Career questions: Hexagram 11.1.2 > 15 and Hexagram 31

[Skywatcher]

Would I be happy working as a photographer? Would I be following my vocation?
Hexagram 11.1.2 > 15.
How will you work with this extraordinary potential?
How can you channel the flow of energy to create harmony?
Changing Lines
Line 1
'Pulling up thatch grass, roots entangled, with more of its kind.
Setting out to bring order, good fortune.'
Line 2
'Embracing emptiness, use this to cross the river.
Not distancing yourself from what you leave behind,
Friends disappear.
Gaining honour, moving to the centre.'

I was surprised because I Ching is really talking to me.
From the changing lines, I understood that I am completely lost and I'd need support to establish myself in this career.
It would be a difficult task and I'd have to put a lot of effort in order to succeed and that even so, I wouldn't be satisfied with the result.
I can conclude that this is not my vocation. Am I right?

*
Then, I asked: What is my vocation? What should I work with?
Hexagram 31 unchanging.
At first I thought that, once is an unchanging hexagram, I should keep trying to succeed in my career (Graphic Design). But this career went into decline years ago and I've never made money. Then, I discarded "Design".
Hexagram 31 deals with influence. I've read that "it's about to have the ability to make things change because you have the power to influence."
To be honest I have no clue what kind of career could fit with this hexagram.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

 

[ClavdiaChauchat]

Would I be happy working as a photographer? Would I be following my vocation?
Hexagram 11.1.2 > 15.
How will you work with this extraordinary potential?
How can you channel the flow of energy to create harmony?
Changing Lines
Line 1
'Pulling up thatch grass, roots entangled, with more of its kind.
Setting out to bring order, good fortune.'
Line 2
'Embracing emptiness, use this to cross the river.
Not distancing yourself from what you leave behind,
Friends disappear.
Gaining honour, moving to the centre.'

I was surprised because I Ching is really talking to me.
From the changing lines, I understood that I am completely lost and I'd need support to establish myself in this career.
It would be a difficult task and I'd have to put a lot of effort in order to succeed and that even so, I wouldn't be satisfied with the result.
I can conclude that this is not my vocation. Am I right?

*
Then, I asked: What is my vocation? What should I work with?
Hexagram 31 unchanging.
At first I thought that, once is an unchanging hexagram, I should keep trying to succeed in my career (Graphic Design). But this career went into decline years ago and I've never made money. Then, I discarded "Design".
Hexagram 31 deals with influence. I've read that "it's about to have the ability to make things change because you have the power to influence."
To be honest I have no clue what kind of career could fit with this hexagram.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Hi! I'll give a try only with the first cast, as I received 11 for a question about my job as well.

I don't agree with your analysis, I instead think that the path as photographer can suit you, could make you living in peace and satisfies you. In this hex the communication is really important and in line 1 too: if you want to create important networks, you have to be determined in this, cause you'll need other people to succeed (which is comprehensible for people working in the art fiels as freelancers).
Line 2: yes, it won't be easy, anything is easy! And line 2 describes every working experience: people are not perfect, there is no jons which is perfect, but you can make it work, you have to be strong, to defend yourself, there are people who are allies and you should be aware they are not a good company for you, you have to set objectives and reach them, you should work for yourself and... Being modest!


Hope it helps

Clavdia

 

[RemRem]

Hi Skywatcher!

You'll be happy as a photographer...

1. ...if you do it (Outer Earth) more and more (Inner Heaven)
2. ...if at the start you get to learn photography (pull thatch grass) much deeper that you used to (roots entangled)
3. ...if you give it more space and time (embracing emptiness) and take the big leap (cross the big river), even if you're still doing other things (not distancing yourself...)
4. ...if take this unfamiliar and solitary path (friends disappear)
5. ...if you appreciate photography more (gaining honor) and really do it with all your heart (moving to the center)

H31 Influence suggests:
Influence, creating success.
Constancy bears fruit.
Taking a woman, good fortune.

A noble one accepts people with emptiness.

It is the vocation that you flow easily, something that is natural for you to do [In + flow(ence)]
It is something you do more and more with results, with or without income.
It is something you know deep inside that you can commit to do (taking a woman)
And in doing it, you can serve better (accept people) by giving great value (with emptiness)

I hope that helps.

 

[Skywatcher]

Hello,
Thank you so much for answering me!

H31 Influence suggests:
Influence, creating success.
Constancy bears fruit.
Taking a woman, good fortune.

A noble one accepts people with emptiness.

It is the vocation that you flow easily, something that is natural for you to do [In + flow(ence)]
It is something you do more and more with results, with or without income.
It is something you know deep inside that you can commit to do (taking a woman)
And in doing it, you can serve better (accept people) by giving great value (with emptiness)

I hope that helps.

