Help with #54 turning to #14.... Please...

[luz]

Well, here I go again, asking for more help.
The truth is that at the beginning of my exposure to the I Ching I found this website where you can submit the numbers of the result or you can also generate a result randomly. And then, you get this response devoid of any symbols and basically interpreted for you. I KNOW THIS IS PROBABLY GARBAGE. MAYBE NOT JUST PROBABLY.
BUT, the reason I explain this is because I asked a question once, regarding a certain situation and I asked "WHAT WILL HAPPEN?",
NOW, I KNOW THAT THIS IS A BAD QUESTION. I just didn't know it before (or rather didn't think of it because the reasoning is obvious that you can't expect the potential of the situation to remain the same when life is about change)
So, anyway. The answer I got was super negative from hexagram #54, something along the lines of "DROP THE PROJECT". But the part of the response that looks at hex #14 said. "SUPREME SUCCESS".
I know that the answer is badly obtained but I imagine that these two hexagrams have the potential to be very different. Besides, I'd like to understand Hex #54 a bit more. It speaks of a fruitless union to me and one where the balance of power is totally skewed. Is it always a negative situation?
Any input deeply appreciated.

 

[dij]

Hey...you posted on dec 11 at 11:11

how kewl

As for yur reading, I really like LiSe's take on Hex 54:
http://www.anton-heyboer.org/i_ching/hex_49-64/hex_e_54.htm

And it is always good to remember that challenges are presented daily to each one of us but it's how we respond to them that decides our destiny.

REMEMBER: Yi answering is YOU answering.

 

[candid]

Lightangel, didn't I just see you over at the well?

I also like LiSe's rendering of 54. It sounds like your reading may have referenced the Wilhelm translation. 54, bad! Not to downplay the Wilhelm, because I have always gotten a lot from it, but it does present many things in a negative light, at first glance.

A couple years ago I found myself in a humiliating situation. I've always been independent and self-supporting, but during this period I had to rely on some friends. Though it was reciprocal, because I did offer them my labor in exchange for their housing, it was nonetheless somewhat an embarrassing place to be in.

That is a picture of 54. A place not your own, but where if you conduct yourself well, will provide a satisfying shelter.

As it turned out, I moved across the valley a year later, and we remain good friends to this day. (This could be as your 14.)

54 ought to be a temporary condition. Hence we are instructed to fix our eyes on what endures.

 

[jeanystar]

dear lightangel, if you are referring to the site:
eclectic energies -where the yi answers are interpreted, i really like that site and the interpretations. I use it as a way to clarify and expand on an answer.

If you mean that you got hex 54 changing to 14, then you have simply encountered something that happens a lot...a seemingly "negative hex" changes to a seemingly "positive" hexagram. The way they relate to each other is something you need to divine.

There has been a lot of talk abot hex 54 on this site. I dont think it is always a "negative" answer....Stephen Karcher speaks of 54 as a "choice or transformation over which you have no control" "this transformation reflects a deep, perhaps unacknowledged need....be receptive and adapaptable....the process is an end and a new beginning"

So in that sense, even though the balance of power is skewed (you have no control), it can lead to a fruitful end....even a Possession in Great Measure (14).

The title of 54 is often "A Woman going To Marry" but Karcher calls it Converting the Maiden: the yin submitting to Yang...definitely a transformation, submission and adaptation required.
If you drew lines 3 and 6 (to get 14), then the lines also speak to the situation. Line 3 speaks of compromising yourself in some way, and advises patience. Line 6 speaks of going through the motions, but with a lack of commitment, half-hearted, leading to failure.

Might be read as: The patience to wait this out because you acknowledge that a commitment or true purpose is lacking would be supremely fortunate. In other words to heed the advice of the Yi in this hex/lines would be a fortunate path to take.

OR - it could be read that compromising your goals is a beneficial thing to do in the circumstances, providing you make that choice willingly.

BTW, I dont always think that the question "What will happen?" is a "bad" one....You could just as easily say "What will be the result if I ...." and that is the same thng.

 

[luz]

Thanks to all of you.
Yes, Candid, we were at the well together and thank you for that! You do make me feel welcome and it's a pretty good feeling...
Dij: it is kewl the time/date of my posting... if I were more superstitious I'd try to make something of it... hmmmm...
Thanks for the link, one more resource to add to my toolbox.
Jeanystar: I do go to eclectic energies, the site I was referring to, though, is iching.org and it's not as good as the other, I don't think. The answers are more 'cooked'. In fact, if you the random number thingy you never even get to know what hexagram you got.
And I guess that asking what will happen is pretty much the same as 'what if I do this?'. The difference perhaps in that in the latter you are at least exploring a course of action and not just thinking that 'fate' has already decided for you. I mean, I do believe in fate but as a steering power. Other than that we make our own reality. If only we knew exactly how!