career path guidance (which path should I take?); received 30 for my first question and 22 for my second.

[justbeyourself]

Hi all!

I'm currently in the process of seeking clarity/guidance on which career path to pursue. I'm interested in holistic health. At this point I am feeling torn between going to college and pursuing nursing and/or psychology, and then going a nontraditional route (apprenticeship, courses, etc).

I do realize that I have some major fears about pursuing a nontraditional route. I can feel lots of limiting beliefs coming up about not being able to make money, people not taking me seriously, and disappointing my family for not going to college.

The thing is, I am becoming more weary of tradition, institutions, and the "doing what everyone else does because that's just how things are done" type of attitude. At my core, I don't believe college is the only way to success, abundance, and fulfillment. But my head has been trained to believe otherwise!

I spent a few moments clearing anxiety, fear, and judgment to allow my core Self to be present with the I Ching energy. I first asked the I Ching, "please bring me wisdom/guidance on pursuing nontraditional education and not going to college". I cast using 3 pennies. I received 30 (clarity) with the 5th line changing, transforming it into 13 (fellowship).

I then asked the I Ching, "please give me insight and clarity about going to college and pursuing nursing". I got hex 22 (adornment, beauty, grace) with the first line changing, transforming into 52 (keeping still). I excitedly realized I'd gotten this same hex (22) a couple of weeks ago, when I'd asked "should I go into nursing or psychology?" (thinking I'd surely go to college).

After reading several interpretations of everything, here are my conclusions at present (subject to change, lol).

Hex 30 (not going to college)

• persistence, determination, and clarity of purpose will bring success
• focus on and nurture my inner light/wisdom so that it might shine to all those around me
• cling to what I know within myself to face darkness
• the 5th line change: tears and groaning, but success. There will be challenges and hardship, but it is through these hardships that growth and new life with abound.
• hex 13 (fellowship): being in community/relationships with others. Finding my place among a group of like-minded people.

Hex 22 (going to college)

• grace, beauty, and style all have their place in the world, but they are not necessarily substantial
• don't let outward adornment or appearance drive big decisions
• be careful of focusing too much on outward appearances
• 1st line change: exiting a carriage and walking by foot. Perhaps going a longer or more difficult way instead of taking "the easy way"? Could also be interpreted as being humble by foregoing a carriage and instead presenting oneself without adornment by going on foot....
• hex 52 (keeping still): resting, taking a break, going inward

My interpretation:
I feel the message to me is this: that pursuing college/a degree wouldn't be a bad path to take, but may be unnecessarily "adorning" wisdom I already have or can find through a nontraditional path. I'm feeling this reading is encouraging me to cling to my inner beliefs rather than doing things for appearances (like going to school to please others or seek validation).

I'm honestly a little scared, there are lots of limiting beliefs and fears coming up for me. I've always thought I'm not strong enough to do the unconventional (and I'm a recovering people-pleaser to boot). But if I let go of the fear and root down into my heart and the possibility of what could be... it's very exciting.

I'd love to hear other interpretations of what I cast for these specific questions.

Much love.

 

[Trojina]

I do realize that I have some major fears about pursuing a nontraditional route. I can feel lots of limiting beliefs coming up about not being able to make money, people not taking me seriously, and disappointing my family for not going to college.

But hang on, all the people that sell these non traditional courses make out it's 'self limiting belief' that stops people ever making money from what they teach, in other words blame the customer. It's an easy get out clause as people then self blame but it was always bullshit as it's not 'self limiting belief' that stops people making money from this stuff it's the fact people don't want to pay lots of money for it especially in the massive recession that's heading this way ! The idea it was 'self limiting beliefs' that stopped people making money from non traditional therapies etc has worn itself to the bone IMO.

30.5 cleansing sorrow for the non traditional route - but is there even a non traditional route that doesn't involve forking out loads of money to some business based teacher for an unrecognised qualification ?

22.1 can mean taking things at one's own speed , going back to basics . It could also mean getting out of the carriage of 'usual' route forward of going to college etc

The thing is, I am becoming more weary of tradition, institutions, and the "doing what everyone else does because that's just how things are done" type of attitude. At my core, I don't believe college is the only way to success, abundance, and fulfillment. But my head has been trained to believe otherwise!

But remember everyone else is doing the holistic thing, the world is saturated with holistic practitioners trying to make money but the world needs a few more trained nurses.


