"Aha!!" Answers - little chat, just post your favourite or encouraging results

[laylab]

Everyone knows those moments, you have a situation that is highly specific, you enquire to the Oracle about it and receive an answer so obviously fitting that you experience renewed enthusiasm or trust in the I Ching.

Here is a thread, less about asking others for interpretation and more about sharing those moments of clarity. So fitting considering the name of this site ;)

So please, keep the rythm going. Just briefly explain the background behind your question and the answer that you got from the I Ching that made you say, "Aha! So fitting..I get it!"

I'll start.

I met a man a divorcée and we have a nice connection but are both weary. We have both had our heart broken in the previous year.

He was persuing me and I was weary and then all of the sudden he said, "I'm afraid of this, you are the first serious woman I have met since my divorce and the implications scare me, I need to be free right now but still want to keep seeing you and often. I'm crazy about you but scared too."

We had to discuss how we both feel about that and I told him "oh I feel the same way, that's why I kept telling you to slow down".

Nevertheless it took me by surprise because up until that moment he was an assertive, daily persuer.

I asked the I Ching:

What was all that about this morning?

It answered:

Hex 12 Standstill changing line 5 / Related Hexagram 35 Progress
Nine in the fifth place means:

Standstill is giving way.
Good fortune for the great man.
"What if it should fail, what if it should fail?"
In this way he ties it to a cluster of mulberry shoots.

Aha!!

My reservations are based on not having purged myself of the passionate, unfruitful relationship with a married man. His reservations are based on the hurt and trauma that ensued after his marriage failed.

I just love it when I feel that the I Ching is for real..when I just know deep down that it's talking to me.

[listener]

mine is just kind of a coincidence. I signed up for seminar at my university, but by sat morn felt rather lazy about going. wnted to sleep

asked Yi it was wise for me to go...37.5.."the king is in his castle" I didnt see it as advice to stay home, but rather Good omen for being with my family (of colleagues), and possibly a meeting with my faculty mentor....... he has a high position in the department) . So I went off and was delighted with the forum, panel discussion/information......the first workshop I went to was on treating eating disorders and the speaker was renowned author and expert in the field. I loved his talk, his unique approach to the issue, all greatly inspiring with very worthwhle info. .as a famous authority on eating disorders, he is "king" in this realm indeed ...very helpful to me as a professional and the highlight of the day for me, so I felt the YI was right on about advising me to go, and had even told me why to go.


but then my second workrshop was on domestic violence....iwouldnt have chosen this , but it turned out to be quite informative and interesting. The speaker was talking about the battering husband and his typical arrogance...twice she remarked that this kind of battering man feels that he is the king in his castle, and as the king of his castle, he feels entitled to exert his authority, and so on.
I just had to smile at the words being re-emphasized verbatim. AHA, ok, I get it...thank you for encouraging me out of my warm bed on a cold morning so I didnt miss this. you rule.

[hilary]

That ties in interestingly with something I've noticed with 37.5 : more to do with autonomy than affection, on the whole, or at least the affection is conditional on the autonomy. So maybe this talk showed the potential dark side of the line. Anyway... seems to fit with this page (http://ichingresources.co.uk/hexagrams/h37.html).

About 'Aha' readings... lots to choose from :) . Often the biggest 'aha' is having a reading for the day or the situation, and then hearing someone involved put it into words. Like receiving 29 and hearing, 'I feel as if I'm going down a long, dark tunnel...'

Just the other day, there was one between 'Aha!' and 'Uhuh?' Background: experiencing winter blues, just about managing to keep up with existing obligations but inclined to let my plans for moving forward go quietly by the wayside until Spring. Let me just check that with Yi before I crawl back under the duvet...

What's the best approach to take to these big plans and ambitious targets I have for the winter months?

42, unchanging.

Ah - huh?

The plans are duly increasing - and being trimmed of excess in the marketing area that turns out to be unnecessary - and feeling like less of a chore and more of a blessing. The duvet will have to wait.

[hilary]

Pakua suggested I 'sticky' this thread so it'll stay visible, and we can add to it whenever those readings happen. Good idea.

