I almost titled this post ‘working with trigrams’ – but the most useful, productive ways I know of to engage with trigrams in readings actually feel a lot more like play. And besides, who needs more work? So here’s how I suggest you start playing. (This is really not a… Read more »Playing with trigrams
A story in three parts? I’ve mentioned before that there’s a pattern in the Zhouyi of concepts or images showing up in threes: three pots, three almost-full moons, three raids that are marital allies, not robbers, and so on. And there are also three zhang 章: in lines 2.3, 44.5… Read more »The mysterious ‘thing of beauty’
(Just one reading, sorry, not a universal formula.) Paloma asked what to do about her worrying pension-less state, and cast Hexagram 5, Waiting, changing at lines 4 and 5 to 34, Great Vigour – changing to So we talked about patience, and self-care, and standing firm, and also not standing… Read more »Panic-free finances
Outside the boxes When I first heard about Benebell Wen’s I Ching, I thought it sounded unpromising. An I Ching book by someone who had already published on tarot, who maintains a website with sections on feng shui, numerology, Western astrology and esoteric Taoism as well as tarot and the… Read more »Benebell Wen’s I Ching
Following on from a previous post… Hexagram 20, Seeing Hexagram 20 has xun, wind and wood, over earth; its Oracle text suggests earth’s open, available quality: ‘Seeing. Washing hands, and not making the offering.There is truth and confidence like a presence.’ Earth will not act, but allows: the ritual provides… Read more »Earth inside (part 2)
Charlie asked ‘How to navigate?’ and cast Hexagram 27, Nourishment – or Jaws – changing at line 1 to 23, Stripping Away: changing to What followed was a strongly resonant conversation between his inner imagery and the imagery of the Yi – and also the ancient Chinese motif of being… Read more »In the Jaws
Earth inside The easiest way to get to grips with the first two hexagrams, for me, is always to think how much they’re not each other. Qian, the creative force of heaven: nothing but solid lines, like the paths of sun, moon and stars across the sky. It moves without… Read more »Earth inside (part 1)
