Suggestions for next steps in getting to know Yi?

[kestrelw1ngs]

So I am reaching the end of a period of pretty intense neurosis & dependence on Yi readings for advice, participating in the Shared Readings forum with other people's readings. Not that this was regrettable in any way, in fact it helped with navigating some very confusing situations beyond me current levels of emotional maturity and practical wisdom to get through alone. I probably gave a fair amount of unwelcome unsolicited advice but...you learn as you go!

However the Yi gave me a series of readings basically advising to stop consulting for a minute and rely on my own intution, choices.
Now that I've followed that advice, changes have come to my life, hard ones but for the better.

Now I would like to get reacquainted with the Yi in a more detached manner.
Already I have the names and energies of the hexagrams memorized, but am looking for suggestions on how to go deeper with the Yi, or where to start on that journey, since there are so many books and resources and classes, etc.
I would like to form a more respectful relationship with the Oracle and understand the mechanisms of the trigrams, and casting methods, better.

Any anecdotes about your own journeys or suggestions are much appreciated!
blessed holiday season to all who celebrate,

Kestrel

 

[Trojina]

Already I have the names and energies of the hexagrams memorized, but am looking for suggestions on how to go deeper with the Yi, or where to start on that journey, since there are so many books and resources and classes, etc.

I've never made a conscious effort really to go anywhere with Yi that I'm not living in readings but surely there aren't that many Yi classes and the certainly the only one I'd recommend is here in CC, the Foundations Course which you can work through at your own pace and post in the academy if stuck and also Hilary runs actual Foundations Classes sometimes. But there's loads of learning resources in Change Circle, a gathering every 2 weeks where people can bring readings or just talk about hexagrams etc - there's a huge amount including wikiwing of course.

But you know about all that already surely? About all the resources in CC I mean. I can't think there is a better place to go if you want to learn more about Yi.

 

[my_key]

However the Yi gave me a series of readings basically advising to stop consulting for a minute and rely on my own intution, choices.
Now that I've followed that advice, changes have come to my life, hard ones but for the better.

In the book The Portable Dragon, somewhere in the last few pages, I seem to remember it is advocated that a healthy step back from Yi will do nothing but good. I followed this advice some years back and used the time away to study many other esoteric avenues and divination systems. Coming back to Yi after 3/4 years break allowed me to bring other perspectives that now form the basis of my communication and methods of interacting with Yi. Intuition has to be considered a key element to develop and increasingly bring into all your internal conversations either with or without Yi consultations.

As you have found, you have lived through a period where you gave away your power to Yi. You displayed a dependence on what it told you. A healthy relationship with Yi is based in assertive discernment and comes from meeting all things on an equal footing. It is imperative to retain the power of choice to act or not to act on what is shown to you in the readings.

There are many ways to skin a cat. It sounds like you are already walking a new path, so trust yourself to find the next step that is right for you.

 

[dobro p]

"am looking for suggestions on how to go deeper with the Yi"

1 Use it a lot.

2 If you want to go deeper with the Yi, go deeper with yourself. A certain significant proportion of the energy that flows through you is taken up in unconscious formations and in maintaining them. My experience of this is that getting in touch with and relating to these formations results in seeing things more clearly and feeling things more warmly, and that includes things like the Yi. How to go about it? There must be a million ways to get to know yourself better. For instance, I'm reading a book right now which I'd give about five stars to - 'No Bad Parts' by Richard Schwartz - it's very good, I think. And if you're really serious about going deeper with yourself, work with a depth analyst. A relationship with a good book is just fine, but a relationship with a good person is wonderful.

3 I'm currently falling in love with Balkin's I Ching. I've been working primarily with Alfred Huang's version (backed up with Wilhelm and Karcher), but Balkin is so very good - I think he's becoming my go-to. He understands that it's a book of wisdom as well as an oracle, and his own commentaries are some of the best I've seen. Look at this short excerpt from 48 (which I drew today):

"The theme of the Jing is the need to replenish yourself and others... To replenish other people you must support them and give them room to flourish. Accept people for what they are: do not try to force them into preconceived molds. Consider how you can be of help to others rather than how you can get everyone else to do your bidding. If you create conditions of trust and reciprocity in the world around you, your relationships with others will be like an inexhaustible well that you and everyone else can draw on."

