Travelling through

[Anastacia]

I get 56 a lot so had thought I'd like to look at how the Traveller moves in and out of the other Hexagrams.
56 in trigrams is Mountain below Fire. Fire above the mountain

Inner world Mountain is hands, holding, bound, the limit where you stop, small and difficult paths, sometimes you only see the next step in front and sometimes you have a panoramic view, stillness, silence, the pivot between cycles, youngest son, northeast and late winter.

Outer world Light and fire is eyes, seeing, vision, perceiving, consciousness, clarity, clinging, heat and warmth, holding things in together in the mind and discerning their patterns, awareness, middle daughter, south and midsummer with a burning sun.

There is a person who holds the position of a youngest son/yang. They are not given responsibility at home yet may feel a weight of expectations (feeling bound). They feel the tension of not being one thing, yet also not the other. How do they discover who/what they are? There is stillness and there is yang. How does yang manage being held still and kept silent?

The outer world of midsummer is an excellent time to travel, see the world, discover who you are by exploring and experiencing everything there is available.

When the trigram of Mountain changes at line 1 it becomes Light/Fire. The two yin lines below and one yang line above in Mountain are now two yang lines holding yin between them

The inner hexagrams are Wood/Wind below Lake 28 - Great Exceeding. 4 yang lines between the 2 outer yin. Perhaps this is the internal pressure that may explode the mountain into a volcanic fire?

Next post I'll look at 56.1 to 30.

 

[Cometta]

I see H56 as passing more than travelling maybe because we don't travel like they did before, and there is no destination yet in passing.

This state of being is one of my favorites and I remember a whole phase in my life and how it felt.
Really the mountain doesn't express enough how stable it feels like, this kind of stability that allows opening, not fixation. Then there is a fire above, a sort of aspiration out there, and the fact of not knowing what it is makes it joyful. No right or wrong, no ego or power games, and a personal receptivity as if the world wants you just to come and see.

There is lot of activity at the top of H56, which is normal the lower part looks empty, like a gathering and you want to join. There is no assumptions to the degree of a naivety and prudence of a child.

In line 1 you surely come with your cup empty so you can learn how to belong. Till line 6 where you have been at the heart of your wonder and got the office but you let it go for the spirit of wonder to continue.
It comes after H 55 the mourning as an answer for many considerations and expectations, and H 57 where you decide your seal.

I wouldn't want it to be decided before taking at least 3 days in the sun.
Like a needed detachement of how I am seen because I don't need a place which makes me explain rationalize or calculate, I know it in my heart. I think that's it the knowledge in my heart dispenses me of any tie to the outer world, like the one through the lines I am never fully consciously acting on what happens outside or wanting to grab it, just seeing what there is.

 

[Cometta]

There is a person who holds the position of a youngest son/yang. They are not given responsibility at home yet may feel a weight of expectations (feeling bound). They feel the tension of not being one thing, yet also not the other. How do they discover who/what they are? There is stillness and there is yang. How does yang manage being held still and kept silent?

If you are interested in how does the young man (in your exemple) find his place (56.5) maybe you should look at the three yang lines that gather around the heart of the trigram fire.
1. There is the wonderer who burns the inn and loses his servent, it changes to 35
2. And the wonderer who has a place and power but it's still not enough, it changes to 52
3. And the wonderer who has it all but chooses to go away, it changes to 62

I tend to think the synthesis/ balance of that three attitudes enables one to find who they are not. A sort exces one might want to avoid to not lose the way.

Only the yin at the center of fire wins the office because of what her receptivity enabled her as knowledge along her way and so she shoots the goal in one straight move. She found the way.

 

[Piasa]

I'm not sure I have anything to add, but this conversation is really beautiful and profound.

I tend to think the synthesis/ balance of that three attitudes enables one to find who they are not. A sort exces one might want to avoid to not lose the way.

Only the yin at the center of fire wins the office because of what her receptivity enabled her as knowledge along her way and so she shoots the goal in one straight move. She found the way.

This opened up so much about 56 for me.

 

[Anastacia]

I was doing more thinking about 56 unchanging and had a look at the 56 unchanging thread which is here:

Your Experiences with Unchanging Castings-Hexagram 56

In the 55uc thread Rosada made the perfect connection between 55 and 56. She told of how when her husband had finished converting a barn as a workshop he asked her to cast a hexagram for him so that he could use it on the plaque to the place. She cast 55uc (full story in 55uc thread) This was...

www.onlineclarity.co.uk

I found the mildness most of the experiences interesting. No volcanos at all!
I liked the feeling as I was reading through them of just moving on, like fire moves -it consumes and keeps moving, as long as there is more wood to feed it. No putting down roots, just the opposite in fact, consuming whatever possibility there is for roots - maybe burning bridges...?
I thought about what would putting down roots on the mountain be like - it's 53 - Gradual progress. Wood/wind above and Mountain below.

