning means:
If you are sincere, but not to the end,
There will sometimes be confusion, sometimes gathering together.
If you call out,
Then after one grasp of the hand you can laugh again.
Regret not. Going is without blame.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

Here I’m gratified to see the Yi Jing already echoing my thoughts. I feel a strong connection with the work today. When people gather and begin to arouse for action, a leader or focal point is needed to give shape to that action. Otherwise the joy of the people at their own collective power can spiral out of anyone’s control. But all it takes is a few worlds, a single grasp of the hand, and the people can be gently coaxed into a mutually productive direction.

As I feel like this change is not relevant to the reading, we may enjoy the wisdom of the Yi Jing as it broadly applies in general but know that whatever forces we are seeking to rally is already coherent towards a goal. The risk of falling to confusion is reduced.

Six in the second place means:
Letting oneself be drawn
Brings good fortune and remains blameless.
If one is sincere,
It furthers one to bring even a small offering.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

Sometimes, people sense the danger, that gathering water, and ar hesitant to join the gathering. Once gathered, the people feel pulled turbulently in many directions. But it is good to gather for mutual power, so one is blameless to be drawn into the multitude. Through inner truth, all things are possible and the people should, like Heaven itself, welcome all who come sincerely even if their offerings are meager.

As I said this is the key change in this reading, let’s focus in a little closer. Often movements can hinge on singular moments that are not apparent until seen in hindsight. Hesitation can deflect the energy of a movement more than any other opposition. What causes hesitation is uncertainty in the outcome. As students of Dao, we practice everyday to be free of attachment to outcomes, which should then free us to be greatly successful! We are not perfect though.

When we doubt in the strength of our movement, that is cause for self-reflection and getting reinvigorated by the community. The people together can accomplish anything, and with the Dao to guide them nothing is impossible. Other times, hesitation comes not for fear of success, but fear of one’s own power being misapplied. The answer to ths problem is here in the second line. When we trust in the decisions of our fellows, then we are not hesitant to push forward their ideas. If our movement seems to be lacking something in it’s direction, perhaps it is precisely the lack of new voices to give shape to those missing aspects? These are the small offerings that everyone brings, if they bring their sincerity. Their inner truth, their voice, in harmony with everyone elses, creates a unified will that all can believe in because all can be assured that all will benefit.

Six in the third place means:
Gathering together amid sighs.
Nothing that would further.
Going is without blame.
Slight humiliation.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

I feel like this again is good validation of my earlier decision to focus on the second line. Here we have a slight contradiction of ideas. While the problem presented in the first line is one of disrupted arousal, and the second is one of potential danger in diverse groups, here we see the shaded mountain manifest as trouble from isolation. Wilhelm suggests this represents one’s position as an outsider to the group, and so one must approach and submit oneself to the leader of the group. Then, as an accepted outsider, you amy endure slight humiliations but ultimately come to join the power of the collective. Huang is less clear that there’s any good side to this directly, rather framing it as approaching a group that already has ideas misaligned to one’s own. Therefore, it is unproductive to join them, and better to leave in minor defeat for the time being.

However, as established already, I see the problem here as primarily manifesting through too much unresolved diversity. It’s not that diversity is bad, it’s that without doing the work to integrate as one people, diversity can lead to cliques and division which ultimately will splinter a group. One way to integrate is around a powerful central leader or idea. Another, mutually beneficial method is through humility and acceptance and sharing of each others’ “small offerings.”

Tarot Link - Lady of Wands

Suit: Passion, Desire, Will
Rank: The Advisor, The Councillor, The Whisperer, Courtier
Key: Muse
Rev: Idol
Image: a fiery woman, whose torch lights up the dark and draws companions near
Meanings: Travel; Change due to Time; Change in Home
Reversed: Disorder at Home; Disruption

I’m remembering now that I draw this same gua on Tuesday, but had a much more relaxed view of it then. To be fair, it was my first post on this blog! The Knight of Wands is the tarot card that I feel the most personal resonance with. I’ve drawn it very often as a representative of myself over the years. So seeing the Lady of Wands so frequently here at the beginning of this project is rather exciting! The Yi Jing is usually consider a tool with strong yin connections. Divination in general is a yin activity, as one must become receptive to the radiating power and wisdom of Heaven. I’ve often felt gentle pushes from a goddess on this project, and so I wonder a lot about this feminine expression of the energy I most strongly cling to as “mine.”

