Understanding and learning about I Ching

[annietyme]

Hello again Hil~

I am just non-stop now aren't I? I have a lot of time on my hands while I am at work, so why not learn more - right? Okay, I would like to see if I am getting this down or not.
Isaac is going back to Europe for 5 weeks in December to visit is surrogate family and friends, I asked I Ching if he was going to be faithful to our relationship while he was away. My answer was 52 in both hex's with no changing lines.
What I got from reading about it on your site and at www.aheyboer.com/yi_index.html was that when he is committed to a cause or in this case a relationship that he is just that: faith, loyal, and true.
Am I accurate or are there other ways that this could be interpreted?
I am anxious to learn all that I can.
As well, I have a question for you: I see frequently people or sites saying things such as 6 at 5, above 9, initial 6, or 44/2. what do these mean and how would I know if it was at, above or initial?

Thanks again for all your expertise, Angel

 

[hilary]

Dear Angel,

Non-stop is good! I share your enthusiasm ? and it makes a wonderful change from all the minutiae of redesigning the site (write the html, search for the scripts I need, battle with the graphics program, zzzzzzz?)

As for #52 ? interesting! I expect you have gathered that this is one who stops, firm and still as the mountain. It?s also the mirror image of Hexagram 58, Tui ? the image of bright, open communication ? and contrasts with #51, Arousing, about the shock of the new and fresh beginnings. So I wouldn?t think that you have a great deal to worry about.

It?s a little tricky to get further into this answer because I?m not 100% clear what you were looking for. Small tip ? the I Ching doesn?t have a hexagram for ?yes? or ?no?, so it?s generally better not to ask questions that are phrased for that kind of answer. Here I?m guessing that what you were expecting from the answer was an image of how Isaac would act while he was away. (If you were looking more for advice on the attitude to take yourself, then obviously this would be read quite differently.)

Soooo? here (probably) is a picture of Isaac in Europe:
?Keeping his back still.
Not grasping his personality.
Moving in his rooms.
Not seeing his people.
Not a mistake.?
I think this is an image of someone deeply preoccupied, focussed inward: not trying to get a reductionist, intellectual grasp of what happens so much as being still and quiet with whatever is present ? even when this is incomprehensible. In some ways it?s the opposite of the modern tendency to think that everything has to be analysed and understood, and that something must be wrong if anything remains hidden. The I Ching says firmly ?not a mistake?!

So it seems he?s likely to spend the time in thoughtful, calm mood ? reflective and aware without being obsessive about it, in fact with great inner stability. ?Joined mountains. Keeping still. The wise disciple reflects and does not issue forth from his situation.? That is, he doesn?t try to act on it, or to act to escape it.

I do just wonder how much communication you?ll have from him during this time. At the least, this hexagram would suggest that if you don?t hear much, this doesn?t mean anything bad.

It may or may not surprise you to realise that the nuclear hexagram ? the hidden core, the inner possibility ? of #52 is #40. With an unchanging hexagram (no changing lines, no relating hexagram), the nuclear hexagram could well emerge from the situation as the way forward. I would imagine that being with things without grasping them could eventually lead to the kind of relaxed, open clarity that characterises Release.

Your other question is an easier one

?6 at 5, above 9, initial 6, or 44/2? etc, etc.
Not so complicated. In a coin or yarrow consultation, each kind of line is represented by a number: changing yang (aka solid) lines are 9, unchanging yin (broken) are 8, unchanging yang are 7 and changing yin are 6. There?s no particular meaning to these numbers ? they just identify the kind of line you draw. (So in 3-coin consultation you throw 3 coins (surprise?) and count 3 for each tail, 2 for each head.) The numbers you hear most are the two changing ones, 6 and 9.

The other numbers are the line numbers ? line 1 at the bottom through to 6 at the top. So 6 at 5 means line 5 is a changing yin line. Above 9 means the top line is changing yang; initial 6 means the first line is changing yin. (44/2 just means the second line of Hexagram 44.) So your first reading was 40, 9/4, 7.

Hope you keep on being ?non-stop' - I'll try to keep up...

 

[annietyme]

Hey Hil~
I am back again... this time my question was "what is going on with Isaac?". He has been acting very strange lately and I am concerned.
He has not been returning my calls, and with e-mail he has not answered any of the questions I have sent, instead he just responds with a vague, impersonal, short update on what he has been up to. I received 36/3rd primary thus turning into 24. Thanks again~ Angel

 

[hilary]

Hello Angel,

Sounds like a good question ? yet the I Ching seems to be answering it a little obliquely, especially with the moving line.

