Someone asked: “How do I go about developing the talent to access this wisdom faculty without using coins, yarrow stalks, computers and so on?” It’s an extremely good question, and not one I truly know the answer to, as it’s not a talent I’ve developed. However, I do think that… Read more »Without coins or yarrow
The ‘sheng’ sacrifice at Qi Shan Harmen’s back! And as always, his research provides information you really have to consider in readings. This time he’s exploring sheng, Hexagram 46. The core divinatory meaning of sheng is (I think) to put in the effort to climb step by step towards a… Read more »New information on Hexagram 46
I Ching Community Discussion Forum: Rude awakenings Very interesting thoughts from Auriel on the lines that lead towards Hexagram 23, Stripping Away.
Email from John: “I was wondering why someone such as the host of ‘Useless Tree’ would ask such large questions as he does. Isn’t it better to ask such questions so as to influence events to promote the general benevolence?” It’s a reasonable question, and I’ll send Sam Crane a… Read more »Why ask political questions?
GreenOwl wrote:
“Ideally you need to allow a good half hour to talk with (or rather listen to) your querent and arrive at the right question for them.â€
Any chance you could do a post (y’know, sometime) that walks through an example of that process? Or, if you’ve already written about it and I’m forgetting, just point in the right direction. Thanks!
That’s tricky, as I promise clients complete confidentiality – no discussion of their situation, question or answer, even anonymously. So I can’t go through a specific real-life example. But I can talk about general experiences that I’ve had with a few hundred customers – why not?
The name of Hexagram 14 is Great Possession, and the character for ‘possessing’ also means ‘offering’ – suggesting that the two ideas are not so far apart as they might seem.
Interpreting this one, I’m often reminded of Molière’s play, The Miser. (Or was this in Plautus’s original, The Pot of Gold?) The miser has kept a pot of gold buried in his garden for years, sneaking off to gloat over it when no-one’s looking. Of course one day someone is looking, and the hoard is stolen, and he bewails his fate. Some witty character offers the consolation that he still has a dank hole in the ground to gaze down, so what has he really lost?
I came across this lovely article – The Abundance Site: Spending as a prayer? – and thought at once of Hexagram 14, Great Possession. The character ‘possess’, which also just means ‘there is’, shows an outstretched hand, holding meat. Owning? Offering? Is there a difference? I think the small ritual… Read more »Spending as a prayer? and Great Possession