 

[my_key]

56, for me, is better named as 'Sojourning'. The focus of 56 from this perspective is that it is the very temporary nature of each residency that holds sway rather than the travelling between each strangely new location. One gets more from each resting place that punctuates than from the travelling itself. Moving on only becomes necessary after one has gleaned, learnt, absorbed the wisdom that was needed to be understood living through that temporary experience.

Karcher names the hexagram 'Quest'. I like to think of it as Jason and the Argonauts seeking the Golden Fleece. Once they have overcome the Harpies; yoked the fire-breathing bulls or faced down the bronze giant, Talos there is no real value in them remaining where they are. They haven't yet found the Golden Fleece.

Perhaps, not volcanoes just an inn burning down. However, the experiences can be a bit bumpy nevertheless. Each hero of the quest ends up doing what is right or learns what is correct to the point of extreme at 56.6 where he realises being too full of righteous behaviour can lead to one final trip hazard.

 

[Anastacia]

Perhaps, not volcanoes just an inn burning down. However, the experiences can be a bit bumpy nevertheless. Each hero of the quest ends up doing what is right or learns what is correct to the point of extreme at 56.6 where he realises being too full of righteous behaviour can lead to one final trip hazard.

This bit just reminded me of the 56 inner hexagram 28 - Great Exceeding.
I wondered in which line of 28 the dwelling collapsed and found it at line 3 "the ridgepole buckles. Pitfall"
It is at line 3 of 56 "Traveller burns down his resting place. Loses his young helper. Constancy: danger"
Interesting to think about the dwelling place - before the traveller arrived there was no problem with it. The traveller himself was the source/instigator of the buckling ridgepole.
Then I think of Karcher's take on 28 in Total I Ching. He calls 28 Great Traverses and talks about it as a time of transitions. In his commentary:
"If your situation doesn't nourish you, if it can't stir up new growth, push it over and leave."

Here in 56.3 the Traveller makes mistakes and loses his resting place, not as an active form of wanting to grow, and not because the resting place couldn't provide what was needed, but maybe through a lack of respect, appreciation and sensitive care. What was a mountain becomes earth - no choice but to start again.

 

[my_key]

Perhaps it was because there was actually a problem with nature of the resting place at the inn. Although it was very comfy it wasn't providing what was needed for the life of a 'noble one' that sought the 'Golden Fleece'. Therefore, the place had to be torched. Perhaps the traveller even conspired with fate in ways to 'push it over' himself because he can no longer justify to himself carrying the burden he has carried so far along the way. Sometimes that's the very nature of transitions.

28 does advocate that the noble one begins again in the world, alone, without fear and not allowing is spirit to diminish.

It may help to view the general position of Line 3, too, as it importantly occupies the threshold of our inner world. It speaks to our deep long-held beliefs and emotional values, our talents and our abilities, especially, abilities to evaluate the way of things are on our inner landscape. Re-evaluation ultimately leads to a re-balancing within our dwelling place.

 

[Anastacia]

As I was driving home and pondering about how the inner world of mountain could describe a traveller, I had the thought that it is Li that is travelling - the sun is travelling across the sky while the Mountain remains the still point that the sun moves over.

I think I read someone saying that about the sun on this forum, but I didn't experience it before, a sense of stillness at the top of the mountain, watching the sun go by and then return the next day to go by again. Or the stillness as you sit in a carriage/boat/car/plane and watch the world go by. Or the binding up of the self with walking shoes and heavy backpacks - perhaps taking everything but the kitchen sink on your back so you become a walking mountain. And the relief of unbinding everything at the end of the day - taking the mountain off your back.

And then there's all the talk about mountains and Mohammeds and who should be the one to move.

 

[Anastacia]

Today I realised that it isn't the sun that is moving. It is the mountain that moves as the earth revolves. Just like when you travel in a car or plane it looks as though everything around you moves while you experience yourself as the still point.
Even though the traveller is the one changing location, part of the experience of travelling is that you are the still point around which everything revolves.

 

[my_key]

Re-evaluation ultimately leads to a re-balancing within our dwelling place.

 

[Anastacia]

Moving along...
56.1 becomes 30
I've never had 56.1 in a reading.

30 as a relating Hexagram. I read the relating Hexagram as the general atmosphere in which the question you ask is born.

In an atmosphere of shining light and clear perception, where it would be helpful to be raising female cattle... (will the cattle be travelling too - there must be herds involved?)
In an atmosphere of seeing the truth, having a fire that needs constant tending, having a continuous light that could illuminate the world/set the world on fire (sounds like a travelling evangelist)
In an atmosphere of holding together/clinging, coming into light and finding something to rest on after the struggles of 29
In an atmosphere of feeling snared by a net (Wilhelm says the hexagram is 'divided within and closed without...an image of the meshes of a net')
In summertime...

