Hello everyone, my name is Max, and I am posting here for the first time.

Even though I have been consulting the I Ching for many years, I have only recently been joining this community. For the little that I could explore so far, it seems a very thriving one, and the website is very well made and helpful, so I thought I would share a reading I did a few days ago regarding a difficult decision that I needed to take, and which at this stage I have taken, but with the reservation of possibly changing it.

The reading was not completely clear to me, and in any case, other people may be able to spot connections, hints or indications that may have escaped me. So, a little background on this decision. Last year (well, 2017: a difficult year, in many ways), I felt that I wanted/needed to make a radical change for this coming year (2018), and so I applied for two different schools, very different in nature, even though they have points in common (I must also add that I am an Italian living between Italy and the UK, with all the challenges that living between two places/cultures means).
I had therefore applied for a Masters in Ecology and Spirituality (in the UK), which should start in January, and for which I have been offered a place.
At the same time, earlier in the year, I had also applied for the Living School of Action and Contemplation, founded by Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar who I have been following for the last few years.
This would mainly be online learning, but it would imply traveling several times to the States, as the school is based in New Mexico. I must point out that this had been my first choice; applying for the Masters came only later in the year. To cut a long story short, now I've got to the point that I had to enroll for the Masters, if I wanted to do it, as it starts rather soon, but I won't know the reply from the school in New Mexico until the beginning of February.
What this means is that, if i turned down the Masters, waiting to know from the other school, and they said no, I would find myself with nothing.

For this reason, I did a reading a few days ago, asking: "What if I waited to hear from the Rohr school?" (the one in America). The response of the oracle was: Hex. 55, Abundance, with lines 2,3,4 changing to Hex. 19, Approach (I must point out that I use Richard Wilhelm's and Cary F. Baynes translation). Even though at first the reading seemed promising ('Abundance': and it is enough to read the general description, the judgement and the image to feel so), the lines are proving rather more obscure to decipher.

The description refers to a general time of abundance: "Clarity within, movement without: this produces greatness and abundance"; "It is not given to every mortal to bring about a time of outstanding greatness and abundance", and so that felt good -- like: it would be good for me to wait, as, most likely, this is the best of the two schools for me to attend (which is in fact, also, what I have been feeling all along these months -- this is the "clarity within" aspect). But the lines, to an extent, take away that sense of clarity, and leave me unsure as to whether I would in fact be offered a place at that school at all (and even if they did, if I had the economic resources to travel back and forth from the States at least three times -- but that is a problem I could easily deal with at a later stage). I won't report what the changing lines are saying in detail, as it would make the post too long, but only a few insights:

Second line "(...) the polestars can be seen at noon. Through going one meets with mistrust and hate (...)". Third line: "(...) the small stars can be seen at noon. He breaks his right arm (...)". In these two lines, there is a clear reference to an eclipse of the sun, and pointing to difficulties between the 'ruler' (who in this case, I would take, is Father Rohr himself, running the school) and the 'able man' (myself).

This is particularly evident in line 3, where the 'able man' "breaks his right arm", and therefore is not to blame for being thus hindered in action. In line 4, however, there is a change of mood: even though there is still the eclipse of the sun ("The curtain is of such fullness/That the polestars can be seen at noon"), there is also a sense that the block has been somehow removed: "He meets his ruler, who is of like kind. Good fortune".

I will not go into a reading of Hex. 19 just not to make this post even longer, especially as it points to a future scenario that would be applicable only if I waited.
What about the Masters, then?
As I said, at this stage I had to accept it, not to lose that possibility altogether, but I am still feeling unsure about this.

I had done a reading about the Masters too, about a month ago, and the response was rather blunt: it was Hex. 8, Holding Together.
A positive response, overall, but it baffled me that there were no changing lines, as if to imply (but I may be wrong here) that there would be no progression to the situation. The Hexagram aptly points to the fact that I am a 'straggler', that I have been undecided, and therefore risked being "left out", and also that the environment of the Master would be a community of like-minded people held together by a "a man who is their center of union" (and I know who he is). I also know that there is a monastic-like component to the setting of where this course is held, that seems well represented by this hexagram.
But as I said earlier, it rather baffles me that there is no development, and I wonder how that compares to the other, recent reading I have cast a few days ago, described in the fist part.

I will be grateful to anyone who feels called to contribute a comment or a reflection that may help me make more clarity, especially in reference to my late question: "What if I waited ... ?".

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and therefore risked being "left out"

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For this reason, I did a reading a few days ago, asking: "What if I waited to hear from the Rohr school?"

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