I'm Experimenting a New Method of Interpretation

[Sarvenaz]

Hellow fellow ichingers

Recently i was trying to decipher the hexagrams by their upper and lower trigrams... I'm going to share one of my latest readings and my interpretation. I hope i got it right!

Okay i was asking about a complex situation that I'm in. I've been working on a huge project for three years now and it definitely had its ups and downs specially during the pandemic and lock downs. These days I've been thinking about changing its way toward another destination and start a new project within the main one. I wrote down the name of the new and late project and tossed the coins which resulted in 58.4.6=>61

Since the lower trigram - lake- indicates me, in its unchanging manner it shows that I'm joyful and positive and I'm trying to force an opening. (i literally feel like that. Whenever i think about the new project i get butterflies in my stomach in a good way!)

Additionally, the upper trigram is an indication of the environment and others effects. It has two changing lines which is pretty unstable so it represents the negative side of the lake meaning my supervisors have been delusional and denied their responsibility to guide me through those ups and downs that I previously mentioned BUT if I focus on the tiniest of details, explore more and continue to do my new project step by step, things might actually turn for better.

The changing lines are telling me that 4: i have to act sooner and choose the right attitude which is compatible to what i actually believe is good. 6: things are up to luck and others powers, not me.

Hexagram 61 is encouraging me to recognize others motives to come to a balanced and fair judgement.

To sum things up : i have to pick a happy go lucky attitude and just wait to see what's about to happen!


(Dear D! Fingers crossed you see my post and get back to me.)

 

[Trojina]

Additionally, the upper trigram is an indication of the environment and others effects. It has two changing lines which is pretty unstable so it represents the negative side of the lake meaning my supervisors have been delusional and denied their responsibility to guide me through those ups and downs that I previously mentioned BUT if I focus on the tiniest of details, explore more and continue to do my new project step by step, things might actually turn for better.

You could just read the lines which are your answer.

two change lines do not = 'pretty unstable', that gives a false negative connotation to change lines. To take that then to meaning your supervisors are delusional would be an interpretive error. I mean they may be delusional as you said you explained elsewhere but that really isn't indicated by 2 change lines in the upper trigram.

You just demonstrated how hopeless using trigrams alone for interpretation is. You designed an answer that wasn't what Yi was saying at all.

To sum things up : i have to pick a happy go lucky attitude and just wait to see what's about to happen!

It doesn't say that at all. If you make it say that you are saying it not Yi and you totally missed the communication.


I mean really, I don't want to crush experimentation but it is hard to see a person drift so far from Yi's answer by using trigrams alone. It's such a shame when the real answer is there for you to make something up.

 

[dfreed]

Dear D! Fingers crossed you see my post and get back to me.

I will try to get back to you soon (assuming that by D you meant me!)

In the meantime, one person whom is very knowledge about trigrams is Harmen Mesker. He's taking a break from teaching for bit, but you can sign up to be notified about Harmen's courses here, including one he does about using the trigrams / hexagrams and another about using the Yi's text. I have taken both courses and the are excellent! There is also lots of other good stuff to explore on his site.

Harmen also has a information (and entertaining) YiTube (YouTube) channel. If you do go there, I suggest starting with the number videos, 1, 2, 3 (a really good one to start with), and so forth - or look for particular topics of interest.

Interestingly, in the trigrams/hexagrams course Harmen tells us to 'keep the book (the Yijing) closed, since we're not looking at the text; and in the text course we don't look at the hexagrams / trigrams! (and in this course he has us only look at the hexagram and line statements - at the Zhouyi, the earliest part of the Yijing - and we do not look at any of the comments, notes nor commentaries!

I don't see these as separate 'interpretive' methods, but more as separate teaching methods. It reminds me of when I was taking botany in college - we would spent time studying just the root system, and then just the leaves, and then .... we were looking at the 'parts' to better learn about the whole.

My general approach now is to start by looking at both of these -words and images - but I rarely look at the commentaries. And I often consider the hexagrams' names or 'handles' - as I did in your other query, "Which reading is more auspicious? A or B?"

This is my general 'framework' which I think we each need to find for ourselves. Even though I don't use other techniques - or rarely do (and I have tried many), I can appreciate that some find them useful; for me I am usually overwhelmed with the information I'm looking at and don't find it useful (for me) to add more.

Sometimes any 'part' of what I'm looking - words, images, trigrams, names - might jump out at me, and I need to look no further for a useful response. Again, I think each one of us needs to find out way here.

