I am starting at a new job tomorrow.
And my question to the I Ching was: "How will I do at my new job tomorrow?"
The answer was 44 unchanging.
My interpretation is that I will most likely not be accepted at the workplace.
Do I see this right?

I don't see that at all!!

I think it's saying be wary of negative influence - but it can only be dangerous if you let it... I think it is positive in terms of starting a job because I think it means you will meet people who will stimulate, challenge and inspire you - a creative coming to meet! But perhaps also there will be people who don't have your best interests at heart, or who are competitive or jealous, but just minimise the effect they have on you. I think it's about good meeting bad, and the bad doesn't have to affect the sprouting good (represented by the emerging Yin line).

Does that comfort you? good luck! confidence is key as they say..

:bows:

Thank you em ching.
Yes, that comforts me a lot.
I haven't had a job in over 25 years.
I have completed a course, and this is to take what I've learned into practice, and create work experience. It's for three months.
Needless to say I'm kind of nervous
But I'll keep your words in the back of my head.
Tomorrow I will walk into that office, thinking to myself: "I'm confident! I"m confident! I'm confident!

44 with no moving lines

44 with no moving lines is very auspicious. It's the birth of a new era for you.

Hexagram 44 is very misunderstood, because it has to do with a strong woman, also called The Royal Bride. The original picture for this hexagram was an important woman giving birth.

44 often means in practical terms Coming to Meet or Going to Meet, as when we get up and go someplace to do something or meet someone. Hexagram 44 means encounters of true significance in the outside world.

There is nothing negative about hex 44 with no moving lines. Sometimes we get the static hexagram because none of the moving lines applies to us. Another reason you might have gotten a static hexagram is that the Yi was giving you a command:

"Mazaru, go forward to meet them!"

Static hex 44 could mean a couple of other things, too. Please get back to this thread and say what happened ! ! !

Thank you for your kind words barbra.
I will keep you informed of how it will work out.
I'm glad I asked you guys for help. I feel a lot better now.

Yeah keep us informed so we can see how it goes in relation to Coming to meet. Perhaps it's referring to the fact that you are obviously going to work in a field you are interested in, and so will inevitably meet like minded people!

Good luck

em ching said:

Yeah keep us informed so we can see how it goes in relation to Coming to meet. Perhaps it's referring to the fact that you are obviously going to work in a field you are interested in, and so will inevitably meet like minded people!

Good luck

Click to expand...

The people where I followed the course with, asked me to make a list of places I would like to get workexperience. And then they would write to these places and try to find one that could need some help.
I gave a list of places that were mostly in healthcare. My very first job was in healthcare, and I loved it.
But due to health issues I can't be active with nursing people anymore, so I was hoping to get an administrative job in a healthcare centre.

To my big surprise I got a phonecall from an estate agency, to come and have a talk about getting a temporary place to get work experience with them.
I did not put them on my list. So it is a completely different enviroment then what I thought I would get.
After the talk the man told me he would love to have me help him out.
And if I could start working this monday.

So it all went very fast, it was my first job interview. And I just finished the course a couple of days before Christmas.
So not only are things going a lot faster then I thought they would go.
But the workfield and the people I am going to work with, are also very different then what I thought they would be.

Life really is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get

Well, I finished the first day at my new job.
The people were very kind to me. I didn't make any huge mistakes.
All in all, it went fine.
44 wasn't what I feared it would be.
I still need to learn a lot, but I think I will do just fine there.

Good news!

That's wonderfully good news, Masaru!

Hilary's CD-Rom called "Women and Relationships in the Yijing" here at this website gives great insights about hexagram 44 and others, too. Hilary interviewed a woman named Margaret Pearson, a scholar of Chinese language, philosophy, and history. The reputation of Hexagram 44 needs to be restored, especially now, when so many woman fall quite naturally into the category of "strong women."

"The woman is powerful. One should not grab such a woman." No, she is not the sort of woman you would "grab" in the forest and to have your way with her. She is the kind of woman whose dignity and general demeanor deters bad behavior on the part of others. She has great presence. :bows:

Great way to look at it indeed.
I'm a woman! Hear me roar!

How do you like this!
I asked the I Ching: "What will happen after doing this job for the three months?"
Answer: 44.5 > 50
I think 44 likes me

He he glad it went well! And by the looks of 44.5 seems you'll be able to unleash your power here successfully and it will be welcomed! I need more of the 44 Maiden in me...

:bows:

In the Mawangdui manuscript the title of this hexagram,
also pronounced Gou, means "Bitch". This is not about a
woman who is powerful, however eager the feminists may
be to jump at this apparent possibility. It's about a woman
to whom one gives power, and against the Yijing's explicit
advice. If this were a "powerful woman" the phrase would
be written "zhuang nu", not "nu zhuang".

