Annual Reading: #9, unchanging

[willow]

My annual reading came in two parts this year. The holiday season was incredibly busy and I never quite found the time or space to really sit and consult. I use the marble method, and finally one day in exasperation I just went oh what the heck, got as calm as I could and put my hand in the bag. I got:

22 ==> 16 1,3,4,6 Grace -> Enthusiasm

Despite the method, I was pleased with the result. It seemed very appropriate and immediately began to infuse more calm and simplicity into my busyness. Enough so that last weekend I did find the time and peace to do some annual reflection. I didn't exactly want to re-do my annual reading - it doesn't work that way - but as the afternoon wore on, I increasingly felt called to do so. And from a good deep place got:

9 unchanging Taming Power of the Small

Which is of course exactly the opposite of 16!

I think it's going to be that kind of year - much balancing of opposites and resolving of contradictions. I'm taking the first reading as a sort of John the Baptist, "prepare the Way" reading, and the second as the true appropriate foundation of the year. Or maybe I should take it as I got all real work of the year done in 6 days, and now I will just be doing it over and over for the rest of the year, nurturing small changes week after week...

 

[bamboo]

In your first reading, since so many lines change, some feel you look more closely at the lines not changing. The two lines that do not change in 22, 2 and 5, seem to fit with hexagram 9, at least in my way of looking at it. Particularly line 5. the seemingly small offerings turn out to be what is quite acceptable and worthy. And "trimming the beard" is a relatively small action that can lead to something worthwhile.

I would not think of 9 as merely nurturing small changes, but of the importance of nurturing the small lest it be overlooked. And I don't see 16 as the opposite of this....(altho 16 confuses me). It does seem to be about preparations and getting ready. sometimes the small details of a party, a parade, or a grand event, are what make it really special. 22 is also about "how something appears" and often it is via the small details that a thing of beauty really takes shape.

so if those were my readings, I would consider that my year will be one of enthusiastically nurturing the details of some 'grand event' (ie project, undertaking?) , and being inspired by the beauty of the undertaking. :bows:

 

[sooo]

Living a small life in a grand way, a Daosit path. Before enlightenment, chopping wood; after enlightenment, chopping wood. Always chopping wood, always the bills require payments, loved ones require time and attention. Touchdowns are won or lost by an inch, and we continue to walk on the ground rather than the sky.