Last week we went up to the British Museum, and I gazed long and hard at assorted ancient jade ornaments and bronze vessels - the ladle for libations, the wine-cup, and lots of ding making their presence felt.

On the way home that night, we had half an hour to wait on a deserted local station, and I got to thinking what I should be taking away from the encounter. I asked what I should gain or learn from seeing the ding, and sat on the platform to cast coins.

Primary hexagram - 50.

Lovely.

(Oh, and changing line 4 - not so lovely. Much thinking and divining followed about how to make my own ding a little more stable and mess up less.)

[schastlivchik]

My wife and I were looking for a new house in 2005. We heard of a new one that had just been built by a local builder less than one month prior. We booked an appointment and got a walk-through with an agent.

Everything was great, until I went to the basement, where already there had developed several huge cracks in the foundation! The agent dismissed these. Surprised by this, I did an on-the-spot divination about the house, and got:

48 the Well, changing to 29 pure Water! The main attribute of a Well being to let water seep in through the bottom, as well as the final hexagram were a major Aha! I immediately told my wife, who also values the I Ching, and she dropped all interest in the house. We left.

[hilary]

I think everyone here's probably already heard me tell this story about 25 times, but never mind. Back when I was just discovering the Yi, we were house-hunting too.

Somehow we ended up almost buying one that was miles from our families, about half as expensive again as we'd originally planned, and in urgent need of work. It was a bungalow with a beautiful big roof conversion with lots of open, well-lit space.

Yi's comment on the house began with hexagram 28. (Sorry, I don't remember if there was more to the reading than that.) Since we were headed into 'greatly exceeding' our budget, time constraints, family ties and energy, that made some sense in itself.

Then we had the survey done, and the surveyor pointed out that the huge beam the previous owners had sawn out for the loft conversion (and left lying in the long grass beside the house) had actually been quite structurally important.

At the time, my attitude to Yi was somewhere on the threshold between
'Gosh, what an interesting random stimulus!'
and
'Erm... I think this book's talking to me...'
This reading definitely helped nudge me across.

[fallada]

This was my first contact with a Yilin verse:

Q: Why does my (sterilised and 16yrs old) cat suddenly walk around and cries heartbreakingly? Is it in pain? A: 61 -42.
This was a good sign, but still an unsatisfying answer. The vet explained, that old animals can become senile, just like humans. A few days later a medium told me: the cat seeks company. I thought, this was wrong, since it always used to be a loner. A few weeks later I came across Yilin's verse for 61-42 on the Heboyers' site:

Being for a long-time without spouse
One starts to think one deserves a very special woman
Seeking one against hope(expectation)
One is oneself the cause of living alone.
(Tr. Pedro, Lise)

Aha.

I want to express my gratitude to all, who work on transliating the YiLin and make it public. Thank You so much. Unfortunately I do not know Chinese myself. The project seems to be stuck, which is a pitty. The Yilin contains valuable information.

[mousse]

Hello,

A few months ago, I sent a friend a birthday card. And I asked the Yi what will be the situation between X and I after sending that card? (We are in contact from time to time and I'm interested in him)

I received 58.1 > 47.

58.1 --Harmonious opening, the way is open.
This is an opportunity for harmony to develop. The way is open to you.

47. Exhaustion...

He thanked and answered me . He said he was quite busy but during the weekend he would write me and talk what's happening in his life and so on...I'm still waiting for that email...it was 6 months ago. Yes I'm exhausted ;) I'm exhausted waiting for him, I'm exhausted he takes our friendship for granted.

At first I didn't understand why the way was so open and then.....exhaustion. Now I do :duh:

Bye,

Mousse

[hilary]

Ouch... right... . Another take on 58.1's connection with 47 is that truly harmonious communication depends on total self-sufficiency and self-reliance in isolation - being sustained by deep roots when you can't reach out.

[mousse]

Thank you Hilary.

Mousse

[knot]

this is a lovely thread

when I was first learning the yi I often asked about meaningless matters, so as not to warp the reading with my emotions. one day at work I asked "how will my lunch hour go?" and got 47, unchanging.

