Can anyone help me with the interpretation of line 5 in hexagram 44 ? I repeatedly receive this answer, always with line 5 moving, when I ask about work/finding jobs etc. I recently applied for a job, asked about it, and when I got this reply took it to mean that I would get it because of the image of ripe fruit/melon falling easily ( i thought the job was mine), however I did not get the job. I have been interviewed for another job today and before going threw this hexagram again(line 5 moving) I do not yet know the outcome. However even when I ask in more general terms about my working prospects I always receive this answer. Most interpretations seem to suggest something falling easily to one, although benefits may be initially hidden. In one translation by K & R Huang, it is suggested wrapping the melon with leaves was considered an act of sacrilege ?? But most translations seem to indicate something falling easily to one. I would be grateful if anyone can give me greater understanding of this line as I just don't know what it is saying to me.

Here's an interpretation of Hex. 44 with moving line 5 from the book I Ching Made Easy by Roderic and Amy Sorrell

<CENTER>Hexagram 44

Intrusions
Encounter
Undermining

A disturbing influence
The woman is powerful,
do not marry her</CENTER>

Tree under the sky. The tree or wind has the characteristic of being uncertain of its direction. This intrudes upon the energy of the sky as an unexpected and unsettling influence.

This hexagram has strong sexual connotations. The single yin line entering in at the bottom of the hexagram represents a single woman seducing five men (represented by the five yang lines).

Interpreting beyond the sexist thinking of ancient China, we have the idea of a distrubing influence insinuating itself into the normal state of affairs.

Expect the unexpected.

Moving Line 5

A Melon wrapped in leaves, as though from heaven.

A slice of sweet melon wrapped in spicy willow leaves, a tasteful presentation. Favorable for a cooperative venture. In time, the fruits of your labor ripen into rich rewards. It may come unexpectedly.

"An Illuminated I CHING" says:

"A wise leader is able to rely on his own strength of character to influence others who are in lesser positions. It is not necessary for him to give pompous displays of power, nor to be constantly complaining of their actions. They will respond to this freedom and show their respect for his integrity by following his directions."

"Twelve Channels of the I Ching" says:

"Achievements are possible if talents are hidden."

and...

"I Ching for Beginners" says:

"If you are true, honest, sincere and genuine, fate will deal you good cards with which to play. Think of others as well as yourself. Be true to yourself. There is no need to go around impressing others."

Finally, "I Ching" by Sam Reifler says:

"The medlar tree throws a shadow
on the gourd beneath it.
If he keeps his brilliance concealed,
Heaven will reward him."

"A melon is delicious, but spoils easily: like the seductive pleasures that give this hexagram its character."

----

I will leave the interpretation to you. I hope these, along with Alisa's input, help you come to a better understanding.

Thanks both of you for your help. Unfortunately though i have already read the above interpretations from the sources you quote, and still cannot make sense of it. I think my talents are pretty well hidden already, so maybe it just means that thats okay and I'll get there in the end without having to draw attention to my abilities ?

Hi Louise,

I was probably thinking about this hexagram and the moving line when I fell asleep last night and one of the first things I remembered when I woke up was the following.

As a kid, one of my relatives had a fig tree in their yard that filled up during the summer. I was taught that when they fell to the ground before anyone had a chance to actually pick them from the tree, then on the ground they would remain as food for the insects. We were only to pick the ripe fruit that still hung from the tree.

My sense is that the fruit in this moving line may represent the job that looks good and appealing on the surface but is not best for you...not really... and you are actually being protected by not getting the job.

Dharma

Here's another take on Hex. 44.

From what you write Louise, it doesn't sound like you want to do your thing (yet?), but the Hexagram is strongly hinting toward that idea??

<CENTER>Hexagram 44</CENTER>

It is the eternal conflict between man and woman. A man (your man) tells you what to do and you are astonished. With your eyebrows somewhere on the top of your head you ask: Why on earth should I do what you say? Just give me one valid reason. He has no reason ? except being man. Nature made the world like that. So you keep the peace intact and do what he wants. You show a geisha-smile and inside you are mad.

