Hi all!
I hope you have been doing all right.

I'm here yet again asking for guidance on reading.

So, I have been doing this interior design job part time for three years now.
The schedule and flexibility, relationship with the boss has been great. But the pay at is far from being perfect. Working with that designer ( it is just me and her at the office) I cannot pay my rent, therefore I am still forced to keep my waitressing job.
The reason I'm still with her is the flexibility offered there. But this year the flexibility on her part started getting out of control, i.e. she would take two weeks off at a time several times a year and then I have to sit and scratch my head how to make up for lost income. I would scramble by picking up shifts at the restaurant, but I would be under a lot of stress figuring things out. She hired me as a freelancer aka "stable income is not guaranteed at all times". So I thought to myself "maybe getting upset with her is not really fair." Then I thought " ok, since I'm hired as a freelancer I'm going to make changes to my schedule too. I'll tell her in advance that I will start working short days so I could pick up dinners at the restaurant and in a mean time try looking for another designers job which doesn't have this drastic up and downs with schedule. So today when I went on Craigslist I saw HER posting an add for an opening with her which is an it upsetting. I was working as hard as I could, tried to deliver my best even though most of her instructions are very confusing.
So I asked "what does it mean for me her posting ad for the position on Craigslist "?
I received 12.5 . She is getting ready to boot me out, is that right?
What do you say?
Thank you!

'Resting when blocked.
Great person, good fortune.
It is lost, it is lost!
Tie it to the bushy mulberry.'
(quoted from Hilary Barrett's book)

I'm not sure...I remember someone posting a reading once before with this line - the person was trying to write a book, or get a book published, or had had his book rejected by a publisher, or something like that. I remember thinking in that case the line may have meant there was some part of his book or idea that was viable - Hilary explains that the "bushy mulberry" is a tree which "regrows vigorously from its roots when cut back" and which "promises life and new beginnings." So maybe he could take the best parts of what he'd written (a character, a plot element) and do something with that part. (I don't know how this turned out, though.)

But I think a basic message of 12.5 might be that even when everything seems "lost," it really isn't. There's still something alive which can grow. Maybe it means you're not really fired, or maybe that you'll be able to use your experience from working for her to get a better interior design job, or something.

The relating hexagram (the context, how you "relate" to the situation) is 35, Advancing. That's about gifts and opportunities, with the caveat that you have to seize the opportunity and make the most of it.

So somehow this may not be terrible news? There's an opportunity here somehow, even though your immediate experience may be that you're "blocked"?

Hi vikk,

Kari Hohne's "Essential i-Ching" includes readings for unchanging hexagrams, and hexagrams when received as the relating, or second, hexagram ~ which is unusual, but helpful, imho. However, the best part of her book, imho, is that she's expansive and verbose in an easy to read style.

"What does it mean for me her posting ad for the position on Craigslist?"

12.5 to 35 ~ My read is that the situation has become stagnant: It's time to turn lemons into lemonade. The Essential i-Ching says:

"Line 5 Standstill is giving way = what if it should fail? Tie it to a mulberry tree. Changes to (35) Progress. It is normal to feel trepidation on the precipice of change. Whatever blocked you is being released and progress can continue. If you can learn from your mistakes you will successfully create lasting change that leads to good fortune. Don’t expect it to be easy though because without a serious change in attitude the blockage can recur. This is a line that encourages you to transform doubt or fear based attitudes into acceptance and a strong inner core committed to Progress."

So ~ yes ~ the Craigslist ad likely means that she is getting ready to boot you, but the Yi is saying that you have acquired marketable skills during the last three years, and are likely to find a better opportunity ~ if you can refresh yourself for the effort.

I knew of a lady who has OCD and is compulsively organized. She couldn't hold a job because she annoyingly spent a lot of time keeping everything "just so" ~ in her case, it was a repeating pattern. So, she started a Sunday morning podcast, on the side, centered around 'How to organize anything and everything,' and she offered freelance services to do 'house calls' ~ turnkey projects to organize a client's office, garage, storage, kitchen, you name it. Now, she has 100,000 listeners and she's booked for the next three years ~ doing what she obsessively loves. So, she turned lemons into lemonade.

I hope this helps and good luck!

@radiofreewill
Cool and inspiring story about OCD lady! Everyone has a talent, each one is unique

I agree with both answers, and would add that 12.5 can say - don't put all eggs into one basket.
Have other sources of income so if one fails it wouldnt matter that much. Maybe it is time to get a new job, yes. 35 progress. Standstill is giving way, situation is changing, be ready to find simething new.

So I asked "what does it mean for me her posting ad for the position on Craigslist "? I received 12.5

It means for you to move from standing still in stalemate/withdrawal (12) to progress (35).

Move from the point of standstill into action (5) and tie to the mulberry bush-- do the shifts there that make sense to you and pick up dinners and look for new opportunities. You knew she wasn't paying what you deserved anyway thoough you were laying back and letting it ride. (12)

Sounds like pruning! The good news here to me is that according to Hilary (if I recollect correctly) when you cut back the mulberry bush, even more shoots are produced. This suggests that cutting back your schedule there may actually improve matters. Your boss actually may realize your worth and give you more of what you want or it leads to great new opportunities.

beatpoet

Hi all!

I hope all is well.
Just a quick update on the situation.
So probably the week after I saw the add my boss told me she wanted to have a chat with me. I thought "Here it is. She is letting me go." I was exited to be honest. I wanted to be let go. She told me that she started looking for another person to be there in the office when I am not there. Since I am working short days and leaving for a month to visit my parents she couldn't really handle the work load by herself. Therefore she needed someone to work while I'm not in the office.
Then she said that since I'm focusing on restaurant shifts more then office work and she needs to train the substitute person that it is probably a good idea for me just to do restaurant. She could have kept both of us in the office at the same time , but she said she didn't have a spare computer for the new person. So I agreed and now I cut the mulberry bush aka design work for now and focusing on restaurant where I'm making more money then at the office.
So that's that.
The only thing which is a bit confusing is "new opportunity rising" part of the hexagram. If having more shifts at the restaurant is a new opportunity then I have to disagree - restaurant has been there forever, there's nothing new in it.