I am no expert, but if you have any particular questions about anything I've said, please let me know either here (or in the Exploring Divination section), or via messaging.

Regards, David

 

[Trojina]

Sarvenaz there may still be places left on the Foundations Course

Places still available for the Yijing Foundations Class

The Yijing Foundations Class is a live, online, 3 month journey through all the essentials for confident Yijing readings. No fancy extras (nuclears, line pathways or what-have-you), just the core elements of a reading. Here's the class page with the syllabus and all the details. Since the...

www.onlineclarity.co.uk

This gives you all kinds of stuff to experiment with alongside other people including trigrams. As the title suggests it's the foundations of interpreting the I Ching. Very thorough and no better place to start if you were looking to do a Yi course.

From what I've seen I'd say it was a very holistic approach to interpretation, getting the 'whole picture' in any reading which is pretty important IMO. Trigram only readings are okay to experiment with but if you actually want to know what Yi is saying you won't get far using trigrams alone.

Occasionally it might actually work in that you get all you need to know from the trigrams, or all you need to know from the picture the hexagram makes for you, or all you need to know from the title. However most of the time actually taking advice using trigrams only will be next to useless and you end up with something the answer really is not telling you as you have here.
The notion that changing lines mean imbalance limits your interpretive capacity. Change lines matter they don't just mean 'imbalance'. Also it's fine experimenting with trigrams if you are already quite well versed in Yi and have a grounding in the overall picture but if you are a newbie I'd say starting with trigrams only is a road to confusion.

 

[dfreed]

PS - Harmen's 'method' is only one of many ways of working with trigrams (though it is one I like); their use has a long history: author and translator Richard Rutt says, "Nineteen stories about the use of Zhouyi (the hexagram and line text, along with use of the trigrams) between 671 BC and 487 BC occur in the Zuo Commentary" - an ancient Chinese narrative history.

One thing I found interesting with these examples was how creative the early diviners were in their interpretations. Richard Wilhelm also uses trigrams; you can find these in Book III of his translation. For example, as part of his description / explanation of Hex 11, Peace, he writes:

".... The movement of the lower trigram Ch’ien (Heaven) tends upward, that of the upper trigram K’un (Earth) tends downward, and thus they approach each other .... "

Best, D.

 

[dfreed]

PPS - Hilary is starting her foundations course in a few weeks and there may still be spaces available. See her post in the I Ching News section. Her's is a good course if you're starting out. D.

 

[Trojina]

Yes I already gave that information and linked to it in post 4

 

[dfreed]

Thinking about changing ... destination (direction?) and starting a new project (within the main one)
Response: 58.4.6=>61

Keeping the book (Yijing) closed:

The lower trigram is Lake which may be simple advice: to "keep a positive attitude" - which I have sometimes found to be very profound, but I often forget it. Lake also denotes communication, so perhaps you need to remember to communicate (to have 'joyful communication') with those involved: your team-mates, boss, employers, employees, interns ....

The upper trigram is also Lake, but here the two moving lines (4,6) indicate some kind of imbalance or some aspect(s) you need to be aware of with your transition to a new project. Generally, I understand unbalanced Lake to be about frivolousness, addiction (to pleasurable things), and/or non-communication.

So, as applied to your project, maybe look at your goals or reasons for wanting to start something new: are you just seeking something that's more 'pleasing' to you - which is sometimes okay when we do it in a balanced way - but it might (or for example, possibly) be more like an addiction if it were to stop you from ever completing a project, because you always changed it or 'moved on' before it was done. I'd also ask, are you communicating your new ideas/plans to those who will be affected by them - and especially those who may have to approve them?

Trigram Wind (the upper trigram of 61) suggests that it will be good to take a gentle, long-term approach (and attitude) towards your new project: that it may be more about 'exploring' - and discovering new things - and less about achieving something pleasing. Here, trigram Wind reminds me of the age-old advice, to take (and give?) pleasure in the journey, and not just the destination. And thinking long-term, is it possible that it would be best to first complete your current project before moving on to a new one - even if the new project seems very appealing to you (just a possibility)?

* As a side note, sometimes I find that just interpreting the trigrams gives me all the information I need (as above). And at times that's meant really 'only looking at' the trigrams - that I got an immediate and useful response that didn't involve 'interpreting' the trigrams to the level I did above - my understanding was more immediate and visual. There is also a wealth of information too in the the Yi (books wide open!). One way of approaching (or working with) an oracle doesn't preclude looking at it in other ways.

I hope that's of some use to you. D