Divination means we’re connected. It demonstrates that there’s no such thing as ‘isolation’: the cosmos has 100% uptime. You can toss three coins six times, any time, to experience its absolute connectivity.
Yi’s connection works, as it always has, through imagery. It doesn’t just talk (though it certainly does that, too): it shows. Imagery is how rapport with the oracle happens – how we experience our answer rather than just ‘interpreting’ it. I think it’s to do with feeling seen and recognised.
I planned this Sunday’s ‘Connecting with Imagery’ workshop back when connection and ‘feeling seen’ seemed relatively commonplace. I’m particularly glad, now, to be running it.
An example
Clarity is continuing with ‘business as usual’, more or less, since it all happens online anyway. (I am so grateful for the advances in technology that make this feasible. Anyone who remembers the first Clarity webinars in 2005 will know what I mean!)
But the local club for stroke survivors, where I took over as leader this past January, is naturally not experiencing ‘business as usual’, since our members are generally over 70 and in less-than-perfect health. We’re closed down for the duration… however long that is.
At our last in-person meeting, I suggested we could meet via Zoom video chat, and was met with a resounding dearth of enthusiasm and cries of ‘I’m not that techie.’ But since now there’s a requirement for months of social isolation, I reckon I should go ahead and do my best to make this happen for people.
I’ve asked Yi how best to continue – how to lead and help the Club through coronavirus season.
Yi answered with Hexagram 22, Beauty, changing at lines 4 and 5 to 13, People in Harmony.
It’s a lovely reading that I’ll be drawing on for months to come, but for now, since this post’s about the gifts of imagery, lets focus in on just one…
‘Beautiful like pure white,
Hexagram 22, line 4
Like a soaring white horse.
Not a robber, but a marital ally.’
A soaring white horse?
Now, I’d say I know what this line ‘means’ in general, but I was very far from seeing what it was telling me here, so I started in with the Really Obvious Questions. (Much more on these on Sunday!)
What’s a horse?
A big, strong animal, bigger and stronger than you, that will help you move things, allow you to travel further and faster, treasured for its speed, power and beauty. Handling one without getting kicked and bitten is a tricky, skilled job.
And a white one?
Perhaps an especially beautiful horse, valued for show and formal occasions? Like a wedding, of course. This one seems to be part of a procession to fetch the bride, so it’s meant to be particularly showy and attractive: all part of the display the groom puts on to demonstrate that he’s ‘Not a robber, but a marital ally.’
What’s a robber?
Someone who harms you, steals from you. An outlaw, outside the law, someone who has no place in your world.
And a marital ally?
A friend, someone bound to you, who makes you more secure because you have more connections. (You could call on your allies for help in times of famine, for instance.)
What stands out for me: the line’s about how someone or something comes swooping in, giving absolutely clear, unmistakable signs that it is here to help and not a threat.
And so I think one white horse here is the video technology that will help us to stay connected. People do tend to be afraid that technology is some kind of robber, a young lout out to steal their dignity or worse. Time for me to get out the curry comb and start plaiting the mane, I think.
I sent encouraging emails, did some phoning round to ensure help was available where needed, and also spent Wednesday morning making a couple of ‘how to access Club via Zoom’ videos. And 6 out of 10 members showed up to our first video meeting, including one who’s never so much as used email before. I think we can chalk this up as a success.
(Now for a website and some kind of group chat…)
The world may look quite broken at the moment, but Yi’s fine. The Well wells. Do come on Sunday if you can. (If we have too many people to fit in the room, I’ll try to set up a livestream to Youtube.)
Afterword
Like I said, sometimes Yi speaks in imagery, and occasionally it simply speaks. Back on March 11th – you know, about six months ago… – the official advice was still to keep social groups running as usual, but I wasn’t so sure, and asked Yi for advice. The answer included the following:
‘Dispersing blood.
Hexagram 59, line 6
Leave, go out and far away.
Not a mistake.’
So yes, we closed.
Then this morning I happened to look back at the reading I cast in December 2019, asking for guidance for running the club in the year ahead. And that included this line:
‘Negotiating opening, not yet at rest.
Hexagram 58, line 4
Containing the affliction brings rejoicing.’
That word I translated as ‘affliction’ means literally disease. 介疾, set boundaries to the disease, and there will be rejoicing.