56 Line 1
Hilary's translation
The traveller - fragmented and bitty.
Chops up his place and courts disaster.

Wilhelm
If the traveller busies himself with trivial things
He draws down misfortune on himself/ his will is spent and this is misfortune

Hmm - I wonder if too much light means trouble telling the difference between what matters most and what can wait. Everything looks important because there is a lack of shadow? Have things become too black and white - fragmented rather than blending into each other with nuanced greys or colours.

I'm surprised I haven't had this in a reading I recognise in myself how easy it is to get distracted, lose focus of the main goal and overfocus on things that don't really matter.

From the trigram point of view the move is from the inner mountain - being your own central still point - to inner light. Is this a loss of the solidity of the self? Over focus on the self and too much self examination? A fragmenting into many parts?
I wonder if this could fit a description of homesickness. My worst experience of homesickness was in the first week of moving to a different country. All the small details were wrong - accents were different, words and phrases had different meanings and nuances. There was getting used to the money and how to find the foods I liked to eat. Even the sky was a different blue. I spent a weekend crying and (long before mobile phones) wanting to hear the voices of my family to know the world of home still existed.

In that space of everything is new and different you do become overfocused on the details - in the way small things can be so interesting to young children, simply because they are new. An adult traveller needs curiosity and openness to experience, but not so much that you will pull everything to pieces or forget how to stay safe.

"fragmented and bitty' sounds a bit like trying to speak a new language, or trying to fit in to a different environment - you almost need to take yourself to pieces so you can put yourself back together in a way that fits the new environment.

All a bit tricky while you've also got the female cattle to look after...

 

[Anastacia]

Line 1 at the beginning - before the main action starts, it's easy to get lost in all the preparations.
If lines 3 and 4 are the boundary between inner and outer worlds, then line 1 must be at the boundary of what has been before and what is becoming.

56 now reminds of the mobile phone experience. Does the mobile revolve around me or do I revolve around the mobile?
Line 1 - I remember something that I need to check on my phone. I pick my phone up with purpose. I see a couple of notifications, so I check them first. Somehow I've been diverted, going from link to link, scrolling endlessly until, brain tired I close the screen and pull myself away. I go to do something - to cook dinner, put the washing on, get ready to go somewhere and suddenly remember.... I was checking something important on the phone, something I needed to know, reply to.. it was/still is important. If I want to know it/do it, I need to pick the phone up again....

 

[my_key]

Maybe as well, the traveller arrives at 56.1 having just got an inkling of how much he has backed himself into a hole. A real stinky hole, if truth be told. His last port of call was 55.6 where he received a serious, fated nudge to begin the '3 year' journey that will open a few windows and doors for him and let some fresh air in. 56.1 is the first testing of new waters. Laying out his emerging new wares accompanied by that fresh air of humility that comes with the venting of an unsealed window or the pushing ajar of a long closed door.

 

[Anastacia]

Maybe as well, the traveller arrives at 56.1 having just got an inkling of how much he has backed himself into a hole. A real stinky hole, if truth be told. His last port of call was 55.6 where he received a serious, fated nudge to begin the '3 year' journey that will open a few windows and doors for him and let some fresh air in. 56.1 is the first testing of new waters. Laying out his emerging new wares accompanied by that fresh air of humility that comes with the venting of an unsealed window or the pushing ajar of a long closed door.

I was wondering about the sequence and thinking that 55.6 didn't make sense to come before 56.1
Now, with your input, I'm rereading 55.6. I see in Hilary's comment she talks about 'becoming oblivious to others, absorbed in your own private...world.' which echoes 56.1's over focus on details..

Reading Wilhelm's comments on the image of 56, he talks about penalties and lawsuits that should be dealt with quickly. 'Prisons ought to be places where people are lodged only temporarily, as guests are. They must not become dwelling places' Is it likely that 55.6 'in solitude, without people, for three years sees no-one.' refers to a prison sentence?

oh and a bit more by Wilhelm in 56. 'usually it is a question of criminal cases when clarity and movement come together... [Hex 21 and 55]. Here we also have clarity, in the upper trigram; the calm of the mountain indicates caution in imposing penalties' Perhaps the Traveller has been fortunate to miss a prison sentence?

Whatever the case, by 56.1 the person has lost their home and is on the move. Wilhelm again 'whatever greatness may exhaust itself upon, this much is is certain: it loses its home.' and 'He who has few friends: this is the Wanderer.'