To start at the end (as I so often do

): Hexagram 24, Return, seems to represent the background concern for both of you. Of course it?s what you want from him at the moment (stunning insights here?), the desire behind your question; it also suggests a new way of seeing and working with this rather dark, chilly atmosphere. This comes from Hexagram 24?s position in the cycle of the year: it is the hexagram of the winter solstice, the darkest moment, but also the moment when the light begins to return. In human terms, this means understanding that return feels like cold and dark at first. The sun isn?t turned on again like a lightbulb, and likewise the response to this ?seasonal? change is slow and gentle: ?Thunder dwells in the centre of the earth. Returning. The ancient kings at solstice closed the frontiers. Travelling merchants did not travel. Princes did not inspect the regions.? In spring, thunder will rise from the earth and bring new growth with it. It?s there even now, although its presence is not felt. This is the absolute beginning of return, and normal life doesn?t all resume at once. In fact, the ancient kings seem to have made it an especially quiet, introspective time, without lively exchange or extensive communications. Perhaps Isaac is hibernating?

The Judgement of Return is an interesting one. The ideogram just shows footsteps on the path, going as well as returning. ?Returning, success. Going out, coming in, without pressure. Friends come, nothing wrong. Turning round, returning on your path. On the seventh day comes return. Harvest from having a direction to go.?
Often I find this hexagram means space to return ? easy freedom of movement in a relationship and its natural cycles of coming and going. (The Judgement talks about a shorter one ? seven days.) It?s important that there should be no obstacles to this return, only open receptivity.

So with that as a background? Brightness Hiding is what?s happening to Isaac. I?ve seen this one myself describing someone who wasn?t confiding in me when I couldn?t for the life of me see why not. It brings plenty of food for thought?

Isaac?s light is hidden ? his understanding, his ideas, his vision his responsive intelligence. All this is hidden ? or injured. The word for ?hidden? also means ?injured? ? the combined meaning is of someone hiding because they are injured, or to avoid being injured. Sometimes the light is hidden from others, occasionally even from the person themselves ? this could indicate that he?s not willing to be 100% conscious of his own light at present. According to the sequence, this follows quite naturally from Progress, from success and moving forward, seizing opportunities and having everything in the open. Perhaps (especially in the light of #24) there is simply another cycle at work here.

There?s also, I think, a self-protective instinct at work. He hides in order to avoid being misunderstood and injured ? or maybe because he already is (or feels!) ?condemned?. (Could he by any stretch of the imagination have understood your messages as saying ?You ought to be communicating with me!??) The result, of course, is further retreat and hiding away. (I know ? from experience! ? how bizarre this sounds, but it can happen.)

And so to line 3 ? this is where the reading gets more puzzling.
?Brightness hidden hunting in the south.
Gets their great leader.
Hasty steadfastness not possible.?
Someone strong and determined is in the dark, surrounded by problems and obscurity. They respond by hunting ? as in pursuing and harrying with dogs ? in the south, the region of light and action. In other words, they seek actively to make the light manifest again. And there is success! The great leader is captured ? they grasp the essential, which will make the rest of the conquest possible. But there is a warning that this can?t happen hastily. The word I?ve dubbed ?hasty? here is actually the same as ?pressure? in Hexagram 24?s Judgement. It means sickness, or haste, or maybe both ? the disease of anxiety and hurry, perhaps. And ?steadfastness? is the I Ching?s word for hearing the divination, understanding the path, and following it with persistence and determination to put the ideal into practice. In other words? things cannot be put into practice, can?t be carried through, with unease and haste. In fact, ?hasty steadfastness? sounds something like a contradiction in terms.

It seems pretty unlikely that this person could be Isaac. Um ? sounds more like you, to me. What do you think?

 

[annietyme]

I think that sounds completely like me! How uncanny is that? I do think that in a way Isaac is "hibernating". I think that I am just trying, like I said before, to rush our relationship right along. I am not even completely sure that I want to be all that serious, but isn't that what relationships do...progress?

I am not used to having to be so patient with someone. It really drives me nuts, I am used to being pampered and adored. I have been really spoiled in that regard by previous relationships. Maybe I just have to much time on my hands. I am going to be starting school in the new year so homework and night classes will keep me occupied. Is it healthy to have a relationship where you only see each other on weekends? Is it fair to me to only be able to see him on the weekends? Or am I compromising my own happiness by continuing this? I am completely clueless.

The last question I have asked the I Ching was "From here where are we headed? The answer was 12 with lines 2/4/5 changing into 4. Now I am getting confused on how to read into the nuclear hex(which is 53) and the opposite, contrasting, and hex of sequence(which are all 11)what does that mean? How can the hex that is exact opposite of my situation be the same as to what lead up to it? If it wasn't for the I Ching and you, Hil, I would be a big ball of confusion. Even more so then I am already. At least now there is some shred of light guiding me in the right direction! (meaning you! =)~ )

Thanks again, can't wait to hear your wisdom,
Angel

 

[hilary]

Me wise? Not likely. Luckily for me, the universe is made of truth?

(No-one ever said that wasn?t confusing, of course.)

