Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
So the dragons fight: one for the persistence of winter stillness, the other for the return of spring.
In my book I drew on experience to suggest that one of the dragons was fighting for the earth quality of openness to all possibilities – to the point of ‘sheer inertia, resisting the creative impulse that would give a new and specific shape to things.’ (I also unfortunately betrayed embarrassing ignorance by calling it an ‘earth dragon’… ah, well…) These celestial dragons seem to fit the same idea: if the winter-dragon won (calling it a yin dragon as Pankenier does is anachronistic), the earth would stay quiet and open, spring would not come and nothing would grow. Quiescent potential vs active growth: in practice, 2.6 can mean someone is digging in her heels against changing times, against having something definite happen.
I find the zhi gua (23) and fan yao (23.6) of this line pretty interesting too. 23 is Stripping Away, the last of the old solid lines leaving the field of open lines. It’d be hard to talk about this in readings without mentioning clearing the ground for planting – which is also an agricultural task for the cusp of spring.
And the fan yao:
‘A ripe fruit uneaten.
Noble one gets a cart,
Small people strip their huts.’
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).