Interesting differences in points of view

In line with that, the Greg Whincup translation called Hexagram 44 "Subjugated," and it reads: "Subjugated. The woman is too strong. Do not wed her." And I guess a man would not want to wed such a woman because he might end up a hen-pecked husband.

But that is from the point of view of a man who is looking for a wife. What if I'm not a man looking for a wife? Mazaru is a woman who is looking for a job . . .

Hex 44 does seem to draw out differences in points of view . . .

However, of all the lines in 44, I think 44.5 is the least prone to controversy. I have understood it to mean a real sheltering by someone more powerful of someone or something very tender, or even a mutual sheltering that leads to the possibility of a hexagram 50 situation: spiritual growth, kindness, generosity, and an all-around flourishing.

To get 44.5>50 is, in my opinion, a wonderful sign for Mazaru of success on this job. It certainly does not mean that she will come by her success by making a man suffer, either. There are hints in some translations of this line that if Mazaru happens to be really intelligent, she might consider keeping that fact concealed, so as not to make others around her feel uncomfortable.

Gee, it seems like the battle of the sexes is really raging in this hexagram 44!

barbra said:

Gee, it seems like the battle of the sexes is really raging in this hexagram 44!

Click to expand...

Actually, it has nothing to do literally with the battle of the sexes.
The whole image is a metaphor - for the battle against Entropy,
the "undermining influence", against getting bewildered.
This is why, in the Da Xiang, the King has to issue redundant commands.

Overcoming Entropy

Overcoming entrophy. I thought I might go meet my sister for a visit, and that was covered under hex 44. When I thought I might go to travel to visit my former (female) boss in another state, that meeting was covered under hex 44. I couldn't overcome my entropy in either case. I didn't go to see my sister or my former boss.

Somehow this hexagram has been written about by many authors who have evoked an evil influence, something to be afraid of. Is that because encounters that might include sexual contacts of a brief kind are also covered under this hexagram?

In the case of Mazaru's job interview, maybe all job interviews are charged with frightening power of some kind, and that's why she got hex 44?

In any case, it's one of those hexagrams where timeliness is important. The advice is often translated as speaking against marriage but it doesn't say to avoid all contact. Hex 44 says to me: Go now, but if you don't go now, then forget about it.

The briefness of the contact is only overcome in the place of the fifth moving line, where that changes into The Cauldron, which, it seems to me, could be a nourishing situation for a long time.

Actually, I remember also getting hex 44 when I was thinking of going to visit my brother in another state. I didn't go to see him, either. I guess I just was not able to overcome the entropy.

I think I didn't go because of the bad rep of hex 44. I wish I had gone to see him. It would have been better if I had gone to see him then.

Without going into all the details, I think my perception of this hexagram in particular has been distorted due to the frightening words attached to it. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had this reaction, because by and large we all learned the I Ching the same way, from the ones before us.

I think I'd have to study all the lines before I'd be willing to say anything further on hex 44. Fifth line moving is fortuitous. I know that from my own life. And the static hex 44 is also fortuitous.

Why should this hexagram be all bad? Even hex 23 or hex 29 is not all bad.

bradford said:

In the Mawangdui manuscript the title of this hexagram,
also pronounced Gou, means "Bitch"...

Click to expand...

Brad:

I'm affraid that GOU doesn't mean what you say (B I T CH), it means DOG, without explicit genre, like almost all the nouns in the YI chinese. For meaning she-dog it should be written PIN GOU (female dog).

For GOU in modern chinese Lin Yutang gives three main acceptions to which I add some alternatives (between brackets).

• as noun: dog / hound / hunting dog / (A N I M A L / B E A S T)
• as verb: to fawn / to cringe / (to F U C K and, by extension → F U C K !)
• as adjective: worthless / ignoble / despicable / (D I R T Y G U Y)

bradford said:

... If this were a "powerful woman" the phrase would be written "zhuang nu", not "nu zhuang"...

Click to expand...

• Not always the YI chinese follows regular syntax (adjective + noun)
• A noun can be used in adjectival function, as in 女工 nu gong = female worker or in 女王 nu wang = queen.
• I believe that in YI chinese the verb TO BE is almost never explicit (Am I right?)

女 nu means woman / women / girl / girls / lady / ladies ...
壯 zhuang (almost always applied to men) functions as adjective like strong / robust / powerful but also as noun like strength / manhood

We have alternatives such as:

• Women are powerful (noun + implicit verb + adjective)
• Woman power (in the sense of female power, noun as adjective + noun)

I believe that the first fits better with the text that follows.