You can see my biases here I'm sure. Seems like if you take the college training in nursing/psychology at least you have the qualification and then after that you could go the holistic route and if that doesn't pay you've got more background. Also I'm biased in it would seem to me the quality of the teaching is going to be better at college because if you don't go to college you are going to be learning from people who want to make money out of you. Not that going to college is free often but well all I can say is for every holistic practitioner that gets 'abundance' like the books say there's 10 others who make nothing.

So 22.1 looks a better option to me

 

[Trojina]

I feel the message to me is this: that pursuing college/a degree wouldn't be a bad path to take, but may be unnecessarily "adorning" wisdom I already have or can find through a nontraditional path. I'm feeling this reading is encouraging me to cling to my inner beliefs rather than doing things for appearances (like going to school to please others or seek validation).

I don't agree with your take as for a start I can't see that nurse training is just adorning wisdom you already have, there's more to it than that.


However you have to do what feels right for, if you don't want to do college don't do it but be aware what people write about 'self limiting beliefs' is just a trap.

 

[justbeyourself]

I don't agree with your take as for a start I can't see that nurse training is just adorning wisdom you already have, there's more to it than that.


However you have to do what feels right for, if you don't want to do college don't do it but be aware what people write about 'self limiting beliefs' is just a trap.

Thank you so much for your responses, Trojina, I was really glad to see someone sharing their perspective.
In retrospect, there were a couple of things I could have re-worded/ added to clarify my interpretation. I agree with you that nurse training would be more than simple adornment. I greatly value nurses and doctors, and all of the advancements in health the world has seen as a direct result of medicine.

I was talking about getting a college degree in general, and likening that to adornment. Specifically in regards to getting the degree to appease others and to make myself seem more reputable, even though I don't necessarily align with those trains of thought.

I'd love to hear more on your interpretation for receiving hex 22 as a response to the questions "should I go into psychology or nursing?" and also in response to a request for insight on whether I should go to college and pursue nursing. I think it's interesting I got this hex both times. Any personal insight into hex 22 in general would be greatly appreciated as well!

 

[IrfanK]

I feel the message to me is this: that pursuing college/a degree wouldn't be a bad path to take, but may be unnecessarily "adorning" wisdom I already have or can find through a nontraditional path. I'm feeling this reading is encouraging me to cling to my inner beliefs rather than doing things for appearances (like going to school to please others or seek validation).

Hmm. I was just reflecting on 22 last night, so I'll chip in on this. Perhaps I share some of Trojina's assumptions, while also feeling that there is a lot of value in non-traditional therapies. To me, traditional nursing is the opposite of an adornment, it's the hard nitty-gritty, the basics, the not so glamorous stuff. It's not just about gaining qualifications as an "adornment," you would really have proven, valuable skills. You could build on those by exploring other approaches, more experimental ideas and you would have more credibility as a practitioner.

I follow developments with psychedelic therapy quite closely. I notice that a few colleges and universities in America, including highly reputable ones like John Hopkins, are now offering post-grad certification programs in that kind of therapy -- but admission is only open to people with hard qualifications and/or proven experience: nurses, clinical psychologists, doctors, certified counselors. I spoke to the woman involved in setting up the program a few years ago. She was pretty clear that she wanted a fairly high barrier to entry so that people would take the graduates seriously, given that it's a controversial form of therapy that does attract a lot of fairly flaky people. Setting those requirements was a good way to weed them out.

Okay, this is probably as much me speaking as the Yi. But you could read 22 in a number of different ways.

EDIT: Hehe. I just looked at your hexagrams again. It would be much easier for me to make this case if you got the readings the other way around, hex 30 for going to college and 22 for not. But even so.

SECOND EDIT: I'm recalling an old friend of mine, who went by the name of Salvation Jane, a wild old hippy who spent most of her time on environmental actions and at festivals. But she was also a highly qualified theater nurse, and she'd do intense periods of work for weeks at a time, earning enough money to go off back to the festivals and actions for a few months. She seemed to have a pretty good life!

 

[Trojina]

Thank you so much for your responses, Trojina, I was really glad to see someone sharing their perspective.
In retrospect, there were a couple of things I could have re-worded/ added to clarify my interpretation. I agree with you that nurse training would be more than simple adornment. I greatly value nurses and doctors, and all of the advancements in health the world has seen as a direct result of medicine.

I was talking about getting a college degree in general, and likening that to adornment. Specifically in regards to getting the degree to appease others and to make myself seem more reputable, even though I don't necessarily align with those trains of thought.

