Vocational questions (6.6>47 and 11.1.6>18)

[Atalanta]

I have always enjoyed writing and been told I have a good voice (my career involves writing although not what you'd consider creative writing). But, I've always aspired to/struggled with fiction writing.

So I asked the Yi:

1) How should I think about writing?
Ans: 6.6>47

I took this to mean someone who is wasting a lot of energy on a pointless struggle despite some superficial praise (me thinking I should be a novelist because people like my prose?). Possibly a chastisement for asking the wrong question. The image gives me someone with so narrow a focus they don't know when to quit.

So I thought I should broaden my scope:

2) What is my calling?
Ans: 11.1.6>18

From line 1 I get grassroots, focus on others, and--I think--I also get a sense of starting from the basics/fundamentals from the first line, is that accurate? From line 6 I get a huge change of some kind.

My initial reaction to that second answer was "activism", some kind of political action, but now that I look closer I think it's more about the aftermath of a change, especially with the underlying cause of 18 Repair. So maybe disaster relief, or even disaster preparedness, shoring up the foundations in case of catastrophe?

Or (maybe this is the obvious answer) it's just telling me rather than thinking so far ahead, during this personal crisis time I should just be getting back to my roots.

 

[Amaterasu]

Hi Atlanta,

I think 6.6>7 in context of your question means that you should see fiction writing as a career path of hardship (47)—a hyper-competitive field where you’re always having to churn out more to stay in the running (6.6). That doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t pursue it, just that that’s the nature of the game and what you can expect from it.

Regarding your second question, your life’s purpose, I do think you’re onto something with your interpretation. Although Hex 11 is called “peace,” many people find it can actually be anything but… and with line 1 there is definitely a call to working with others on a grassroots level to achieve a common goal. Line 6 and the resulting hexagram 18 both talk about situations in a state of decay, so I think you’re right in that the reading seems to point towards working with others on a local level to help repair/mitigate/cope with “messed up” situations of some kind. Perhaps disaster relief, as you mentioned, or Red Cross or other crisis assistance.

Lastly, in looking at the two readings side by side, there seems to be a fundamental disconnect between the writing path and your life path. Namely, that creative writing is a competitive field, but your calling feels like something more cooperative.

Hope that helps!

 

[Liselle]

Your own reaction to your own reading is always, always the most important, but I do want to ask if you have any connection to disaster relief sorts of things, any prior interest in it, anything like that?

The fact that that's what popped into your mind when you saw the reading is important to note. But I'm asking because "What is my calling?" questions can be tricky. A life's calling may or may not be a specific job or project. I like how Hilary often puts it: a calling can also simply be how you go through your days, and probably a number of other ways of looking at it. (That's probably a terrible paraphrase of what Hilary says, oh well.)

You don't want to be too specific too fast, is all I'm trying to say. You're probably not, but sometimes people seem to.

So keep disaster relief on the table, but maybe take some time to look at the reading from different angles.

 

[Atalanta]

Thank you both!

Disaster relief--it actually is something I've been drawn to over the years, and it's hard for me to put into words why exactly it resonates with me. I've done volunteer gigs over the years that are tangentially around that area.