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Your Experiences with Unchanging Castings-Hexagram 39

Trojina

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Any stand out recollections of how 39uc played out for you ?



For me seems simply 'this way won't work go another way' , 'road closed, try another one'. Looking back over past readings I can see where I didn't quite get it I was possibly taking it too literally. I once got it for a health issue and thought it meant that the issue itself was the obstructing thing whereas in hindsight it seems more of an advice about my approach to solving it. Head on tackling wouldn't work I needed to go another way. I have also had it when trying to convince someone of something ..again at the time I took the answer too literally, as about the issue itself being the blocked route, whereas with hindsight it was more my approach to convincing that would not work here. All very simple in hindsight but I have the vague feeling that it's often not immediately clear with 39uc what the nature of the obstruction is. As I write I realise there is maybe no real difference between seeing the problem as the obstruction and understanding you need a different route...and yet there is a subtle difference I cannot quite put my finger on....it's just too hard. Maybe I need another route....


Lise said of the pair 39 and 40

The ability to put into perspective

39 - Without difficulties man would perish from lack of interest (the reindeer need the wolves)
40 - Freedom (relaxation) is knowing what to do (now) and what not


Well I'm not sure reindeer would agree with that but anyway I like the words on 40.

...Hilary says of this pair ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/18...=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1848374534)

Limping forms a pair with Release, hexagram 40:

'Release means letting things take their time; Limping means hardship.'

Release is a time of flow; this is a time of struggle. Release is free to follow a chosen path; Limping is unavoidably handicapped and obstructed. And yet...Limping is also the time for 'turning your self around' and finding another way - and that contains the potential for release.




How that feels subjectively was what I was struggling to describe in the first paragraph. There feel two different aspects of 39, seeing the obstructing and knowing it cognitively and then turning yourself around. Perceiving what the obstruction is and doing the turn round bit are different...maybe that's obvious...

Wing writes of 39 uc

The upper trigram, K'AN, difficulty, blocks the progress of KEN, stillness, below. KEN meditates on the meaning of this obstacle. In it's static form, the hexagram represents a situation that is blocked. And, because the OBSTACLES in your path do not give way, it is apparent they are of your own making. Whatever the reason, you are blocking your own progress. Do not make the mistake of casting the blame elsewhere. Instead, use this opportunity for Self-discovery. Find out why you are doing this, why you have chosen this path. There is a reason.

'KEN meditates on the meaning of this obstacle' also seems to describe the almost split feel in coming to the 39 place. You are in it, you see it, you also ponder it to be able to turn around. I'd not appreciated till writing this what a strong sense of KEN I get for 39 uc.


Please share any 39uc readings you've had. Did you feel 39 in it's unchanging form had any particular quality for you ? Has it been mainly an inner experience as Wing seems to suggest or have you had it for plain old literal road blocks ?
 
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Zimbali

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39 is an opportunity. I think not pair with necessarily 40 at this stage.

Rather, remember that this did not spring suddenly, and as shocking as that might sound, perhaps it is the case.

The sea of confusion in the light of day might unlock for you.
 

andrea

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So...the problem isn't that you can't get what you want. You just need to try a different method to get there. The problem is tactical, not strategic.

Sometimes I suspect there's a suggestion that you might not be looking at your goal or destination in sufficiently general terms.

For example, suppose I want to talk to S. because she works in a field I'd like to enter. But I can't seem to set up a chance to talk with S.. I'm frustrated, and what I get is 39 unchanging. Apparently I should try something else.

Hmm. Should I try a paper letter instead of phone/email? Or should I stop worrying about S., and try some other source of information about the field? Or maybe that field isn't the one for me, and that I'll find better job satisfaction doing something else? Or maybe even that there's something other than my career which will bring me even more satisfaction, and I should be concentrating on that instead? How specific is the obstacle? How general is the goal?

I don't typically frame questions very precisely -- I'm more of the open-ended "What about such-and-such?" school -- so for me, 39 unchanging tends to prompt some followup questions.
 
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goddessliss

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Hi Trojina, thanks for starting this thread.

Nothing is moving forward - well with the things I want in the way I want :p - so rather than getting caught up in what is not happening as I tend to do I thought I would ask

What is the best focus for me right now

Hex 39 unchanging

Seeing the 'obstacles' in a different way.

OK something for me to think about for sure.

Please show me the different way to see my obstacles

Hex 19.2>24

OH dear return to self - well that's how I mainly see hex 24 anyway.

