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Seals?

lynx

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Hi All

I'am studying Hex 57 at the moment because it seems to be the answer to a lot of questions that I've asked the Yee lately.

Anyway,I saw this at Lise's site...

"The emperor bestowed a seal to those who were able to carry out his ideas, and whom he trusted. The seals one carries inside come from Gods or devils, from parents or heredity, from muses or experiences with nature."

Could someone please explain (in lay terms) what this Seal is ??
I understand what seals are and what they are
used for in the literal sense,but what is this statement really refering to?

Spiritual gifts,such as mediumship perhaps?

L
 

heylise

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The ?picture? of the hexagram name (the ideogram) is a stand with seals on it, and a pair of hands.
The emperor gave one half of a jade tablet to a vassal, and kept the other half himself. When the vassal had an audience with the emperor, he would hold up his half of the tablet, as a sign that he had received his authority from the emperor. More or less in the same way someone puts Ph D before his name, the butcher has his certificate hanging in the shop, or the visitors of an exhibition show their invitation, so they are allowed in. Or the seal on a ring, used as a kind of signature. Signs that they are who they claim to be, a hallmark of authenticity.

In a hexagram a seal necessarily has a wider meaning. It cannot be 1/64 of universe and only refer to this half tablet. So it is the ?meaning? of the tablet, carrying a seal, behaving according to your seal. It means you can be trusted, because your deeds conform with who you are. Not because you are honest in your words, or because you are nice in your actions, but because you are true to yourself. A true criminal cannot be trusted in what he will do to you.. but he is honest to his being a criminal. WYSIWYG..

So in an egg is a tiny unformed creature with the seal to become a chicken, in your soul is a blueprint of who you are and where you are heading. If you fill in your true destination, it will give you a sense of fulfilling your life?s purpose.

In line 5 Geng day is mentioned, it is the day of metal. Metal can be formed, but once cooled off, it is very hard. You shape your life and everything you do in your own way, according to your seal. It seems as if it has little form when you start, or along the road, but if you pour it into the mould of your seal, you get in the end a quite indestructable life you can call yours. If you pour it in a wrong form, it will cool off to a wrong life...

LiSe
 

hilary

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LiSe, do you know the story of the scorpion and the fox?
 

heylise

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No? Hah, settling down with a tiny glass of Punt-e-Mes and a little piece of cheese, going to listen...

Lynx, don't take my website as the gospel! Combine it with Wilhelm, or with Bradford's, or with Balkin's Laws of Change. They are all serious and reliable. I only try to add what has been overlooked in my eyes, and I search for 'images of myth'. They are so clearly present all over the Yi, and so often neglected.

LiSe
 

hilary

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The scorpion wanted to cross the river. So he found a fox and promised to show him a good place to cross, if the fox would carry him over on his back. The fox refused at first: how was he to know the scorpion wouldn't sting him? But the scorpion reasoned sensibly enough that if he stung the fox, he would drown as well - and why would he do something like that?

So the fox agreed, and the scorpion showed him the crossing place, and the fox let the scorpion onto his back. And just as they reached the centre of the river, the scorpion stung the fox.

The fox asked,
'Why did you do that? Now we'll both drown!'
The scorpion replied,
'Because I'm a scorpion.'
 

hilary

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Just thought of a better story - published in 1842, probably true:

"A young man brought his dog with him into a boat, rowed to the middle of the Seine, and threw the animal overboard to drown. The poor dog kept trying to clamber back into the boat, and his 'master' kept pushing him back into the water until, overbalancing, he too went into the water. As soon as the faithful dog saw his master in the river, he swam from the boat and held him above water until help arrived from the shore, and his life was saved."
 
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bruce_g

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Good one.

Dog: a man's best friend, even if the guy is a lout.
 
M

micheline

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question to the I Ching: What is the purpose of a dog?
answer: 52.6 >15 noblehearted and still, constant and immovable ( in loyalty )
Humble.
Once I heard a story about a dog who laid on the grave of his dead master and would not be moved.

That is an interesting image of the metal being poured into an indestructible life. An indestructible core is a good image. With that in place, maybe somehow the "outer" of you can remain pliant and supple, because the core is solid?

Because I keep thinking of people who arrive in old age bent over and stiff, their faces hardened into permanent frowns. Arthritis and hardening of the arteries. Is it just inescapable "old age"...or have they allowed their soft metal to harden into forms of disappointment, bitterness, resignation.
I guess it is a good thing to be careful where we pour our metal.
 
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bruce_g

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I love that reading! Dogs are sometimes compared to Buddha-mind. They live entirely in the present. It?s no surprise therefore that Yi would point to 52.6, and 15 is perfect for human companionship.
 

heylise

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a dog is a dog is a dog

Beautiful stories, and a beautiful reading. Could not think of a better one for a dog.

So I also asked Yi what is a scorpion. Not the animal, but the image. The danger in the dark, the one who stings himself to death rather than die in the fire, the astrological sign which explores the dark regions in himself and others in order to ?know?. Things like that.

64/3 and 5 to 24. The Gui region almost knocked me off my chair!

The scorpion the image of prying into everything, finding the flaws in what looks perfect (63), so things return to their reality?
The big and small offering do relate with my experiences with scorpions. They often slaughter an ox when small remark would be quite good enough?or see oxen being slaughtered when the other just wanted to say something simple.

LiSe
 
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bruce_g

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What is scorpion?

64 3: Not yet across, setting things right: pitfall. Harvest: to wade (not ride?) across the big stream.

64 3: Before completion, attack brings misfortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.

24 Return (quickly!)

Better a dog than coyote.
 
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bruce_g

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The difference between a dog or scorpion and a human is that a human (or shaman) can anthropomorphize into either. That gives the human not only some really cool abilities, but also the responsibilities.

If it is the seal of the scorpion to sting, it should at least be able to wait until it is across. A persevering scorpion? Naw, I don?t think so. But if we?re also the dog....
 
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bruce_g

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Does anyone know if there are animal/trigram correlations? I'd be curious to know what a scorpion over dog hexagram looks like.
 

heylise

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My first guess would be water over mountain. 39..

Dog does belong to mountain. No scorpion mentioned in the trigram attributes, but a dangerous animal which lives in dark humid places relates a lot to 29.

LiSe
 
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bruce_g

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hmm, lots of scorpions here in the desert, too. 29 still feels right, though.

On 39:
("A magician can find out how things are, but he can also divine how things might be. He can do so when he is able to ?leave himself?, like shamans do, leave their body, become an animal, or climb the life-tree or fly to heaven and back.") ~ LiSe

And you thought I wasn't listening.
wink.gif
 

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