Hi all,

Just want to advise people to pay attention (don't ignore the related hex) when you get a few auspicious/desirable lines.

My own experience like this was 42.2.5 (41)
The lines looked good to proceed with something,
but in the end, I had to let go (41) of it.
(A creative business opportunity.)

Here is one from a friend:

He was actively Dating around, going out with four different women occassionally. He asked about one of them, something like:
Is she good for me?
His reading was 19.2.4 (51)
The lines looked great.
Two weeks after this reading he was shocked (51)to find out that she was a severe alcoholic who wasn't being forthright about it.
In fact she was driving drunk and ran over two men, seriously injuring them, requiring hospitalization.
He hasn't heard from her since, only had contact with her alcoholics anonymous sponser when he tried to call her.

So, look at the whole reading!
:bows:

Interesting. Only two weeks or so ago I successfully applied for a new job and received 42.2.5 the day I got the positive answer. I was in the middle of a very 41ish time, so I interpreted it as "sudden increase after a time of decrease". I will keep you updated here - of course I hope that my own interpretation is right in my case, but it could be that my new job will be draining or so.

And I also received positive lines in context of hexagram 51 not too long ago. I got 27.4.6<51 when I was asking if I should make a connection with a person and took this result as a "go for it". But I was brushed off hard, which was indeed a very tough experience. I wondered why the I-Ching gave me green light then - I think Yi knew that it was necessary for me to express my good intentions (which I really had), to understand that it is hopeless right now, so that I can shelve it and accept it for finding peace. Which is at least better than agonising over if I should try to make a contact again or not.

In contrast to this last experience I also had very good experiences with 51 as a relating hexagram.
For example quite a few times when I was in a bad mood I received hexagram 17<51 which I always rightfully took as a call to concentrate on the the creative things that I like, things that make me feel better and help me to get along and to love my life.

Crossed posts with Equinox
---

Thank you for posting this.

I (/we - there have been puzzling threads in Shared Readings and Reading Circle about this) have had reason to be suspicious of 42 and some of its lovely lines once or twice in the past, and now here's more confirmation...this phenomenon is on my list of Least Favorite Yi Things, since how on earth can we know what to do with it? And such experiences do not inspire a lot of overall trust.

Here's the Shared Readings example:
https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?12160-Tortoise-and-Turtles-42-2-5-gt-41

And from Reading Circle:
http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?22270-finding-better-work-situation

Yes, you have the relating hexagram which might say "decrease" or "shock," but the auspicious-sounding lines are still there. And certainly the relating hexagram doesn't always play this sort of role.

Bradford seems to have a bit of a different take on 42.2. Here is his translation:

Somebody grants one ten matched pairs of tortoise shells
One cannot refuse
Enduring commitment is promising
The sovereign presents offerings to the divine
Promising

Click to expand...

And his commentary:

There is a resonance in this, a connection of the spirit, and even these special shells are entrained in the pattern. They have found their way into your hands as blessings, to count but not question. This wealth is a trust and one wants to be worthy. Even the king serves this process. Since each shell is used only one time for one question, you could use many shells up just asking why, and still there might be no why. To question the rightness of this is to spend it on the past. Thus is it probably best to keep the increase going in forward directions - by asking questions of how and when best. A treasure map can be as good as any treasure, without having all of that weight yet. The sovereign will want his good name to have a respectable place on his ancestor's shrine, but he doesn't ask why it's not there yet. This is for tomorrow.

Click to expand...

"There is a resonance in this" - might come from 42.2's fan yao 61.2? "The call of a crane in the shadows, Her young ones respond to her, I have a fine beaker of wine, And I, with your help, will drain it".

His references to the future, "forward directions," "tomorrow" might come from the Little Image which he includes in his book: "Somebody grants this. (It) comes from beyond".

But I'm not sure what to make of it... one thought might be something like, if you're granted a blessing, don't question it to death - ? Does that fit experience? Does it fit your experience?

I suppose you could wonder - in hindsight - if letting go of your business opportunity was some sort of blessing in disguise? You can't know what might have happened if you'd gone ahead with it. However - again - at the time of casting what you had was this amazing-sounding reading.

The step of change of 42.2 (61.2, "The call of a crane in the shadows, her young respond" etc.) - I had an experience with it once (https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/fri...te-or-encouraging-results&p=193101#post193101) which emphasized the "call and response" aspect more than what seems like the love and conviviality. The point was that the call has to come before the response; you can't respond to a call that hasn't come yet. Was that part of your experience at all?

I did once have the opposite reading, 41.2.5 > 42, which actually was good (...sort of). I'd had a flood in my apartment, asked a wail-y question at one point, got 41 > 42, and even at that moment I thought it was telling me this is a good opportunity for some much-needed weeding out of stuff, possibly in order to make room for new "blessings" (or simply to have more space). That's how it turned out, with the caveat that I never quite finished it.

Of course that's the opposite reading. But 41.5 is a similar line to 42.2 (Bradford's translation again):
"Somebody grants one ten matched pairs of tortoise shells
One cannot refuse
Outstanding opportunity"

And here are two more examples for 42.2.5 > 41:

I had asked if I would get a contract extension at a particular job. I didn't get it.
I had asked how it would go with a particular love interest. It went badly.

42.2 shows someone already rich who receives even more - and then offers the surplus elsewhere.
42.5 shows kindness, which very often leads to being abused by others.
41 is loss, and it's also the poor 'giving' to the rich (instead of the other way round).
So the rich gains more, and the kind loses.

It's not an auspicious combination and it's important to think about who profits, who loses, and how.

diamanda said:

42.2 shows someone already rich who receives even more - and then offers the surplus elsewhere.
42.5 shows kindness, which very often leads to being abused by others.
41 is loss, and it's also the poor 'giving' to the rich (instead of the other way round).
So the rich gains more, and the kind loses.

It's not an auspicious combination and it's important to think about who profits, who loses, and how.

Click to expand...

According to this approach I should be careful not to get exploited in my new job. Thank you for this insight.

Liselle said:

https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/frie...s-42-2-5-gt-41

Click to expand...

Thank you Liselle,
my experience was just like Liss's.
Quoting Liss, "Nothing Happened."

and paraphrasing Hilary about this reading:
+1 -1 = 0

equinox said:

Originally posted by diamanda:
"42.2 shows someone already rich who receives even more - and then offers the surplus elsewhere.
42.5 shows kindness, which very often leads to being abused by others.
41 is loss, and it's also the poor 'giving' to the rich (instead of the other way round).
So the rich gains more, and the kind loses."

It's not an auspicious combination and it's important to think about who profits, who loses, and how.

Originally posted by equinox:
According to this approach I should be careful not to get exploited in my new job. Thank you for this insight.

Click to expand...

Looks like, I will have a hard time to make a (good) living from this job. Still hope to benefit from it one way or another, maybe on the longer run. But the implications of hex 41 are very noticeable, in contrast to the great luck promised by 42.2.5. So yes, 42>41 is indeed an ambivalent reading to my recent experiences.