I also was looking at the 'success through smallness' and thinking Trigram wise, this is eyes (Li) and hands (mountain). Maybe some eye hand coordination happening - making trinkets, wandering scribe, pick pocket, travelling magic show ... doing small things with the hands...
Even though success comes through smallness, here in line one, the overfocus on the small things is an unfortunate practice of being too busy with trivialities. (should we read picking pockets? I do enjoy a good fantasy )

 

[Anastacia]

Letting the Traveller out...
30.1 changes to 56

In an atmosphere of having lost your sense of an external home/place of belonging, which could happen for many different reasons, you find yourself in Hex 30 Clarity - line 1:
Hilary
Treading in confusion.
Honour it - not a mistake.

Wilhelm
The footprints run crisscross,
If one is seriously intent, no blame

While line 1 of 56 also held a sense of confusion, here in 30 rather than 'courting disaster' this confusion 'isn't a mistake.'
Wilhelm talks of line 1 being the brightness at the start of the day, and the busyness of everyone waking up and starting work. Maybe it's peak hour traffic? I'm imagining a busy market with lots of stall holders, carts and animals and people going everywhere as they set up their stalls for the day. When you've never done it before it's incredibly overwhelming and confusing, after doing it a few times you get into the flow of it.

Where's the traveller in this? (I hope he isn't picking pockets) Maybe he has just arrived in town - not at home, new place, no idea what and where and when or even who. First day in a new school/workplace? New kid in town?
Without respect and an honoring of those already here, things could go wrong, there could be mistakes, and yes, it would be the traveller's fault for not finding out first.

 

[Anastacia]

Resting for a bit after a long hard day...?
56.2 to 50
50 The Vessel
In an atmosphere of new beginnings, establishing strong foundations, a space of transformation..
In an atmosphere of your eyes seeing clearly and ears hearing accurately, a setting things straight and being sure of your destiny..
In a time and space where able men are nourished and fostered, where earthly values make space for the divine..
At a communal meal..
In short, things are looking up here for the Traveller ...

When this energy comes to 56.2..
Hilary:
Traveller comes to a resting place,
Cherishes his own,
Gains a young helper,
Constancy.

Wilhelm:
The wanderer comes to an inn.
He has his property with him.
He wins the steadfastness of a young servant.
This is not a mistake in the end.

What is there to say about this - it all looks so positive. The Traveller has got his act together. Whatever possible legal wrangle was in the past, a new leaf has been turned, a new life started. No longer focused on trivialities, keeping hold of and valuing all his resources, even gaining a young servant. Things might have looked like they were going to shite, but its all working out for the best.

 

[Anastacia]

I did find this interesting thread, where 56.2 - 50 was Yi's answer to the question 'What is my wound'

What is my wound? Hexagram 56.2 > 50

Hello, new friends. I recently inquired of the i Ching "What is my wound?" I asked this question in regards to a hard time I am going through: I feel it is affecting my affinity for connection to others, to the universe, and within myself. I feel my ego is screaming with self-importance, pride...

www.onlineclarity.co.uk

In it there was some talk about the change from trigram Mountain (bound/still) to trigram wood/wind (Gentle/penetrating)
As a positive experience - you come from a space of inner stillness, to a space of influencing and being influenced by your environment
As a negative experience or wound - you lost your own still centre, and now don't know how to ground yourself, are too easily influenced by other people and your environment - perhaps you don't know who you are anymore, or maybe never got a chance to find out who you are, what you want and what your destiny is.
Thinking/feeling about this line as a wound makes my heart hurt.

 

[Anastacia]

As I was thinking about this line 56.2 being a description of a wound, I wondered, how else could it be talking about something that isn't life affirming... and I came up with the mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. This is the event from which the saying 'drink the Kool-aid' came.

A charismatic leader preaching enlightenment, an escape to a utopia in Guyana, establishing a new life, a crisis where the communally voted solution was suicide. The transforming contents of the communally consumed cauldron was a brew of cyanide laced Kool-aid.

The final transformation.

I have no idea what sort of question for which this interpretation would have relevance. Maybe it would need more than one changing line - adding in lines 3 and 4 may bring this sort of disaster.

 

[Anastacia]

50.2 to 56
The energy and time of the traveller...

In an atmosphere of having lost your sense of an external home/place of belonging, which could happen for many different reasons, you find yourself in Hex 50 Ting/the Cauldron line 2

Hilary:
The vessel contains something real.
My companions are afflicted.
Cannot come near me.
Good fortune.

Wilhelm:
There is food in the ting.
My comrades are envious,
but they cannot harm me.
Good fortune

Karcher:
The Vessel. Transform it.
There is food in the Vessel.
My companion is afflicted but cannot approach me.
Wise Words! The Way is open.

You are someone who is passing through, a time, a situation, a community. You may be travelling alone, with others, or in that way where travellers hold in common the energy of being travellers, and their paths cross and intersect.
You have access to something very nourishing, it is available communally, yet somehow others who are also travelling alongside you, can't access it.
Perhaps they have Bali belly while you use homoeopathics/natural remedies, so don't suffer? Perhaps they lost their money and can't afford to stay in these lodgings. Perhaps there is some sort of discrimination in play - racial, financial, gender, religious, smoker/non smoker.

