Hexagram 23- Unchanging

[monkey]

Hello Folks,

I asked: ''Should I go with Chris to Africa?''

I received Hexagram 23- Unchanging

Just a few days ago I got back from a 6 week adventure in Africa where I met someone the last week I was there. This trip was very important to me and I fell in love with Africa. I left with no itinerary alone to go have an adventure. I was scared, but I totally was up to the challenge and the trip was magical. I met Chris at a campsite and was intrigued by him. He has been on an overland adventure....for the last six months he has driven from London down the coast of Africa. During our week together he decided that he wasn't going to be done with traveling by January which was his set time to return back to England. Now he wants to drive up the west coast and asked if I wanted to join him.

I ended a 10 year relationship a year and a half ago so the idea of anything being possible is new to me. ( I started this relationship when i was 17) I ended up loosing my job because of this trip....by boss didn't want me to be gone this long, but I knew I needed to travel. So I have very few things cementing me to the states where I live. The one thing that brings me hesitation is the fact that after years of confusion and depression about what I want to do with my self I finally am feeling some passion about my creative process. I found a Chinese astrology teacher and have been doing a class with him that I help set up and I recently started the piano again.... So basically I can see that this could be a good time to really stop pussy-footing around and start to really devote my time to things I love. BUT..... I'm young with no partner and no children and to miss the opportunity to go travel through Africa in a Land Rover for six months with a guy that is a ton of fun seems like such a unique chance that I shouldn't pass up. Is it the right time? Will the trip be a waste of time? Will I come back from Africa not that changed, but totally lost with no direction. When I read the Hex my heart sank as it says ''It doesn't further one to go anywhere'' , but as I read interpretations I'm not sure if that is to be taken so literally. Anyway.....thanks for the help!

Lian

 

[willowfox]

"I asked: ''Should I go with Chris to Africa?''

I received Hexagram 23- Unchanging"

Well, this hex is about deterioration, change, such as out with the old and in with the new, so a new cycle will begin if you return to Africa. Life in your home country is no longer up to your expectations of a bright future, in fact the home world is falling into decay, so your outer conditions need to change and you with them. So old habits, places and faces no longer have a valid reason for you to continue with them, times have changed and so have you. You are no longer the person you used to be two months ago. The past is gone so now is the time to prepare for the future, so there is nothing you can do that will change your home circumstances, so hop back to Africa and fulfill your destiny.

 

[hilary]

Interesting take - that making the trip does mean stripping away, but stripping away is what you need to do. Hm. That's one possibility. But the experience of hexagram 23 often involves painful losses; I wouldn't volunteer for a 23-ish experience, myself, at least not at a time when I did have my own 'direction to go' - as you do.

However... I'm not sure about this one. The nature of your question ('Should I?') leaves room for ambiguity interpreting the answer. So before committing yourself to six months in a confined space with someone you've only met for a week, I'd suggest asking a new question. How about, "What would it mean for me to say 'no' to this?" And maybe also the reverse - what it would mean for you to say 'yes'. Then Yi paints you pictures of the consequences, and you decide how you feel about them, and what you should do.

 

[hollis]

Love WF post, and Hilary's suggestion, great follow up questions....

(but/and..... remember the thread Listener started, not long ago, about her nephew's college desicion? 23 involved in that in an unusual way.)

 

[unsubscribed_cm]

I dunno about WF's interpretation

...

23 means undermining a obstacle.

Perhaps your splittig off from you boss?
Perhaps it means split off from your friend, go alone, or go without dependency.

Perhaps it means spliting off from a time cycle, letting your mundane life go.

It's not neccesarily telling you WHAT do to. It's just giving you a picture...

This picture could mean anything. I don't think 23 means DON'T GO. The yijing is beyond yes and no.

It could mean shedding a unneeded part of your life.
Which is good in fact. It's good if you need to remove somthing. Nothing works better than letting somthing just rot away. lol

... hm...

I serously doubt that what it is saying has anything to do with the future of africa lol...

ahem...

It's just saying what you question implies. It implies a splitting off from your fate.
It did not say hexagram 49 which involves renovating. It says what that question illustrates is compleltly abandoning your current time stream.

I say this is not a negative repsonce it is a simple response from the logos, which recives the emotion but responds like a andriod or a vulcan, or a sage, or buddha. It does not scold you, it simply gives you a symbol.