I'd love to hear more on your interpretation for receiving hex 22 as a response to the questions "should I go into psychology or nursing?" and also in response to a request for insight on whether I should go to college and pursue nursing. I think it's interesting I got this hex both times. Any personal insight into hex 22 in general would be greatly appreciated as well!

There's a good thread on 22 click here and also, as it may say there, 22 has a lot to do with roles and self presentation and as you got it several times for college it could be it's showing the outer value of the qualification. This isn't a minor thing as people can only see us from the outside by observing what we present as.


Thinking overall about the 2 casts I'm not sure anyone who isn't you can get a good grasp of these answers because they aren't steering you one way or the other as far as I can see. It's all going to come down to what carriage you consider you will be leaving in 22.1 and what causes such heartfelt but uniting emotion in 30.5.


I have looked back at my own 22.1 casts and a number of times it has meant me leaving a group activity to go my own way. So a carriage can be the structure that one was 'riding' in. So one time I left a writing group which was my carriage to walk my own way. I also think there's a beautiful simplicity to this line. Actually whilst walking is slower it's more reliable, it's more flexible and adaptable and it's the natural pace. If you think about taking transport you lose control of the direction of it and even though it's taking you to your destination it can't stop and look and take a different path just when you want it to. So is the carriage college for you ?


And back to the 30.5 for a moment, I don't think I can know what this means for you. Quoting from Bradford Hatcher

30.5, 6 5th , Zhi Gua 13: Tong Ren, Fellowship With Others
(Fan Yao 13.5: tears into laughter, armies entertain each other)
Gushing tears, streaming like water
What grief and lament!
Good fortune!
30.5x Six fifth’s good fortune:
A departure from sovereign (and) patriarch

He takes on the world’s great sorrows, the suffering, craving, blindness and waste, the failure of his own human kind to wake up and enkindle each other, and the most stubborn will with which humans cling to their ignorance, while everyone gnaws on everyone else, and all of those organizations we had so much hope for just turn into cancers and parasites. Not much to cheer up the lone soul. But every great one, and every bright light, will have many nights as dark as this one and will waste a lot of tears on things which will be transcended. Relief is on the way, as the tears will clean the eyes. They come through these nights with dawning awareness of fuel beyond wildest dream and reasons to shine today: if not you, then who, if not now, when? Light which learns is power. The suffering is optional, but swamp gas burns as well.

Most commentators talk about these teats 'cleansing the eyes' because 30 looks like 2 eyes and of course 30 has to do with seeing, clarity of perception so what's all the crying about ? Now if you have spent time actually crying recently that's going to be a good guide for what this line is about especially if you have been crying about this choice. Often something changes, something is different after the crying. But I can't know what it could be that would make you feel this way or why not going to college would make you feel this way or whether the thought of going to college makes you cry ? Only you will know these things.



You haven't really said what you want to do. I mean you've said it scares you not to go to college but then you put that down to self limitation. What do you feel like doing ? Maybe what you feel right now is a pretty good guide for you.


To me as an outsider I'd say well go to college because earning a living out of alternative therapies is very hard indeed and those I know those who have done it ended up spending so much time on marketing it really took them away from what they wanted to do. But I am an outsider and that's just my opinion and you are asking Yi not me. But I don't think here Yi is dragging you one way or the other I think it's pointing you back to your feelings. In 30.5 there's the weeping and in 22.1 there's so often a sense of relief to get out of the carriage and walk. What would make you feel relief ?


Write each option on a piece of paper each, screw them up, toss them in the air then tell your self you have to do the one you pick. Notice if you feel disappointed or relieved, that can help you know how you feel. You don't really have to of course, just pretend you do to yourself.

 

[justbeyourself]

Hmm. I was just reflecting on 22 last night, so I'll chip in on this. Perhaps I share some of Trojina's assumptions, while also feeling that there is a lot of value in non-traditional therapies. To me, traditional nursing is the opposite of an adornment, it's the hard nitty-gritty, the basics, the not so glamorous stuff. It's not just about gaining qualifications as an "adornment," you would really have proven, valuable skills. You could build on those by exploring other approaches, more experimental ideas and you would have more credibility as a practitioner.

