Dear Subscriber,
I was really encouraged by all the feedback to the last issue, not least all the suggested quotes. This time around, can I ask you for some DIY questions for future issues, or a reading request for the next issue but one? Thank you!

This week's quotation (with thanks to Glenn) is too long for the top of the newsletter, but too good not to quote in full:

"Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day."

I know this issue is a little on the lengthy side of long... There were letters, and a subscriber's reading, and then I just got rather carried away quoting from the Book of Songs. I hope it all arrives intact.

Over at the I Ching Community, Val suggested we read together about whether there would be war in Iraq. You can see the results online, and read the discussion. Although Val's date and time for the shared divination is past, if you have readings of your own on the subject you'd like to share, please do! We'll be meeting in Clarity's chat room to discuss the results at 5pm GMT, Sunday 16th (click here to compare that with your own time zone) - so please come and share your thoughts.

Finally, Carol wrote in with a question I couldn't answer:

'Do you know of any I Ching live courses being presented in South Africa?

Warm wishes,
Hilary

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™Letters to the Editor—

This letter is a reply from Zee, whose 'subscriber's reading' was in Issue 27:

"Dear Hilary,
Thank you for the warm wishes. I truly believe this year will be a turning point and will determine my life in future. This is also my Chinese Zodiac sign, so that makes me even more enthusiastic about the whole thing.

HAIKU by Nobuko:
New calendar:
The Beauty of unexperienced
Months, Days.

Being Orient-oriented is not the equal of being exotic, but this is how we embrace and live the profound meaning of the entire existence from all its aspects.
Best regards from Zagreb, Croatia.
Zee"

Thank you, Zee. I hope you have a wonderful year.

There was quite a lot of interest from the last issue in the Yin Yang Horoscope that provides a hexagram (or sometimes two) for your day and hour of birth:

"Hilary:
Great to hear from you! I really appreicate and highly respect the path you have chosen to assist humanity.
Thanks so much for the Yin Yang astrology site of Siwert Aldenryd. I do want to have my Yin Yang chart cast. Siwert recommends that we start on our own, and I am interested in doing so.
Hilary, happy New Year to you as well. I am encouraged and absolutely agree that the past has its place, but the present and the future can and do hold our greatest possibilities yet and I am so encouraged in my spirit.
Happy New Year, Hilary!
Jewell"

Thank you, Jewell!

"Hilary,
That was a very interesting site - For my personal hexagram I received 41, Decrease, with a mention of the line 3. What on earth (and heaven) is this talking about?
Julianne"

Hi Julianne,
I don't know about this particular system of finding a personal hexagram. But if the I Ching had given you this reading in divination to describe your path in life, I'd suggest you might start thinking about how Decrease in your relations with the world interacts with a Great Accumulating (the relating hexagram, 26) of your own capacities and experiences. The line implies that developing natural independence might mean sacrificing your membership of a larger group - that your personal direction in life will determine whom you join with, not the other way around.
Does this make some sense to you in practice?

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™Subscriber's reading: Return to India?—

Question:

"Should I return to India to my family's business or try to restart my collapsed USA business? (Note: the USA business often supplies orders to the India business)
Thanks
Riaz Padamsee"

Dear Riaz,
When asking the I Ching for help in choosing between two alternatives in this way, the usual best course is to ask about each course of action separately:
'What about moving back to India?'
and
'What about trying to restart the US business?'

I think you do need both answers, but space is limited, so this is a very quick summary indeed of them both...

'What about moving back to India?'
Hexagram 34, Great Vigour, changing to Hexagram 40, Release.

A strong, vigorous, decisive action... but the strength and vigour of Hexagram 34 does need to be controlled if it is not to run into trouble. One of the associations of 'vigour' is 'injury through unrestrained strength', which is why the Image speaks of how the noble one so carefully follows the paths with existing codes and rules.

In this reading, Great Vigour is expressed and moderated through Release:

'Release. Harvest in the southwest.
With no place to go,
Your coming back means good fortune.
With a direction to go,
Daybreak means good fortune.'

You'll recognise the picture: here you stand at the cross-roads, wondering which path really leads you anywhere. There's harvest in the southwest, the country of family and friends, the direction you retreat in if your campaign isn't going well. The 'release' comes from being able to make your mind up and choose your path purely on the present facts, free from anxieties or resentments.

But it's very important that this is the relating hexagram: your attitude, your ambition, but not necessarily the outcome of combining Great Vigour with Release. What happens when, with all your energy, you're once more free to choose your path?

'Vigour in the feet.
Setting out: pitfall. Sincere and confident.'

Ouch. Energy in the feet means energy that isn't in the eyes or the brain. This doesn't mean that the attraction to India is not good and true - only that you need to keep still and look before leaping anywhere.

'Small people use vigour.
The noble one uses a net.
Constancy: danger.
The goat butts a hedge,
Entangling his horns.'

I don't know the details of your circumstances - but do you actually need to travel to India to join with and benefit from the family business and its support? Small people use all their strength to run after what they need; people with more vision stand in just the right place so that it comes to them. Constant persistence in the same direction brings danger - the poor goat speaks for himself.

The alternative:
'What about trying to restart the US business?'
14, Great Possession, changing to 46, Pushing Upward.

Well, these sound much more clearly like good business hexagrams. An attitude of 'Pushing Upward' is needed - a positive, hard-working approach with a natural tendency to success. And Great Possession, with its images of both having and sharing, could just be the best hexagram for growing a business.

Now for the critical moment - what about the changing lines?