It helped me! Thank you. I'll keep meditanting about this

I instead think that the path as photographer can suit you, could make you living in peace and satisfies you.

What worries me is the fact that the Hex 11 is moving to 15. I can interpretate the Hexagram 15 as "I'll have a long and steep path ahead of me and I must keep modesty."
I wonder if I can interpretate the word "modesty" as if I am hoping for more satisfaction in this profession than I can really have in the future.

I appreciate any insight about that!
Thanks!

 

[RemRem]

Cheers, Skywatcher!

About this part: "And in doing it, you can serve better (accept people) by giving great value (with emptiness)", the image of the vessel in the Taoteching keeps on coming:

The value of the vessel is in its emptiness (Taoteching, 11). It's the space and openness that can carry and contain anything.

I hope it gives you some additional insights to your vocation.

Good luck, Skywatcher!

Rem

 

[ClavdiaChauchat]

Hello,
Thank you so much for answering me!


It helped me! Thank you. I'll keep meditanting about this



What worries me is the fact that the Hex 11 is moving to 15. I can interpretate the Hexagram 15 as "I'll have a long and steep path ahead of me and I must keep modesty."
I wonder if I can interpretate the word "modesty" as if I am hoping for more satisfaction in this profession than I can really have in the future.

I appreciate any insight about that!
Thanks!

I personally see modesty not through our European eyes, but through oriental ones. It's not that you settle for something, instead, that you work hard, without stubbornness

 

[Skywatcher]

Thank you so much!

 

[opus125]

As a struggling former event photographer reassessing my career in CoVid times this thread certainly caught my eye. I have been looking to work smarter and not harder due to poor health (i had been put on a disability pension).
I cast 28 'Great Exceeding', without any change lines. I sense being told if I push ahead at a crazy pace as I had in the past I could break. But work nobly I could rise to the occasion. I have been thinking of more creative, higher level work and learning from better artists than I.

Look for what potentially is at breaking point? (health concerns?)
Yet be prepared to go for it with imagination.
The inner trigram ,xun, wind or wood suggests internal sensitivity and not rushing into the type of jobs that overtly distress me.

The Buddhist I-Ching of Chih-hsu Ou-i (1599-1655), says "In contemplating mind, this is when the
work progresses and is about to break through ignorance. ..When the great has passed, it is therefore time to think about problems and prevent them. ... Developed people stand alone without fear, avoid society without distress.
Moisture originally nourishes wood, but also can destroy it; this is the image of the passing of greatness. Only when sustained by the power to stand alone without fear and avoid society without distress can learning be firmly rooted and development have a proper basis; then it is possible to refine and support the mediocre." (Cleary Translation)

Balance and sensitivity required, but greatness can only be achieved by by facing the challenge of excess and preparing for the change in circumstances.

Conform to change but when called to be true to yourself then I must stand alone and be true to yourself,


I am not sure if i read this right but it is what I'm sensing.

Brian

 

[Skywatcher]

As a struggling former event photographer reassessing my career in CoVid times this thread certainly caught my eye. I have been looking to work smarter and not harder due to poor health (i had been put on a disability pension).
I cast 28 'Great Exceeding', without any change lines. I sense being told if I push ahead at a crazy pace as I had in the past I could break. But work nobly I could rise to the occasion. I have been thinking of more creative, higher level work and learning from better artists than I.

Look for what potentially is at breaking point? (health concerns?)
Yet be prepared to go for it with imagination.
The inner trigram ,xun, wind or wood suggests internal sensitivity and not rushing into the type of jobs that overtly distress me.

The Buddhist I-Ching of Chih-hsu Ou-i (1599-1655), says "In contemplating mind, this is when the
work progresses and is about to break through ignorance. ..When the great has passed, it is therefore time to think about problems and prevent them. ... Developed people stand alone without fear, avoid society without distress.
Moisture originally nourishes wood, but also can destroy it; this is the image of the passing of greatness. Only when sustained by the power to stand alone without fear and avoid society without distress can learning be firmly rooted and development have a proper basis; then it is possible to refine and support the mediocre." (Cleary Translation)

Balance and sensitivity required, but greatness can only be achieved by by facing the challenge of excess and preparing for the change in circumstances.

Conform to change but when called to be true to yourself then I must stand alone and be true to yourself,


I am not sure if i read this right but it is what I'm sensing.

Brian

Hello,

Well, I also have health problems and at the moment I am just in the planning phase, looking for a direction in life.
Although my question was about vocation and personal satisfaction, I am sure that if I had asked if I should act immediately, I'd have received a hexagram similar to yours.

I am an apprentice at I Ching, so my guess is only based on interpretations of what I read on the internet.

Hexagram 28 seems to ask you for patience, because soon your life will take a turn, whether it be an improvement or stagnation and that you must let the changes take place on their own.

Good luck!