The Lady is surely calling to us strongly today. It’s a good day to carry that torch, she’s saying, don’t be afraid to ride out and see who follows, or who you can gather up from the wilds!

Reading for Saturday October 15th, 2022

2022-10-15T13:31:52.000Z

Through the 8 phases we prepare this space, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

Wu Wang - Sincerity (25)

Sincerity in motion to Inner Truth (61). Major + Rune pull: Fate’s Crone (19) and ᛉ Ilcs (22).

For such an unassuming title, this is a powerful casting. Thunder beneath Heaven indicates a will to motion paired with outer strength and force. When one moves with the will of Heaven, they do so with honesty and sincerity. Wilhelm calls this one Innocence while Huang is more literal, calling it “Without Falsehood.” I feel the name “Sincerity” best fits the mood of the gua.

The Judgement
Innocence. Supreme success.
Perseverance furthers.
If someone is not as they should be,
They have misfortune,
And it does not further them
To undertake anything.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

The Image
Under heaven thunder rolls:
All things attain the natural state of innocence.
Thus the kings of old,
Rich in virtue, and in harmony with the time,
Fostered and nourished all beings.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

In Daoist thought, all beings are born into inherent goodness. By seeking this inner core of virtue, we sentient beings find a guide for our decisions.

Six in the second place means:
If one does not count on the harvest while plowing,
Nor on the use of the ground while clearing it,
It furthers one to undertake something.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

Each task should be the focus of our attention, done for it’s own sake and understood to exist in it’s own space and time. When we disregard the outcome and enjoy the moment only for itself, we cannot fail!

Nine in the fourth place means:
They who can be persevering
Remains without blame.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

Again, this hexagram promises endless success if we but continue acting with grace.

The approached gua, Chung Fu - Inner Truth (61), is like a deepening of these same principles. Guided by inner virtue, we find ourselves chosen to be judge over others. Before sentencing, we must understand their mind and circumstances. Only then can true justice guide us in distribution of the necessary remedies.

Tarot Link - Lady of Swords

Suit: Logic, Ideas, Intellect
Rank: The Advisor, The Councillor, The Whisperer, Courtier
Key: Diplomat
Rev: Gossip
Image: a fair-haired woman on a white horse carries her sword aloft, an army is about her, battle nearby
Meanings: Courage; Energy; Physical Vigor; Social Activism; an athletic or warrior woman
Reversed: Dispute or Ruin over Men; Conceit; Vanity; Impulsive Extravagance

I talked a bit about the Ladies as a whole in Reading for Wednesday, October 12th, 2022, where I draw the Lady of Wands. Today we’re looking at the Lady of Swords. Hearing “Lady of Swords” might draw frequent readers of Waite-Smith tarot cards to immediately think of the 2 of Swords, with the haunting figure of a single seated woman holding crossed swords. Like the knight of swords, the Lady can be seen as a messenger coming to tell you that a decision must be made. It may not be an easy decision, but the promise of the Lady of Swords, through her inner aspect of Sincerity, is that with honesty and penetrating empathy, the outcome will take care of itself. Just make the call.

Major and Rune Link

The Crone and Ilcs share a strange connection. Ilcs, which means Elk and represents protection and luck, is the visual inversion of Calc. Calc might mean chalk (and the important white powder pigment derived from it, mined all over England), or it could mean sandals (a footwear only the invading Romans wore), or it could mean chalice, a kingly cup. So Calc ends up taking on a diverse set of meanings like questing, exotic intrusions, spiritual transformation, and (because the “chalice” is often a funerary cup) it is also a rune of death. I had temporarily assigned Calc to the Crone while working out the correspondences. I’m wondering if this is the oracle telling me that Ilcs and the Crone belong together? I’ve also been grappling with the notion of there being 33 runes and 32 majors. Do I add a new major, most likely for ᚸ Gar and representing the unknowable? Or do I perhaps combine Calc and Ilcs into one rune, spreading their energies around but then effectively inventing my own runes? Calc doesn’t have great historical evidence going for it as a common rune letter, anyway. Then again, the status of most of the Northumbrian runes is hazy so I’m unsure where the line is here. Unless a god pops into my meditation to tell me what to do with it, I suppose the oracle will have to continue it’s gentle guidance forward.

