33.2.3 - 6

[jadefalls]

From the personal I ching thread Rosada gave me this.

33.2.3 - 6

Hexagram 33 Retreat

line 2
Holding onto it, use yellow cowhide.
It will never be capable of getting loose.'

In retreat – holding to some things you see as essential, more or less part of yourself. (So holding onto them is part of 33’s overall drive for self-preservation.) As the rawhide dries, it’ll shrink (Sparhawk), so it really will stay tied.

Yi doesn’t say whether hanging on so firmly is a good thing.

33 zhi Hexagram 44: Retreat’s Coupling, its desire to create bonds, even to something slippery that makes it hard to form lasting connections.

Line 3

'Tied retreat. There is affliction, danger.
Nurturing servants, handmaidens, good fortune.'

Hard to retreat, held by bonds of attachment, anxious about the dangers of pulling free; may also be exhausted. Nurture/tame/accumulate (same word as in the name of Hexagram 9) servants and handmaidens: build up connections that will help you move in your chosen direction – even make it easy and enjoyable.

Example: I had made plans to go to an event but couldn't go. I was simply too exhausted by household/family matters. So I rested at home.

33 zhi Hexagram 12, Obstruction. With communications not getting through, no harvest in a noble one’s constancy, there’s no clear message or incentive to pull you forward, so what pulls you back becomes stronger.

Line 6

Conflict, Arguing. Words before a judge – arguing one’s case, protesting injustice. One way or another, you’re in dispute with what is.

Yep, that's my life right now in a nutshell!

 

[jadefalls]

I've been coming back and forth to on line clarity, looking at this new to me divination tool. My main purpose was to understand what happened in my last relationship, but I believe this has enlightened me about all of my past relationships. I get hex 33 Retreat quite a bit in my readings, now, and even before this was pulled for me by Rosada. I believe this thing that I have been carrying around for years started when I was a child. In reading about hex 33 retreat, there was one post that really hit home for me at http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?t=4729&page=2
Post 12 by mariamaria:

All animals have a built in survival instinct that has helped ensure that the fittest survive to propagate the species. The slowest wildebeest in the herd is the one that becomes supper for the lions! This instinct is alive and well, and functioning in each and everyone of us.. and our companies. In order to mobilise our bodies to meet the perceived threat, we prepare for either flight or fight (which we choose depends on our natures and our circumstances). Our body begins to close down all extraneous functions, blood is pumped to the main muscles and away from the skin (we go pale) sugar is metabolised by the adrenalin, pupils dilate, digestion stops, skin sweats, breathing becomes shallow … In this state we are only fit for survival. We can't listen, we can't be creative we are a victim of this mechanism.

You might wonder what this has to do with the modern board room, but if you are either very honest, or very observant you will know that it is more than just a metaphorical jungle in there! In this state we will do (or say) whatever it takes to get out of the situation. You can not reason with people in this state, you can not build true consensus, you won't hear the truth. You only have access to about 10% of people's abilities. In other words, you can't proceed with change (or even with business as normal) unless the Flight/Fight mechanism is disarmed. The bad news is that because of the ancient herd mentality if one animal 'scents a lion' than all the other animals that don't want to be lion food also prepare for flight (if you stop to ask why we are running you might get eaten!)

It is not only possible but imperative to pull people back from the edge if you want to be part of a high performing team with access to all those expensive brains and capabilities. The good news is that there is a polar opposite to the Flight / Fight response called the Relaxation Response. In this state people are super creative and very receptive to change and innovation; creativity is high. This is where people make their personal breakthroughs and 'Ah-ha's!' The great news is that the brain rewards you for this important survival behaviour (creativity and learning) by flooding the brain with endorphins (brain chemicals that create a natural high)* So work becomes more productive and more fun as you escape that jungle!

Learning to recognise when you are 'running away' (even if your legs are still) or 'fighting' (even if you are smiling) is an important step in understanding ourselves and our processes. Once we realise that that in this state we litterally can't hear what is being said, have no real choices and can help no one, we are at the begining of the road to re-engaging with our fellow human beings, who may well be just as 'triggered' as us. In fact this is very likely as when one gazelle on the plain spots a lion, they all start running; the technical name forthose who don't is 'Cat Food'.

A little background here, and I am not telling this to get a I feel sorry for you response, it was the way it was, and I have tried to forget as much as possible. I was raised in a family of alcoholics, and it was a dangerous situation, daily for me and my siblings. My Mother was not well educated, and most of the time, it seemed that she did not find any value in it for her and perhaps for me and my Sister. There was violence almost every day in one form or another, and I can even remember hiding in the weeds, or the creek in the middle of the night from my Stepfather who was drunk and toting a 12 Gage shotgun. My Mother was just as bad, but in more of a subtle way, like you may sit down to what you think is dinner, and find that instead of a hamburger between the bun there was a pile of dog dung. So there was the beginning of my Fight or Flight life, but that is not where it ended. It has become my way of life, and even if I don't need it....it has been so ingrained in me, that I don't know how to release it, but I am trying to understand it. In talking to a good friend, she has suggested I go to alanon meetings, and I plan to go to one this Sunday.

 

[rodaki]

33 has often been the only solution for a crustacean like me! - there's a great example here . .


When the world feels hostile, erratic and indifferent of who I really am, retreat allows me to still be regardless of the madness and mayhem going on - it's a mild process that can grand me the immense freedom of keeping away from anything that doesn't agree with who I am while keeping on playing my true self, rather than anything else - it's not always easy or a perfect solution and it comes with a cost but it's fair enough I 'd say, don't you think?

As to the 6, it presupposes that both sides will make a real offering, iow offer viable solutions instead of wanting to keep both the cake whole and the dog full - as we say in my country . . that's what makes it a compromise. (6 is always a hexagram that reminds me of the story of Solomon and the baby btw, but that's just my own idea of it)

 

[jadefalls]

What a beautiful photo and a wonderful depiction of Retreat.

 

[ginnie]

Thanks for courageously sharing some of your personal background, jadefalls. The way you write is beautifully flowing and this takes the shock of the facts out of the story itself. I have heard that Alanon is a very good group, very helpful.