'Not involved with what is harmful,
Absolutely free from mistake.
By consequence, hard toil is not a mistake.'

Are you by any chance just getting free from a damaging association? This is about focussing your efforts purely on what is constructive. Then you can expect very hard work, but it will not be wasted.

'In no way are you dominant.
Not a mistake.'

On a personal level, this is about not being overbearing. In business, it suggests not being the best-known player in your particular market, not beating your drum as loudly as some do. This might feel like something you should correct at once - not so.

'From the heavenly source comes protection.
Good fortune: nothing that does not bring harvest.'

What could be better?

I hope this helps!

(Note: I've saved a bit of space here by not quoting all the relevant I Ching passages. If you don't have your own copy, you can download Book I of Wilhelm's translation from the link part-way down this page.)

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™Mini DIY Corner: I Ching seasons—

"I am from South Africa. When the I Ching answers with a time/month or season answer, how do I take it?
Thank you
Carol"

Dear Carol,
Not everyone would give you the same answer to this, but I would say that you should pay attention to the natural season, not the calendar month. In other words, the 'eighth month' is always the time of harvest, either literally or metaphorically. If you think about it, in an agricultural society where only a minority could read, the calendar would be the moving stars and changing seasons, not something that hung on the wall.
Hope this helps!

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™Book Review: The Book of Songs, translated by Arthur Waley,
edited with additional translations by Joseph R Allen—

Click a flag to buy it online:

In amongst the many worthy I Ching tomes in my box from Amazon is a modest paperback of poetry - and I've been more excited and intrigued by this than by any of the other books. The Shijing is the classic book of songs, just as the Yijing (I Ching) is the classic book of change. These are the songs of the same Zhou people who first used and recorded the I Ching - some a few brief centuries later, but still evoking the same daily lives and beliefs that form the language of its imagery and advice.

It's impossible to read far into the Book of Songs without finding it deepening and changing your understanding of the I Ching. 'De', for instance, that very moral 'virtue' of the Daxiang, was a personal 'magic' that you strengthened with wine. Fish (like the ones in Hexagram 61 and the lines of 44) appear everywhere as signs of great good fortune. The eighth month (as in Hexagram 19) is the time for harvest, for cutting gourds and drying dates.

Then there is the occasional echo that makes you jump. Just one example: Hexagram 63, with its lines about a great Shang king and later Zhou supremacy, has the lines:

'At the beginning good fortune,
At the end disorder.'

And Ode 255, where King Wen of the Zhou challenges the Shang, begins:

'Heaven gives birth to the multitudes of the people,
But its charge cannot be counted upon.
To begin well is common;
To end well is rare indeed.'

This is undoubtedly a wonderful resource if you want to make your own discoveries and reach your own conclusions about the roots of the I Ching. It's also an unparalleled opportunity to immerse yourself in its world. But you'll want to pick it up and read it because of the poetry - the love songs especially can be startlingly direct, in celebration or in lament:

'Moon in the east!
This lovely man
Is in my bower,
Is in my bower,
His foot is upon my threshold.'

'If along the highroad
I caught hold of your cuff,
Do not hate me;
Old ways take time to overcome.

If along the highroad
I caught hold of your hand,
Do not be angry with me;
Love takes time to overcome.'

You can get hold of a copy of the Book of Songs in Legge's translation online, along with the Chinese text. But I'd still recommend buying the book! Apart from being easier to browse and read, and a much more evocative, poetic translation, this edition includes valuable notes explaining the rituals, history and traditions behind the poems. There's also a foreword surveying the culture behind the poetry, and a wonderful essay on the 'literary history' of the Shijing, which describes how the classic text coalesced out of oral tradition.

'I climb that bare hill
And look toward where my mother is.
My mother is saying, "Alas, my young one is on service;
Day and night he toils.
Grant that he is being careful of himself,
So that he may come back, and not be cast away." '

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™Links to explore—

Off-site
First, a helpful response to my request for quotations (but rather more than an 'inspiring quotes' collection!):

"Hilary,
Go to Beliefnet.com, they send me daily quotes on a variety of topics relating to spirituality. They support all belief systems. It is an awesome site.
Sharon"

More I Ching specific:

"I thought you might be interested in a TCM physics interpretation of the I Ching.
Andy"

I am! Andy and I may have different approaches to the I Ching, but I think he has interesting things to say about the structural relationships between hexagrams. Worth a look.

Yijing Dao: calling crane in the shade
This is the new site of Steve Marshall, author of The Mandate of Heaven, and it's the best thing to happen to the I Ching online for quite a while. In-depth book reviews, excellent articles (the one on 'what to avoid' is not to be missed), and a very interesting links page. Definitely, definitely visit this one.

From the I Ching Community:
Most activity has centred on the readings about the Iraq crisis

But on a more cheerful note:
• If Wishes Were Horses . . . What I Ching resources do you wish above all that you had? And are you missing any intelligences?
• 'Did the Earth move for you, darling?' An, um, alternative view of Hexagram 16.
• Anyone feel like they're put in a box for being interested in the I Ching and other esoteric subjects? (You're not alone)

And many people have been sharing their readings. Don't forget you can check on new posts quickly and easily from the left-hand menu.

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You can guess what I'm going to say. I still need recommended links - please?

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™I Ching services—

I provide personal I Ching readings from £25. All readings are completely private and unconditionally guaranteed.
Clarity's I Ching correspondence course is available for £22.50 for the course materials, or £137 for the full course including personal tuition, with the same unconditional guarantee.

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