9 at 5: 'Use osier enwrapping a melon. It contains a creation. It falls from heaven.'
Carry and treat the future heir with respect - Heaven made it. Every creative action or thought should be handled this way. They may look easy but creativity grows only when everything is right: the seed, the soil, the season. It needs the completeness of nature. It can not be summoned when it is absent.

Guess what? I have just found out that the company for the most recent job I've applied for, want me. It is a job share though so there are still negotiations to be done before it is finalised. I thought, ah well, it is like a fruit just falling from the sky then (i had not put a huge amount of effort into the application). But now Dharma i think you may have thrown a new light on the subject. The truth is I apply for jobs I don't really want but feel I must do, as i need to be sensible and make some money NOW. Yes this job looks quite attractive on the surface - I have no income and no better offers on the horizon - but I know it will just be another boring way to earn a living. I wish I could find a way of doing something meaningful to me that brings me an income, but I can't seem to get there. I learnt reiki healing a few months ago if 'learnt' is the right word, and found it to come through very strongly especially with my partner who was quite ill. He felt it and said it eased his pain a great deal and made him peaceful. He died, but my reiki teacher assured me that sometimes death is healing, and that the reiki would have just made his passing easier, and he did die quickly and easily. I am saying this because I am really wanting to use reiki for the benefit of others and am learning the next stage soon (reiki 2). I find I am in the position of wanting to use it (knowing that it will work) but not being able to give it, because when I offer it (ie my brother who has broken leg for example)it is usually refused. I suppose this has a funny side, it seems absurd going around trying to persuade people to let me use reiki on them... but i know that I can use(channel)it beneficially.
I asked the I Ching "How can I develop reiki if I do not have the opportunity to use it ?" I received hexagram 12 with lines 4, 5 and 6 moving. This cheered me up because I thought it meant the blockage, me not having chance to use it, was beginning to clear. At the moment I am experiencing conflict between doing the 'sensible' thing and taking the job, yet feeling that really although it seems sensible it is a waste of time or a distraction from what I really need to be doing (even though I'm not certain of what that is.) I suppose there is no reason not to take the job and continue practising reiki or whatever else i want to do in the time left. Part of me though doesn't want this compromise. It was interesting Alisa that you said "It doesn't sound like you want to do your thing yet....but the hexagram is strongly hinting towards that idea" That really struck a chord in me, because of the above inner conflict i have described. I feel very much that I am complying with what is expected - from family, society etc..even though no one is forcing me. I am definately having a "geisha-smile" reaction to this job offer. Thankyou both very much for helping me see other ways of looking at this moving line - it is very much appreciated and has focused my thoughts.
Although I have not done a destiny reading I have asked what is blocking my path(spiritually i guess) and also why i find myself living where i do (that just happened on its own synchronistically)for both questions i got 45 line 5 moving, and i took this to mean that i do not have enough faith to follow through my feelings rather than others not having enough faith in me. I mention this as I noticed that Candid had received 45 with this moving line for his destiny reading and we have both been discussing hexagram 23.
Anyway thanks again for taking the time to help me out on this one. Any further insights are welcome.

Hi Louise,

I wrote what follows before I saw this last post of yours. Probably by now it isn't telling you anything very new, but I thought I'd post it anyway . Reiki sounds to me like a perfect example of the gift of 44 being experienced as something that just doesn't fit, threatens the (rational!) foundations, must be resisted - I've known this hexagram to refer to divination, too.

Anyway, here goes...

...

First off, that last ?take? on #44 comes from a real-life divination at I Ching Resources (all I Ching stories for inclusion there very gratefully received!). The section on the line is indeed meant as a general interpretation of it, but the beginning bit is background to a specific question that was answered by 44 changing to 40.

