29 – the abysmal

Hexagram 29 – the Abysmal is composed of the trigram Kan, the water, doubled. In many traditional I Ching commentaries this double water is read almost exclusively as a sign of imminent danger, fear, or collapse. Elsewhere I argue for a broader view, one that also acknowledges Kan‘s positive potential – and, by extension, the creative aspects of our own unconscious, with all its unruly currents. Kan does not refer unilaterally to threatening torrents or perilous depths: it can just as well be understood as a symbol of life-giving depth, hidden resources, intuitive adaptability, and the ability to overcome obstacles through creative fluidity.

Weiterlesen: 29 – the abysmal

31 – influence

And now a short recipe for… happiness! 1. Briefly take stock and examine what may be an unnecessary burden, blocking your forces and as a result weakening. Let go all of it! 2. This releases new energies are and off you go…. Without any active involvement from your side, something starts happening: unstoppably, relentlessly, pushing out from your own core. Like a caterpillar inside the cocoon turning into a butterfly, invisibly following its own perfect pathway.

Weiterlesen: 31 – influence

32 – duration

Being truthful – that is a big word. How to get there? In many small steps, one after the other, until eventually one day we arrive: at self-centeredness. One with ourselves. Initially you may perceive your inner truth only vaguely. But by and by it intensifies. And one day you will start to express it. To the environment. Bravely. Uncensored.

Weiterlesen: 32 – duration

35 – progress

Scope of Questions

Regarding hexagram 35 – progress I received the following inquiries:

  • A user asks: “If I won the jackpot this week: How do I deal with the all that money?”
  • Another user asks: “What kind of approach / working method is best suitable for my artistic work?”
  • Another user wants to know what to expected “in terms of love, career and [his] life as a whole” in the upcoming year.
  • One user receives hexagram 35 – progress as a comment to his situation which he describes as follows: “I am heartbroken, financially broken and in deep depression. I am in love with NR, but she left me for no good reason.”
Weiterlesen: 35 – progress

36 – darkening of the light

Scope of Questions

  • A user describes her situation as follows: “I feel lots of love for the children, the love for my partner, however, is gone. I wish it was different, but this is as things are now. I feel a great sense of duty towards my family.” Regarding this situation the user asks the following question: “How to proceed?” The I Ching responds with hexagram 36 – darkening of the light.
  • A user asks the I Ging: “What does she want me to do?”
  • One user asks: “What is the cause of the agonizing ringing in my ears? What can I do to deal with it better or can it possibly go away completely?” She writes that it is particularly bad when she is alone in her flat. She reacts very strongly to her environment and wonders which buttons are being pressed. Is it the feeling of abandonment? Is it the feeling of abandonment in the presence of another person?
Weiterlesen: 36 – darkening of the light

37 – the clan

Scope of Questions

I received the following inquiry regarding hexagram 37 – the Clan:

  • “I have been trying to start a venture. I have done research and know the field. But it all goes slow. I just keep feeling that something is not right. I am looking for a way to move forward.”
  • One user describes her situation and her question to the I Ching as follows: “I’ve had a new neighbour in the immediate vicinity for some time now, who is very loud, likes to party and is sociable. The situation is a real challenge for me because I overhear almost everything, friends, phone calls, parties, pets. Five months after she moved in, I tried to talk to her, but she reacted very angrily and said she didn’t want to restrict herself. My question to the I Ching is therefore: ‘Was it right to speak to her and what should I do now?'”
    The I Ching’s answer is hexagram 37 – the Clan, that later develops into hexagram 30 – the clinging.

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/787877.htm

38 – opposition

…and I return to the world: my (re-)birth!

What reactions do I get? What are the environment’s responses? Am I received with with open arms, listened to carefully? Or does nobody really care about what I have to say, preferring the old “me”? And, how do I respond? No, definitely not retelling the old, pleasing stories. But: my true story. Anything else would result in a false life and we know: there is no right life amidst wrongs.

Weiterlesen: 38 – opposition

39 – obstruction

Scope of Questions

A user suffers from not having any real contact with people. She asks the I Ching: “What will arise for me from keeping a dream diary? I do have the impression that it will work for me – and that perhaps it will even help me to bridge stagnation and isolation.” The idea of possibly publishing her diary and thereby accepting her life as it is has something redeeming, liberating for her.

Weiterlesen: 39 – obstruction

40 – deliverance

Scope of Questions

Sometimes unexpected twists arise from what initially gave us uneasy feelings. Especially when we examine ambiguous emotional states with a clear head: are these gut feelings actually related to the current situation, to the here-and-now? A cool head may bring liberation. And gut feelings may cause avalanches. In any direction.

I received the following comments regarding hexagram 40 – Deliverance:

Weiterlesen: 40 – deliverance

41 – decrease

Scope of Questions

So far I received various questions regarding hexagram 41 – decrease:

  • A user asks: “Was it just my own thought … or did I really hear his voice?”*
  • Another user would like to buy a nice condominium, but is not yet sure if he should do so. His question to the I Ching: “What happens if I buy the condo?”
  • One user describes himself as a person full of mental blockades. However, these began to loosen up recently. His question now to the I Ching is: “How do I get closer to a new professional vision?”
  • A user asks: “How can I fulfill my life path/soul path?”
Weiterlesen: 41 – decrease

42 – increase

Scope of Questions

In the context of hexagram 42 – Increase users share the following concerns with me:

  • A user analyzes his current situation as follows: “Nothing is at stake and it was not an ego-driven decision of my will that made me come here.” This results in his question: “If nothing is at stake: How can I live here and now in the most pleasant way?”
  • Another user asks: “Shall I build my consulting activities on the I Ching and use the hexagrams?”
  • A user asks: “After a long search, a friend told me that a room will become available at her place. I accepted. But then she offered that we could also look for something new together. My question to the I Ching is: ‘Should I move in with my friend?'”
  • One user asks: “What situation am I in at the moment and what will help me?”
  • A user asks: “Does S. still love me?”

