Hello,

This morning I was finishing up some work at home and thought about visiting a nearby cafeteria-style restaurant that I often frequent. A strong sense of agitation seized me, so strong that I literally stood up from my desk and shook my body (kind of like how a dog shakes its coat) just to get the bad energy off me. I read about this technique years ago in a book about maintaining positive energy around oneself. The method seems to work although, naturally, I only tend to do it when I am alone Anyways, rather than ponder the source of my agitation I decided to go to the restaurant and eat. After I got my food one of the employees began yelling across the room at me because I was using the wrong coffee pot. The episode was rather mortifying even though perhaps it should not have been. Feeing rather shaken I returned home, meditated briefly, and then asked the I Ching for guidance with what, if anything, I should learn from the occurrence at the cafeteria. I received Hexagram 8.2.3>48. Line 3 seems to carry a very strong warning against associating with the wrong type of people. I feel a bit silly asking this but is the I Ching simply warning me to stay out of that restaurant? There's nothing particularly notable about the place other than it sits one block from my home and has good prices. Should I be looking for a broader message in this reading? Thanks in advance for any help with interpreting this.

Interesting! Yes, I'd say for whatever reason that's a strong warning to stay away. I've gotten 8.3 as a striking warning twice in my life that I can remember...each time it was very good advice not to continue associating with people or continue on a certain path (that involved troublesome people or institutions), and both times I followed the advice. Not to be too dramatic, but in hindsight I'm certain one of the times I received 8.3, about a decade ago, Yi's warning saved my life.

I think 8.2 is a nice counterweight to the starkness of 8.3, saying "trust yourself". After all, the first warning about this cafeteria came not from Yi, but from your own intuition (the bad energy shake you did).

As far as why the cafeteria is dangerous...who knows? Obviously something is not right there, and whether the peril is specific to you or more generally attached to the place, it's hard to say. I'm not sure where in the world you live, but in the US gun violence is not uncommon, and there have been some high profile mass murders in workplaces (sometimes by random psychopaths, other times by vengeful ex-employees). This, for whatever reason, is what popped into my mind when I read your query and 8.2.3->48.

48 I see as this being a learning experience for you in some way...perhaps in appreciating intuition? Or maybe 48/The Well is very literally the coffeepot...? !! Perhaps this reading and situation is not as dire as I'm making it out to be.

Nevertheless, I'm a cautious person, and I 100% trust the I Ching. I think I'd never step foot in that cafeteria again. Just my opinion!

Thank you so much for your insight, Mulberry. Today has been a very odd day. A power outage cut off electricity to my neighborhood for three days and service only resumed just last night. People seem very tense in the aftermath. Actually, people have seemed very tense around here for a long time. I live in a very large, very expensive American city where a lot of individuals and families are struggling. Many seem (at least to me) to be trying to cover their fear with aggressive behavior. After leaving the cafeteria (without eating) I ordered some coffee at a deli in the ground floor of my building. This deli offers food/drinks at a 50% discount to police officers so there are always police officers there. At a nearby table a cop was regaling his buddies with tales of violence which basically seemed to demonstrate exactly why he of all people did not belong in a position of authority. It was disturbing. About 15 minutes later - in the middle of July and in the midst of a statewide drought - a thunder and lightning storm started. We almost never get thunder and lightning here. It is still raining now.

Sorry if I blathered on too long but today feels like a significant day. Maybe I will just remain at home. Thank you for validating my instinct to stay out of that cafeteria.

My daughter phoned yesterday to say
That she had had
A very disturbing incident in a coffee shop. A woman had entered and tirades against her - shouting obscenities for no reason and it had left her feeling very off-centre. She phoned today to say that she had had a roeal instinct not to go into the coffee shop but had thought it just a passing thought.
She could have gone to so many other coffee shops ...

I think that your reading 8.23 to 48 almost certainly means you should utilise your instincts. I think that's my times we need to value our own judgement ..perhaps it was something in the air yesterday that made people in coffee shops act strangely ....
This was in London ...

Hi Butterfly Spider,

Thank you for mentioning this. Yesterday (day of the cafeteria episode) just felt very peculiar and the I Ching reading seemed very important. I will be making every effort to trust my instincts from now on. Hope that your daughter is feeling better after the incident. It can really rattle your senses to be at the center of a weird public spectacle of that nature.