Women in the I Ching: webinar review

I had hoped to be posting now with news that I’d got the transcript and recording ready for you. But I’m sorry to say I’m not quite there yet: I was out on Saturday playing in a rehearsal and concert, and I still have a bunch of editing work to do. Almost there, though.

To whet your appetite for when I do get this finished – and it really shouldn’t be long now – here’s what we talked about on the day:

• Hexagram 44, ‘Coming to Meet’ as ‘royal bride’, with an atmosphere and meanings very unlike the traditional view.
• Hexagram 2, Earth, denuded of its usual reams of commentary, looking at the simpler qualities that remain.
• The original nature of yin and yang, and how this connects to the one usage of the word ‘yin’ in the Yi itself.
• The lives of women – or at least of queens – in early China.
• A reading of hexagram 28 unchanging about starting a new business.
• The second and fifth lines of 28, the ones about the withered willow and the disparate marriages.

Naturally many other images and lines were mentioned along the way, but those were the highlights for me. I especially enjoy Margaret’s directness, her dry wit, and the chance to tap into her extensive knowledge of early China as a whole, not just of Yi. It’s a great help in setting Yi’s imagery in context, and hence understanding how it might work on its own terms. Also the unannounced bonus of working with Margaret on someone’s reading, then and there: I enjoyed the way our two approaches fitted together.

She has offered to come back for a return visit, when I hope we’ll fit in another reading or two for attendees as well as more information on specific hexagrams and lines. She could ‘only’ give us about 90 minutes this time, so of course there was a whole lot we didn’t get to. (Hexagram 54 springs to mind – I’d definitely like to hear what she can tell us about the Marrying Maiden.)

Anyway, watch this space for the recording. Tomorrow is voluntary work day for me, as always, and I’m out on Thursday as well, but I should have the final editing done by later this week.