Hi, I was hoping to get some input and insight from some of you here who have more experience with the I Ching.

Although I had a number of different questions floating about in my head, I didn't consider any of them truly relevant... and since I was in the frame of mind to dialogue with I Ching but couldn't settle on any one issue in particular, I decided to simply ask "what is it that i really need to know at this time?" and received hexagrams 55 & 15.

The two changing lines both mention encountering someone who has something I lack. I am curious, what would be the best way to interpret this response to the general and unfocused question I asked in the first place?

Could this response actually have something to do with something or someone "specific" and important to me that I need to be aware of that I'm not?

Or could the response have something to do with the fact that I was unable to choose my question in the first place? If so, how so?

How would any of you interpret this sequence of hexagrams if you were asking the same general question regarding yourselves? Should I just keep asking more questions to figure out it's inherent message or would you suggest that I sit with these hexagrams until the message becomes evident, however long that it takes?

Thanks in advance for your help. Alexis

Hi Alexis...

I'll tell you the short version first. I'll let the others who like to "dig deep" into the Yi tell you the long version.

NICE reading!

Are you thinking of changing jobs soon? Or starting a new business? If not, you very well may be in the not-so-distant future, and it's all for the good. If you're not in a committed romantic relationship at the moment, it could be telling you to watch for "Mr. Right" coming round the corner...if you haven't already met him...*grin* At any rate, another person is soon crossing your path, and your paths may parallel in business or love for quite awhile to come.

It's not that you "lack." It's that he/she will be your complement. Your strenghts and weaknesses, yin and yang will complement each other.

I personally see nothing wrong with consulting the Yi for further insight into the answer. I always do until they tell me Hex 5. Then I know they've told me all I need to know for now.

Cheerio the noo,

Val

Hi Alexis,

I wouldn't be in a huge hurry to extract a specific 'message' from this reading, myself. That experience of feeling there's a reason to be in dialogue with Yi, but not anything you can access with a question, is a precious one...

Of course Val could well be right (stranger things have happened ): this could be a specific prediction of what is coming to you from outside. Still, on the rare occasions when I ask without a question, I try to keep the pattern of the answer open, as a way of seeing.

A couple of ideas about the pattern...

Do you know the story of Hexagram 55? That is a stunningly huge pattern. The full story is in Steve Marshall's Mandate of Heaven. Short version:

The Zhou people were preparing to attack and overthrow the corrupt Shang dynasty. (This is unthinkable revolution #1.) Their King Wen had a garrison city at Feng (the name of the hexagram) where he gathered resources and allies, like those 'lords' of your moving lines. Wen died at Feng; his son Wu took over and would traditionally have spent years shut away from the world in a mourning hut (line 6). But there was a total solar eclipse (there was, too - Marshall has even dated it), and divination revealed that this was an omen to make unthinkable change #2, and come out of mourning early to press home the attack.

So Feng is a centre where you gather your resources, go through darkness of all kinds, and find certain knowledge of what you are meant to be doing. The hexagram is full of images of seeing light or receiving guidance in the middle of darkness. Even a 'lord' is literally someone who bears a lamp.

LiSe (who wrote/is writing this glorious I Ching website) has the idea that the lords in line 1 and line 4 are two different kinds of ally: at line 1, a friend and kindred spirit, at line 4, one from a much darker and more alien place.

Isn't it fascinating that when you change those two lines about allies and guides, that you reach hexagram 15, which has a lot to do with meeting and uniting all parts of yourself, with nothing hidden?

Agreeing with Val on one thing at least : NICE reading!!

Hi Alexis,

I don?t have an interpretation for your reading, but I?d like to offer a perspective.

Whatever else can be said about Yi, to most, above all things, Yi is a Teacher. I?d say that Yi is a Teacher even above being a Guide (oracle). That being said, offering Yi an open, willing mind, is the correct mindset for a student who sits at the feet of a Master.

When we have that precious urge to really know truth, not a relative truth as it may pertain to a specific question, but just truth, we will receive some sort of insight into truth, which is grander than whatever specific truth we may have otherwise asked for. Its like saying: I sit at Your feet, willing to learn. Please enlighten me. Your answer clearly demonstrates this illuminating affect: You meet your Ruler.

While there?s certainly a time and place for scrutinizing the symbolic values of a reading, sometimes its more like looking out a window. You look out, and you see a picture. I?m with Val and Hilary on this one, it?s a nice picture.

Enjoy it!

Val, Hilary & Candid, thank you all for your time. Your insights and ideas are educational and most helpful. The image of "NICEness" somehow seems to be an important and relevant part of the message since all three of you mention it as such. I will keep that in mind in the days/weeks ahead.