Reading for Friday, October 14th, 2022

2022-10-14T14:38:25.000Z

Today, I’m going to switch from the 3-coin oracle to using my own printed Yi Jing cards. I’ll be doing a special three card pull to test out some new ideas in divination I’m playing with.

Through the 8 phases we prepare this space, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

Zhun - Beginning (3)

Decision
The beginning of a tiny sprout
Sublimely prosperous and smooth
Favorable to be steadfast and upright.
Do not act lightly.
There is somewhere to go.
Favorable to establish feudal lords.

Alfred HuangThe Complete I Ching

Commentary on the Symbol
Clouds and thunder fill up.
In correspondence with this,
The superior person plans and sets things in order.

Alfred HuangThe Complete I Ching

Water over Thunder speaks of rain and storms to come, but the image is also that of the first green sprouts of a plant pushing up through rough soil into the light and rain. What we see is that in the beginning of any project, there are challenges. The way we overcome challenges is to maintain good virtue, and to share power with others to create loyal friends who are aligned with the aims of your project.

The Lines

Third Six
Chasing deer, no guide
In the midst of woods,
The superior person is alert:
Give up!
Going forward: humiliation.

Alfred HuangThe Complete I Ching

When faced with a difficulty beyond our understand, like a hunter who has lost a deer in an unknown forest, we would be foolish to charge ahead blindly into danger. Seek a guide, or give up the pursuit and find another way to get what you need.

Top Six
Mounting on horses,
Still not going forward
Weeping grievously
Shedding tears as if bleeding.

Alfred HuangThe Complete I Ching

Sometimes, we overextend anyway and find ourselves in a bad position where forward progress is impossible, and we are unable to turn back either. At this time, while depression may set it, one can be comforted that extremes must inevitably turn to their opposite, and a new way will open.

In Transition to: Jia Ren - Household (37)

Confucian thought holds that the patriarchal family unit is the core of society, and that the State naturally governs the people (through the “father” of the Emperor) in the same way that the father of a family is meant to govern and regulate the Household. Jia Rin is still the way to say “family home” in Chinese today, and carries many familiar connotations of warmth, safety, and community. Stepping away from patriarchy, we can see Household as indicating a good time for setting the house in order: whether that’s doing a few chores and tidying, or finally having a long-needed conversation with a parent or roommate. After a difficult beginning, we always return home to rest before continuing. By taking some time to take care of our home and family, we prepare a strong foundation that helps us through all the troubles in life, whether at the beginning, middle, or end of our endevours.

Tarot Link - Page of Swords

Suit: Logic, Ideas, Intellect
Rank: The Child; The New Spark; The Holder of Energy; Commoner; External Initiation; Outer Virtue; News of Events/Objects
Key: Student
Rev: Liar
Image: A young boy holds an oversized sword, as though carrying it to their Knight.
Meanings: Adept at Discovering or Perceiving the Unknown; Insight; Vigilance; Agility; Spying; Discretion; Active Youth; Aware to Danger; Adaptable
Reversed: Imposter Revealed; Unforeseen Events in near future; Illness; Powerlessness to Superior Forces; Lack of Preparation

The Page of Swords pairs well with Difficulty at the Beginning by matching those two qualities in suit and rank respectively. Just as the Aces and Creating or Responding start off the oracles, Beginning and the Pages act as introductions to their own sub-sections of their oracles. Swords are often associated with trouble. In times of difficulty, it can be very good to remember that we are all children sometimes, and we can be children again long after our bodies have grown. The Daodejing praises the minds of children for their clarity and wisdom. Free from life’s biases, and able to see still with a wonder as though all the world was still novel, the child’s-eye view of things is to be highly regarded. And what does a child in difficult times do? They try, fail, learn, and try again. They seek help. They seek mentors.