The traveller has some sort of protected privilege. Its awkward. Others who have that same sense of not belonging, still don't connect or belong. Not at the point of the intense sense of displacement creating rage and destruction. Have nots versus haves. Perhaps more in the way a key, angled just so, and walked alongside a Mercedes too closely will cause a scratch.

It reminds me of an experiment done with monkeys.. When the monkeys learned to do a specific trick, some were rewarded with a highly prized food - a grape. Other monkeys who saw the grape reward, did the same trick and were rewarded with something less prized - a cucumber. The cucumber was thrown on the floor and those monkeys went on strike... the grape rewarded monkeys were quite happy to keep earning grapes.

Maybe it has to do with the new beginnings the traveller has embraced. He has found something of nourishment and needs to leave the old companions behind. He no longer shares the same sources of nourishment - like an alcoholic, a smoker, a gambler, letting go of the old ways. Or being giving a job in management so no longer being one of the workers...
So there is nourishment at the cost of companions.
In this case it seems Yi thinks being alone with this nourishment is worth the loss of companions. You travel on alone (maybe you eat a lot of grapes first though, dry out what's left and put them in your pack for later)

 

[Anastacia]

56.3 changes to 35 Advancing

In an atmosphere of being recognised, loved, and honoured with gifts...
In an atmosphere of proactively making the most of a fantastic, well earned opportunity
In a time when it's like the sun rises on a beautiful day of blue skies where nothing can go wrong
In a time when people see you as the sun that rises on a beautiful day of blue skies and as long as you are involved there will be gold medals to be chased and gained...

You come to 56 line 3
Hilary:
Traveller burns down his resting place.
Loses his young helper.
Constancy: danger

Wilhelm:
The wanderer's inn burns down,
He loses the steadfastness of his young servant.
Danger.
/"The wanderer's inn burns down." This is a loss for him personally.
If he deals like a stranger with his subordinate, it is only right that he should lose him.

Karcher
Sojourning. Burning down the rest house.
You lose your young vassal.
Trial: adversity, hungry souls and angry ghosts.

Wait what...?
I'm just rechecking I've got the right line!

It is the right line.. 56.3 to 35
Ok - looking at the trigrams - the blazing sun above in both. Then the shift in energy from Mountain to Earth or Earth to Mountain.
Earth to Mountain - all that potential comes to a screaming halt!

Wilhelm says in 35..
'The Hexagrams Chin (35), Sheng, PUSHING UPWARD (46), and Chien DEVELOPMENT (46), all mean progress. Chin has for its image the sun mounting over the earth. It is the finest of these three hexagrams... It is true that a too rapid expansion has its dangers, as the next hexagram (36) shows.

Ah, that begins to make sense. This is a bit like Icarus flying too close to the sun - Perhaps he launched himself from the top of the mountain and just kept flying upwards. The heat of the sun melts the wax that is holding the feathers on the wings together.

Crash.


Wilhelm explains
The line is too hard, since it is hard in a strong place.
He stops giving respect to his sponsor - the person who was giving him all the gifts. He loses the help of his sponsor, so gets no help when the dwelling burns down.
He doesn't acknowledge all the people who have worked so hard to make things a success - he may take all the credit and isn't even friendly towards them... It's all 'me, me, me... amazing me'. They go on strike about their wages and working conditions..

The Traveller doesn't know how to maintain friendships. He has authority (father/mother) issues, and never learnt to get along with his peers and siblings. All the new beginnings in the world won't fix the inner patterns of how he connects to others. I think it's the emotional intelligence thing.

 

[Anastacia]

Ohh, here's an interesting thing...
In 50.2 to 56 the Traveller was in a space of protected privilege. His companions weren't happy with him, but they couldn't do anything about it.
Here in 56.3 - 35 he has lost both companions and the protectors..

The change lines take us to 30, then 50, then back to 35.

56.1 to 30 could do well focusing on the important details, instead gets lost in trivialities.

30.1 - 56 - confusion at the newness of everything - it's too bright

56.2 to 50 - finding a helper, things look really good, new beginnings

50.2 to 56 - Gaining a patron? Losing companions for something considered more valuable than them? Protected privilege - oh, in the trigrams, wind/wood - influencing others in a subtle way. Everyone (except the jealous companions) is primed to see the traveller as the sun.

56.3 to 35 is the Fall from grace. Everyone has seen through him. No companions left, no protector left. Lost everything. Very vulnerable, back to the beginning again.

35.3 to 56... to be continued.

 

[Anastacia]

35.3 to 56
The energy and time of the traveller...

