Help please interpreting 8 as my answer

[CarolineK]

Hi. I asked if it was ok for me to take the rest of the summer off and not return yet to work. Legally I can return to my acupuncture practice now and have started to get calls & enquiries but I’m reluctant yet to return. I’m still happy sitting in the recharge unit, resting & sorting out my elderly dad & my neglected house & garden. There are ppe constraints I’m reluctant to have to use in Clinic at the present time & the worry of paying room rental if I don’t have full days in clinic too.
I got 8 -no moving lines
It seems to be saying to join in the community & engage. I felt bit downhearted & tired- is it suggesting I pitch back into the work & get back involved sooner not later? I Want to withdraw longer not get stuck in again right now. What do you think I’m being advised?

 

[rosada]

Have you checked out the Unchanging Hexagrams Threads over in the Exploring Divination area? (It's post in the box at the top) Meanwhile, I think 8uc could be focusing on your concern about having a sufficient number of clients to make the room rental affordable, maybe affirming you'll need to time your ultimate return by when you will have enough business to make it profitable.

 

[CarolineK]

Have you checked out the Unchanging Hexagrams Threads over in the Exploring Divination area? (It's post in the box at the top) Meanwhile, I think 8uc could be focusing on your concern about having a sufficient number of clients to make the room rental affordable, maybe affirming you'll need to time your ultimate return by when you will have enough business to make it profitable.

Thanks I’ve had a look at the unchanging hexagram. Good to read lots of scenarios when people had 8 unchanging. Though some seemed strange & bit difficult to see how 8 fitted.
Yes it could mean time my going back to work when community issues are better. Currently we must air & clean between patients & change ppe. No back to back sessions no people waiting in waiting rooms. Talking to a minimum & they must wear a mask as well as me. Gloves etc which does cut me off from patients which is not normal in my line of work.
But could it also mean engage with people now, get stuck in, don’t wait & be late??

 

[Lavalamp]

Is it ok to take the summer off? 8 unchanging.
In Hex 8 there is a bonding between a group of lords and a King, and if you return late there will be misfortune.
In the King Yu story example in the Yi, the person FangFeng was rejected and got their head chopped off for coming late.
It was a mistake, because he had stopped on the way to help a person in need, but he still got killed.
If I got this reading, I would go back before the end of Summer. Like in July.
Of course if you are not a group practice, perhaps this does not apply and you need not worry about being fired.

- LL

 

[Liselle]

Am thinking of 8 as the bonds between you and your clients. I don't know anything about your practice, but I wonder if 8 suggests they might find other providers in the meantime. 8 is a union of the willing; there's not really forced cohesion between you and them. (That would be 8's upside-down paired hexagram, 7, The Army.)

Could you find out somehow what other practitioners are doing? If everyone else is back but you, in other words.

Also, worst case scenario, if you think you could lose a lot of clients, do you have an idea how serious that would be? If you don't think you'd have trouble building up customers again, then it'd probably be fine to wait.

Hilary often says unchanging readings can be like a question, so in this one maybe "Client group... ?" and/or "Procrastinating... ?"

 

[CarolineK]

Is it ok to take the summer off? 8 unchanging.
In Hex 8 there is a bonding between a group of lords and a King, and if you return late there will be misfortune.
In the King Yu story example in the Yi, the person FangFeng was rejected and got their head chopped off for coming late.
It was a mistake, because he had stopped on the way to help a person in need, but he still got killed.
If I got this reading, I would go back before the end of Summer. Like in July.
Of course if you are not a group practice, perhaps this does not apply and you need not worry about being fired.

- LL

Thank you for responding. Well I’m self employed which usually means I accept too much work as I don’t feel I can turn work away. This break was obviously imposed by the pandemic & I can only now return to work but under various constraints. I think you have a good point about returning by the end of Aug being the 8th month & I guess things will be clearer with people more used to masks etc by then perhaps. It does give me July off so perhaps I’ll feel ready by then too...
thank you fir your time

 

[CarolineK]

Thank you for responding. Well I’m self employed which usually means I accept too much work as I don’t feel I can turn work away. This break was obviously imposed by the pandemic & I can only now return to work but under various constraints. I think you have a good point about returning by the end of Aug being the 8th month & I guess things will be clearer with people more used to masks etc by then perhaps. It does give me July off so perhaps I’ll feel ready by then too...
thank you fir your time

Oh I just re read your reply- you suggested going back in july maybe I’ll make it last days July...