An exploration of the Sword Page’s keywords can also help guide us towards the nature of the difficulty predicted. Is it unknown factors that are yet to be found? Is it lack of vigilance, or discretion, or adaptability, or the appearance of enemies or dangers?

Rune Draw - Stan ᛥ (Stone)

Stan was discussed at length on Reading for Wednesday, October 12th, 2022 so check there for details. The third card drawn, Major 18 - Time’s Hermit, is not a bad fit to Stan. I’m still working on my links between the majors and the runes, and these freeform links let me experiment with that a bit, as well as explore the integrated meanings of the oracles. The Hermit is a familiar card to Tarot readers, just slightly modified in Yitarot to more explicitly include the link to Time. Stone lives in long time, witness to many ages of other life. Likewise, the “hermit” part is the withdrawal not just from the hustle of social life, but from the grounded reality of troubles and worries into the abstract realms of meditation and thought. We can see a push from the Hermit/Stan towards the household. The old hermit is telling us, “retreat when you can, work on your foundations, and then the realms of long time open wider to you.”

Conclusion

Today looks like a good day for finishing up the week as best as possible, with the knowledge that we won’t finish everything and that sometimes you just have to take your losses and do better in the future. From the trigrams and the rune, I would read today as a turbulent one with a high yang in the “inner” spaces indicating a lot of drive and desire to act combined with high yin in the “outer” spaces, meaning that flexibility and receptivity are needed to act meaningfully. This leads to restlessness.

Reading for Thursday, October 13th, 2022

2022-10-13T14:20:55.000Z

Through the 8 phases we prepare this space, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

Wei Ji - Before Completion (64)

Before Completion, which is literally “before fording,” as in the moment just before one plunges into a river to attempt crossing it. On a Thursday, just as the week is beginning to draw to a close, I feel like this is a great casting. Before Completion teaches us the way to follow through, to not simply let the ending of things fall away or unravel, but how to properly conclude things in a way that builds for lasting results and a stable foundation to prepare the next phase of events.

This is interesting, because Before Completion can be seen as the least stable of the gua. Every line is “wrong” for it’s place: yin lines aer in the yang places and yang lines are in the yin places. Likewise, the heavy and strong yang lines are weakly supported below by the soft and ephemeral yin. This instability is exactly where the danger (represented by the inner Water trigram) arises, and where we must employ the bright reason represented by the outer Fire trigram. We want to control the collapse of the situation through completion as best we can.

Before Completion is the final hexagram of the King Wen sequence, and as such also represents the closing of one great cycle and the opening of a new one. The rune Gaer ᛄ, and it’s associated major arcana The World, comes to mind as other representatives of this notion of the turning of the great cycle.

The Judgement
Before Completion. Success.
But if the little fox, after nearly completing the crossing,
Gets his tail in the water,
There is nothing that would further.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

Navigating the treacherous terrain of Before Completion requires caution and deliberation. The fox is a frequent character in Chinese fables. The wise old fox crossing a frozen lake is careful to listen for the sounds of cracking ice and moves purposefully to avoid the dangers. The young fox rushes ahead brashly, ignores the warnings, and gets his tail wet! All the care in the world won’t amount to anything if you lose focus and fall in at the end, so it takes endurance and clarity also to reach the end.

The Image
Fire over water:
The image of the condition before transition.
Thus the superior person is careful
In the differentiation of things,
So that each finds its place.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

Fire’s nature is to rise upwards, Water’s is to sink down. Thus very much like the situation in Standstill (12), we find ourselves in the midst of forces which are pulling unproductively away from each other. Only through careful rearrangement can the fire be made to energize the water in a useful manner.

The Lines

Six in the fifth place means:
Perseverance brings good fortune.
No remorse.
The light of the superior person is true.
Good fortune.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

The fifth line is the place of the ruler, and so infusing powerfully with yin until it shifts to yang is to place a strong and capable leader at the head of the transition. By following this moral truth through completion, the hard victory has been won and now the sun rises over a new and even more glorious day.