Does it get better than this? I think not. Not only is this profound, wise, kind, and psychologically sound, but it is absolutely pertinent to the inner work that Schwartz talks about in that book I mentioned above. In/out win/win.

 

[Liselle]

If you want to go deeper with the Yi, go deeper with yourself.

Yes. You have to internalize your readings.

Once I got 57uc for how the Resonance Journal could help me, and 57 is exactly internalizing things. In hindsight I think this was a two-pronged answer. Resonance Journal can help me internalize, and I really, really must do that. I think Yi was telling me it needed to be my priority.

 

[novht1]

As someone who has also been through a period quite recently of rather intensive, obsessive reading, I can echo others in saying that slowing down and asking fewer questions, spending a lot more time thinking through those questions and their answers, and examining as many aspects of the answers as possible has been quite helpful. The quality and meaningfulness of my readings has really increased. In the last week or two I've really connected with some insights that have felt quite profound and would have been quite out of reach through obsessive readings.

That said, I do sometimes fall back into doing cast after cast, often out of anxiety. But when I notice that I'm doing this, I've started to treat what I'm doing differently -- more as a way to mentally explore different facets something through a kind of "conversation" that I'm not able to do otherwise. This -can- help me think things through, though not necessarily in an especially deep way. It can also lead to more anxiety and confusion, so I have to be mindful of what I'm doing. But I'm coming to terms with it.

But when I'm really looking for advice and insight: slow it down; give it time; really dig into the symbols; ask follow-up questions (this has made a huge difference to me); be ready to accept answers you might not like; see how different people interpret the images. I think it's useful, for example, to contrast Hillary's version with more cut-and-dried interpretations like Balkin and then with really wild, almost primal, ones like Karcher (I know some people warn against this sort of thing because it can kind of turn into "pick your own answer" but this practice has been invaluable to me because it helps me sometimes see things in different ways than I am predisposed to).

 

[dobro p]

If you want to go deeper with the Yi, go deeper with yourself.

Liselle replied: Yes. You have to internalize your readings.

Paul replied to Liselle: I'm not talking about internalizing readings (although I see the value of that). I'm talking about this: shallow people get less out of the Yi than people with depth. The difference between a shallow person and a person with depth is self-knowledge. It's like the parable of the sower in the Gospels.

 

[Liselle]

I see what you're saying. Not flattering at all , but true. (Maybe Yi can help people become deeper?)

This is picky, but would you mind re-quoting my sentence so it displays right? Otherwise it looks like you're saying two opposite things back-to-back, which confuses the point you're making.

 

[dobro p]

I see what you're saying. Not flattering at all , but true. (Maybe Yi can help people become deeper?)

This is picky, but would you mind re-quoting my sentence so it displays right? Otherwise it looks like you're saying two opposite things back-to-back, which confuses the point you're making.

Okay, I edited it as well as I could. (The Clarity quote engine doesn't nest quotes.)

No, it's not flattering at all, but that's how it works - do you want your ego unruffled, or do you want self-knowledge? You can't have both.

'Maybe the Yi can help people become deeper?'

Well, yes, if they're interested in self-knowledge. But if they're interested in maintaining their self-image, then no (see above).

 

[Liselle]

(The Clarity quote engine doesn't nest quotes.)

The simplest is probably just to put the separate quotes one after the other.

If you want to go deeper with the Yi, go deeper with yourself.

Yes. You have to internalize your readings.

Or it can nest, with some manual assembly:

[QUOTE="dobro p, post: 325175, member: 168"]
If you want to go deeper with the Yi, go deeper with yourself.
[QUOTE="Liselle, post: 325199, member: 921"]
Yes. You have to [I]internalize[/I] your readings.
[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]

If you want to go deeper with the Yi, go deeper with yourself.

Yes. You have to internalize your readings.

 

[dobro p]

Thanks, I'll try these and see which one is smoothest.

 

[IrfanK]

Hmm. Maybe just spend more time with fewer readings. Sit with one reading until you feel a sense of resolution with it. Journal about it. Revisit the journal again later as the situation develops, see if that gives you more insight into what the reading meant.