What might 44,5 mean as a recurrent image for work and career? My first instinct was that the image of something falling to you from heaven was taking issue with our work-ethic, career-advancement culture. To develop that a bit? Hexagram 44 in general is about something arriving that does not fit in: the woman isn?t to be married, or can?t be ?grasped?; there?s something new and potentially seriously disruptive entering the situation. Most people find this subversive and threatening, some find it creative.

This line points to the positive side! What comes is an unexpected, startling gift from heaven. Dream job falling into your lap out of the blue? Possibly - but looking at the rest of the line, it seems to be more active than that. Basically it?s a string of images for wrapping, enclosing and cherishing - pictures of fertility.

Wrapping melons with willow - perhaps to prevent sweet fruit from bruising, true. Or they could be bitter gourds used as water containers (yet another ?enclosing? image, in that case), which were bound with willow while still on the plant so they would grow into the right shape. This reading adds another layer of meaning - not only are you looking after your growing abilities, but also shaping your capacity for future tasks.

The next part - ?hold the creation? (or ?hidden lines?, etc?) - literally holding something in the mouth, and a completed and perfected sound, like music. It sounds as if you are invited to hold back and conceal something, not to let it all sing out but to cherish it as a secret.

Is there a narrative emerging here? Growing your capacities, not expressing what you create but nurturing it - that ideogram for ?wrapping? the melons actually resembles a foetus in the womb. Perhaps the gift from heaven comes as a response to this enwrapping and growing, as to a state of readiness.

As if that weren?t enough, the line points to Hexagram 50, the Vessel that contains things and transforms them. It also establishes a completely new regime, or way of being, through its role as sacrificial vessel, connecting humanity to spirit.

This all suggests you have greater things to grow, and greater gifts are coming to you - a wholly new perspective. Expect the unexpected! Does this make some sort of sense?

Yes thanks Hilary it makes alot of sense - infact it is blowing my mind !! I secretly take issue with the 'work-ethic, career-advancement culture'
but tend to keep quiet about it, as its construed as me not wanting to work or being lazy etc. I have the feeling of wanting to be left in peace to nurture what develops in me, but fear being too open about it will invite interference/disaproval. At the moment reiki energy, or whatever one wishes to call it, feels like a big/nice secret, but one that I really want to be able to use and share. I don't feel my values/beliefs or abilities 'fit in' anywhere in the world (just had a big deja vu experience here)
and that as I don't fit in I'll just have to fit in with the world - which taking the kind of job I referred to symbolizes for me. I do have the sense that I am being 'invited to hold back and conceal something..to cherish it as a secret'. It is not always easy to stay with it as of course it has no validation in the outside world at the moment. Hopefully something is developing, like a foetus, in a hidden way. Maybe the 'fruit' will ripen and fall to me so that i can see a way of working in the world that is more in tune with who I am. I hope so. I'm not sure now whether I should take the job offered or
not - it certainly isn't my hearts desire. I'll go and ask the I Ching I think. Being on this site today is having quite a concrete impact on my life and decisions. Your reading has been really valuable to me. Thankyou. I need to read it a few times to let it sink in. I hope i have understood what you are saying correctly. Thanks again for your time.

Louise,

When the hopes and dreams we hold dear in our hearts are not yet born into the world, we have to treat them like we would a seed that has the potential to become a hardy plant one day.

The seed must be planted deep into the soil where for a period of time we will see nothing. We will tend and nurture it with warmth and moisture until it takes root. During this time, before we see it, it is in the dreaming stage.

When it is time, it will begin to emerge to the surface to really begin it's journey in the outer world. In the same way, your passion for Reiki needs to remain hidden away until it too takes proper root.

Be patient. Even though it doesn't seem to be happening right now, that is only a surface appearance. Just keep applying yourself to it --never let go of the dream, it is slowly becoming a part of you. You are growing into the mindset of what it means to BE Reiki --know that.