Tarot Link - Seven of Cups

Suit: Emotions, Feelings, Relationships
Rank: Spirituality, Wisdom, Exploration
Key: Generosity
Rev: Misanthrope
Image: A person is presented with a choice of seven chalices, each containing something symbolic of their deepest desires. The vessels rest on a cloud, indicating some dream-like aspect to these wants and needs.
Meanings: Decisions, Grounding dreams in reality
Reversed: taking a practical approach

The Seven of Cups is an interesting companion for Before Completion. While not obviously a card of cycles or completion in itself, it does represent in a very concrete way the kinds of problems that can be presented as one works towards the final completion of an idea, or as one begins the transition into a new project. The cups represent all the things we could ever want, but how many, if any, can you actaully reach and pull down from those clouds?

Rune Draw - Mon ᛗ (Person)

Mon is man, but rather more broadly, any person or people as a collective. As a launching point for synthesis with the Yi Jing, Mon offers an interesting connection back to that fifth changing line. What gets you through the turbulence of a Before Completion is not passively letting things go as they will (as in often the case in Dao) but rather emphatically we are told that a strong, moral person is the key figure in a successful transition. I think the Mon stone really reinforces that here: look for the leader, or at least the distributed spirit of a collective goal. There must be a central attractor of some kind of guide all the collective efforts towards the singular productive end and the transition into the next cycle.

Of worthwhile note as I am still developing the techniques of this oracle: I initially drew a Major Arcana to test how those cards would work as a source of both a Rune cast and a changing lines indicator. I haven’t worked out a good system for changing lines yet, but I think the Rune associations will be productive, once I work them all out! The card I drew was The World, which as mentioned above I associate with Gaer ᛄ. Both Gaer and the World are fairly obvious symbols of cycles and new beginnings, so I don’t think I need to delve too much farther into the redundant meanings, other than to say that overall there is tremendous “big new thing coming” energy in this reading.

Conclusion

Today should prove an interesting day for connecting with people, particularly over their current work. What projects are they finishing? Which ones are they just beginning? Who, or what, is the guiding force behind the projects?

Reading for Wednesday, October 12th, 2022

2022-10-12T14:45:12.000Z

Through the 8 phases we prepare this space, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

Ts’ui - Gathering Together (45)

Gathering Together, also called Massing, is a very auspicious casting. Not only is success in large matters indicated, but further it is almost demanded that large undertakings be attempted through the marshalling of many people towards the goal. Preparation is implicit in this: the people have been getting ready for some time, the storehouses are full, and the water threatens to overtop the levees, now is the time to go forward!

The Judgement
Gathering Together. Success.
The king approaches his temple.
It furthers one to see the great man.
This brings success. Perseverance furthers.
To bring great offerings creates good fortune.
It furthers one to undertake something.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

The Image
Over the earth, the lake:
The image of Gathering Together.
Thus the superior man renews his weapons
In order to meet the unforeseen

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

The Lines

Six at the beginning means:
If you are sincere, but not to the end,
There will sometimes be confusion, sometimes gathering together,
If you call out,
Then after one grasp of the hand you can laugh again.
Regret not. Going is without blame.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

A strong leader is needed to unite the people, otherwise the indecision of the large group may lead them astray.
If they are able to express this need, then a single grasp of the hand from such a strong, moral leader is all that it will take to unite the people in the right direction.

Nine in the fifth place means:
If in gathering together one has position,
This brings no blame.
If there are some who are not yet sincerely in the work,
Sublime and enduring perseverance is needed.
Then remorse disappears.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

Some people wil only rally to a leader in order to gain the leader’s influential position. Such people are drawn to power and influence. Only through steadfastness and intensified, unswerving devotion to duty can these people’s inner mistrust of those with power be turned into real respect for the proper way of conducting society.