I was aghast! arrested? thrown in prison? sunk into despair? I threw again and got it again. Then a third time and got 47 changing to something else.

anyway. I shook off my anxieties and marched off to the parking lot where I found . . . my car was blocked by a firetruck responding to a minor emergency. Hemmed in by officials in scarlet indeed. I actually sat down on the curb and laughed. That reading made 47 (a hexagram I loathe) much easier to take.

[listener]

Nice one, Knot!

Last week, I put my 18 yrold daughter on a plane to Paris. It is her first time abroad and the first time she has gone such a distance from me, and for such a long time ( two weeks). At the airport, she looked so grownup and confident and she was dry-eyed and, it seemed to me, quite indifferent to the whole thing of saying goodbye. On the other hand, I started to cry like a baby.
When I got home I asked the I ching about her "indifference"...even though I knew it was probably a good and necessary thing.

and the Yi said 59.6.

To me this answer was so clear and quite comforting, too. "Dispersing the blood" meant to me that it is timely for her to leave "the nest," take wing, and "go far away" without any sentimentality in this process. Kind of like "don't look back now and cry, just go.........!" there is no fault in that.

kind of reminded me of the first day I put her on the bus to kindergarten. She was thrilled, no backward glance. I went home and fell apart:o

[mirian]

About ten years ago I had a nasty health problem. I woke up in the middle of the night in terrible pain and was taken to hospital with severe internal bleeding. But, before going to hospital I quickly took my coins, tossed them in bed and asked the Yi - "Am I going to die?" .
The answer was Hex 38 3rd moving line.
"One sees the wagon dragged back,
The oxen halted,
A man's hair and nose cut off.
Not a good beginning, but a good end."

It was so true! It took the doctors a while to get hold of the situation, which eventually they did. But thanks to my Yi reading I knew all the way through what the outcome would be.

Mirian:)

[rosada]

A while back someone here posted a question concerning Lyme disease. They asked something like what could be done to improve their husband's health and received 7. The Army. We posted our interpretations and I believe the general feeling was that The Army indicated the need to organize all one's forces. As my sister has Lyme I was particularly interested in this discussion and continued to think about the answer and to talk it over with my sister for her ideas. She replied that Lyme disease was unknown in the Northeast (although the tick that carries the germ was known in Texas) until the late 1940's when the army began engaging into explorations of the possibilities of using germs as weapons on an Island not far from Lyme, Conn. (The disease is named after this town as this is where cases of it first started appearing) While our government has never admitted to this possibility and has even refused to acknowledge the disease exists or to fund research, if you google "Lyme disease germ warfare" you will come up with pages of information. Thus I believe the I Ching was telling us that in the case of "Lyme - 7. The Army" the cure will only come when we know the origins of the disease and it's literal connection with The Army.

[hilary]

Mm - maybe in Open Space, if he does? I like the 'aha' answers we're getting here very much, and don't want to lose the thread.

[em ching]

Hello!

Definitely I agree with your train of thought about those moments of wow in the relevance of i-ching answers!

I got hexagram 63 to a question about my place within a group of people/ living arrangements (See the thread if you're interested :)
And I have had very useful and perceptive interpretations of the hexagram fitting with my doubting that I'm on the right path etc..

Anyways it is amazing how it works (as I have said in the last thread of my own post!) and I do wonder what or who controls it??
Is it you and your subconscious expressing itself? Or a spirit guide type thing? Or the magic of coincidence/ synchronicity?

I dunno eh.. questions questions.. :)

[hilary]

That would be this thread (http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?t=5557). (Just adding a link before the thread vanishes from the front page.) It's really good to hear that interpretations here led to the 'aha'. :)

questions questions.. :)http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/images/misc/progress.gif
Indeed. I dunno either. Fortunately that doesn't matter in the least.

[rosada]

I had to let a friend know by email that I was not going to be able to continue with a project I had agreed to, My reasons were valid but I was concerned he might think I was a flake. After sending the email I asked the I Ching ,
What will be my friend's response?
I received the answer,
15.3 > 2
A superior man of modesty and merit
Carries things through to conclusion.
Good fortune.

I interpreted this to mean that my emailed explanation was enough and that he would understand, especially as the hex. changed to 2. The Receptive, meaning he being receptive to my explanation and also - as I see 2 as meaning Silence - that the matter was complete with no loose strings.