Dharma

Hi Louise. 5 in 44 is one of my favorite change lines. To me it shows the way toward peace, #11. In my interpretation, its wonderfully yang/yin, male, female, heaven/earth-ish.

A melon covered with willow leaves. Hidden lines.
Then it drops down to one from heaven.

It tells me that, only by preparing my heart, can I receive my heart's desire. The melon is a yin principle, and above we have the triagram, Chien, or Yang. When the I Ching says, the dark principle, it isn't necessarily saying its something evil. Its simply saying that its of the yin principle.

Here, we have a picture of a yin who remains true to herself. To protect her from being spoiled by the elements of the world, she either has covered herself, or has been covered, in willow leaves. This serves to protect her integrity, for she wishes to present herself pure before heaven, or Yang.

Its a beautiful picture, really. What completes it though, is fate is favorable. Heaven comes to her in the image of a well poised man. He doesn't lay heavy demands upon her, preferring to put his faith in an upright personality. And behold, fate is favorable. The ripe fruit symbolizes her own integrity and the blessings from above which fall upon her.

Please understand that both the yin and yang are within ourselves. I have yin in me. She is a female and represents the void, the womb and very significantly, Tao. You, likewise, have yang in you. He is your heaven, your creative energy, your directive power. Each of us has these two principles living within us. Its the balancing of these two parts of ourselves which makes us the way we are.

There is a proper relationship between these two principles, yin and yang. Yang is to be the directive and guiding force, while yin is devoted and receptive. When things get out of whack within us, its often because yin is trying to run the show. This is called, "Coming to Meet, #44." If you catch yourself doing it and then realize its actually your yin coming to meet your yang on "her" terms, it can be quite embarrassing. But its better to be embarrassed in truth, than to do something really harmful because of not listening to your yang.

Louise,

Here is something I took from the book, Numerology and Your Future, by Dusty Bunker.

Amazing! I thought you would enjoy it.


In numerology, the 4 represents the material world, stability, practical, form, foundation, and security.

Four is also the gift of healing. With number 4 we are in the 4 square world of form--everything we can see and touch. 3, as the 3-sided triangle, represents the energy behind the form, the spirit of things, the mind within the body. 4 is the body, the square with four sides, wich contains the 3, or the triangle: e.g., two triangles within the square.

It is the world of form that suffers the illusion of division, of separateness, of disease or dis-ease (out of ease or harmony). It is the body, number 4, that must be healed. But since the body, Numer 4 or the square, contains the mind, Number 3 or the triangle, it is through the mind that the body is healed. Some day the medical profession will publicly state that all desease is psychosomatic, or from the mind. This does not mean that disease is not real. It is very real, but it stems from a misalignment of the mind, the thinking. Remember the times you have not felt too well and were moping around the house--until someone called and said, "Lets go to a movie," and suddenly you felt fine. A small example but an example nonetheless. Much more serious diseasses have been cured by miracles, bu the use of the mind's will over the body.

The gift of healing belongs to the Number 4, the window with four sides through which to see the inner workings of the world of form. The earth and Pluto rule Number 4. The earth rules form in that sense that it is the visible part of form, and Pluto, ruler of Scorpio, is the great healer, the surgeon, the destroyer of outworn or decayed life, and the transformer.

44 is a Master Number.

44 requires that you gie service to others in ways that ease their physical burdens. Through practical down to earth types of work, you reveal the goodness of the physical world to others. You might volunteer to wrok with the sick or mentally impaired, or grow a garden whose vegetables will feed a hungry family, or help build an animal shelter, or raise funds to eradicate hunger.

There are many works you can become involved in under this number; however, the key thought is--work to produce material results that have healing effects. Your reward comes from sharing your talent in very visible ways.

Approach all affairs with a calm, patient, quiet determination, and above all keep your mind keyed to practicality. As a Master number, 44 can bring great spiritual growth for you through the works you perform in God's physical world.

Thankyou Dharma for your supportive message. I do appreciate it.