- Liss
 
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svenrus

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Just before midsummer I asked if I could count on some money I've bought a friend to be returned, as they haven't occured on my bankaccount and got this hex. 39 undchanging. According to Kerson Huang it's theme is about the seekin advice... I wondered: I asked for advice and got the advice to seek advice... So I seeked advice from my friend who lended the money and everything seemed OK; it was just a misunderstanding and next day the money occured on my bankaccount. No problem.
I'm looking back now and think about that a more fitting answer could have been hex. 5, relax and wait or something of the kind. And also if the I was telling me just to go on asking my friend, sort of: "Why asking me ?" in all it's irony and humour.
 

toblindfoldher

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Last night I asked, how would tomorrow's trip go? 39 unchanging. This morning I got caught in a really bad traffic jam on the way to the airport. Had to get off the vehicle and walk quite a distance to get a cab. I suppose it was 39 with no lines because I wasn't being advised to go back, and friends weren't coming either. Simply, here's a traffic jam, up to you how to deal with it!
 

rodaki

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most times 39 comes up as a 'U-turn: wrong way, try another one' sort of thing .


Weirdest case of 39 (where Yi insisted way too much to use 39 to describe the situation and it took me quite a while to figure it out) was my sailing holiday some years ago in the Sporades . . admittedly, the biggest harbor around was Skopelos, which translates something like 'reef' or 'barrier' in greek. Now in trigrams' terms, 39=water over mountain, so I thought, uhm, literal much Yi?? :duh:
 
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veavea

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I've had 39uc twice - today I had it after giving a presentation that I was regarding as a test (although it wasn't one). The presentation went pretty well. I asked 'did I pass the test?' Yi said 39uc. Hmm. In my journal I find that the only other time I had this hex was with the question 'am I supposed to keep this cat?' The cat is a ginger Tom who's been visiting my house for months. I don't know who he belongs to or if he belongs to anyone. Or if keeping him is even an option (I don't think he'd ever 'belong' to anyone - he's very much his own cat!) Anyway, yi said 39uc. I think that in both these cases yi was telling me that the assumption behind the question was faulty. The presentation wasn't a test, and the cat is not for keeping (he still stays at my house most of the time, months later). Therefore if any u turn is implied , it's 'try a different question'...?
 

beatpoet

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39uc

I got 39uc when I asked about a feeling I was having. Normally, I have been weighted by two situations that have taken a lot of energy and time.

I felt like a bird out of a cage. Literally:

:bounce:

This sadly being an unusual experience I asked:

Why do I feel so free?
39uc

I know right like why am I borrowing trouble when I feel so lovely.

This was a head scratcher for me. Obstacles and obstruction. Hmmm. Then it came to me. I had stopped caring about the obstacles. I had somewhere reached that point of feeling enough of this

:brickwall:

I accepted the obstacles-- that I had done all I could. I accepted the blocks. Accepted that I had taken the situations as far as they could go with my efforts and now it was up to fate, the Divine or someone else other than me. Nothing left to be done. A different kind of U Turn.

What a relief.

beatpoet.
 

mulberry

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I asked Yi, "Please give me a hint where my phone is."

It had been missing for 2 days. For weeks now I've been misplacing it because I am constantly trying to keep it out of my baby's hands (she loves to grab it and stick it in her mouth) so I will use it to send a text or something and then quickly stash it somewhere...often without thinking. But I'd never gone more than a few hours without being able to find it. I knew it had to be somewhere in our (not huge) apartment, and as night fell on day 2 I started to go a bit mad, having searched under, over, and in nearly everything with no luck. The sound was off (again, baby) so that was no help. Finally I asked Yi. He replied: 39 unchanging. Obstruction. Hm.

To make a long story short, it turned out to be caught (obstructed) between the mattress and the wooden bed frame, in a spot I needed to lift the mattress to find.

For what it's worth, the directions in this case were entirely metaphorical, as the bed is in the northeast corner of the apartment.
 

Liselle

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I pushed "Thanks" on that post, Mulberry, but then it occurred to me that Yi has a perfectly good line which specifically mentions beds and bed frames. (23.2)

:brickwall:

(Note: I'm in a bad mood to start with at the moment...)
 

chingching

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I cast 39uc two days ago. I cast this reading out of desperation and surrender after following opportunities that led into hardships. Every step lately has felt like trying to make water flow up a mountain. I had pressed on with trying to a point of not been able to find any suitable acommodation, short term, long term, to buy, to rent or to share. Just prior to the end point of this I had been pingponged through two rentals and two air bnb's which become horrible experiences and all in the space of one month. I had one moment of solice just before I cast this reading, just one night at another air bnb with some kindred spirits. They gave me a plant derived stem cell release stimulant that has really helped my lower back. But it was a short shelter in the storm.

