33.3.4.5 to 23!!! Any help?

[Carmina]

Hi all! I have been out of work for quite some time now (no regular income) and I asked Yi to show me an hexagram to understand my present situation. The hexagram describing was 28.5 to 32 (You are exhausted and nothing bears fruit, but life is change?) So I asked what behaviour did 28.5 to 32 need from me: 33.3.4.5 to 23!(Retreat and watch it/yourself degrade/die?) So I asked What should I retreat from, exactly? Answer: 31.4.5.6 to 52 Retreat from your intent to influence the situation and calm down?)Can you help me make sense here?Thanks in advance!

 

[Trojina]

Hi all! I have been out of work for quite some time now (no regular income) and I asked Yi to show me an hexagram to understand my present situation. The hexagram describing was 28.5 to 32 (You are exhausted and nothing bears fruit, but life is change?) So I asked what behaviour did 28.5 to 32 need from me: 33.3.4.5 to 23!(Retreat and watch it/yourself degrade/die?) So I asked What should I retreat from, exactly? Answer: 31.4.5.6 to 52 Retreat from your intent to influence the situation and calm down?)Can you help me make sense here?Thanks in advance!

Hi, linking to your previous thread https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?25437-Hexagram-10-1-gt-6 because I think that answer was, in a sense, your answer. Did you fully absorb it ? I know from my own experience I can get answers and think 'oh yes that's nice' but not really take it in.

So linking because I think these answers connect very much with that one

I think what you have done with this set of questions is ask more questions on the basis of a misunderstanding of 28.5. You said

Hi all! I have been out of work for quite some time now (no regular income) and I asked Yi to show me an hexagram to understand my present situation. The hexagram describing was 28.5 to 32 (You are exhausted and nothing bears fruit, but life is change?)

28.5 doesn't really say anything so negative as this it simply says, from Hilary's translation

'Withered willow sprouts flowers,
Venerable woman gets an upright husband.
No blame, no praise.'

Did you notice the flowers there ? The woman cannot bear children, no fruit, but there are flowers, your life can go on flowering long after your capacity to reproduce has gone. Taking that metaphor away from child bearing it would indicate you cannot expect major new developments for the future to arise from where you are now in your life but you can still benefit outside that whole cycle of productivity, you can live life for it's own sake and you can do and take pleasure in the things that arise for you to do.

The woman here is 'venerable' older, wiser, and she takes a learned 'upright' some say younger (though that's not necessarily there IMO) man as a husband. Why, she can't have more children by him but does that mean they cannot have a wonderful time together ? In other words where you are now isn't slap bang in the middle of the whole productivity ethic that dominates our culture. Maybe you won't have more children and maybe you won't progress in a major way to new career path but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with where you are. I think Yi sees you as the 'venerable woman'. You don't have to strive and sweat for the next development at this point in your life. Maybe do what comes, pick up something you have done before, try to enjoy yourself, take time to appreciate the beauty in your life and do not worry about what you will become next.

I think 10.1 in your last thread asked you to keep it simple. I think this cast of 28.5 asks you to recognize where you are in your life not in a negative way but a satisfied way.

So I asked what behaviour did 28.5 to 32 need from me: 33.3.4.5 to 23!(Retreat and watch it/yourself degrade/die?)

Good Grief what books are you using !? Degrade/die ? Well these meanings may be connected with 33 by some translators but at this point taking such meanings is not helpful to you. I advise you to buy Hilary's book which would bring you much closer to understanding your own readings.

So you asked what behaviour did 28.5 need from you and Yi said 33.3.4.5>23. With the 23 there in the background it would appear you have experienced a sense of loss somewhere, perhaps in your status or just that feeling that there's nothing left and everything is just falling away from you. I think you said your kids have left home (?) for example and that might be a 23 kind of feeling. 33 here is asking you to withdraw from attempts to claw back status perhaps or the feeling that you ought to be doing a lot more.

So the woman in 28.5 is satisfied with her man regardless of whether there are babies. There are points in life where it is really enough to be satisfied with the flowers of our efforts, we cannot be making headway all the time. So I think the 33 as a way to do 28.5 (convoluted) is stressing that you ease off the pressure on yourself and withdraw from pressure to do more than you can do at this time.

So I asked What should I retreat from, exactly? Answer: 31.4.5.6 to 52 Retreat from your intent to influence the situation and calm down?)Can you help me make sense here?Thanks in advance

By this question, having asked questions that come from other questions it's gotten a bit convoluted but I still think it's making sense. What you need to withdraw from is being pushed and pulled by other's expectations of you. 31 is to do with influences. Some of the influences coming at you, affecting your thinking are quite superficial (line 6) and also right now you don't really know your own mind so are possibly giving mixed messages about what you want to both yourself and others(line 4). Line 5 shows deep down you have the potential to be quite settled and you do know how you want to live at the moment but that is often destabilised by what your read/hear/think/what others say. 52 of course asks you to be quite impervious to outside influences at the moment and to just focus on your inner process.

The patterns the change line make are 12/11. I think the less you take on board other's evaluation of your life, this may be through what you hear and read in the media or people you know or even books you read that tell you where you ought to be, the more you free yourself up to be able to flow on naturally in your life.


Together all these answers are asking you to fret less and enjoy more I think. I understand there may be financial pressure but Yi isn't urging you to fill out application forms for things way beyond your scope right now, it's asking you to keep it simple and worry less.

 

[Carmina]

Dear Trojina, I really appreciate your been so thorough. I do know what 28.5 really feels, believe me; the Yi sent me this hexagram to help me understand what is going on. Your reading really helps me to see thru the Yi's answer.Many, many thanks!