A novel view of hexagram 29, line 4

‘A cup, a drink, and a plate,
Using earthenware,
Letting them in on ropes from the window.
In the end, no mistake.’

Someone is confined in the Pit – someone reaches them in simple ways. I’ve seen this often enough as advice on how to keep a relationship alive through impossible times… the connection always felt like the one ray of light. But now I have a reading that makes me see an alternative perspective.

When I asked about the consequences of re-installing Windows on this computer, I got hexagram 29 changing to 6. You might well ask why on earth, in that case, I went ahead and did it anyway. Basically because it’s cheaper than buying a new computer… something to try first, though I know I’ll need a new one, one of these days.

Well, it re-installed OK. Yi-induced paranoia meant I had extra backups from just a few days earlier, which came in very useful when a misunderstanding meant my emails didn’t get backed up before the reformatting.

Then I brightly connected to the net without protection, forgetting about the joys of ‘messenger service’ on XP. The machine was infested with trojans and worms within minutes.

And this is where I look again at 29, line 4. If you are responsible for keeping the one in the pit isolated from the rest of the world, then assorted little things being let in through the ‘window’ ( 😉 ) may not look like such a good thing. In the end, though, no mistake: the computer’s clean now.

I don’t know yet what I’m in for with line 6… just the lack of hard drive space, I hope, though I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop, and backing up religiously…