The real correlation with 39 was a feeling like the water was flowing against it's natural motion, as if to keep the stream up on that mountain there was a storm blowing it backwards. A backwards motion of my own conciousness, regressions -- depression even. But in recieiving 39uc I was able to go into that self detective mode where you re-run the upsetting episode in your mind, slow down the moments and search for the seed that began it. False beliefs, fears, shame even. Not just mine, but, seeing mine was the most helpful in order to stop myself. In seeing that I had been getting in my own way, that I had been my own obstacle, I was able to stop myself, able to become a helpful obstacle to myself. Old patterns, an old stream.

I have now made plans to live in a city where some friends are, and where I have been before, for three months, pull myself back together with the goal of then coming back to this path but with the right approach. A refreshed approached; renewal of my de. I will leave in two weeks and since making that decision the current moment feels ok to be in without acting, but I know if I push anything things wont go well, its palpable.
 

Trojina

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Sounds like you are going through a really difficult time chingching, sorry to hear that but am confident you will make it through to the other side :hug:
 

Olga Super Star

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I also casted 39 unchanging two days ago as a daily reading.

I was expecting something.
But nothing happened. :confused:

I guess I am not adding a useful comment yet I wanted to say that sometimes 39 unchanging just means you ll have your lady-companion of Buddhist practice to come to your house and chant with you, you will have the time to make tea and juice and eat healthy, and you will fall into bed at around 10 pm (which is normal for some, ridiculously crazy dinner time for me!).

(Was up at 5 am next day)

Maybe the external obstacle might be a sort of laziness/tiresomeness that didn’t make me do much the whole day?
Yet it was pleasant ;)
 

chingching

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Just popping back to say Olga that your experience is the peaceful potential because it was aligned with tao of 39, mine the frustration, trying for results that aren't possible in a 39 time. Yours immediate as a friend came to you. It made me realise that I actually have been doing something similar with the healer I'm going to atm, a very new friend. :bows:

Great reading your post, thanks!
 
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Yasmin

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I have a very litteral example of blockage. I had headaches (which I am not usually prone to), and a vague feeling of dizziness. I asked “image of my health?” And cast 39UC. At first I couldn’t see the relevance, then I realised: it’s a sinus blockage! Probably in reaction to high pollution levels. And not a lot to be done, I am sure it will eventually clear up. If not, I will have to revisit that 39UC casting!
 

EmMacha

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Just received 39uc today, relating to
"Why do I not feel like getting on with my projects, why do they overnight seem impossible and uninteresting, so I ignore them and leave them to atrophy?"

Interesting comments here because, years, it does feel like a blockage, I was thinking of blockages when I cast.

Sometimes, I find Pathfinder to be spot on:
The course usually recommended for such times:
Seek out the truth of things. Avoid basing your actions on personal prejudice, the opinions of others, or unsubstantiated fears. Be prepared to accept hardship in the short term, until relief can arrive.

Fixed (no changing lines);
This is a plateau process or event; the given model will hold true for an extended period of time. Attempts to manipulate events away from the present course could prove frustrating and fruitless, until destiny is satisfied. Consider the following as well as the above: The way ahead is closed. Yet the barrier is of your own making, not another's. Seek out the reason you chose this particular path, or helped erect this specific barrier, and you will find the way to overcome it.
http://www.pathfinder.3rdmilieux.com/i-ching-tao-of-power-art-of-war-hexagram-39-interference.html.

This triggered a memory, of childhood, climbing about some hills, getting to a beautiful spot, on the way too a higher spot with a great view, and older cousins on top - trying to be clever and taking the "quicker path", only to end up on a ledge, surrounded by all sides by drops, gaps too big to jump! You stand there a bit panicked and feeling a bit cheesy because you didn't listen, panting, then the whole view shifts, and you are moving again, albiet not in the original direction you planned, but somewhere else, a bit of a magic place under a tree, or something. Then you realise you were really wanting to go there all along - your cousins wanted to climb to the top of the hill, you wanted to explore and find the secret magic places.

