Hexagram 44

[canislulu]

In another thread Pocossin says:

The King Wen meaning of hexagram 44 is the final stage of plastromancy -- the inscription of the plastron. The woman, fish, rump, pig, horns, melon and willow -- these are responses by the Duke of Zhou to the visual appearance of the hexagram.

I have been contemplating this comment in terms of the trigrams. The lower trigram is Sun or Xun, wind, wood, penetrating, the gentle, the oldest daughter, etc. The upper trigram is Ch'ien or Qian, heaven, the creative, the father, etc.

So in the final stage of plastromancy, Heaven Penetrates the turtle shell? Could Hexagram 44 be called "Heaven Penetrating"?

It seems to me that the inscription of a plastron is not a momentary coupling that is not meant to last. It seem like a moment when something becomes set in shell.

Or if one considers the lower trigram to be "wood" in the context of H 44 --- then it seems heaven's pronouncement on the question becomes "rooted" in the final stage of plastromancy. Again, this does not seem like a coupling that will not last.

Where does the idea of "momentary, not meant to last" come in relation to Hexagram 44?

corrections or comments of/on the above welcome...

 

[pocossin]

In another thread Pocossin says:

I have been contemplating this comment in terms of the trigrams. The lower trigram is Sun or Xun, wind, wood, penetrating, the gentle, the oldest daughter, etc. The upper trigram is Ch'ien or Qian, heaven, the creative, the father, etc.

Jumpingmouse, bless you. Other than myself, you are the first person at Clarity in fourteen years who has paid any attention to the visual features of the hexagrams. It has seemed that I was talking to the wind. You've no idea (without research) how rare your ability is. Except for the estimable Sakis Totlis, whose book "Energy -- the breath in the clay" I am now attempting to edit, no one at Clarity has looked at a hexagram as a visual object, highly abstract and capable of multiple interpretations though it may be.

The lower trigram is the source of the idea of willow. The upper trigram with its three stripes represents the stripes on a melon.

So in the final stage of plastromancy, Heaven Penetrates the turtle shell? Could Hexagram 44 be called "Heaven Penetrating"?

The message of heaven was inscribed on the plastron.

It seems to me that the inscription of a plastron is not a momentary coupling that is not meant to last. It seem like a moment when something becomes set in shell.

Indeed it was. Those shells are the basis of modern understanding of Chinese etymology.

Or if one considers the lower trigram to be "wood" in the context of H 44 --- then it seems heaven's pronouncement on the question becomes "rooted" in the final stage of plastromancy. Again, this does not seem like a coupling that will not last.

Where does the idea of "momentary, not meant to last" come in relation to Hexagram 44?

corrections or comments of/on the above welcome...

Where do you find "momentary"? Anway, the reduction of 41 is the drilling of a pit into the shell, 42, is the cracking of the shell, 43 is the presentation of the shell at court, well described in the Book of Rites, and 45 is temple gate. The ruler could not approach his ancestral temple until the spirits of the ancestors approved.

 

[canislulu]

Partly, my association with "momentary" in relation to Hexagram 44 likely comes from Karcher's commentary on the hexagram with reference to brief encounters that you cannot hold onto because they come and go. But then he does mention letting the encounters change you or reveal a new fate. A "new fate" would not be a momentary thing.

Anyway, I am certainly beginning to see the value of letting go of the appended text and looking at the visual aspects of the hexagrams. Doing that has helped shed light on a couple of my own personal readings I've been contemplating. Thank you, Poccosin.