The message may very well have to do with a new course in business as I have indeed been looking into expanding and that would change the direction I have been moving in. It could also relate to a possible long-term relationship, of either business or personal nature, though hard to pin-point exactly which one and who might be "the one" that is being refered to. And of course, the response can be interpreted as simply Yi's direct way of validating my question and confirming that the dialogue between us is mutual and by no means one-sided.

The more I try to pigeon-hole its meaning, the more ways and situations I find to make it fit. So this makes me wonder, perhaps the message denotes an overall theme that my life is taking (either resonating, opening-up, or conforming to, depending on how I look at it.) My incessant chattering mindbox would like nothing less than to formulate more and more questions and attempt to logically deduce and extrapolate neat little packages of meaning of how they [the hexagrams] relate to my life at this time, but another part of me really likes the idea of absorbing the picture of "NICEness" that has been presented to me here... three X's already ...to basks in its rays and nothing more.

Still, I couldn't help myself ... I did cast another set of hexagrams with the question, "what will I discover should i simply sit with these hexagrams?" The response: 55/46. Notice how hx55 came up again with the only difference being that line 2 is now moving right along-side 1 and 4. I'll sit with them, yes... contemplate them, because the niceness is certainly inviting... but what of that second moving line and then hx46?? Don't these both suggest counsel as opposed to mere contemplation?

Thanks, Alexis

Hi Alexis...

My initial feeling on your first reading was that the Yi was talking to you more about a business situation than a "love" thang, and again my gut is telling me this reading is the Yi honing in on the business situation. I could be totally offtrack, of course, and this could apply to other aspects of your life. I like your approach to the readings...savor them...pay attention to what keeps popping to mind...listen to your intuition. Only you can know for sure where this seems most appropriate. Nonetheless, this again is NICE...*grin*...works for me!

For your first reading, I personally didn't pay all that much attention to the first line and focused on the fourth line because there's a progression in the hexagram. I feel reading all the lines, or focusing equally on them all just complicates the situation. I focused on the fourth line in my first interpretation for you. I still focus on that, however there is excellent advice in the second lie...how to beat the competition.

You have competition for the market or the position you want to expand into. And this competition is "bigger" than you at the moment in the eyes of the "consumer" or the "boss." This competition eclipses you. The Yi is counselling you not to focus on "beating the competition" but to focus on the power of inner truth. Your own worth...your own place in the market or company...your work...your product will speak for themselves. Apply yourself to your tasks...not the competition...do what you have to to earn your rightful place in business...tackle your responsibilities to the best of your ability...network...learn from those who can teach you how to do your task better...how to make your product 'new and improved', how to expand. Take classes...whatever it takes, but don't engage in 'mudslinging' at the competition. If you focus on "beating the competition" you will only meet with mistrust. If you focus on yourself, your product and your ability to expand, hexagram 46 is telling you, "Indeed! Expand you will!"

As to the time frame, my feeling is that you can start taking action now to expand. It may take more than a matter of days or weeks to see the fruits of your efforts. It may be a matter of months. Maybe not. Just don't lose patience if it takes more than weeks.

Cheerio the noo,

Val

Hi Candid...

I can't but help observe the vast differences in how we all perceive the teacher(s) in the Yi. So much of it has to do with our own experiences and personalities I think.

I love the humility in your approach to the Yi you express in, "I sit at Your feet, willing to learn. Please enlighten me." It gives more insight into your question in the thread you started about self-reliance.

My humility toward the teachers comes from a bit of a difference place, and it has everything to do with my recurring dreams. My experience was, of course, that when the dreams started I did not believe in a Creator and my theory was that everything I learned from outside myself, through the Book, was 'manmade'...collective synapses energy output...indeed...*sheepish grin*

So...in my dreams these nondescript 'people' (there were several, not just one) stood around me...beside me and behind me as we looked "from on high" at the workings of fate and destiny...events going to and fro...intersecting at the appointed time in the appointed space, and they told me it's important for me to see this.

And the alarm would go off...morning after morning, and they would still be with me and I would still be seeing this...this concept I didn't believe in. As I crawled across the bed to hit the snooze button, I would tell them (very crankily) to go away now and let me have my ten more minutes of sleep in peace. I would add...morning after morning..."You can believe it's important if you want, but I'm not buying it." By the time I got back under the covers, they were gone, and I was left alone in peace.

After several days of this I was getting pretty frustrated at their persistence to 'push' their concept on me, disrupting my sleep repeatedly to show me the same thing over and over. I was saying things like "Will you ever learn? (tittering at myself now about that question) I don't want to see it." It wasn't until I asked, "Why do you keep showing me this???" that the lightbulb finally went on, and the dreams stopped.

