The Wing of the I Ching describing the Sequence of Hexagrams, the Xugua, generally has a laconic style, sometimes saying scarcely more than, ‘this hexagram is bound to follow from that one.’ But there’s an exception to this when you arrive at Hexagram 31, Influence. This is the first hexagram… Read more »Holism, Hexagram 31 and marriage
A single I Ching reading brings insight, answers questions, and reconnects you with your inner sense of direction. A series of readings does all this, and it can also multiply the effects exponentially. The connections between readings show you how the different aspects of your life relate together, and give… Read more »How I Ching readings interact
My reading for last week was Hexagram 31, Influence. And yesterday afternoon, at the final rehearsal before that evening’s concert, the conductor asked the orchestra to ‘make space’ for the solo violinist. ‘Above the mountain is a lake. Influence. Noble one accepts people with emptiness.’ Being part of an orchestra… Read more »Hexagram 31 – making space
There’s a phrase in the Judgements of hexagrams 31 and 44, along with 4, line 2: ‘taking a woman’. Its usual interpretation is ‘taking to wife’, though it’s the same word used to mean ‘take by force’ or ‘capture an animal’. What are we to make of the phrase? And does it mean something different in readings for men and women? And what have translators and commentators made of it?