This is exactly how it worked out but what is interesting to me here is how upon re-reading the interpretation, "A superior man carries things through to conclusion," I see now where the I Ching could have just as easily been interpreted as warning me he would think I should have completed the original promise - and yet I didn't see it that way at all when I read it the first time. So while it's nice to know I read it right, it makes me aware of the importance of that special mysterious element that determines if we are going to be able to get the message.

[knot]

that's lovely that you understood it correctly so intuitively

I recalled another aha -- and it was another yi-practice question, "what about when I leave work now." The answer was 44, which seemed alarming -- danger, temptation, etc. But what actually happened was that a woman ran up and begged me to give her car a jump-start.

I often think of 44 as the jump-start hexaram now -- a sudden surge of power that can be enormously useful; but don't try to keep it going too long ("marry" it), and whatever you do, don't try to grab it!

[heylise]

When I made my website, I needed a name. Everyone here, where I live, tought back then that the internet was a dangerous place and wanted me to be anonymous. So I took the other half of my name, which I never use. Nice thing was, that it also sounded very Chinese. LiSe, in chinese Li-zi, same zi like in Lao-zi, Kong-fu-zi and so on. For li I took the chinese character for the cry of cranes and waterbirds. But zi is a term of respect for great masters, so I was not sure if it was not a bit arrogant to use it.

So I asked Yi: 61.2. Cry of the crane, although here another character is used. Calling it's young, zi.

And the fanyao about divining, turtle-shells and all this good fortune. So I knew it was ok.

LiSe

[hilary]

Beautiful.

I was looking through old reading journals the other day - written in big notebooks, before I knew what to do with a computer, and long before I thought of starting out as a diviner. I was wondering what to do with myself, and I asked about various options, like more study, or becoming a kind of agent for David, and also 'What if I set out to make my own living independently of David?' Yi said Hexagram 30.

[zander]

I asked the following:
"Did i piss off X by replying in the blankblank thread(in another website)?
Yi Answer-Hexagram 27 Corners of the Mouth(Providing Nourishment) Image: At the Foot of the mountain, thunder...
The image of providing nourishment...Thus the superior man is careful of his words and temperate in eating and drinking.
So I shut up, and keep a low profile, and came here to lurk:)

[magik]

:bows:Everyone knows those moments, you have a situation that is highly specific, you enquire to the Oracle about it and receive an answer so obviously fitting that you experience renewed enthusiasm or trust in the I Ching.

Here is a thread, less about asking others for interpretation and more about sharing those moments of clarity. So fitting considering the name of this site ;)

So please, keep the rythm going. Just briefly explain the background behind your question and the answer that you got from the I Ching that made you say, "Aha! So fitting..I get it!"

I'll start.

I met a man a divorcée and we have a nice connection but are both weary. We have both had our heart broken in the previous year.

He was persuing me and I was weary and then all of the sudden he said, "I'm afraid of this, you are the first serious woman I have met since my divorce and the implications scare me, I need to be free right now but still want to keep seeing you and often. I'm crazy about you but scared too."

We had to discuss how we both feel about that and I told him "oh I feel the same way, that's why I kept telling you to slow down".

Nevertheless it took me by surprise because up until that moment he was an assertive, daily persuer.

I asked the I Ching:

What was all that about this morning?

It answered:

Hex 12 Standstill changing line 5 / Related Hexagram 35 Progress
Nine in the fifth place means:

Standstill is giving way.
Good fortune for the great man.
"What if it should fail, what if it should fail?"
In this way he ties it to a cluster of mulberry shoots.

Aha!!

My reservations are based on not having purged myself of the passionate, unfruitful relationship with a married man. His reservations are based on the hurt and trauma that ensued after his marriage failed.

I just love it when I feel that the I Ching is for real..when I just know deep down that it's talking to me.

[heylise]

My friend has a group of young roosters, she wants to keep them until she knows which ones will grow up to good roosters, because that is very different. Some seem nice when they are young, but attack everyone when they grow up.
In this group there was more and more trouble.Two of them played boss, the rest could hardly get to the food, and the underdogs were really very hungry. They were not allowed out of their corner.