Thanks also for your response Candid - only trouble is I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Is it that we all have yin/yang energy inside ourselves - that things get 'out of whack' when the yin in us tries to dominate or lead. You say "your yin coming to meet your yang on 'her' terms, it can be quite embarrassing' - sorry i don't understand that - whilst I see that we have both yin/yang energies within us - I cannot distinguish them within myself - also as a female I would assume that yin energy within me is always predominant ? I don't know whether you can clarify your point to me. I've read it several times and am still unclear about it.

I did find your numerological perspective interesting Alisa, especially as I do have Pluto bang on my ascendant in Virgo. Having broken my birth date down I see that also gives me 4. Taurus on my MC does tie in with what you say about practical down to earth types of work. Thankyou it has given me something to think about.

Hi Louise,

It seems to me you understand exactly what I?ve said. It encouraged me to read your response.

Let me explain the ?embarrassment? I spoke of, by way of hypothetical illustration. I get up in the morning to find that someone threw a pound of spaghetti into the drain/disposal. The sink backs up and now I can?t even clean the dishes they?ve left. My yin speaks up and reminds me how unfair this all is, and I become sore. The situation compounds as I?m now being led by a very upset emotion (a yin principle). I recklessly try to unclog the drain, puncturing a hole in the waterline and flooding the kitchen. My emotions (yin) continue to flood my body and mind (yang), distracting me from an effective resolution. (Coming to meet) If this continues, I could be in great danger of humiliation and even possible bodily danger. As Supa pointed out several days ago, a fighter is best when his emotions aren?t in control of the fight.

Yes, you?re correct (in my opinion) to say in your case, the yin (female) is your predominant side, just as mine is a yang (male) This simply is how we are; male or female. The development of our ?significant other? is what helps us to live life as a whole person.

In the last 2 ½ years after the divorce, I?ve begun paying close attention to the development of my own yin. I had to learn to be receptive and to submit to my destiny, and to all the spiritual and practical wisdom I could possibly get. These are all acts and attributes of the yin. Receptive devotion to the creative seed giving yang. This is the opposite of ?Coming to meet? and is best illustrated in #11 Peace, unity. Heaven (yang) now is predisposed to place ?himself? beneath earth (yin). The result is that earth moves downward (gravity) as heaven moves upward. The two unite and are O/one.

You are developing your yang in the same theoretical way. You are paying attention to ?his? intellect (within you) and are becoming more creative and assertive in your expression of yourself. This is your yang. This creates great power within you and at times you may feel as if you want to take on the world. But this yang power must also be tempered through the influence of your yin. Hence, you now add gentleness to your power, and perseverance, as that of a strong bodied mare, capable of transporting heavy loads for you, even carrying you over difficult terrain.

There are all sorts of names given to these two natures within us. I?m most comfortable, thus far, with Jung?s own terms. But they are still only terms for what continues to reveal themselves as a duality of natural law.

I think you have great intuition, by the way. A developed yin trait.

Candid thanks for your response (and compliment - but how do you know ?) While I understand the point you're making, its hard to tie it in with my
original question - how 44,5 can be regarded to my working life - unless you are saying its a time to develop more yang ? I don't want to work you too hard though, so don't feel obligated to reply if you feel you've said everything already. Thanks again, Louise.

Hi Louise.

It ties in because, "Coming to meet" is mainly about attitude, and illustrates the dangers in a poor one. Since the focus of your question was regarding your job and job security, I could surmise that #44 might have been telling you to calm your yin, to submit to certain elements at your job which seemed to be out of control. At the same time, putting your confidence in your yang (heaven). "One should not marry such a maiden." One should not make a habit of dwelling with negative emotions. For, though they may seem harmless at first, they can take a good man or woman down.

Does this help? #44 isn't the easiest to get hold of. Its both far reaching and very close to where we live. Its the cause of emotional unhappiness. Its the rising of powers not suited to lead.

~Candid

Yes, thanks Candid I can relate to that.