In an atmosphere of having lost your sense of an external home/place of belonging, which could happen for many different reasons,
In a time of constantly moving on and not putting down roots,
With an attitude of being free and 'just passing through'...
you find yourself in Hex 35 Advancing line 3.

Hilary
All have confidence. Regrets vanish

Wilhelm
All are in accord. Remorse disappears/
"All are in accord" because there is will to go upward

Karcher
The crowds are loyal and sincere.
The omen is fulfilled. The cause for sorrow disappears.

Well I did think I'd found the thread of a storyline weaving through the lines changing backwards and forwards, but now it's more like being in one of those 'choose your own adventure' books that used to be popular. You'd get to a critical point in the story and be faced with a choice - If you choose to turn and run, burning the bridges behind you.. go to pg 56... However, If you choose to stand and fight like a hero to win the crowds popular choice award.. go to pg 35

It does seem to be the opposite situation to 56.3. Instead of losing support from all directions, here everyone is in agreement.
Wilhelm's comment:
A man strives onward, in association with others whose backing encourages him. This dispels any cause for regret over the fact that he does not have enough independence to triumph unaided over every hostile turn of fate.

In this thread
https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/fri...35-3-56-success-in-my-current-position.35953/
the reading seems to play out the interpretation of not yet being fully confident and independent, and appreciating mentoring support.

I imagine, as I'm sitting with this, a transplanted tree.. I did this once - I bought a 6 year old Jacaranda tree - a very tall and straight thick stick with a large pot size root ball. A travelling tree if you like. When planted, it relied on stakes to keep it straight and tall until the roots were able to go deep and establish it's own connections, stability and strength. Hmm... stakes don't have established roots either - a more extreme version of a travelling tree.. strength in numbers though.

 

[Anastacia]

Lines 1 - 3 - the inner world
Using Hilary's explanation of line place:

Line 1: inklings, just beginning to sense what could be involved or needed
56.1 - the difference between trivial things and small things that matter

Line 2: The heart's perceptions, the emotional centre, where you make and feel connections
56.2 - a resting place, cherishing your own, gaining a young helper. An internal experience of being at home.

Line 3: An emerging identity, facing a transition - with fear, or desire, resolution or indecision.
56.3 - Burning your bridges, losing everything, upsetting everyone.

Lines 4 - 6 the outer world

 

[Anastacia]

The outer world
Line 4 The capacity for action, asking how the work can be done.
56.4 to 52 Stilling

In an atmosphere of those still moments between being shaken to your core by danger so extreme, it felt like time itself was damaged, and life starting up again.
In that moment that begins when the glass shatters on the floor, the penny drops, you say something you didn't mean or know would make an impact and the whole room goes silent.
In a space that has become crowded because of the elephant that no one else can see...
From a place of restorative meditation, rediscovering the point of inner balance....

You find yourself at 56.4
Hilary:
Traveller in a place to stay,
Gains property and an axe.
My heart is not glad

Bradford Hatcher:
The wanderer stays in a shelter
Having secured some wherewithal and an axe
But lamenting “My heart is not at peace”

Wilhelm:
"The wander rests in a shelter." He has not yet obtained his place.
"He obtains property and an ax." But he is not yet glad at heart

From line 4 we are no longer talking about the inner world. Having discovered the 'Who am I?':
Am I someone who will burn the bridges and run?
Am I someone who will join others in the cleanup after the fire?
We move to 'Where am I?' A reorientation. And whether you run away, or stay and help, there is always an 'after'. It's the time part of life - the 'When am I?'

Am I stuck in the past moment of impact, (or possible impact). Stuck in the space of fight/flight/freeze/appease, reliving what happened over and over.
Am I stuck in the future - still fight/flight/freeze/appease with an added damage to future possibilities, playing out future imagined negative scenarios...
Or
Am I in the present moment of the here and now, resolved and integrated the past, fully present in the moment where I create one of many possible positive futures.

Here in line 4, there's a place to rest and possibly restore before the rebuilding .. the Go Fund Me pages, Disaster Relief programmes, government grants for hardship have provided some sort of help, but...

A couple of days ago my granddaughter and I found a beautiful sparkly magic wand at the Op Shop. No plastic packaging, just the toy passed on for someone else. 2 hours later it was broken... my fault, not hers, she said. I'd chased her too fast and wouldn't freeze long enough from the wand spell. She was holding the wand too hard as she ran away, and the handle broke.

There was no right solution, because we couldn't go back in time to change things.
There was no right solution, because, even though the thought of being able to now have 2 wands, a long one and a new shorter one with pretty pom pom on the top (she did like that idea), her heart was broken just like the oh, so beautiful, secondhand wand.
Nothing to do yet, just grieve.

Sometimes grief can look ungrateful.

Line 4: The capacity for action, asking how the work can be done.

Make time and space for grief.

 

[Anastacia]

The wand handle was glued and strengthened with a ribbon and I adjust the way I play to be more gentle, yet still fun...