So she put an old experienced rooster in with them, the best she has, a Gemini. We know the signs of all roosters, it makes a big difference if a rooster is an air- or earth sign and so on.

All roosters were very excited and angry, but nobody dared to attack, until one of the intermediate finally did it. Not a bossy one and not an underdog, but a middle class one.
The Gemini makes a gesture of threatening him, but not actually doing anything. The young one runs away, fast! But all the others had seen how impressing the old rooster was.

Now there is peace, everyone can eat, nobody ever gets the idea of making any trouble. The old one does not have to do anything at all, his authority goes unquestioned.

I asked Yi “what did happen in that chicken coop?” Answer: hex 60.1, 2 and 5 to 2.
All yang lines changing to yin!
60.1 everyone who did not attack but kept a low profile (line 1): good.
60.2 line 2 is about contacts but from a lower person, that one did not stay in his own territory but tried to fight the higher one: misfortune.
60.5 line 5 is the king, he imposes agreeable limitations. Success. He meets with recognition.

Now all is quiet (see judgment of hex.2).

LiSe

[heylise]

Oo, seems line 2 is not that clear..
Oh well

Maybe 60.2 is about not being able to get out of the coop - misfortune for the little fighter

[meng]

Oo, seems line 2 is not that clear..
Oh well

Maybe 60.2 is about not being able to get out of the coop - misfortune for the little fighter

Perhaps the misfortune of line 2 - them not going out of (or out into) the courtyard to challenge - has to do with maintaining a healthy species, which relies on checks and balances of power.

[heylise]

Had to think about that but I think I understand.
He did try, the little fighter, and by doing so made it all clear. If he hadn’t, then misfortune. The fanyao 3.2 tells him that this big rooster is no bandit but comes for the harmony.

[listener]

LiSe, your story about the roosters cheered me up, almost unexplainedly. Maybe it awakened the Gemini rooster inside my chicken coop of a mind. I am going to add him to my notes on 60.5.
love that story:rolleyes:

[hilary]

My reading for this week was 60.2. Its first meaning for me was very literal: unless I make an effort, I spend all day inside the same walls and same routine, never walking further than the front door, never focussing on anything further away than the next wall. (And I get fatter and stiffer and more myopic.)

So yesterday I used my day off to have a full day out, and it was lovely. We went to Birdland (http://birdland.co.uk/), where just before coming home we met a free-roaming jungle fowl rooster sitting on a fence. :)

60.2 for me is what happens inside the chicken coop with no senior rooster and no way out.

[maremaria]

Hi ,
Yesterday I’ve been gloomy and edgy for two reasons related to a health issue. its has to do with the way affect my daily life and the illness itself and the fact that it will take longer than I excepted to have a final diagnosis
I wake up this morning and the symptoms were still there. Had a little chat with myself and agreed that we can’t do anything but wait. Then I asked Yi :
what should I know about that issue and got 5.5 >11
Aha !!! Yi said the same. Wait !!!

I perceive it as not just wait and don’t act, but as do what you should /can do (follow doctors treatment have all the necessary examinations) but I have to wait to gain more knowledge on what is this about and how to treat it. That will help me to keep a kind of peace in the meantime.

[asci_blue]

A bit over a year ago I posted this (April):

For those who remember me I've also been doing some debating on cars. I've narrowed it down to two, the VW Rabbit and the GTI.

I asked the questions is Car X good for me for both.

Rabbit: got 14 changing lines 3 and 6 to.....54

GTI: 53 2, 4, 5, changing to 50.

From Willowfox: GTI Hex 53.2,4, 5 > 50 . Hex 53.2 this car is calling you, it is a symbol of peace and concord, but again you should share it with others, giving rides etc but not quite the same idea of public as in Hex 14.3. I frequently offer to be the driver, I just can't get enough of the car, nor can my passengers. <3

In July a meeting of family happened and my Arrest Me Red GTI was right where it needed to be for me to buy it, now he is currently napping in my drive way. Humorously enough my last name is Wood and I had to cross a mountain to acquire the car. Hah! The yi works in such odd ways sometimes, also has one heck of a sense of humor. :D

[wbh4305]

I am new here, but I have practiced I-Ching for a few years, but in a much different way.

