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Mistake...or was it?

jillc

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Hello All

Not long ago someone started a thread about how to handle a mistake -- such as when a bead rolls under the sofa or you look up the wrong hexagram. I've done both, and I'd like to bare my most recent blooper.

A week ago I asked how to handle a new development in a sometimes frustrating, off-and-on relationship, an event that hurt and angered me (justifiably, I think!).

I received 36 transforming to 39. Lines 1, 5, and 6 were changing. The advice was most helpful: bide my time, be open minded, avoid arguments, pretend to agree with the situation, keep a low profile, and lots more.

Last night I went back to study it further and realized I'd misclassified one of the lines and the initial hexagram was really 22! (I hate it when that happens.)

At first glance, the advice for both would seem to be very different. 22 seemed to say I should just "look pretty and put on a brave front." But the deeper I got into it, I could see that the advice was indeed quite similar to that of 36, although phrased in almost opposite ways: rather than "avoid being bellicose" 22 suggested "use tact and charm" as just one example. The emphasis for both seemed to urge protecting my best interests and integrity and that patience and self-control would eventually be rewarded.

But a very specific message in 22 was SO important to this situation. I had decided on that very action immediately after the occurrence, and receiving suth a strongly worded confirmation several days later was breathtaking.

(I think it's interesting, too, that 40 is the nuclear hexagram for both 22 and 36.)

With these hexagrams I tried a technique in Karcher's "How To..." book, creating a separate new hexagram for each moving line to show the possible progression of the situation. That was enlightening, too -- I'd highly recommend it. (I'm using Karcher's various volumes and Sarah Dening most, these days.)

I don't know what prompted me to go back and look at the figure again. But I think the misreading of the top line, while a mistake, was no accident, and it provided me some excellent guidance on how to handle the situation I'd not have had otherwise. Getting comparable advice from the "real" hexagram after I'd cooled down will be invaluable.

I'd be interested in anyone's comments on both my "error" and the contrasting/complementary messages in both hexagrams.

Thanks!

Jill
 

lindsay

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Dear Jill,

That?s quite a story! It definitely belongs in Hilary?s ?Yes, Virginia, There Really Is An Oracle? archive of amazing synchronicities.

If you believe the Oracle can speak to you when you do a reading correctly, it is not such a stretch to believe the Oracle is equally capable of speaking to you when you do a reading incorrectly. After all, we are the dummies, not the Oracle. If the Oracle understands our affairs well enough to advise us, it (she? he?) probably knows a thing or two about our limitations and foibles.

Indirectly and by inference, you also reminded me of another important point: it is very useful to keep a record of one?s readings for later consideration. You would never have been aware of this whole situation if you did not remember (write down?) your original reading. It is not necessary to document every detail of the work-up and interpretation, but I think a dated record of one?s inquiry, with the written question and the resulting hexagrams drawn out (in case the chart was misread), is extremely valuable.

Simple records like this open up two opportunities. First, they allow you to reconsider readings once everybody and everything has (as Jill says) ?cooled down.? Aside from the possibility of error, a recent reading may have subtlties and nuances that were missed in the heat of the situation. Could still be helpful. Second, long-term trends often appear in one?s readings. Perhaps hexagram 7 keeps coming up. Perhaps you asked the same question six months ago, and got the same answer (this happened to me recently). Trends that emerge over periods of time could have important information for us. How else would we know about them if we didn?t keep a notebook or record of some sort?

Thanks for the reminder.
Lindsay
 

jillc

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Hi Lindsay

I agree absolutely about the value of recordkeeping (in fact, I believe you and I had a brief discussion about that very issue last summer).

Actually, I do more than just note the date, question, and hexagrams, I also note the circumstances that prompted the question, which helps put the answer in context if I refer to the reading again.

I keep a detailed record of each reading, with quotes from the various sources I consult, full of underlines, asterisks, exclamation points, and lines drawn from various points in several readings to one another. The result is extremely untidy, but it's fascinating to see the correspondences and consistencies over time.

That's why my initial dismay at having made a mistake turned to real awe when, as you say, the Oracle spoke to the "inner dummy" and told her what she really needed to know, in spite of herself. And then softened but reinforced the message later.

Wow.

Jill
 

lindsay

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Dear Jill,

Sorry, I had forgotten the details of that earlier discussion. I went back and read it again("After the Reading, Then What?") -- and discovered it was you who first gave me the same advice that I was rambling on about above. Only your ideas about record-keeping are even better than mine. Well, all I can say is that I took your advice to heart, and I'm very glad I did. My notebook has been a very useful resource even in the short time since last July. In fact, I'm so convinced of the value of your ideas that I'm always eager to pass them off as my own!

Lindsay
 

jillc

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Glad to be of service, Lindsay. And just to keep things even, I'll shamelessly swipe some of your ideas - that way I'll sound like I know what I'm doing!

Jill
 

hilary

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Thanks for the story, Jill. Mine is not so inspiring - it was just a mistake, pure and simple. This was when most of the population of the UK was headed into its bottom left-hand corner to see the total solar eclipse. Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, unless a) it was cloudy (as if such a thing would happen in the UK...) or b) we spent 72 hours in a traffic jam.

So I asked 'what if we go?' I'm afraid I can't remember the answer (yes, yes, I do keep a record, but it's late to start trying to look it up!), but anyway, I read the wrong moving line. The result was that I ended up reading an unfavourable line and staying home, watching a partial eclipse. The real reading would have encouraged me to go. (And yes, the clouds did clear over much of Cornwall at the critical moment...)

I have a sneaking suspicion that the line I read matched my innate laziness/ hidden reluctance, or some such. Some sort of subconscious decision to read the wrong line, maybe?

The part of the eclipse we did see was quite strange enough, though. The birds fell eerily silent, a very confused-looking mole bumbled about above ground, and the quality of light was utterly unlike anything else - very weird. I seriously wanted to beat drums and fire arrows to stop the dragon swallowing the sun...
 

jillc

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Personally, Hilary, I'd rather attribute your erroneous line to an unfavorable outcome (or just crowds of gawkers) avoided than to plain laziness. Or maybe there would have been a highway accident (heaven forbid) or something would have happened at home had you taken the trip.

And perhaps the mistake was indeed confirming that you really didn't care that much to drive hours and hours just to watch a solar snooze! The experience you describe sounds ever so much more eventful than any partial eclipse I can remember -- and you didn't even have to leave your own back yard.

By the way, a while ago I was looking for your page on synchronicity (as mentioned by Lindsay) and it seems to have disappeared. Have you taken it down? Did it languish or die a'borning? Hope not; it is a nifty idea.

Jill
 

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