Meeting tigers

I was just looking through the latest from the Readings Panel at GreatVessel.com . The questioner asked how to deal with a difficult manager, and received Hexagram 10, Treading, moving to Hexagram 61, Inner Truth, through a changing line at the fourth place:

‘Treading the tiger’s tail.
Careful pleading,
Good fortune in the end.’

You can read a remarkable, in-depth interpretation of the reading over at GreatVessel, but the application of the imagery is hard to miss. In dealing with your tiger-manager, plead your case with great care and skill.

The first question when you receive Hexagram 10 is always ‘where’s the tiger?’ It seems a natural enough question to ask when you’ve been told you’re treading its tail. The answer often leaps to the eye: I think this is the third reading I’ve seen where someone received Hexagram 10 as advice on approaching the manager.

Last time I received this one, though, the tiger was more elusive. I was asking what to learn from my experience with the web designer, who (to cut a painfully long story short) hasn’t exactly hurried to complete Clarity’s new design. I received Treading moving to Nourishment (27).

There’s nothing fierce or dangerous about the man, yet I have been treading with caution through my communications with him. On the surface, this is because I’m nervous of his reactions if I’m too abrupt – but I think this disguises a well-camouflaged tiger elsewhere.

Not so long ago, I asked for some help keeping depression at bay, and received 27.4:

‘Overturning nourishment.
Tiger watching glares and glares,
Hunts and hunts its desires.
No mistake.’

I shouldn’t imagine that tigers in the wild suffer much from depression or a lack of motivation. I had my own inner tiger, intent on the hunt, and this part of me would always be motivated, radiant with focussed energy, and with the power to banish negativity. And so it is – this has been a huge reading for me.

So to return to the ‘learning experience’ reading: this was about treading gently with my own inner tiger. If I want someone to get around to fixing the stylesheet, better not let it maul him. 10 moving to 27: tread with great care through issues of nourishment. Be aware of the desires and fears involved and how they’re affecting me; be very, very aware of what I’m putting into circulation in our conversation. It’s important to know where the tiger is.