In China, instead of interpreting the I Ching texts, most of the I Ching masters calculate by rules of the 5 elements. With calculation, the exact date of what's about to happen, and what had happened in the past may be revealed. It can also help detect the specific disease and/or disasters ahead (and many many more) that might be encountered in the near future.

I can understand why people don't believe in I-Ching, because it serves more like a big fortune cookie jar for fun, and never taken seriously. It's a sad thing that such a powerful tool is left out by the world.

[asci_blue]

How does one interpret i ching in that way?

[wbh4305]

It's a very complicated but fasinating process, but I haven't seen anyone in the West learned about that. You need to learn the relationships between the 10 Heavenly Symbols and the 12 Earthly Symbols and refer to the Heavenly Calendar. You may follow the rules to find the balance point for the Hexagram, and then, if the strength of a certain force of an element is a good influence toward the balancing point, then you are better off at the direction in life. It's a method full of logical referencing and mathmatical calcalation under many specific rules (different masters may have slightly different rules, but be aware, not all the masters are using the correct rules, that's why they cannot guarantee 100% accurate). As a matter of fact, this method is more fun and pro-science, it can be even taught at a school.

There is also another method derivate from I-Ching called "Bazi" or "4 Pillars", which use a person's time of birth to read his complete life (twins or triplets have some specific techiques to read). As far as my study goes, Bazi can achieve 100% accuracy, however it takes decades of practicing to be that good.

[asci_blue]

I know of 4 pillars, my mother is into it, just not sure how deep. :D

The method you describe does sound quite fascinating. I don't suppose you have any resources we could use to look up your method do you? :)

[wbh4305]

I haven't seen any introduction of the method in English. There are lots of materials (some of them are misleading however) online in Chinese. If you know Chinese, I can show you some.

But it's so awfully hard to interpret. I'd like to help, but I don't know how. I have the idea to maybe introduce this method to the West, do you see any possibilities? I think the 4 pillars is a very scientific method which can be used to predict the diseases, it's just like human genes that tells everything about you and more.

[asci_blue]

As far as introductions go, I'd offer to show some of your work. Take a consultation from the past, demonstrate how it was done and how it ended.

An easier way to describe this, for me anyway, is to show off work I'm capable of. I'm interested in getting into car audio. I did a reading on this as well and if I'm correct is VERY positive. However my lack of experience is doing to stop me from getting in easily. I've been considering fabricating some fiberglass enclosures to show that I'm capable of doing the work needed just lack the raw time in service to be attractive to employers.

So for you I'd write up a walk through of how to get from your question to what it means, step by step. Lets face it, we all cast coins to stalks, but the majority read from a book. What you could do is write the book for us to read, be our map to another method of divination.

[memobook]

Wow that sounds like a totally different way of looking at the iching and quite exciting too. For now as a newbie I'm just content at analysing my readings and trying to connect with my answer..

I ave just been using iching for about of a month as a result of a some turbulent events in my life at the moment. I had a recent reading which resulted in hexagram 2 and another which was 22.1 to 52. It was good to be able to interpret these readings separately and gain some insight but what I found so wonderful was when I considered these readings together - the situation just became so clear! I really had a moment of complete clarity and actually felt quite loved by the iching. It was a very peaceful feeling, almost surreal.

[hilary]

I had a 'whoah!' I Ching moment yesterday. I'd gone into Oxford to buy something specific, and after a lot of hunting round I found what I was looking for. But for some reason I decided to walk on and look at the next shop I'd been going to visit anyway, where I happened on a pot of minute beads that I thought would make the ultimate portable set of 16.

When I took my beads to the till and explained what they were for, the shopkeeper was fascinated. She didn't know you could consult with beads, but she had a history with the I Ching. She remembered there was a time when she 'wouldn't get out of bed in the morning without casting,' and she remembered vividly how the oracle could give her a firm kick when needed.

But most of all, she remembered the time in the 70s when the oracle talked her out of carrying cocaine through customs. She'd already agreed to carry it, but still asked the I Ching for its comment. It said something about the small fox that soaks its tail in the water and can't complete the crossing; she changed her mind.