I don't know if that makes any sense... but is is not a judgment... it is empty. Even when the yi says misfortune that does not mean your a "bad" person. It's empty... but I digress.

 

[magictortoise]

My take is that Hexagram 23 points to a time of complex inner transformation. Splitting Apart. At such times one should not want to be bogged down with trips, plans, beginning romances etc. One should persevere where one is at and fortify ones place where one is (giving generously to those below). The few times I have gone against a counsel like this I have had cause for regret.

Good regards,

Ken Wanamaker

 

[monkey]

Thanks so much..... such different interpretations. I'm still confused.

The image of Hexagram 23 I can feel in my life. I have felt for the last year this **** and change and pressure for inner transformation. What I want to know is what will best lead me through this change? That is what I'm confused about, to what part of my life is the Yi referring to with the answer of Hex 23? Before my trip I was sure about coming home and going forward with my chinese astrology studies..... excited in fact. I think I will take Hillary's advice and ask some follow up questions.

Okay.....

''what does is mean to say 'yes' to going to Africa with Chirs?

Hexagram 24-1 Fu (Return) moving to Hexagram 2 Kun (The Receptive)

''what does is mean to say 'no' to going to Africa with Chirs?

Hexagram 34-1 Ta Chuang (The Power of the Great) moving to Hexagram 32 Heng (Duration)

so....... hmmmm. Thanks again. I wish I had more to offer, thanks for all your help.

Lian

 

[boyler]

In the "Forest of Changes", the poem for the hexagram 23 unchanging is:

The travel will arouse great taboo,
And Controller of Destinies will be unyielding.
There will be capturing and imprisoning, tying and fettering,
And arresting by decision of an officer,
But solitary people will be happy.

HTH

--
robert matusan - boyler

 

[bruce_g]

23 can sometimes simply mean, strip away the outside and look beneath appearances.

edit: This would lead me to question the underlying reason for wanting to make such a trip. The first time around was wonderful, everything seemed to fit and come together. But what about now? Are your reasons the same or have they become another reason? If another reason, then I'd examine that reason or motivating factor more closely and carefully.

 

[unsubscribed_cm]

good one bruce...
Very noble interpretation. imho.

 

[watergoddess1]

Well - I realise that this post was made a long time ago. But I would like to give my take on it. I think that the reason why the hexagram errs towards something negative is because there is dependency involved in the question. Dependency on the chap "Chris".

When we have no direction - we often latch onto someone who feels solid, who can take us on an adventure with their "get up and go" spirit.

But I think that this hexagram was telling this lady that her potential for growth cannot go any further with that particular person and she should continue her journey for growth without him.

 

[Mira72]

This is an old thread clearly....but I just drew 23 unchanging...and I found this thread incredibly helpful and insightful.

First of all, so much is clear and answer so present in the questioner's statement itself. I have also been in a similar situation...and we all feel so compelled to take that opportunity, especially when we are footloose and fancy free so to speak to live out other people's dreams in following an adventurous path, even if it is not in the best of our own interests.

Elsewhere in reading about 23 unchanging, I have been drawing this a few times recently, as I am delving into the iching rather seriously of late (sorry sage for troubling you so much, in response to which the sage has been so very beautiful, graceful, honest unsparing, terrifying, hilarious, terrifying and hilarious, all at once, and endless is thy love, thank you!)...elsewhere I came across that glorious treatment of this in terms of alchemy and stripping down to the essence, core of the matter (sorry can't provide link, with this ipad setup...it was Hilary's weekly reading, and in comments below).

And it seems that when we draw this, the kind sage is asking us to get to the essence of the matter at hand. It is not about going or coming, staying or leaving, it seems often not about the seemingly drastic choice in front of us...it is about going to the bottom of the stem of the fork and making a conscious and free choice, rather than a forced choice arising out of some external and unconscious or conditioned belief system, hitherto operating unexamined in the background.

So ofcourse, the OP has long moved past their situation...but my response would have been no, don't feel compelled to take an opportunity, however fancy or rare it seems, if it is not in line with what is most important....that kindling and flowering of that inner passion, that is our ever present inner guide to that which is our one true path, which is the campbellian following of the bliss.

Thank you, op for your honest query and all those who responded.

I am grateful and appreciative of this site. This is my first post, although I have been visiting fairly often in the recent month or two.

Thank and may all beings everywhere be happy and at ease.