I follow developments with psychedelic therapy quite closely. I notice that a few colleges and universities in America, including highly reputable ones like John Hopkins, are now offering post-grad certification programs in that kind of therapy -- but admission is only open to people with hard qualifications and/or proven experience: nurses, clinical psychologists, doctors, certified counselors. I spoke to the woman involved in setting up the program a few years ago. She was pretty clear that she wanted a fairly high barrier to entry so that people would take the graduates seriously, given that it's a controversial form of therapy that does attract a lot of fairly flaky people. Setting those requirements was a good way to weed them out.

Okay, this is probably as much me speaking as the Yi. But you could read 22 in a number of different ways.

EDIT: Hehe. I just looked at your hexagrams again. It would be much easier for me to make this case if you got the readings the other way around, hex 30 for going to college and 22 for not. But even so.

SECOND EDIT: I'm recalling an old friend of mine, who went by the name of Salvation Jane, a wild old hippy who spent most of her time on environmental actions and at festivals. But she was also a highly qualified theater nurse, and she'd do intense periods of work for weeks at a time, earning enough money to go off back to the festivals and actions for a few months. She seemed to have a pretty good life!

Thank you, so very much. I honor your opinion and insight! I do think there is an increasing number of people within the medical community who recognize the benefits of holistic/natural healing... my ultimate vision is to combine the two. I see great value in science, but personally I don't believe it tells the whole story.

After reflecting on your and Trojina's words, I'm feeling encouraged to consider establishing myself as a medically trained professional and then to expand upon that. But, perhaps, I could place my focus now on what feels most alive to me (which is doula work and midwifery, perhaps herbalism) and then somehow the Universe would find a way for me to work in conjuction with medical professionals in collaboration. The best of both worlds.

Truly my intention is to listen to my deep heart/soul voice, to let go of fear, to be honest with myself, and to allow the Universe to lead me. I'm completely open to either path... which leaves me feeling stuck in indecision. I sure would appreciate a little extra nudge from the Universe - perhaps you and Trojina's comments are just that.

Also....wow, Salvation Jane is officially my HERO.

 

[justbeyourself]

There's a good thread on 22 click here and also, as it may say there, 22 has a lot to do with roles and self presentation and as you got it several times for college it could be it's showing the outer value of the qualification. This isn't a minor thing as people can only see us from the outside by observing what we present as.


Thinking overall about the 2 casts I'm not sure anyone who isn't you can get a good grasp of these answers because they aren't steering you one way or the other as far as I can see. It's all going to come down to what carriage you consider you will be leaving in 22.1 and what causes such heartfelt but uniting emotion in 30.5.


I have looked back at my own 22.1 casts and a number of times it has meant me leaving a group activity to go my own way. So a carriage can be the structure that one was 'riding' in. So one time I left a writing group which was my carriage to walk my own way. I also think there's a beautiful simplicity to this line. Actually whilst walking is slower it's more reliable, it's more flexible and adaptable and it's the natural pace. If you think about taking transport you lose control of the direction of it and even though it's taking you to your destination it can't stop and look and take a different path just when you want it to. So is the carriage college for you ?


And back to the 30.5 for a moment, I don't think I can know what this means for you. Quoting from Bradford Hatcher






Most commentators talk about these teats 'cleansing the eyes' because 30 looks like 2 eyes and of course 30 has to do with seeing, clarity of perception so what's all the crying about ? Now if you have spent time actually crying recently that's going to be a good guide for what this line is about especially if you have been crying about this choice. Often something changes, something is different after the crying. But I can't know what it could be that would make you feel this way or why not going to college would make you feel this way or whether the thought of going to college makes you cry ? Only you will know these things.



You haven't really said what you want to do. I mean you've said it scares you not to go to college but then you put that down to self limitation. What do you feel like doing ? Maybe what you feel right now is a pretty good guide for you.


To me as an outsider I'd say well go to college because earning a living out of alternative therapies is very hard indeed and those I know those who have done it ended up spending so much time on marketing it really took them away from what they wanted to do. But I am an outsider and that's just my opinion and you are asking Yi not me. But I don't think here Yi is dragging you one way or the other I think it's pointing you back to your feelings. In 30.5 there's the weeping and in 22.1 there's so often a sense of relief to get out of the carriage and walk. What would make you feel relief ?


Write each option on a piece of paper each, screw them up, toss them in the air then tell your self you have to do the one you pick. Notice if you feel disappointed or relieved, that can help you know how you feel. You don't really have to of course, just pretend you do to yourself.

Thank you again for such detail and care with your answers - I am taking time to absorb and digest.