[solun]

These are fascinating to read. Recently I asked for direction. I don't recall the exact words of my question, it was generally about what to do with my abilities, how to use them most effectively in life.
The answer was beautiful and encouraging, inspirational.

28. Ta Kuo/Preponderance of the Great with lines 1 and 6 changing to
1. Chi'ien/The Creative

[bamboo]

My 18 yr old daughter was home from college the week of jewish holidays. All classes were canceled except for two , both on thursday, and she was considering taking an absence for both of them rather than going back into NYC for just the one day. why spoil a nice "vacation" ? Each class allows 2 absences a semester, but the classes are 3 hours each, and it isnt always wise to miss one.

She asked me: What do you think? should I take an absence for the two classes and just stay home? I said it was up to her.

As i was sitting in the living room, I heard the sound of coins jingling in the next room. ( she is not a regular diviner, so I smiled to myself. She has a favorite text she uses on the rare occasion when she throws coins, and I could hear her paging thru it)

She came out after reading the text, and said: "It's 53.2."

I said " Well, it's not an unfortunate line. You're in a secure place so far." I could see her thinking as she walked out to the kitchen again.

Then I thought about it, and yelled out to her: "then again, your classes are three hours long and it s a gradual development of material....You might be disturbing that process....."

BUt she was already getting her stuff together, having had the same intuition.
" Yeah, I'm going to class."

I guess 53.2 could have been read either way, but I was so proud of her wise understanding of the Yi's response. And as always, I am reminded that responses are often not "yes" or "no" but rather, "here's the deal...what do YOU think you should do?" She did good;)

[_jte]

Quite a few years ago:

Me to I-Ching: Well, I'll just keep living my life and using the I-Ching.
I-Ching to me: 61.5
Me: *cries*


Today (background - I haven't asked the I-Ching more than 4 or 5 questions in the past 8 months or so):

Me (respectfully): Hi, I-Ching.
I-Ching: 38.5
Me: :)

- Jeff

[emc2cme]

Hi, guys. I LOVE this thread. Thought I'd post something that just happened. I worked in the urban core for many years, and often felt sad (and even desperate, if truth be told) about why some people seem to have it all, and why others always have less. I was doing some online research about a group (that I've been asked to join) which was purportedly formed by our governor to help students achieve greater progress in math, science, technology, etc. and I finally took the time to actually review their plan. Why was I surprised to find that it would actually only benefit about 25% of the students, that it would cost eighty million dollars, and worse, that it was headed by some of the same people in our state that are directly responsible for (mis)educating our students in the first place---the same people who have NOT done their jobs for the past fifty years, who have no intention of doing them, and who won't do them now.

No, I don't own stock in the book, and frequently disagree with the author on many points, but there's a former state teacher of the year, John Taylor Gatto, who wrote a book called The Underground History of American Education (free online at johntaylorgatto.com). In this book, he tells about how our present system of education is (and has been for the past 150 years or so) designed to funnel students from their homes into one of two places: 1) into their position as leaders, movers and shakers (the top seven percent or so), or 2) as mindless, obedient employees and consumers (the rest of us).

As I put two and two together on this initiative that I'd begun to place some faith in, I asked the Yi in some despair: why do the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and will it always be that way?

The answer it gave me was so piquant that I had to laugh:

14.1.6 (Possession in Great Measure) changing to 32 (Duration). In other words, yeah the rich are always with us, and stop whining already.

I paused for a minute to think about how I, although I FEEL poor sometimes, have so much more than other people do, and how maybe it's better to be grateful for what I do have (and I'm not speaking for everyone here--everybody has to draw their own line in the sand). Also, although I might not be rich, I've got more blessings in my life than some rich people that I know, and how I'd never trade them for anything. Then I asked what I should do about it. It said:

50.6 (the Cauldron) changing to (weirdly) 32 (Duration)

In other words, get off my a**, get busy with my own cauldron and whup up something tasty for my life--for the rest of my life:-)

I just love this forum, and am thankful to Hilary for providing this rich field of communication and learning, and to the person who started this thread. Great idea!

Nancy