I used to do daily readings. Throw the coins, look at the reading, contemplate it. Perhaps briefly consider how it applies to where you are now. It's fun. But I gave it up, at least for now. It's too scattered and superficial. A day isn't long enough, it doesn't give you time to see a reading unfold. And then you've got to come to terms with a new one the next day.

Better not to ask lots of questions about the same topic. Sometimes maybe there's a reason to do it. Perhaps if the first reading gives you some sort of insight that evokes a new question. But don't do it just because you didn't really understand the Yi the first time. Sit with it and do the work.

Sometimes less is more.

 

[rosada]

I haven’t read the above conversation but I was intrigued by the question. Perhaps we all have tips for improving our connection. Mine, for today anyway, is to not be concerned if you feel you are or are not making progress with your understanding, just keep exposing yourself to it like you would with a foreign language. Also, when you are totally connected to the I Ching/Group Mind you feel happy! So practice feeling happy and you’ll “get it”! Listen to the Y.M.C.A. (It’s fun to stay at the YMCA1) and then consult the IC about something. Clarity!

 

[kestrelw1ngs]

I haven’t read the above conversation but I was intrigued by the question. Perhaps we all have tips for improving our connection. Mine, for today anyway, is to not be concerned if you feel you are or are not making progress with your understanding, just keep exposing yourself to it like you would with a foreign language. Also, when you are totally connected to the I Ching/Group Mind you feel happy! So practice feeling happy and you’ll “get it”! Listen to the Y.M.C.A. (It’s fun to stay at the YMCA1) and then consult the IC about something. Clarity!

Well I have been listening to a lot of disco lately! Maybe the Yi will groove with that...
Thanks Rosada.

 

[kestrelw1ngs]

I've never made a conscious effort really to go anywhere with Yi that I'm not living in readings but surely there aren't that many Yi classes and the certainly the only one I'd recommend is here in CC, the Foundations Course which you can work through at your own pace and post in the academy if stuck and also Hilary runs actual Foundations Classes sometimes. But there's loads of learning resources in Change Circle, a gathering every 2 weeks where people can bring readings or just talk about hexagrams etc - there's a huge amount including wikiwing of course.

But you know about all that already surely? About all the resources in CC I mean. I can't think there is a better place to go if you want to learn more about Yi.

Joining Change Circle is probably the answer I was looking for.
I didn't mean to imply there were loads of classes, but there are many many interpretations, books, and translations, angles to study such as the trigrams, the Chinese characters, the history.... YouTube videos, these forums...

Two things going on in my question and this thread, one being "what angle to approach from to know more about the Yi" and "how to depend relationship with the Oracle"

The former was what I hoped to have answered but in retrospect the latter is more important. Difference between studying a person's case file and spending time letting them disclose themselves.

Pacing.....hah! Can't lie, I'm frustrated by the advice to just sit with readings and do the work but there you go, ego! Gotta be the Guy Who Knows Stuff or else what am I worth

 

[kestrelw1ngs]

3 I'm currently falling in love with Balkin's I Ching. I've been working primarily with Alfred Huang's version (backed up with Wilhelm and Karcher), but Balkin is so very good - I think he's becoming my go-to. He understands that it's a book of wisdom as well as an oracle, and his own commentaries are some of the best I've seen. Look at this short excerpt from 48 (which I drew today):

"The theme of the Jing is the need to replenish yourself and others... To replenish other people you must support them and give them room to flourish. Accept people for what they are: do not try to force them into preconceived molds. Consider how you can be of help to others rather than how you can get everyone else to do your bidding. If you create conditions of trust and reciprocity in the world around you, your relationships with others will be like an inexhaustible well that you and everyone else can draw on."

see how different people interpret the images. I think it's useful, for example, to contrast Hillary's version with more cut-and-dried interpretations like Balkin and then with really wild, almost primal, ones like Karcher (I know some people warn against this sort of thing because it can kind of turn into "pick your own answer" but this practice has been invaluable to me because it helps me sometimes see things in different ways than I am predisposed to).

off to check out Balkin's translation then.
That quote touched something quite deep and wounded that needs attention from me.

Thank you everyone for responding with the consideration you did. This forum is a replenishing haven in the internet wilds.