52.4 zhi 56
The energy and time of the traveller...

In an atmosphere of having lost your sense of an external home/place of belonging, which could happen for many different reasons,
In a time of constantly moving on and not putting down roots,
With an attitude of being free, one night stands, and 'just passing through'...
you find yourself in Hex 52.4
Line 4: The capacity for action, asking how the work can be done.

Hilary
Stilling your self.
No mistake.
and from the commentary:
rediscover your poise and sense of power - without reacting, or fighting yourself for control - still your whole undivided self. This brings you back in touch with who you are, where you are, and what you can do. Have confidence... There is now nowhere else you need to be.

Huang
Keeping still at his trunk,
No fault
and the commentary:
The fourth line represents the trunk where the heart lies. It is a yin element in a correct yin place. One in this place is able to keep from taking reckless action. He knows how to remain still in his heart.

Karcher
Stilling. Binding and opening his trunk. Offering it,
This is not a mistake.
and from the commentary:
Still your compulsive actions, emotions and desires. This frees you from mistakes and lets you see where you real motivations lie. It calms and stabilizes the heart.

So the traveller comes to a place of stillness. A place where he can find his authentic self.
I was watching a you tube thing last night which talked about this place of stillness. It was saying that when people complete their shadow work they can often find themselves in a place that feels like a void, all motivation gone. Life has been lived so far from a place of unconscious motivations to prove yourself, to gain approval, to belong. To drop the need for external validation means the reason for your motivation to do anything no longer exists.
This void is the space between one way of being (seeking external validation) to a new way of being - the space of becoming who you truly are rather than who you think you should be.
It can look like you are lazy, because you stop pushing to achieve anything, to prove anything, to compete with others. It is the place where you shift instead to being pulled by authentic inner motivation.

Line 4: The capacity for action, asking how the work can be done.
You stop pushing, stop forcing things to grow, and hold your self instead with gentleness.
You sit in a space of active imagination, waiting for images, feelings, impulses to develop. No need to take them and turn them into action plans. Just waiting for your inner time and space to heal and the life that has always been inside you to emerge.

 

[Anastacia]

56.5 to 33
Line 5 themes: Strength and self-determination, clear vision, being in command
33 Retreat

In an atmosphere of facing something that threatens you and not seeing a way through..
With a desire to achieve a long term goal...
In a time of needing to withdraw, to keep a separation from others who don't think the same or have the same objectives,
When you know you won't be able to achieve what you want straight away, with your current strategies...
When you need to back away and give ground to others, to maintain your boundaries, and not be completely over run...
You find yourself in 56 line 5:

Hilary:
Shooting a pheasant,
Gets it with one arrow.
So in the end, praise and a mandate.

Wilhelm:
He shoots a pheasant.
It drops with the first arrow.
In the end this brings both praise and office.

Hatcher
Hunting a pheasant
One arrow is lost
But in the end, a means to recognition and appointment

You change your attitudes (retreat) and stop being a traveller?
The traveller knows what he wants and how to get it and sets out to achieve it. He gains recognition and is given responsibility. He finds security in serving someone else.
Is this the long term goal, or with the ideas of retreat in mind, is this a stage of the journey towards the long term goal?

The traveller decides he would like to stay in a place for a while. He finds a job and works there. Perhaps establishes a circle of friends/acquaintances and becomes part of the fabric of the place for a while, maybe years. There is always a background awareness that even though there's safety and security here, it's not really home. He caretakes for others, is useful to them, organising things, becoming important. He could start to think that without him everything would collapse. Do the roots go down strongly enough that he gets stuck there? Or is this a short term solution because he is in retreat from what he really wants and he is ready to leave when the times change and what he really wants is achievable..?
Has he found a way to live well, like a ruler in exile, while he waits for the opportunity to return to his own country?
Line 5: Strength and self-determination, clear vision, being in command
Even though you may work for others, never lose sight of your own centre, your own goals, your own destiny.

 

[Anastacia]

33.5 to 56. The Traveller Retreats.

In an atmosphere of having lost your sense of an external home/place of belonging, which could happen for many different reasons,
In a time of constantly moving on and not putting down roots or compromising your independence..
With an attitude of being free, one night stands, and 'just passing through'...
you find yourself in Hex 33 Retreat
Line 5: Strength and self-determination, clear vision, being in command

Hilary:
Praiseworthy retreat.
Constancy, good fortune

Wilhelm:
"Friendly retreat. Perseverance brings good fortune" because the will thereby reaches a correct decision

Karcher:
Celebration pig! Excellence through retiring
Trial: Wise Words! the Way is open

Huang commentary:
There is good fortune. In comparison with the [line] at the topmost position, here one is still not able to totally abandon the affairs of human society. Therefore, remaining steadfast and upright is still necessary.