So much depends on your own decisions about what is right for you personally. Not so much what ?relationships are supposed to do? (whose relationship, and who does the supposing??). So? here is where you are headed, and it will as ever be up to you whether to go there

12 and 4 ? in a phrase, stopping and learning. To start with the background, Hexagram 4 is variously translated as Learning, Ignorance, and the Young Fool. (I call it Learning.) And yes, I think this is about you! This is where modern theories and the I Ching part company ? we tend to think that there is something terrible about not knowing, and that we should educate ourselves out of it ASAP. In the I Ching ignorance ? and the anxiety to know ? is all part of the natural growth process. In hexagrams 1 and 2, the primal forces come together; in #3 all creation germinates and begins to grow. Then, ?creatures born are necessarily ignorant.?

In the Judgement, you hear the voice of the oracle:
?Learning, success.
I do not at all seek the young learner.
The young learner seeks me.
The first oracle consultation is informative.
The second and third muddy the waters.
They obscure things, and so do not inform.
Harvest from constancy.?
Sometimes (often, even) this one suggests that it may be time for a pause in the questioning! But just as important, I think, is that learning depends not only on the questions you ask but also the experience that allows you to keep up with the answers.

So in practical terms ? heading out into the real world, leaving the familiar, things get ?confused and also manifest?, and you learn from experience. ?Under the mountain, spring water rushes forth. Learning. The wise disciple nourishes te with the fruits of action? ? and the running water carves out its own course. Without ignorance, there would be no learning.

I imagine Hexagram 12 is what you will be learning through, or about. It?s a picture of a mouth and ?no? ? no speech, blocked communication, or people saying ?no?. Everything obstructed, negative and blocked.
?Obstructed, non-people.
No harvest from the wise disciple?s constancy.
Great goes, small comes.?
?Non-people? is a literal translation of an old idiom for barbarians or foreigners. You can read it as ?obstructed by worthless people? ? or re-think, and wonder whether the obstruction (or ?saying no?) and the idea of an ?unperson? are all part of the same thing. Whichever ? there is a negative, obstructive attitude at work, and trying to carry ideas through, however good they are, doesn?t work. Great things, powerful energies, large-scale plans are all on the way out, and you are obliged to accommodate yourself to circumstances.

As for the relationship with #11, the I Ching is not very helpful about this. It just says that Obstruction and Flowing are of opposite kind, and that things cannot flow together completely, and so you get obstruction. I think that this is a truth of human relationships ? that communication and clear vision of the other person get so far, and then someone or something ?says no?. Things do alternate between opposites.

If you?d received this one by itself, the answer would have been simply that the relationship was in all likelihood headed nowhere at all and you should give up. (Although Hexagram 53 is the hidden potential ? perhaps the obstruction could disguise a very slow, steady progress towards union.) With Learning in the background, though, there are some moving lines that brighten the picture.

Line 2: ?Embracing what you receive. Small people good fortune. Great people obstructed. Success.?
?What you receive? is responsibility ? something like a job contract, or a position where you have to follow someone else?s initiatives. There are two ways of seeing this: for people who are ?small?, have no particular plans of their own, being given something like this is obviously good fortune. For those who do have their own great ideas, it naturally feels like obstruction. Yet it still means success ? perhaps because they can make it part of their independent path, and use the opportunity to get clearer about what they do and don?t accept. (The step of change is Arguing.)

I think this fits rather interestingly with what you wrote. On the one hand you are not sure whether you want this to be serious at all, whether you have plans of your own ? on the other, you do have strong feelings about how things are. Perhaps ? turning the line around a bit ? your response to what you are given here tells you something about your own feelings.

Line 4: ?There is destiny, no mistake. Cultivate awareness, fulfillment.? ?Destiny? can be ?orders? or a ?mandate? ? it carries the general meaning that some higher power gives you a task - or an opportunity ? in life. The first response to this should be quiet contemplation, fuller awareness of what is happening.

And line 5: ?Letting go obstruction. Great people, good fortune. It is lost, it is forgotten. Tie it to the bushy mulberries.?
It?s not so much that the obstruction is actively overcome as that people stop fighting it, and there is good fortune, and big ideas can succeed. (If the obstruction comes from people?s attitudes to start with, this would make sense.) Then (as it seems to me) another voice speaks ? one that is very anxious that something of value might be lost without trace. The response is to tie it to mulberry trees: strongly rooted, domestic, and also ?enwrapping trees?, where the silkworms make their cocoons. Perhaps this new priority is why obstruction is left behind.

This reading gives me the distinct feeling (which I will admit I was losing before!) that this relationship could have long-term prospects, though not on the pattern of your past relationships, and not a particularly smooth road. I suppose the question is whether Isaac sees this, too, and if so how he reacts. I?m hoping that if you are at line 2, he will eventually reach line 5?

 

[annietyme]

I am hoping for that same thing, but only time will tell.

I am just going to relax and let it all flow. It sounds like that is what the I Ching has been trying to tell me to do. No more questioning is motives or actions, no paranoia, just hitting the cruise control and enjoying his companion/friendship.

After all, I'm not going anywhere... =)~

Angel