39 means go back the way, take the route your older wiser cousins took.
39 uc - you are looking at this the wrong way, see the path you are actually on, not the idea of a path you think you are supposed to be on.


yasmin, I have awful hayfever symptoms too this morning!
I have a very litteral example of blockage. I had headaches (which I am not usually prone to), and a vague feeling of dizziness. I asked “image of my health?� And cast 39UC. At first I couldn’t see the relevance, then I realised: it’s a sinus blockage! Probably in reaction to high pollution levels...

I hope it gets better soon!
I have found quercetin supplements very good, it is a natural bioflavinoid.
 

Blue Valerie

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Sometimes, I feel like 39 unchanging is saying "sit tight" or "stay put." Maybe it was saying to stay put at home?
 

pooja123

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I cast 39uc two days ago. I cast this reading out of desperation and surrender after following opportunities that led into hardships. Every step lately has felt like trying to make water flow up a mountain. I had pressed on with trying to a point of not been able to find any suitable acommodation, short term, long term, to buy, to rent or to share. Just prior to the end point of this I had been pingponged through two rentals and two air bnb's which become horrible experiences and all in the space of one month. I had one moment of solice just before I cast this reading, just one night at another air bnb with some kindred spirits. They gave me a plant derived stem cell release stimulant that has really helped my lower back. But it was a short shelter in the storm.

The real correlation with 39 was a feeling like the water was flowing against it's natural motion, as if to keep the stream up on that mountain there was a storm blowing it backwards. A backwards motion of my own conciousness, regressions -- depression even. But in recieiving 39uc I was able to go into that self detective mode where you re-run the upsetting episode in your mind, slow down the moments and search for the seed that began it. False beliefs, fears, shame even. Not just mine, but, seeing mine was the most helpful in order to stop myself. In seeing that I had been getting in my own way, that I had been my own obstacle, I was able to stop myself, able to become a helpful obstacle to myself. Old patterns, an old stream.

I have now made plans to live in a city where some friends are, and where I have been before, for three months, pull myself back together with the goal of then coming back to this path but with the right approach. A refreshed approached; renewal of my de. I will leave in two weeks and since making that decision the current moment feels ok to be in without acting, but I know if I push anything things wont go well, its palpable.
I cast the Iching asking what is the first step, in achieving my goals of achieving Fame and wealth. I got the Hex 39. No changing lines. I too am going through self doubts,blame game, depression etc. Thanks Ching Ching, l need to find that seed.
 

Wild Goose

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Before a job interview I got a bad feeling about taking the job, I always wondered about that feeling especially given my tricky circumstances (and look at the current climate now!) still I asked IC what that bad feeling was about and received: 39uc, and what if I had waited instead of taking the job: 54.1>40. Perhaps that feeling was a big red stop sign to reconsider.
 

Hashmotor

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I got 39uc for the question What do my 3 non-relationships have in common that is the most important thing about this whole set of complementary non-boyfriends?
Well, 39uc tells me to investigate why I put myself in this non-status. It's crucial to know this now. What is it that I really like or desire or want? Only then will I turn around from non-closeness to closeness.
And it has to do with the set displayed in front of me. Each one is different and the 3 are complementary (2 of them are now in another country, 1 never met in person but good companion, 1 nearby but withdrawn, completely different personalities and backgrounds), so I have the opportunity to sense each and see what it is that is really important and truly my desire.
And only then... turn around, hence uc.
 

Hashmotor

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Got 39 uc to "Why do I need to ask (the previous question I had asked Yi)?"

And Trojina's comment "'KEN meditates on the meaning of this obstacle' also seems to describe the almost split feel in coming to the 39 place. You are in it, you see it, you also ponder it to be able to turn around. I'd not appreciated till writing this what a strong sense of KEN I get for 39 uc." sums it up quite well.

It seems so simple (the previous question that made me ponder before being able to turn around) yet I'm still here, pondering.

OK so according to Wing, the point is going and finding out the reason, which is directly linked to self-discovery and, I guess, the dao. Not banal insecurity, then.

I'll go do it and see. And maybe fill you in later.
 

Hashmotor

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Another 39 uc today, crystal clear, and resonating with the above, previous one.
How is my flamenco practice going?
I have practiced flamenco for 20 years, without much (minimally corresponding) evolution.
Yes, insurmountable obstacle that I have recently unveiled. So at the age of 47 I was diagnosed with ADHD and, with that absolute change of perpective, resumed my flamenco practice, now considering how my brain works and the effects the disorder had on me my whole life, lack of focus, dyspraxia, always feeling out of place, low executive function.
"Not banal insecurity, then."
I have just turned around and restarted in a new position, enjoying the joy of dancing and feeling the music, with a new perspective on how I will be able to advance now.
Also including my recent studies on the chakras.
 
