Primary hexagram #32 and relating hexagram #40, what does it mean?

[elgrancacao]

Hello people,

I'm not sure about my career right now. I've always thought that I have some artistic talent, but because of different things that happened i ended up studying and working in business administration and finance. I've been feeling kinda disappointed with my life these days and I'm wondering if it was a mistake to not take art seriously. My question is "is being an artist on my destiny?", and I got #32 for the primary hexagram and #40 for the relating hexagram. Can someone please explain me what it means? should I keep doing what I'm doing right know? or should I take a different path?

thanks
Luis

 

[candid]

Hi Luis,

I apologize that I can not give an in depth interpretation at the moment. I?ll offer an extremely capsulated version and hope you get the gist of its meaning.

The reading suggests that you stand firm and not change your direction. I?d interpret this to mean, ?don?t quit your day gig just yet.? At the same time, your relating hexagram refers to a deliverance or a ?setting free?. I think what this is saying in a nutshell is, do both. Address your practical and economic needs with your present career and allow the artist in you to be set free.

I have professional friends who enjoy creating art in a variety of mediums. An attorney who plays weekends in a blues band. A chiropractor who takes his art (his Harley) on the road during his off time. There?s nothing that says a person can?t be a professional and still enjoy their art or personal passion.

Take care and enjoy the ride!

~Candid

 

[elgrancacao]

Hi candid,

Thanks for your reply. It was hard for me to understand the reading because I didn't get a straightforward answer. It was like "be consistent but enjoy change and freedom" at the same time, so I guess your interpretation must be correct.

Thanks a lot

Luis

 

[barbara]

I am probably doing this incorrectly, as it is my first time using the Friends area. Please forgive my lack of experience. I have been consulting the I Ching on my own for about six years and feel very connected to it, in addition to my Buddhist practice that led me to the Hua Hu Ching, by Lao-Tzu, which I read every night.
I have been using Wilhelm and Anthony, as well as the "Buddhist" I Ching to get a general interpretation from a number of angles. It has always been eerily correct.
Today I tried your website on a health-related question for myself and was a bit terrified by the negative and precise references. I am to begin hormonal therapy for breast cancer (I was diagnosed in March, had surgery in April, and just finished radiation). I went to a breast oncologist first and then transferred to my local doctor (closer) because he shares his name with the translator of the Lao-TZu that I cherish. I inquired about the outcome of this particular new treatment and received hexagram 9 with only the top line changing. As you know, there are references to a woman in danger if the superior man persists(!) as well as to the full moon... a direct reference to the menses, which the drug effectively prevents from occuring. My question is, should I refuse to continue taking this medication (they want me to do it for FIVE YEARS)? Am I correct in assuming the superior man is the doctor? I don't think a single dose will adversely affect me, but should I stop taking it after that? Thank you for any response. I might add that this therapy has no explict statistics associated with it for someone in the early stage of breast cancer with negative nodes (it has not spread) because it is so new a drug. Seventy-five per cent of people in my position never have a recurrance, but an earlier I Ching reading I did suggested that doing nothing
resulted in the hexagram Danger!
Many thanks again and sorry this is so long. Glad to know there are so many I Ching enthusiasts out there!
Barbara

 

[candid]

Hi and welcome, Barbara.

I?m reluctant to interpret your question in a yes or no fashion due to gravity and importance of deciding wisely regarding your medical treatment. If I interpreted this reading for myself, I?d be inclined to note the relating hexagram: Waiting. The time for sweeping measures has not arrived. This is also indicated in your primary: Taming Power of the Small. Based on these two indicators, I?d wait if I received your answer. I?d also do as much research as I could on this particular therapy while I waited, beginning with the internet. Perhaps someone here can offer a search reference or two. I would also heed the council to gather with friends for discussion and know that its Ok to allow a joyess mood into my being. Joy and laughter are also known to be a healing therapy.

It sounds as though you have time to consider this further, possibly get a second opinion. Doctors may in some ways be a ?superior men?, but they?re only too human also.

Please stick around and let us know how things are working out for you. Your input is always welcomed in other areas as well.

Sincerely,
~Candid

 

[willow]

For both Barbara and Elgrancacao.

Elgrancacao: I would also consider asking how it may be that your business profession *is* art. Maybe the combination of duration and deliverance is an indication that at this point (when your dormant or turned-away-from artistic impulses resurface) you will see something more about the deep creative impulses they were a sign of. Just as you're feeling that business may not be the form of expression you want, maybe also whatever form "art" took for you in the past wasn't it either. Now, maybe, you can take what mattered about both and get it (deliverance) with only subtle alteration (duration) instead of wholesale revolution. There is a book called "Crossing the Unkown Sea - Work as a Pligrimage of Identity" by David Whyte that would elaborate such a change.

Barbara: In this forum, you can start your own "topic" to discuss your own reading. That helps to keep each person's reading alive and active and differentiated. But beyond that technicality, you are using the forum correctly! Welcome.

A caution, that I'm sure you are already aware of, is that one form of advice cannot take the place of another - that is, the I Ching can help guide how you listen to your own body, and to doctors, but it should not be construed as giving a medical opinion. Supranatural here might differ on that, but he has a specialized shamanistic context for that type of knowledge.

Hmmmm... #9 to #5. I would say that the Waiting part suggests that it is your attitude that will make you receptive to finding the best answer, and being able to hear it. The Taming Power of the Small part suggests that you are aware that each tiny detail here has, or could have big implications. The thing to do is not be paralyzed by fear of that awareness, but to make it a curiosity that draws you on. Second opinions, research, yes, but it is the quality of your attention that counts the most. What tiny detail draws your attention? Why? Where does that lead? The car manufacturer Toyota attributes some of its success to the "Law of 5 Whys." Someone gives a reason for something. You ask why. They answer. You ask why again. Eventually, you get to a root cause, or to a shot-in-the-dark prejudice or guess or assumption, which it then is up to you to see if you share or not. As you say, no one quite knows what this drug does. For better or worse, taking or not taking it is a gamble. What you have to answer is, is it *your* gamble, or is it your doctor's gamble.