hexagram 24, unchanging

[salvia]

Hello,

there is this guy I've known since last year, we sometimes work together. I started to become interested in him recently and I may be imagining this, but I think he's interested, too. I asked the I Ching "how does he feel about me" and got 24, unchanging.

Hm?

 

[hsin]

salvia, i think i would start by analyzing the trigrams. the lower trigram, from my perspective, speaks to your inner state: it is thunder-lightning, indicating excitement, inspiration. the upper trigram, as i see it, speaks to the outer situation, perhaps in this case, to the other person: it is earth, the receptive, reflective, and, to me, can indicate fulfillment, completion. the interaction of these two trigrams might be interpreted to read, then, something like you are noticing this other person and beginning to take an interest, it's exciting, and there seems to be some receptivity on his part. because there are no changing lines, it seems practical to say that the situation is not one that is rapidly changing, so be patient. but we also know that the hexagram 24 represents the winter solstice, when the very first rays of springtime begin to make their inevitable presence known. this could also be interpreted to mean that the potential for the relationship is there but it's still very early and, like tender shoots of grass, needs to be treated carefully still. also, the upper trigram, if it indicates completion, may mean that one or the other of you is ending another relationship or matters need to wait until that happens or something along that line.

there is a kind of transcendent element to hexagram 24 to me (The way of the Tao is Return. so there may be something wonderful in the works. obviously thunder-lightning is powerful and can run away with us, reinforcing the idea of being careful at this incipient stage.

best wishes

 

[salvia]

Hsin,
thank you for this very interesting analysis!

 

[salvia]

Some days have passed, and I've met him at work a few times, I think I sense that there is attraction between us, but he doesn't make any contact outside these chance meetings so I'm guessing he isn't all that interested or has something else going on.
I asked why nothing happens and I got 52.4.5 --> 33
I see this as more of a description of what I already know but I asked for an explanation ... So I don't quite understand this one.
I asked again about how does he feel about me, because that might have changed in the mean time. I got 35.1.4 --> 27
Now, this is very interesting. A little while ago, I asked if there anyone would appear who would be (even) more compatible with me. I got 27.1.4 --> 35
I understood this as a confirmation and that I have to carefully look at what the person is like.
Does this inverted reading mean that something similar is happening to him? Perhaps he has more options and is carefully figuring out who to get into a relationship with. Don't know if I Ching works like this, but sometimes I get the feeling that it's not even the actual hexagrams, just the fact that they appeared again, that means someting.

 

[hsin]

Salvia, it seems to me that 52.4.5 --> 33 really is an exceptionally lovely answer. From my perspective, 52 says to hold back for now, keep still, don't lean forward into hoping or expectations. Relax and find a still point within yourself. Line 4 is explicit in this, going so far as to say (Wilhelm) "forgetting the ego", by which I would think you are counseled to let go of desire and simply wish for the best for all concerned. Line 5 goes further to counsel you to be reticent in speech, to choose your words carefully (when around him, or about him to others, especially)--be reserved in speech as well as intent (from line 4) and what really should develop may exceed your imagination. Hexagram 33 seems to reiterate this message: withdraw your attention from the drama of the relationship, hold yourself back from engaging to readily, see your "hopes and desires" as possibly pulling you too quickly, and disengage from the emotions to the extent you can. Make yourself approachable, of course, but don't try to approach for the time being.....

All the Best

 

[salvia]

Wow, I really am hopeless, I always seem to understand it completely differently than I perhaps should ... I thought 52 was describing the situation (since my question was "why"). I never know when to let go of the question and take the hexagrams as an advice the I Ching wants to give.

I actually had asked what the I Ching advises me to do in this stituation and I got 32, unchanging, which is similar, I think

What the I Ching tells is meant for now on or can it be for the past as well?
(Because I had actually spoken about him to my friends and I did get paranoid about the fact that he could have heard about it somehow, even though it is highly unlikely.)

Hsin, do you have any advice on how can I learn to interpret the I Ching better? It is about 13 years since I first got my Wilhelm copy and even though I don't do it very often, I have cast quite a few hexagrams and I usually end up frustrated because there seem to be so many ways to interpret them ... I put it away and then do it again after a few months, until I run into the same problem again

 

[hsin]

salvia, every diviner has a particular relationship with the Oracle, which results in our individual way of hearing the answers to divinations. i say this, which is really stating the obvious, to make it clear that my interpretative map may not match any one else's. so please take what i say as a sincere answer but one you have to reality check with your own heart-mind....

since you have the Wilhelm version, i would recommend that you study the middle section, Book II, The Material--and especially the trigrams, trying to really get a sense of each, get a feel for them, using the major characteristics given there. Then, try to place them (using the hexagram you draw) in the "inner" and "outer" positions, which to me signifies (as a rule) inner nature and outer circumstances. [By way of example, if i was asking about the future of my country, then the lower, inner trigram might represent domestic relations and the upper, outer trigram might represent international relations]. To me, this is a very clear way to understand the dynamics of the hexagram. If there are line changes, they can be understood as psychological stages (not just social rankings), such as infant, child, adolescent, young adulthood, mature adulthood, and elder--signifying, perhaps, stages like vulnerability, trust, separation, responsibility, empowerment, and compassionate disengagement (working from the bottom to the top). These line changes can be seen as triggering such-and-such an issue (a six in the second place could be seen to be triggering the issue of trust, for instance, since it is moving to a yang line in the next hexagram) or likewise resolving such-and-such an issue (a nine). this is kind of a structuralist way of seeing the hexagrams and their changes--and it evokes from you, the diviner, your own associations, your own images in response to the Oracle.

the second point i would offer is to consider your question a starting point by which you are engaging the Oracle but that it may not be the entirety of what concerns you. In other words, The Oracle sometimes to seems to answer what I really need to know, and not just what I want to know. It would be similar to going to the tribal elder, let's say, and asking, "Should I do such-and-such?" Well, the elder knows you better than you know yourself. But she/he also knows the goings-on of the whole village, its history, its place in the world, the changing circumstances surrounding it, and so on. So, the elder may answer in a way that really directs your attention to bigger matters, deeper insights, unforeseen consequences, etc. For this reason, i tend to view the Oracle's reply slightly untethered from the question--sometimes, it directly pertains, of course, but often as not, in my experience, it draws us out into a wider vista of our place in the flow of change.

again, i reiterate, not everyone will agree with what i say and so i implore you to take this as one possible way for you to find your own relationship with the Oracle.

Wishing you all the best

 

[salvia]

hsin,

thank you for another interesting reply!

Is there a version of the I Ching you prefer to the Wilhelm one?

 

[hsin]

To me, the classic is the Wilhelm/Baynes.

My personal bias aside, I think The Toltec I Ching offers a more modern interpretation.