I like to translate GOU NU ZHUANG using for GOU a common meaning for both characters (the received and de MWD):


These matters have been examined by initiative of LiSe and Rosada in the following threads:

BUT ISN'T THIS A PLACE FOR SUPPORT AND ADVICE? WHAT SORT OF SUPPORT AND ADVICE ARE WE GIVING HERE? (1)


Yours,

Charly

_________________________________
(1) Mazaru and Barbra, I love the girls that know how to roar!

THE POWERFUL GIRL !!!
More White Tigress photos at:
http://learning.sohu.com/20070405/n249225040.shtml

Click to expand...

44 UC Warning (Health)

Earlier today after I got off work, I felt exhausted and took a long fitful nap. I had strange dreams, nothing that emotionally upset me, even though the images were a mix of nice and awful: an ogre with huge flat feet leaving bloody footprints, a big awesome luxurious bathtub, taking an ussie with my dad, and the ugly ogre with bloody footprints being chased away by villagers with clubs and pitchforks. It's dreaming - what can I say?

I woke up pale and drawn, my eyes puffy, not feeling rested at all. I asked the oracle to comment, and received Hexagram 44 Unchanging. I looked at every angle of this hexagram trying to figure out what it was saying to me. The simple solution is always the best, or so I've been learning.

It represents a warning of a sudden onset of something that is going to grow into a crisis if left unchecked. One interpretation (a Chinese source in English) says: "The judgement says, do not marry such a female, as it is not possible to get along with her for any length of time. The male will be bullied when the female becomes powerful. The ancient female ruler promulgates her commands in all directions. It is better not to marry her because she has a tendency to dominate the male. An even match can produce a fruitful result, however a crisis emerging if a suitable male is not found. She will overpower them one by one, and instead of productivity there will be decay. However this will mean Retreat (33), wherein the gentleman has to retreat as the crisis isn't suppressed in time so that her powers begin to prevail. This then leads to 12 Divorcement."

Hexagram 44 comes and goes quickly, so it is a fleeting opportunity, like the wind it comes and is gone. It also seems to cover the Whistleblower approach to exposing a problem (like investigative journalism or a spy infiltrating an organization to expose in an explosive way), versus in 43 where one simply departs indignantly.
It is also like a cold or flu coming on. The symptoms begin and grow stronger, and cannot be ignored.
>>>>
So I went to eat some dinner, thought maybe I'd meet up with a friend for a bit this evening, socialize. Then maybe I'd feel a little better. But after eating, I became aware that my head aches, my body aches, my nose is slightly drippy, my voice is sounding like laryngitis is beginning...and I still feel tired after sleeping all afternoon.

Hexagram 44 UC! The second line is responsible for repressing line 1, to prevent it from reaching the rest of the "guests." So, I canceled meeting with my friend, and came home to begin preventive measures (I soak my toothbrush in hydrogen peroxide, rinse my mouth with it for one minute, then brush my teeth - I'll do this twice a day until I feel better. This usually works to stop the progress of a cold of flu, and reduce the symptoms to where my immune system can take care of eliminating it.)

I really can't afford to miss any work sick, as I just started a job and I have a lot of other things going on as well. So I asked the Oracle for advice on what else I can do to beat this thing and endure.

42UC. - Increase. The chinese source I was referencing for interpretation said "This is time to increase. The oracle bone script depicts water pouring into a container, which suggests AN INCREASE OF WATER (my emphasis) - to benefit those below." The inner hexagram is 23 to peel off, a condition where masculinity (goodness) is being peeled off, one after the other, by feminine lines, "hence the enrichment of masculinity is required." The changed hexagram of 42 is 32, which is endurance, which results in the increase of life.

So, that's pretty obvious, practical, somewhat boring. But then again, pretty profound to me. I'd thought of every measure except increasing my water intake! The text says that it is advantageous to go somewhere - it is instrumental in crossing a great river. Sounds lot like what happens when you drink a lot of water and flush bad stuff out of your system. "To diminish the one above so as to enrich the one below; the people are endlessly joyous be cause the norm of Increase greatly radiates. There is a celebration thanks to the axle centres (lines 2 and 5) acting righteously. Both lines will be happy with the result. The Norm of Yi can be carried out daily and will progress without limits. The heavens provide sunlight and rain, and the soil and air of the earth bring forth all life. This enrichment from nature proliferates from season to season, ever cycling. In the same way, the norm of enrichment from those above to those below can be practiced continuously. A gentleman, in accordance with this, imitates goodness once he sees it, and rids himself of wrongdoing whenever he can."

:bows:

Thanks for the warning 44UC!!! To be a truly strong woman, I need to promulgate my orders to all four corners: the right ones will produce good, the wrong ones won't. And every girl knows that drinking water is awesome for hair and skin looking their best.