I wasn't entirely sure whether I should have shared this in one of the existing threads on convid-19 or if it should be in a new one. Please feel free to move it around as you see fit. On New Year's Day I like to ask the yi to give me a hexagram for the year ahead. I take this to be a personal hexagram, however in times like this it would be impossible to disregard crises that manifest and impact our entire world and will likely bring about major changes -especially in annual hexagrams!

I was taken aback when I received 51.4, but I feel like now it's starting to make sense. I do think that the shock here might have to do with what we're going through these days and how it affects our lives in their entirety, and of course the mired shock in line 4 is an even more astute description of this situation. We will probably be seeing the impact for a while and we will need to move and be flexible and adaptable to move forward and overcome this, which I think is what line 4 points to. At the same time, I am quite hopeful, seeing the relating hexagram, 24 as it underlines the importance of the community, of people coming together (maybe after social distancing or, maybe in spite of it finding new ways to come together and build new things). If anything, we're seeing a lot of effort and community building of people trying to help one another, especially in countries that have been hit hard like Italy.

I was thinking about this reading earlier today and thought I might share it here. This is my first post sharing a reading as I haven't felt I have much to contribute, rather I have a lot to learn from the insightful things other members write on here. I hope this will contribute positively to anyone looking into the situation or looking for possible interpretations of this hexagram. I always get uneasy when I get 51, but for some reason this one gives me some hope. Shock comes -oh, oh! Laughing words -ha, ha!
Cheers

Hi QuanYiN, I have an experience with 51.4 that's related to all the weirdness of this year, if you can bear with this long story. I've been at home since early March, initially working from home and then the company I worked for closed down about a month ago in July, so my job ended. So, okay, make the best of it and start a new chapter. I'm 62 and know that getting a new job with benefits is unlikely with our unemployment here, but figured I'd be okay for a while. But truth be told, I haven't been very productive in these last months, haven't been making art or decluttering or learning new software or doing any of the things I thought I'd do with more time on my hands and no ridiculous commute.

The one thing I have done right is to work hard on regaining fitness and health after the all-consuming job. I have been doing frequent fast walks, 6-7 miles, and lots of yoga again after only struggling through it once a week for years. Awesome, right? I was feeling strong and fit and looking good, and keeping it up despite heat wave and epic wildfire smoke all during August.

And then yesterday, while I was walking fast, I tripped and fell hard, flat on the cement sidewalk. I have a very bruised and painful rib (possibly fractured) and a very sore and sprained wrist, and a battered knee. This is going to bring an abrupt and painful end to my fitness program for weeks, and make it hard to do anything (I live alone, so just getting to the store for a prescription or taking the trash out is all up to me, and moving or lifting anything hurts). And I felt traumatized, and with bruised ribs there is a risk of pneumonia which is of course the last thing you want in COVID times, so now I have to be extra careful.

Last night I asked "Will I be okay" and the result was 51.4. The shock, obviously, indeed. Being stuck, yes. On reflection this morning, I realized that I had been pushing myself hard to just leave the last six years of my job behind (it was hard and a complicated situation, but also full of people I'll miss, and great benefits) without really taking the time to process the whole thing. And I'd been irritated and angry a lot, due to politics and feeling trapped inside because our country has done such a terrible job with the virus. I was trying to move forward without doing the work I needed to do to be ready, and being compulsive about my fitness instead, and doomscrolling politics instead of taking control of my own time and life. In fact, when I tripped and fell, I was re-living in my mind a horrible conversation I had last week with someone not wearing a mask and very much in my face — you know, I should have said this, I hate her so much, grrrrr, faster faster. And boom.

So the 24 part is clearer now. I have to return to the basics and rethink how I'm doing this whole year going forward, and for the moment, with every movement painful for a while, I have some time to do that and figure out a more productive - and still healthy - way to be. And to let go of the past and bad situations and horrible entitled people and not let them take up rent-free space in my brain when I need to be paying attention to what is right in front of me. So that's my 51.4 in these weird coronavirus times!

The Image of Hexagram 24 is also weirdly apt!

Covid the return!

Thank you Hilary! I have received both 24 and 2 SO often through these past months. They have seemed to be my touchstones. Also queries often led me to 59 Dispersing in the first few months.

hilary said:

The Image of Hexagram 24 is also weirdly apt!

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