‘Women and Relationships in the Yijing’
with Margaret Pearson
This is the complete recording and transcript of a 90 minute web seminar with Dr Margaret Pearson (of Skidmore College in the US, and New Hall, Cambridge).
Margaret's a very unusual academic: she teaches her students to consult with the Yijing (I Ching). And in the depth of her knowledge of ancient Chinese language and culture, she's also a pretty unusual Yijing diviner. She has rare insights into what the oracle meant to people at the time it was written - which, as you know, all feeds into what it means for us today.
For this webinar, we concentrated on 'women and relationships'. There's a great, thick overlay of tradition in this area separating us from the original ideas of the oracle. Of course, the Yijing uses relationship imagery to talk about all kinds of life experience: 'relationships' with jobs, or ideas, or groups of people, as well as romantic relationships. So when I got this opportunity to pick Margaret's brains about the original meanings of some of that imagery, you can imagine I seized it with both hands.
"I heard (and read the notes), all of it, last night. I thought I would hear just a fragment and continue next day, but the topics were so interesting that I kept going until it was all done. I was left waiting for more.
This is the first webinar I hear, and it was an incredible experience. It is not the same when you read something as opposed to hear experts explaining concepts that sometimes I am not sure I have understood. Dr. Margaret Pearson's point of view about the women in the Yijing is fascinating and I am looking forward to her YJ translation in the future."
Maria, Virginia
Some of the highlights of the recording:
- A radically different take on Hexagram 44, 'Coming to meet': the arrival of the royal bride, a celebration of peace and fertility
- Information on the roles of women in ancient China - not just staying in the kitchen with the food! - that casts a whole new light on the lines about women
- The original meanings of 'yin'. (Not the usual stuff you get in feng shui books.)
- Ideas on hexagram 2, Earth
- A reading: starting a new business, and Hexagram 28, 'Great Exceeding'
"This webinar has the effect of opening a window in a stuffy and dusty
ancient Chinese room which has been sealed for thousands of years. Margaret
brings twenty-seven years of research into the oldest layers of the Yijing
to bear in a bright and understandable way. She is sensitive to the text as
both a repository of wisdom and as an Oracle which should be used to the
benefit of those who consult it. In this way her talk is easy to follow and
her approach is open and tentative."
Kevin Sheffield, London
Just as important as talking about what the text means is talking about what isn't there - what translators and commentators down the ages have just assumed is there. Not that those assumptions are wrong, necessarily - Margaret's very clear indeed that she isn't propounding the 'one true interpretation'. But as she peels back those layers of tradition, you catch a glimpse of a simpler, more natural Yijing.
To be honest, this isn't a 'sparkling', polished recording. Margaret isn't inclined to plunge headlong into the depths of Yi's psychological complexities, and she's not an enormously fluent speaker. (I can relate!) What she is is a thoughtful, reflective one (with a lovely, dry sense of humour). Her insights are backed up with an in-depth knowledge of ancient China - but her way of reading the I Ching is exceptionally clear, simple and straightforward.
Free excerpts to watch online
To get an idea of Margaret's style, and decide whether this the kind of information you want more of, click the following links for three free excerpts from the webinar:
- Hexagram 44 - the Royal Bride? (4 minutes)
- The nature of yin (4 minutes)
- Hexagram 28, lines 2 and 5 (6 minutes)
When you order, you get a username and password to download the recording and transcript immediately. You can also order both recording and transcript on CD - though this is only compatible with Windows computers, sorry. The price is £4 (about $6.12 or €4.48) for instant access to the downloads, or £9 (about $13.77 or €10.08) to get the CD posted to you as well.
"Margaret gave a very interesting discussion about her new translation of the YiJing and modern interpretations of the YiJing in our lives today. Several lines were discussed in detail with various alternate interpretations. There was interesting discussion and questions by those who attended.
The Webinar is a very useful way to transmit information around the world with multiple voice input and multiple text input. One of the attendees also contributed the actual Chinese text of the lines that were being discussed. It was interfaced with web pages so we could see current English translations of the lines being discussed and renditions of some of the Chinese characters as they appeared in the Zhou dynasty.
It was a very interesting Webinar."
Richard Sears
http://www.chineseetymology.org
(The £4 price is set in UK £ sterling, so the price given in US$ and Euros will vary slightly with exchange rates. Please click here for a live currency converter; you can also use it to find prices in Australian and Canadian $.)
Included on the CD and in the download area:
- full video recordings of the event to play back on your computer
- complete audio transcript in pdf format, with a clickable table of contents for easy browsing - and notes from text chat, footnotes of Chinese text, and illustrations from the slides, so you can read it fluently without needing to refer back to the video.
Bonus! 2 weeks' free access to Change Circle
Change Circle is Clarity's private community, where I Ching enthusiasts share readings and pool their insight and experience. You can skim through all that's included here.
Women and relationships in the Yijing includes two weeks' free access to the complete Change Circle (regular price £5/month), giving you ample time to explore the resources, get to know people, and decide whether you'd like to stay on. (Please note you will not be re-billed automatically after your two free weeks.)
Steps to get your recording and transcript:
- Choose whether you want your recordings on CD (you also get instant access to download them), or just as a download. (If you have a slow internet connection, I would recommend the CD: the files for download are quite large, up to 14MB in the Windows version and 22MB for Macs.)
- Fill in your details and click 'continue' or 'buy now'.
Depending on the payment method you chose, you'll be taken to secure servers at either Worldpay or Paypal. - Within minutes of completing your order, you'll receive an email containing your username and password.
- These give you instant access to a private webpage, where you can immediately download the screen recordings and audio transcript from the webinar.
- If you also ordered the CD, I'll get it in the post to you within two working days. After that, delivery times depend on postal services, but you should get your CD within a few days in the UK, and inside two weeks in the US or Europe.
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