This seems positive?

[edenworkshops]

Hello.

I had a vexing question and asked the book, my question as " should I make contact with a person"

I got the reply which you see below, I am taking this as a positive response, what do you think?

 

[moss elk]

were any of the lines changing? (Red)

 

[edenworkshops]

This was the hexagram

 

[Liselle]

Oh, I just answered your other thread without noticing this one, sorry...

So you got 14.3 > 38 (hexagram 14, Great Possession, changing at line 3 to hexagram 38, Opposing).

Hexagram 14 is your basic answer, and hexagram 38 is what's often called the "relating hexagram." The relating hexagram is usually background or context.

The first thing to do is think about the hexagram names, trying to see how they might fit together. Great Possession's Opposing...great possession's moment of opposition, great possession's aspect of opposition...

(There is more information about all this in Hilary's free Beginner's Course I mentioned in the other thread, and also in the Foundations Course. That one isn't free - so of course start with the free one - but if you want a next step, it's excellent.)

Already you can see that your answer, Great Possession, might be tempered by the other part of your answer, Opposing. Exactly how that works is yet to be seen - it could mean that your conversation would contain an element of opposition, or - since the relating hexagram is background or context, it might reflect your worry about opposition.

The next thing you should do is read through all the relevant texts - the Oracle and Image of each hexagram, and then the moving line. Here those are, from Hilary's book (highly recommended):

Hexagram 14
Oracle
'Great Possession.
From the source, creating success.'

Image
'Fire dwells above heaven.
Great Possession.
A noble one ends hatred and spreads the good,
She yields to heaven and rests in her mandate.'

Hexagram 38
Oracle
'Opposing.
Small affairs, good fortune.'

Image
'Fire above, lake below.
Opposing.
The noble one thus both harmonises and separates.'

Take some time to think about all of that. Notice each word - try saying it to yourself in conversational language, and asking yourself preliminary questions about it. For example, "Great Possession, From the source, creating success" - what does "source" mean? A beginning, an origin? "Creating" - what does it mean to create something? How could something be "created" from a "source"?

(Hilary wrote some blog articles about "from the source, creating success," which is a common and important recurring phrase in the Yijing. She also wrote an article on hexagram 14 and one on hexagram 38, with links for further reading at the bottom of each.)

Hexagram 38 - "Small affairs, good fortune." What are "small" affairs? How might those differ from "large affairs"?

Then read the text of the moving line. The moving line is usually the most direct, specific part of your answer, the "pin" in the map created by the primary and relating hexagrams (Hilary's very helpful analogy).

14.3
'A prince makes an offering to the son of heaven.
Small people are in no way capable of this.'

Do much the same thing you did with the hexagrams. Think about the words and what they might mean. Ask simple questions: what is a prince? What does a prince do, and how does a prince act? What does it mean to make an offering? How might a prince make an offering? What is a "small person"? Notice there's a comparison in this text - "prince" contrasted wtih "small people". How is a prince different from a small person? (Some possibilities - a prince might have more freedom of choice than a small person, or more resources from which to make an offering. But a prince might also have more responsibilities.) How might a prince's offering differ from a small person's? What might it mean to make an offering "to the son of heaven," vs. making some other kind of offering? What might it mean that a small person is not "capable" of the offering the prince made?

The comparison in the text means you'll have to decide whether you are the prince, or the small person, in the context of this potential interaction.

(Also - didn't you say the person is a priest? That's interesting, considering the line text refers to a "son of heaven." Might that refer to this person?)

After you've thought about all that - it might help to write notes to yourself - try to see Yi's response as an answer to your question:

Question - "Should I make contact with a person?"
Answer - "I should, because..." or "I should not, because..."

(Note: yes/no questions are not the most ideal, because Yi doesn't have hexagrams which say "yes" or "no". Yi's answers will usually give more complex explanations or insights. So it might help to mentally think of this more as if you'd asked "What if I make contact?" or "What about making contact?" or "What would it mean for me to make contact?")

So the answer might be:
"If I make contact..." or "Making contact would be like..."

It's also important not to forget the hexagrams as you're thinking about the line.

If this was my reading - one thing I might wonder about at this point is what kind of contact Yi might be talking about, and how contact might go right or go wrong. From Great Possession's moment of Opposing, I might notice that hexagram 38 says "Small affairs, good fortune." That might mean exactly what it says - discussing "small affairs" might go well, discussing weightier matters might not.

The line text's reference to an offering "to the son of heaven" - if this person, the priest, is the "son of heaven," what kind of offering might you be making to him? What do your capabilities have to do with it? What can you - and can't you - offer? What can you "afford"?

I think it's safe to say that some sort of offering will be involved here, which you may, or may not, be "capable" of making, depending on whether you're "prince-like" or a "small person."

Another important consideration - sometimes the true message of a reading can't be "figured out" ahead of time - it has to be recognized as events happen. So, for example, if you do contact this person, keep the text in mind, and if, during the conversation, you find yourself "offering" something or being asked to offer something - aha! Recognize that moment, and take a moment in mid-conversation (or whatever) to try applying the advice. That's very often how it works.

 

[edenworkshops]

That's very interesting, thank you for taking the time to go into such detail in your reply.
I find the definition of the two hexagrams interesting, I am inspired directly by Heaven = the Creative and intuitively can see myself clearly in hexagram 14. In hexagram 38 we have the person I am considering contacting, both the oracle and the images of the two hexagrams fit the two personalities involved clearly, i could give my own interpretation of how the oracle and images apply but it would take up a lot of space and I am tempted as I love to write, but suffice to say the two hexagrams point to two personailites, mine and his. Heaven & Earth.

Could this mean that we will be in opposition to one another?

Thank you;

 

[Liselle]

Well you already said in the other thread that opposition is likely because you have different ideas about God - plus hexagram 38 literally means "opposing." I think that's why 38's oracle advises "small affairs," because when people see things fundamentally differently, and there's not much possibility for compromise or a meeting of the minds, it's often better to avoid the big topics and stick to smaller ones.

I think I see what you mean by using heaven and earth, generically, to describe your two personalities - and yes I/we would be interested in how you think the oracle and images apply; that's pretty much what we do here! and don't worry if it takes up space, so did my post! - but bear in mind that "Heaven" and "Earth" are also two hexagrams, numbers 1 and 2, and those are not the ones you got.