What does it mean to be "under a spell"? 63.5 - 36.

[rosada]

We're often told that this lifetime is not real, that we're having a dream or we're hypnotized and need to wake up. People talk about spells and voo-doo and witchcraft and some folk say it's all nonsense but studies have shown placebos can heal so we do know the power of suggestion is real.

I asked the I Ching, "What does it mean to be under a spell"?
I received 63.5 - 36, the line about a simple sacrifice being more effective than a large one, and then leading to the hexagram Darkening of the Light which is about maintaining one's truth in difficult situations where it is not possible to just leave.

I don't think this answer is describing a spell but rather how to survive one. Perhaps this non-answer implies that what spells are or whether they are real is unimportant, that the important thing is to know how to protect oneself if you believe in them and it sounds to me that it needn't be too hard to do so, that a small gesture of recognition that spells maybe real - "giving the devil his due" - can suffice and then one can -36. - maintain their light, their free will, in this crazy world.

What should the "sacrifice" be? The I Ching says it need not be a big deal, just some gesture that acknowledges the world of the unseen. Perhaps wearing a protective amulet would suffice or maybe people should individually ask, "What can I do to protect myself?"

Further thought: As 63 represents the time after completion of a major cycle or project when one may be at loose ends as to where they should go next and the advice is to not rest on one's laurels but to keep on keeping on, it maybe it is saying one is particularly vulnerable to psychic attack when they are not focused on a compelling goal. "An idol mind is the devil's playground"!

Proverbs-R-Us

 

[Sixth Relative]

I don't think this answer is describing a spell but rather how to survive one.

I do read this as: A spell is an act of violence which won't give true happiness to the people casting it, but hurt his/her light.

 

[rosada]

I had some other thoughts too:
I phrased my original question "What does it mean to be under a spell?" It now occurs to me that 36 could be describing being under a spell as a sense of being disconnected from Source, of not seeing anything in the outer world as reflecting our inner being and thus the world appears insane and we have nothing to guide us. Of course this is not how it really is, we are always connected to Source, but if we can't see the connection perhaps it is because we are "under a spell."
A spell then is anything that convinces us that we can't trust or even feel our own inner guidance? That we need outer world guidance, approval? Like, a t.v. commercial could be putting a spell on you when they tell you you're too sick to heal on your own and you need to buy medicine.
63.5 can be seen as advice on how to handle situations where we feel we've lost the connection, that is, it says to make some small gesture - perhaps just a prayer? - that acknowledges Source will be sufficient to re-establish the link.

 

[weaver]

This is such an interesting question Rosada: thank you. I've never had much resonance with 63.5 but when you asked this I looked at it and thought, the epitome (fifth line/ruler) of old energy (63). Sounds like karma. And the line advises that essence and intention are what matter, not elaborate outer form.

You mentioned spells. In English there are expressions like 'in thrall to' or 'enthralled' which come from a Norse word for 'slave'. One can be under the spell of a person, a song, a place, or anything - sometimes it's quite a willing, even pleasant enchantment, sometimes less benevolent, but always there's a tacit or active agreement to participate in the illusory (only in the sense that the phenomenal world is illusory rather than eternal). I don't think a person who is present moment to moment and not attached to an idea of his or her 'self' could be put under a spell; it would make no sense.