Your reading

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Your reading resulted in the following hexagrams:

	changing to
48		2

Hexagram 48, the Well

Key Questions

What is the ever-present resource you draw from?
What can you do to realize its potential here?

Oracle

'The Well. Moving the city, not moving the well.
Without loss, without gain,
They come and go, the well wells.
Almost drawn the water, but the rope does not quite reach the water,
Or breaking one's clay jug,
Pitfall.'

The people of ancient China would sometimes move a whole city to a more favourable site – and they could take everything with them, except the well. You can transplant your centre and change everything about your life, except for the source you draw on to sustain it all. You cannot own this source, nor carry it with you; whenever you move, you will need first of all to dig a new well to reach it.

The well itself is utterly dependable: nothing anyone can do will raise or lower the water level. People and experiences come and go; time passes; the well is always the well, and does not change. You need never doubt that you have these resources, or that they are enough. The real question is whether you have the means to reach into such depths, and a steady hand to bring the water up into the real world without loss. To fail would be disastrous. The potential in the situation is undeniable, but it may still be a long way from realization.

Image

'Above the wood is the stream: the Well.
A noble one toils with the people, encouraging them to help one another.'

Sequence

The Well follows from Hexagram 47, Confined:
'Confined in reaching upward naturally means turning inward, and so the Well follows.'

Changing Lines

Hexagram 2, Earth

Key Questions

How are you being guided?
How can you lend your strength?

Oracle

'Earth.
From the source, creating success.
The constancy of a mare bears fruit.
A noble one has a direction to go.
At first, confusion. Later, gains a master.
Fruitful in the southwest, gaining partners.
In the northeast, losing partners.
Peaceful constancy brings good fortune.'

Earth is first described in the same words as the Creative Force of Hexagram 1 because they are partners in the flow of creation. Creation unfolds from the original vital energy, creating success with an ongoing exchange between spirit and daily work, flowing through to fruition – in Earth, through the constancy of a mare.

The mare is strong, tireless and incomparably fast, and she is acutely sensitive to the subtlest cues. When you have a mare's constancy, you will be steadily loyal to the truth, and always alert and responsive to guidance.

The noble one has a direction to go: she is purposeful, she has a destination in mind, but this doesn't mean she has her route to it already mapped out. And so at first there is confusion: you set out like a pioneer, open to all the possibilities, and find them as many as scattered rice-grains. But later, since you have set yourself in motion, you can receive guidance – you 'gain a master'.

A master is someone who lights the way. You gain someone or something to be loyal to, where you can find fulfilment in service. Once you have this guiding principle (which may or may not be a person), you begin to follow signs as fluently as the mare.

The Zhou people sought out allies in the southwest before venturing into the northeast to face the Shang. There is a balance to be found between joining with like-minded people and following your own calling alone – but gaining allies comes first. Perhaps your individual sense of purpose emerges more strongly when you've learned to work responsively with others, like the mare running with the herd.

And when you can spread your senses out to roam southwest and northeast without limit, you will be peacefully at home in the whole earth.

Image

'Power of the land: Earth.
A noble one, with generous character, carries all the beings.'

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