Snake in compoat 30.5-13

[Grandma]

Well last night I was turning my compost (it's in a bin) and I saw a garden snake in it. I freaked out of course and ran in the house. I looked it up on the web and it is a garden snake not harmful to humans and it eats rodents (a good thing imho).A few people had stories about snakes in their compost ranging from letting them be (and avoiding the compost for the time being )or getting rid of them with hot peppers and soap. I don't know how I am going to go near the compost bin again, especially don't know how I am going to turn it again. Apparently snakes like a warm place in July to have their multiple offspring.
After calming down last night and thinking this snake has a right to exist and performs a certain function (some say they actually aerate the compost for you) but being very squeamish about it I asked the i ching :
Should I do anything about the snake in the compost.
30.5-13
Wilhelm in 30 mentions "Human life on earth is conditioned
and unfree, and when man recognizes this limitation and makes himself
dependent upon the harmonious and beneficent forces of the cosmos, he
achieves success. The cow is the symbol of extreme docility. By cultivating in
himself an attitude of compliance and voluntary dependence, man acquires
clarity without sharpness and finds his place in the world."
"The great man continues the work of nature in the
human world. "
This seems to say that the snake has it's place in the scheme of things in my garden and it is docile and I should also be docile towards it.

The line 5 "Tears in floods, sighing and lamenting."
That happened (probably to both of us)


"if one is intent on retaining his clarity of mind, good fortune will come from
this grief. For here we are dealing not with a passing mood, as in the nine in
the third place, but with a real change of heart. "

Calm down and accept each other. The change of heart for me is to live with the snake nearby (knowing it's there, as opposed to being blissfully unaware.)

13 FELLOWSHIP WITH MEN in the open.
Success.
I thought that was really funny. The snake was out in the open for sure.

"all things that really belong
together must be organically arranged. Fellowship should not be a mere
mingling of individuals or of things--that would be chaos, not fellowship. If
fellowship is to lead to order, there must be organization within diversity."

Seems like the ic is telling me to leave it be and accept it's presence as a good thing.Also, there are good snakes and bad snakes, this is a good one.

From Rosada in another thread:The IC reading seems to say that your heartfelt tears, 30.5, should lead to Friendship, 13
Am I missing something here?
I still feel like avoiding the compost and not stirring it for sure.

 

[willowfox]

Line 30.5 says look at Mr.Snake, he's an innocent creature minding his own business, therefore there is nothing to fear from him providing you leave him be, so there is absolutely no reason to kill him or whatever, feel lucky that you have a new friend in your garden.

 

[Grandma]

Thanks Willowfox.
I thought it was a pretty funny reading to get.
The other thing, not sure I mentioned it , is I'm supposed to stir the compost, but I am definitely too scared to do it, plus that wouldn't be being docile towards it, maybe the snake is doing it for me?
I didn't ask that in the question but I think the answer would be included in the reading because the ic would have thought of that even if I didn't.
My new friend who eats my non-friends (mice).

 

[hilary]

Mr (or maybe Mrs) Snake is also paying your composting skills a great compliment, by finding your compost warm enough to visit. However, s/he might be just passing through, not necessarily setting up home.

You ask what you should do about the snake - Yi says,
"Tears in floods, sighing and lamenting."
So that's all you need to 'do' - freak out a bit, and probably wish that you could carry on turning your compost without worrying about unexpected visitors. You've already done that.

Hexagram 13 is about fellowship that extends beyond the usual boundaries, outside your own little village and across the river. This is the first time I've seen it extend all the way to reptiles, though!

 

[Grandma]

Thanks Hilary.
That's a nice sentiment about the Mrs. Snake (I assume) paying the compost a compliment! Sometimes I find ic answers so very funny.
You seem to be saying that the snake will not stay long. Why do you say that? I had a dream the next night about 4 snakes going back into the woodsy area from the grass. So I was thinking that it might not be staying there for the duration also, but I was not basing this on any knowledge of snake habits.
Well if I have already freaked out and accepted the fact that I might find snakes in my compost I guess I have to live with that but am I to stir it in the future? or am I going to get over the fear of doing that? or is there no need to stir it?
The other thing that happened is my landlord came by the next night and I had him throw my daily food scraps in the compost and put the lid back on it. Of course he being a guy he wanted to see the snake and started stirring it. I told him not to do that while I was around. So I think the fellowship might refer to him also.

For now I am not stirring my compost or adding scraps to it (waiting for landlord to do it for me).

 

[hilary]

I didn't have any particular reason for saying the snake might stay long - no special insights here. It's just that one visited our compost once, and left again. Shame - it might have eaten the mice that moved in and ate all the vegetable peelings as soon as I dropped them in.

 

[Grandma]

Oh gee, I'm not having that problem with the mice but someone is eating my carrot tops and zucchini and had a little snack of all my parsley the other day. Good eating for Mr. Deer, I think, but it could be anybody.
I just sprayed soap on all my plants but I will have to do that after every rain which has been every day so far this summer.

 

[willowfox]

Good eating for Mr. Deer, I think, but it could be anybody.
I just sprayed soap on all my plants but I will have to do that after every rain which has been every day so far this summer.

Perhaps its a "reindeer".

 

[Grandma]

Ha ha WF

Actually, I was out yesterday by my garden and there I saw Mr Cottontail Rabbit who lives in the bushes next to my garden. Grrrrrr.....leave my zucchini alone! and my parsley!