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QuanYiN

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I have been thinking about this hexagram a lot today. I feel the hexagrams that we have a negative reaction to when we see them are usually the ones we really need to work on. It’s nice to get all the obviously positive ones, but it’s through the hard ones that we really grow and work with ourselves — and they’re also the ones where the advice under the image is so important. And this in itself is a very 39 way of seeing “negative” hexagrams (in quotation marks ’cause I always try not to view them as positive-negative, auspicious-inauspicious, but rather lessons to be learned and situations to be understood).

I got this hex for this week, and of course I had that reaction. It’s been a challenging time and I would have loved to see a 14.6, a 11.1, a whole bunch of different results. But, alas! 39 it is. I was looking at Lise‘s interpretation and stumbled upon this:

It means: 'cold feet'. It is difficult to move. Not only physically, but also mentally, the mind is hindered as well. But Gèn inside can direct the water, Gèn offers the boulders and crevices to hold it back to find solutions or speed it along on its way.
Ideogram of the hexagram name: A person upside down in a hut with straw or kindling. The upper part means 'cold' or 'plug', the bottom 'foot': cold feet.

This “person upside down“ bit made me think of the Hanged Man in Tarot along with the new point of view mentioned above in relation to this hexagram. I felt it’s so similar, the Hanged Man has a meaning of martyrdom, of risk, but also a change of perspective, he is looking at the world upside down. A very uncomfortable position nonetheless.

Today I found myself very anxious as I’m waiting for some important email responses this week. I’m getting impatient, trying to predict the future, asking the I Ching too much etc. But this is clearly not working, the way is barred, I can’t move forward like this. I was looking into some CBT exercises this evening that really helped me calm down and alleviate the stress. A primary focus of those exercises was changing perspectives. A bit of an aha! moment for 39 for me. :)
 

OCalderao

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Hello all!
First time poster, long-time lurker.
I've been using the I Ching daily for the past 40 years and am so thrilled to have discovered this community.

I wanted to add to this list an experience I had with Hexagram 39 unchanging.

I have waited over a year to post this because I wanted to feel into the deeper meaning of the hexagram.

About 2 years ago I decided to return to graduate school to become a depth psychology therapist. I asked for a meditation on the various schools I was considering applying to and attending. The school in which I was most interested I received Hexagram 39 unchanging. I immediately thought this meant that I should *not* attend my preferred school. As I researched other schools and investigated my preferred school more thoroughly, and was accepted and offered a scholarship, I became more and more convinced that my preferred school was the one for me. I'm now 18 months into my studies there and am absolutely loving it. I can't imagine having chosen another school.

I wracked my brain for how hexagram 39 could apply to my decision. Then I remembered the inner work references in Wing, "Whatever the reason, you are blocking your own progress. Do not make the mistake of casting the blame elsewhere. Instead, use this opportunity for Self-discovery."
Going to grad school to become a depth psychology therapist is essentially a protracted journey of self-discovery. Studying to become a therapist is as much about one's inner work, as identifying their own internal trauma, wounds, triggers, and complexes. My interpretation of 39 unchanging in this case is that it was speaking to the very practical experience I would be having, which is the process of inner and outer transformation one embarks on in these studies. It was already understood that I would be choosing my preferred school. The Ching was speaking about what the journey would be.

I could have imagined hexagram 49 also applying here, as it can refer to transformation. But, in this case inner work is the operative concern. I found the image presented in Wilhelm/Baynes to be similarly resonant:

THE IMAGE​

Water on the mountain:
The image of OBSTRUCTION.
Thus the superior man turns his attention to himself
And molds his character.

Difficulties and obstructions throw a man back upon himself. While the inferior man seeks to put the blame on other persons, bewailing his fate, the superior man seeks the error within himself, and through this introspection the external obstacle becomes for him an occasion for inner enrichment and education.

In another occurrence of hexagram 39 unchanging, I asked the I Ching for a meditation on what to make of a childhood sweetheart visiting my social media page. In this case, one could easily observe that the I Ching is saying there is a block. I mean, she has been happily married for decades. Conversely, I think that a more nuanced interpretation might be a call for some inner examination about why I would even deign to be curious about such a thing, which could be a disaster!

Anyway. I thought these two seemingly contrasting examples actually tie together quite well.

Thanks for being such an awesome community!
 

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