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59

flooded fields

Dispersing a conflict

In this episode, Tricia shares her reading about how to leave a conflict behind. Yi answered with Hexagram 59, Dispersing, changing at lines 2, 4 and 5 to 35, Advancing: changing to It’s a remarkable reading – I really enjoyed exploring it with her, and I hope you will, too.… Read more »Dispersing a conflict

Shennong, the Divine Husbandsman

Hexagrams as culture heroes

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series The Wings

Here’s Wikipedia’s definition of a ‘culture hero’: A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group (cultural, ethnic, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or discovery. Chinese mythology seems to be especially full of these: people who are recognised as heroic because they invented millet farming,… Read more »Hexagrams as culture heroes

paintbrushes

The genius of the Daxiang (part 1)

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series The Wings

Introducing the Image Sometimes we explain things to ourselves by comparing and contrasting – like the Zagua. Sometimes we tell stories, like the Xugua (Sequence of Hexagrams). And often, we paint mental pictures. The Yi is overflowing with pictures, of course – not least the ones created by its component… Read more »The genius of the Daxiang (part 1)

A sage bush

Dispersing Nourishment

This is an embarrassingly ‘first world problems’ kind of reading, but happily Yi doesn’t judge – and it was tremendously helpful at the time, so I thought it would be a good one to share. The background How were things for you in March 2020? Round here, they were just… Read more »Dispersing Nourishment

taut threads of spider silk in the dark

Staying connected

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,… Read more »Staying connected

The Yi barbarians

Hexagram 36 is called Ming Yi 明夷, Brightness Hiding or Brightness Wounded. The double meaning of ‘Yi’ here (a completely different word to the name of the book) allows the hexagram name to contain a whole story: when wounded, you hide; once bitten, twice shy. It also means something ordinary,… Read more »The Yi barbarians