 

[CarolineK]

Am thinking of 8 as the bonds between you and your clients. I don't know anything about your practice, but I wonder if 8 suggests they might find other providers in the meantime. 8 is a union of the willing; there's not really forced cohesion between you and them. (That would be 8's upside-down paired hexagram, 7, The Army.)

Could you find out somehow what other practitioners are doing? If everyone else is back but you, in other words.

Also, worst case scenario, if you think you could lose a lot of clients, do you have an idea how serious that would be? If you don't think you'd have trouble building up customers again, then it'd probably be fine to wait.

Hilary often says unchanging readings can be like a question, so in this one maybe "Client group... ?" and/or "Procrastinating... ?"

Thank you for your thoughtful response. Yes your right I do need to way that up & yes some practises are beginning to open now. Guess it is procrastinating- was just so loving the head space & the rest! Its strange I was so bereft when I first had to stop work & now holding back from starting up again!

 

[CarolineK]

Thank you for your thoughtful response. Yes your right I do need to way that up & yes some practises are beginning to open now. Guess it is procrastinating- was just so loving the head space & the rest! Its strange I was so bereft when I first had to stop work & now holding back from starting up again!

 

[diamanda]

08 is not the community. It's staying put, staying in place, at home and nearby, with close people, side by side. So the answer supports what you feel - stay where you are, with your nearest and dearest. Unchanging, so don't change anything.

 

[CarolineK]

Thank you. Kind of you to take the time to reply. I didn’t think of it that way- that feels better to me. I also looked up what is the 8th month in Chinese calendar - it’s starts about 6th Sept. That might have a bearing on my return date too. Certainly feels more realistic.
Funnily enough I have found out that one of the GP’s surgeries I rent in is still a covid assessment hub & not open in the normal way- so I can’t go back to that one fir some time anyway.
Thanks again.

 

[Freedda]

Caroline, it seems you've gotten a lot of good responses here. I'll add my two cents, and I hope it's of some use to you:

Looking at the imagery and meanings of the trigrams (the two, 3-line symbols that make up the hexgram): here you have water above, earth below. One of the names for hexgram 8 is Belonging, and here I can imaging water lying upon the earth, but it doesn't yet 'belong' where it should: it hasn't yet found it's form or its boundaries as a river, or lake, or even mist or rain, or in perhaps in this case, as groundwater (to be of this Earth).

One way of looking the tigrams might be: the lower trigram is you, earth: you want to be of use and you want to help and nurture others. But with the upper trigram, water: here you are faced with your fears, and in particular your fear of being exposed. And so this is what is keeping you from 'going with the flow' - which is a more positive aspect of water.

In general then, this is about facing your fears that are keeping you from doing your work, which is what nurtures you and others. It is of course a valid fear, and it seems this situation will be resolved when you no longer fear being exposed.

Going out on a metaphysical limb, I wonder if this might also be a time to explore your relationship with fear, and especially the fear of being exposed, which could be fear of being exposed to harm, or poverty, or a past demon in your life, or even something positive like love, or ....

I am not saying that your fears are imagined, or not real, or are otherwise invalid; only that to fully Belong (as water longs to do by being part of - or within - earth), we have to deal with our fears.

Or that might be one way to look at it ....

PS - in case you are interested, here are a few videos of people are using the trigrams as part of TCM and acupuncture diagnosis:

All the best ....

 

[CarolineK]

Thank you for that! Great videos! I’ve always been interested in Balance method acupuncture using hexagrams but never found a good course & the book I have is but impenetrable. I use 5 elements & TCM Acupuncture. I’ll look up the college who produced these videos- thank you!
I like the way of looking at the 2 trigrams in your suggestion- food for thought!
Thank you again!
What great & thoughtful replies I’m getting!
Great group!

 

[Freedda]

I’ll look up the college who produced these videos- thank you!

The person who made the videos and taught the course is Harmen Mesker; most recently he taught the Yijing/trigrams/TCM course at the Academy of Acupuncture school in San Diego in March.

If you are intersted, I posted about two of his upcoming I Ching courses (one about the imagery; the other about the text - but neither about TCM) in the I Ching News section of this website. And he also posts his classes and lots of others good yi-related stuff on his website:

https://www.yjcn.nl/wp/

Best ....

 

[CarolineK]

Great! Thank you for this info & links.
I’ll look up now
Kind regards
Caroline