After the lightbulb went on, I reflected that, in spite of the fact I was ever-so cranky with them, they were ever-so patient with me, and I realized it's because they have no ego. They are purely about their 'job'...enlightening. I could be cranky with them because I felt completely free to be myself (and 'myself' is usually cranky when my sleep is abruptly interrupted). They did not present themselves as superior because they possess higher wisdom. That's an ego thing. I felt very comfortable with them...an equal actually, and that's how they wanted me to feel.

I still feel free to be cranky with them. But I don't tend to much any more...ever since I realized the Book as interpreted by Wilhelm and others is more judgmental and 'chastising' than they intend, and that it's the Book, not them, that I take exception with. I still feel free to be myself with them. My humility manifests in that I respect and admire their superior wisdom and am very thankful they share it and I am privileged with the opportunity to tap into it and benefit from it.

Cheerio the noo,

Val

Very interesting dreams and experiences, Val. Thanks for sharing them.

It reminds me of a frequent vision I had back when I was only around 7 years old. Above me in the sky were several men dressed in grey lab coats. They?d be talking amongst themselves about me and the destiny I've been born to carry out. It was in absolute contradiction to my Roman Catholic upbringing, which captured my imagination enough for me to want to be a priest for the many years which followed. Then just a quickly as these visions appeared, they disappeared, never to be experienced again.

As for my image of sitting before a Master (Yi) to receive illumination, its a picture that opens me up to receive whatever it is from wherever it comes from. The question as to, is it another being or an image of my inner Ruler or Teacher, I still don't really know. All I can imagine is that there is a greater wholeness than I'm able to see or understand, and its from this wholeness that all answers come from. Its like a well, which many households tap into. The water comes out from different faucets but its all from the same well.

The sage who stands outside the affairs of the world; this sure is how Yi behaves, in my opinion. My question still is, is that sage a grander part of me or a separate entity? Or, are both assertions really the same? As you said, the beings appear to be egoless, and without an ego there is no individual, no construct to define a self apart from the whole.

Alexis, I can understand how niceness doesn?t feel very significant, especially in an image where the bright sun stands high overhead at noontime, judging the affairs of your life. I don?t think anyone intended to diminish the power of your reading by insinuating its was simply nice or trite. Perhaps nice wasn?t a great choice of words. Interesting that it came up a second regarding essentially the (non)question. It seems though that 55 is exactly what is happening as you shed more and more light upon the subject you?ve enquired about. Be not sad. Be like the sun at midday. Probe and search out the answers. Decide for yourself what is correct. All this is very 55.

Peace, love and laughter,
Candid

Candid...

I didn't really look at the guys with me. I was looking at the concept of destiny...fate...but I was aware of greyness about them. I remarked in a private email to an individual who also had a similar experience that they sure weren't very snappy dressers...*grin*

They were all different from one and another, however, yet all in concordance.

Hey maybe we both met up the destiny dream team....*grin*

Cheerio the noo,

Val

thank you, all, for sharing these experiences.

where has this thread been all my life.

Dear Tashiiij...

I owe you an apology. I misspelled your name in the Tricky Question thread. I apologize for my carelessness. I have another apology. I noticed it a few days ago. I've been remiss. I apologize for my thoughtlessness.

As to your question, I think this thread may have happened when it was destined to...soon after you found this forum...*grin*

Most sincerely,

Val

Val - Very interesting. No, they wouldn't win any fashion awards, for sure. Actually, I didn't "see" them with my eyes, but the mental picture and connected feeling was very clear. Actally, the difference between lab coats and robes really isn't that great. Perhaps a modern version of saints... or men in (almost) white coats? heh heh

Candid, I appreciate your kind words, however I wanted to let you know that I was not disheartened by the use of the word "nice" in the least. If anything, in a world that is often unpleasant and unkind, niceness, in any shape or form, is tremendously welcome.

Val, thank you again for the response to my question. Your explanation of line two is indeed helpful. Very practical advice regarding the changes I expect to be putting into effect in the near future.

Hilary, I really appreciated the little history lesson regarding hx55 you offered. While I have your attention, I also wanted to mention that I find Clarity very helpful and conducive to learning and understanding the I Ching. You've put a lot of effort into Clarity and it shows from the orderliness of it all, especially the discussion board. I don't have near enough time to participate in the on-going threads in "real time", however, the orderliness of your discussion forum allows me to read through the intriguing and informative old threads at my leisure and I really appreciate being able to do that. Thank you for making this all possible.

Alexis