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04

man and woman in cangue

Crime and punishment

Some Yijing imagery is immensely straightforward to relate to. I was having the ‘What do you do?’ conversation a few weeks ago, and a friend asked me what kind of thing readings said, and how they answered questions. ‘Imagine,’ I said, ‘you’re asking about taking on a new voluntary role,… Read more »Crime and punishment

spring blossom with bee

An enthusiastic transition

Episode 33 of the I Ching with Clarity podcast features a listener’s reading about moving to a new country. How best to make a positive transition to this new place, wherever it may be? The Oracle answered with Hexagram 16, Enthusiasm, changing at line 2 to Hexagram 40, Release: changing… Read more »An enthusiastic transition

Hexagrams as pictures

On not knowing the first thing about the Yi Back in 2015, I titled a post, ‘I don’t know the first thing about the Yi‘. By this I meant not knowing how it came to be – how people first knew that a certain pattern of lines belonged with certain… Read more »Hexagrams as pictures

stone troll

Troll Story

In which you will encounter hesitation, second-guessing, repetitious readings, decision, ‘contradictory’ moving lines (what do you do with those?), a good dose of common sense and a particularly persistent troll. Also these readings… Hexagram 18, Corruption, changing at line 3 to 4, Not Knowing: changing to Hexagram 49, Radical Change,… Read more »Troll Story

straight muddy ditch

Hexagram 4, ‘polluting the waters’

If you try for an ‘eagle’s-eye view’ of the Yijing, you get to admire its architecture: the intricate connections between hexagrams, the Sequence, two-line changes and so on. What if you zoom in, instead, for a mouse’s eye-view? Here’s an example of that. I’ve translated Hexagram 4’s Oracle like this:… Read more »Hexagram 4, ‘polluting the waters’

paraglider

Hexagram 4, line 1

Here at the very beginning of Not Knowing, there’s a line that says, ‘Sending out the ignoramus,Fruitful to make use of punishing people,To make use of loosening fetters and manacles.Going on in that way is shameful.’ Or, you know, something along those lines. It’s a little too early to be… Read more »Hexagram 4, line 1