Dear Subscriber,
Happy Chinese New Year! May it bring you great good fortune!

According to Chinese tradition, New Year is time to leave the past very firmly where it belongs and to concentrate on setting positive precedents for the year ahead. So in I Ching terms, it's the moment for positive, goal-oriented 'how to' readings: you decide where you want to be, and ask the I Ching's advice on how to get there. This could be the most creative way to use the I Ching, and it has to be the most direct way to turn what it has to offer into tangible change for the better in your own life.

Hopping off that soap-box for a moment, I hope you enjoy the newsletter and will be inspired to reply to it with comments, reviews, and of course DIY questions. I would appreciate your input very much.

I'll be away from the business from time to time over the coming month or two because of family things. When this happens, I'll put a notice up on the order form to give you an idea of the delay you can expect before you get your reading. Hopefully it'll never be more than a few days.

Warm wishes,
Hilary

P.S. One last request: can you suggest any good quotes to go at the top of the newsletter?

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™Hexagram of the month: 16, Motivation—

So, in that New Year spirit of looking forward...
In hexagram 16, the thunder that powers new growth is above the earth; the energy of innovation is free and storming through the world. For the ancient kings, this was the inspiration for music that channelled and focussed their people's liberated energies.

The old character for Yu, 'Motivation' or 'Enthusiasm', shows an elephant: the embodiment of strength and vigour and a source of joy. It's also something you have to treat with great respect. Your ox is strong, but also predictable. The elephant is almost inconceivably powerful, and never altogether tame. Unlike other animals, it clearly has its own, rather inscrutable intentions. What will you do with this great concentration of wilful power?

Questions like this, about reaching raw energy and channelling it successfully into productive results, are ever-present throughout the I Ching. I think that this hexagram is specifically about the ways of responding to energies that seem to 'seize' you, as if you were 'in the grip' of an inspiration or emotion. The second part of the character Yu shows hands, or perhaps the shuttle of a loom: this is not only about strong motivations, but also about how we handle and share them, or weave them into the fabric of life.

That 'elephant' character by itself also means 'image' - as in the Wing with the ancient kings and their music, the Great Image. It works like a musical composition, channelling raw power and giving it form we can relate to. Through image shapes, energy turns into action in our world, and we have new ways of communicating with one another and ourselves.

In practice, this hexagram could be a signal that you need to become more consciously aware of what is inspiring you, before it begins to carry you to new places. When you're mobilising your personal army, you need support and guidance in place before you move. Such high-intensity motivation, given a true creative outlet, has enormous potential. But it's as easy to lose yourself in shared images as it is to find yourself: you may not know, or even want to know, where your enthusiasm is taking you. Elephants have a tendency to dominate the horizon.

Finally:
A father - who has very kindly given his permission for me to share this story - once consulted me about how best to help his daughter, who has cerebral palsy. With hexagram 16 in the answer, I talked about the task of getting energetic impulses under conscious control, self-expression (it turns out the little girl is an enthusiastic singer), and explained some meanings of the elephant. He replied that he and his daughter discussed elephants nearly every day. To relax her muscles, she had to re-establish conscious control over them - and so he would encourage her to 'tell the elephants to let go of your leg'. The 3,000 year old image re-appeared in the private language a 7 year old shared with her father.

And many, many thanks to LiSe Heyboer, without whose inspired research into the old characters (at Yi Jing, Book of the Returning Sun) I would be lost.

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™DIY Corner: the animals of Hexagram 49—

"Dear Hilary,
I was studying Hexagram 49 Fundamental Change/ Revolution and came across 'the hide of a yellow ox' (in line 1), 'the stripes of the tiger' (in line 5) and 'the spots of the leopard' (line 6). What are these metaphors about, please?
Marcos"

Dear Marcos,

Thank you for the question!
Well, being metaphors, they almost by definition can be about more than one thing, and are always about the subject of your reading: you will make the final determination as to what they mean in each individual case.

But to try to be just a little more helpful than that...
The traditional view is that the oxhide is primarily just strong leather, and since 'yellow is the color of the mean, and the cow is the symbol of docility' (Wilhelm), the protagonist of this line is bound by these qualities. The tiger's stripes represent a clarity and distinction of personal character that is visible to all; the leopard's spots represent subtler and more detailed changes, refinement and adjustment once the revolution is accomplished. Alfred Huang adds: 'The ancient Chinese believed that the color and specks of a panther change according to the seasons. This image symbolises how the sage makes a fresh start in accord with the change of time.'

If you want to get directly in touch with the tradition these ideas come from, your best source is Richard John Lynn's Classic of Changes. This not only has the complete commentary of Wang Bi, which is fascinating, but also extensive footnotes with later ideas. On line 1, for instance, Wang Bi writes:

'The hide of the cow is so tough and pliant that it is impossible to change its shape; in the same way, what is used to strengthen this one is the toughness and pliancy found inside old, regular ways which do not allow for change.'

'Such a one may adjust the ways of former kings and establish laws on his own initiative. There is with him such beauty in the manifestation of culture [wen] that it scintillates and commands attention. In this he resembles a tiger changing [into its rich, luxuriant winter coat], whose patterns [wen] shine forth with great brilliance.'

All these associations are certainly useful in applying the lines to life, but for truly mind-expanding, challenging divination with this hexagram, try Wu Jing Nuan's Yijing. Ge, Revolution, actually means literally skinning or hide; 'your own day' in the Judgement can also mean the day of the snake, known for changing its skin. So the lines might describe the shamanistic practice of wearing these skins in order to transform your own nature with their innate power. To quote Wu:

'Ge is the costume of change, for it is necessary to wear a different guise to penetrate other levels of reality. The skin of a tiger will help you act like a tiger. This hexagram emphasises that costumes are tools of oracular intervention.'

References:

Wilhelm:

R.J.Lynn:

Alfred Huang:

Wu Jing Nuan's Yi Jing is available from:
Wu's Healing Art
LifePath Health Center
5602 Shields Drive
Bethesda, MD 20817
301-897-8090.
UK readers could also try ordering second hand from Amazon

(You can also read the first book of Wilhelm's translation, including commentary, online.)

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™Links to explore—