Tarot Link - Lady of Wands

Suit: Passion, Desire, Will
Rank: The Advisor, The Councillor, The Whisperer, Courtier
Key: Muse
Rev: Idol
Image: a fiery woman, who’s torch lights up the dark and draws companions near
Meanings: Travel; Change due to Time; Change in Home
Reversed: Disorder at Home; Disruption

The Ladies, or Female Knight, will be unfamiliar to most readers. The Lady borrows much of the symbolism and energy of her male counterpart, the Riders. In true Yi Jing fashion though, this energy is complimentary and tangent rather than opposing. The Knight of Wands is traditionally seen as indicated travel afar, wandering, or setting out on a new project. Thus the Lady is also about travel, but more so the inner alchemy that occurs when you bring new places into yourself rather than the changes you bring to a new place. Not just does she start projects, but like her linked gua, she leads projects and the workers who implement them. The Lady of Wands is a servant-leader. I am reminded of several passages in the Daodejing, but specifically chapter 17 comes to mind:

When the sage governs,
the people barely notice her existence.
Next best is a leader who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
The worst leader is one despised.

If you do not trust the people,
you make them untrustworthy.

The sage does not speak, she acts.
When her work is done,
The people say, “Amazing!
We did it, all by ourselves!”

DaodejingLao Tsu

Rune Draw - Stan ᛥ (Stone)

Stan is stone, but particularly in 3 specific modes:

as an obstacle, like the stone which closes the mouth of a cave
as a keystone in an arch, thus representing binding, strengthening the connection between other runes, but also
as abstractly the idea of “connection” or “representation”, stones as game pieces. In this mode, also the links between heaven and earth.

In a larger multi-rune reading, Stan would enhance the connection and interplay of adjacent runes. In this reading, I am drawn to two interpretations. Perhaps it is, simply, a big rock in the way of forming the well-coordinated mob outlined in the Yi Jing? Like the stone that held Jesus in the cave for 3 days, the rolling away of the stone may signal the release of the group’s energy into dynamic action. Alternatively, Stan may be acting in it’s binding capacity to draw tighter the joint symbols of the Tarot and Yi Jing. In that case, I would read the card even more strongly. Not just is a leader needed, but perhaps exactly the kind of fiery, feminine leader presented by the Lady of Wands? Perhaps a more worldly view is needed to guide this rabble?

Conclusion

Today reads as a good day for spreading the good word, for gathering allies, and for getting really carried away with things! One must always seek to follow the Dao’s wisdom though: to remain humble and simple even in the face of an abstractly complex monster like managing a large team project past it’s obstacles.

Reading for Tuesday, October 11th, 2022

2022-10-11T13:26:16.000Z

Through the 8 phases we prepare this space, then we ask the oracle, “What lesson does today hold for us?” and it replies:

Gui Mei - Marrying Maiden (54)

One of my least favorite gua, the Marrying Maiden carries a difficult (but necessary) lesson for many of us, though this can be masked with dated language hiding the deeper meaning. The changing lines suggest a reversed meaning of the associated card, the Maiden of Cups. I overall read this as good outcomes will results from humble and simple actions, taken in the service of a superior. Though good fortune is suggested, so is delay, so the harvest may come late for these efforts.

The Judgement
The Marrying Maiden.
Undertakings bring misfortune.
Nothing that would further.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

The Image
Thunder over the lake:
The image of the Marrying Maiden.
Thus the superior man
Understands the transitory
In the light of the eternity of the end.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

The Lines

Nine in the fourth place means:
The marrying maiden draws out the allotted time.
A late marriage comes in due course.

Wilhelm/Baynes/ConfuciusThe I Ching or Book of Changes

Delay is suggested.

Tarot Link - Maiden of Cups

Image: a young girl, of fair complexion and gentle demeanor
Meanings: Psychic; Emotionally Understanding; Passive; Dreamer; Elfin Charm (Mischievous or Irresponsible);
Reversed: Vagueness; Mental Instability; Immaturity; Vacillation; Unreliable

Rune Draw - Ior ᛡ (Serpent)

Ior (or… Jor/Yor) is the cosmic hermaphrodite, the genderless world serpent that defines boundaries.
The Devil card of the Major Arcana is paired with Ior, representing the inverse acts of violating and setting boundaries. By becoming a unity of opposites, they define the opposition itself.

Conclusion

Today reads as a good day for productive work for and a humble approach towards those with power over you. By reconciling opposition within ourselves, we can create something new that will exceed this current quiet moment.