Bradford calls it 'retreating forward'

This traveller drips with people skills and has emotional IQ to spare. Everybody's best friend. That person who always manages to find the 'Win, win' solution.
After the goodbye, pig on a spit party, he could take all his references across to do some pheasant shooting at 56.5. Or he may have had enough of working for someone else and be ready to move on. He knows he is not staying here much longer under these conditions which don't suit him. Hilary says 'by retreating, you recapture your independent identity and stay loyal to your own path. You are not merely retreating from a threat, but towards your own purpose'

Wilhelm does mention 'Another explanation, from the Chou I Heng Chieh, deserves a mention, namely that it is a question only of an inner retreat here, while outwardly one remains at one's post in order to prepare a countermove.'
This strategy has a wide range - from a friendly game of chess, a high stakes poker game... a domestic violence victim preparing to leave without arousing suspicions.. right through to world class political manoeuvring and spies. More on this in The Art of War by Sun Tzu - chapter 7 Manoeuvring.

Line 5: Strength and self-determination, clear vision, being in command
To achieve your goals: Know what you want and be certain about it. Retain command of yourself. Disarm those who would block you by making them friends not enemies.

 

[Anastacia]

56.6 62 Small Exceeding

I'm just sitting looking at the 2 Hexagrams. I see the top has come off 56, it's no longer contained at the top. In 62 I see the inner solid and the outer open. The inner world and outer world mirror each other. Trigram mountain keeps things small, no big movements, holds steady. Trigram thunder starts, makes noise, won't be held.

In an atmosphere of wanting to start great things and being contained and controlled
A time of wanting to fly high yet needing to focus on the day to day details
A space of pushing out the limits,
With an attitude of holding onto what's important and acting on it with intense focus..
You find yourself in Hex 56
Line 6: Beyond the main action, reviewing experience, asking what comes next

Hilary:
The bird burns its nest.
Travelling people first laugh, afterwards cry out and weep.
Lose cattle in Yi.
Pitfall.
In the commentary 'You can easily become overconfident, go too far, and destroy them - and then you lose everything'

Wilhelm
The bird's nest burns up.
The wanderer laughs at first,
Then must needs lament and weep.
Through carelessness he loses his cow.
Misfortune

Being at the top as a wanderer rightly leads to being burnt up.
"Through carelessness he loses his cow" In the end he hears nothing
In the commentary: 'the strong line at the top, whose movement moreover tends upward, loses its foundations. Thus all gaiety leads only to losses, because the line neglects all too much the duties of a wanderer.... there is no hope for this line;.... it merely goes striving further upward, giving no thought at all to return.
Wilhelm also says the cow is modesty and adaptability 'he lets himself go, laughing and jesting, and forgets that he is a wanderer'

Karcher says 'you think you can take things lightly, but you may soon have cause to lament'

Wow - He is not just flying close to the ground...the bird from 62 is grounded completely!
I keep thinking about the repetition, the pattern:
Line 1 not focused on what's important with line 4 - too caught up in being unhappy.
Lines 2 and 5, things look good, back on track.
Lines 3 and 6 devastating fires that mean you lose everything.
This traveller doesn't learn.

Line 6: Beyond the main action, reviewing experience, asking what comes next
Anybody else recognise the hangover, morning after feeling?

 

[Anastacia]

I've been chewing this over a bit more... it was Karcher's comment that caught me..
'you may take things lightly, but may soon have cause to lament'

It got me thinking about times when I have laughed off, dismissed little things/comments/jokes because they didn't make sense with the way I saw things. I took too lightly something that was covering over a serious matter.

That leads me to some 56.6 type cautionary tales...

The addict/alcoholic/gambler who uses up their friends and family for the chance to fly high, loses everything including their future (cow could also refer to future?)

I have a couple of friends who've been internet romance scammed. Try and tell them and you become the nest that gets burned - no longer considered a friend. They fly high on those happy love hormones and dreams of 'The One' until they've lost everything and never hear from the scammer again.

Another friend just started a Go Fund Me page for someone we both know. He has been travelling for most of his life. When I knew him he had settled in a stable country with a good health care system. Things weren't going in a direction he liked so he sold up everything to follow another dream of settling in a place with fewer rules/laws/restrictions. His ideal dream of home. In leaving he burned his nest - no expectation he would want to return.
The real estate agent scammed him, his dream of home went sour. Few restrictions means no law keepers to protect the general population, his dream became full of danger. He is a stranger in a strange land and now he needs help to leave the nightmare behind and return to safety.

And of course the prodigal son..

In all the situations it seems there needs to be a sort of defiance that goes with the initial laughter - a feeling of 'no one else can tell me what to do, I'm free to make my own choices'.
There is unresolved conflict between the rules, restrictions, stability and safety of the mountain, compared to the bird flying high, totally free.