Clarity,
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+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
I am posting this to the Exploring Divination thread as well, b/c I think the question of using the I Ching for questions about politics is an interesting one, and would appreciate any discussion with other people who have used it thusly.
One of the reasons I have turned to the I Ching over the last year or so--when my oracle of choice previously was the Tarot--is that I have been deeply involved in political work for the last several years, and I found that the I Ching was remarkably, um, sympathetic and--I guess I don't exactly want to say *easy* to use, but as if it were remarkably suited for application to political topics, more so than any other oracle I had found. Like using a sword to attack someone, a spoon to eat out of a bowl, a shovel to dig in the ground.
That said, it's emphatically *not* always easy for me to interpret the results, because it often seems there are many layers of every interpretation.
So here is a reading I did this morning. It's about an upcoming meeting I'm arranging with my legislator's office. A bit of background: those of you outside the U.S. may not know that we have invented a "SuperCommittee" of six Senators and six House Representatives to deal with our budget woes. This committee will make decisions affecting literally trillions of dollars. This means that the Congressmen and Senators on that committee have suddenly been propelled into positions of massive power, visibility and influence.
guess whose legislator is on the committee?
So, obviously, it becomes way more important to lobby my legislator now than ever before. However, what we're going to ask him to do is very unlikely to meet with substantial agreement. In other words, we're going to *ask* for what we want and what we believe the country needs, but what I expect is, as Gollum would say, String, or nothing!--either some one or two things given us as a concession, or, well, nothing. Matters are further complicated by the fact that I have a positive working history and some mutual feelings of personal warmth with the man we're actually meeting with: the Congressman's top aide. (We previously worked together on promoting a very good bill out of his office). To clarify: we haven't had any personal contact, but we clearly respect, like, and have affection for each other.
So my question was:
What approach should I take, politically, to the upcoming meeting with X?
I got Hexagram 24, ch 4, Return/Turning Point
The first thing I thought was that I was returning to do the same work again that I had done many times before, the traditional path of trying to change government policy through lobbying, and that even though I've lately come to feel like that method is for naught, it's still the right choice to return to that path.
I noticed that somebody, maybe Wilhelm, suggested that 24 is, unlike Revolution, the right way for change to happen in a society, or in politics, the yin lines slowly dropping off like fruit from a tree while the turning point Yang line--like the Sun returning at the Winter Solstice--returns from the bottom. That seemed to be an auspicious reading for the meeting.
but I also noticed that changing line four suggests that I am in the wrong company, and must return "alone"--or, is it the man I'm going to meet who's in the wrong company? or is it my legislator?
At the most literal level, I thought: well, so after the meeting, I'm going to have to "return" "alone" to talk to the man I trust. That also makes sense, since the 4th yin line is (I think?) associated with the powerful Yang line at the bottom, which suggests a right correspondence between one who is less powerful and one who has position/status.
I was rather taken aback with the notion that I'm hanging out with the wrong crowd, given that in my view, these people are very sincere, intend no wrong, and basically just want to shift their government to a kinder, and I believe, saner way of doing things.
But what if it's my legislator, or his office, who needs to "return" to the right path, and if he does so, is going to have to abandon his comrades and stand alone? That might change my tactics.
Also, I notice a conflict in the hexagram, or at least it seems so.
In the Memorizing Hexagrams thread, it states that 24 is associated with speaking out your mind and being unafraid of consequences. Yet there's also a suggestion of not going too far, of taking, as one person put it, a "soft" approach.
I would like any help/responses/interpretations you all can give me with this.
One of the reasons I have turned to the I Ching over the last year or so--when my oracle of choice previously was the Tarot--is that I have been deeply involved in political work for the last several years, and I found that the I Ching was remarkably, um, sympathetic and--I guess I don't exactly want to say *easy* to use, but as if it were remarkably suited for application to political topics, more so than any other oracle I had found. Like using a sword to attack someone, a spoon to eat out of a bowl, a shovel to dig in the ground.
That said, it's emphatically *not* always easy for me to interpret the results, because it often seems there are many layers of every interpretation.
So here is a reading I did this morning. It's about an upcoming meeting I'm arranging with my legislator's office. A bit of background: those of you outside the U.S. may not know that we have invented a "SuperCommittee" of six Senators and six House Representatives to deal with our budget woes. This committee will make decisions affecting literally trillions of dollars. This means that the Congressmen and Senators on that committee have suddenly been propelled into positions of massive power, visibility and influence.
guess whose legislator is on the committee?
So, obviously, it becomes way more important to lobby my legislator now than ever before. However, what we're going to ask him to do is very unlikely to meet with substantial agreement. In other words, we're going to *ask* for what we want and what we believe the country needs, but what I expect is, as Gollum would say, String, or nothing!--either some one or two things given us as a concession, or, well, nothing. Matters are further complicated by the fact that I have a positive working history and some mutual feelings of personal warmth with the man we're actually meeting with: the Congressman's top aide. (We previously worked together on promoting a very good bill out of his office). To clarify: we haven't had any personal contact, but we clearly respect, like, and have affection for each other.
So my question was:
What approach should I take, politically, to the upcoming meeting with X?
I got Hexagram 24, ch 4, Return/Turning Point
The first thing I thought was that I was returning to do the same work again that I had done many times before, the traditional path of trying to change government policy through lobbying, and that even though I've lately come to feel like that method is for naught, it's still the right choice to return to that path.
I noticed that somebody, maybe Wilhelm, suggested that 24 is, unlike Revolution, the right way for change to happen in a society, or in politics, the yin lines slowly dropping off like fruit from a tree while the turning point Yang line--like the Sun returning at the Winter Solstice--returns from the bottom. That seemed to be an auspicious reading for the meeting.
but I also noticed that changing line four suggests that I am in the wrong company, and must return "alone"--or, is it the man I'm going to meet who's in the wrong company? or is it my legislator?
At the most literal level, I thought: well, so after the meeting, I'm going to have to "return" "alone" to talk to the man I trust. That also makes sense, since the 4th yin line is (I think?) associated with the powerful Yang line at the bottom, which suggests a right correspondence between one who is less powerful and one who has position/status.
I was rather taken aback with the notion that I'm hanging out with the wrong crowd, given that in my view, these people are very sincere, intend no wrong, and basically just want to shift their government to a kinder, and I believe, saner way of doing things.
But what if it's my legislator, or his office, who needs to "return" to the right path, and if he does so, is going to have to abandon his comrades and stand alone? That might change my tactics.
Also, I notice a conflict in the hexagram, or at least it seems so.
In the Memorizing Hexagrams thread, it states that 24 is associated with speaking out your mind and being unafraid of consequences. Yet there's also a suggestion of not going too far, of taking, as one person put it, a "soft" approach.
I would like any help/responses/interpretations you all can give me with this.