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/788877.htm

43 – break-through

“I, I, all I!” – all one with myself for a moment. All centered, undisturbed by the world’s demands. This is my moment for taking a deep breath. My moment to be just by myself… How does it feel, this, my innermost circle? What hides here, deep within my heart? Secret thoughts? Heartfelt wishes? Desirable objectives, life plans that I usually keep to myself?

Weiterlesen: 43 – break-through

45 – gathering together

Scope of Questions

  •  A user asks what exactly is meant by “lesson learned” in contemporary interpretation. His personal life situation: paradisaical abundance, tempting offers – and he immediately would like to accept everything. His question to the I Ching is: “What should I do?”
  • A user describes her situation as follows: “I am very interested in a man, who is – unfortunately – quite prominent. However, I would like to meet him.”
  •  A user asks the I Ching: “What can I do to calm down and stay focused?” Her financial situation scares her, makes her freeze up and prevents her from doing things and getting things done. She would like to better prepare and communicate her offers so that her products are noticed and bought by as many people as possible. Secretly she knows that she has treasures just waiting to be shared with the world.
  • An other user asks: “Should I take up painting art professionally to earn a living?“ And about his situation: “I am trying to find my way professionally after a long period of unemployment, following a high stress, executive position from which I was terminated without cause. My mother was a professional artist, who died right after I lost my job. I grew up working with her and am very knowledgeable about art, own her equipment and materials, and used to do art when I was much younger.“
  • One user asked the I Ching where he was in his life and career and what he need to do next/focus on. Recently he quit his job and drastically changed careers, starting his own business and adjusting to a very different life.
  • A user has conversations with her partner in which she clearly discloses her emotional needs. She asks the I Ching whether the other person even understands what she is concerned about and whether these conversations are more likely to strengthen or end the relationship. The the I Ching’s answer for her is hexagram 45 – gathering together, which then develops into hexagram 47 – oppression. Apparently a decision has to be made. And she gradually asks herself where her own emotional needs are coming from at heart. She also realizes what relationship means to her, namely together, complementary, emotionally involved – but by no means oppression. The partners’ respective basic needs should match, otherwise the relationship should be left alone.
Weiterlesen: 45 – gathering together

46 – pushing upward

Scope of Questions

Several users describe situations and questions regarding Hexagram 46 – Pushing Upward:

  • One user describes his situation as follows: “In my family, it is all about success and competition. And I always was the loser, the problem. On the occasion of his new beginning and moving into his own, new apartment, he asks the following question: “Under what star will I be living in this apartment?”
  • A user writes: “About a year ago I met a man, who, like me, lives in a relationship. We understood each other extremely well and decided to be Platonic friends. But we both fell in love with each other. We were so naive..
    My mind tells me: give him up! But it is hard to let somebody go you like so much. It all starts to hurt me.”
  • One user feels almost like pregnant with lots of different information which want to be put together into a meaningful whole. Her question to the I Ching: “How can this happen?”
  •  Another user asks: “There is a lot of bullying at my place of work, even nice colleagues are affected. What should I do?”
  • A user asks the following question: “How can I act towards and with my art, get into a relationship with it?“ Again and again he found himself in conflict with his self and his art. How should he present himself and his art to the outside world without being identified exclusively through it or identifying himself with it too much? During the past years this dichotomy became so bad that he literally suffered from fear and panic attacks: of the expectations of others – and of his own expectations. He could make art only under immense inner pressure and in the meantime gained the insight that right at the very center of his creativity lies his worst (old) injury. All this stands in his way and hinders practicing his art freely and easily.
  • One user asks, “Is my boyfriend cheating on me?”
  • One user describes her situation as follows: “I am currently being harshly bullied out of work and in return I am trying to slowly detach myself, I have sent out job applications and hope to be accepted.”

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/877888.htm

47 – oppression

A user asks the I Ching the following question: “Why is my own life, my urge for self-expression, being so massively blocked by external necessities again this year? How can I resolve this conflict?”

While working with Hexagram 47 – Distress, the user developed an interesting interpretation of his own, which he shared with me and which I would like to reproduce here:

Weiterlesen: 47 – oppression

48 – the well

The following case study is already somewhat older; it does not yet take into account the anthropological-psychological oriented theory of meaning Follow the Path of the Dao: A Western Approximation, which I developed and published in early 2022. Nevertheless, it shows quite well how the trigrams interlock and how to work with them.

Weiterlesen: 48 – the well

51 – arousing

Questions on Hexagram 51

  • A user has recently been promoted within the company. But he does not feel comfortable with the new challenge: he des not feel taken seriously by his colleagues. His question to the I Ching: “How should I behave?”
  • A user asks: “How can I get rid of my unconscious fears and adjustment tendencies and live a truly independent and unattached life?”
  • A user has sent work overseas and asks what, if any, response he can expect. “Is anything going to happen now?”
  • A user is in constant conflict with his partner, discussing issues that have not been right for a long time. There are no other conversations than that. He is faced with the question – and he asks it to the I Ching – whether the relationship is over.

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/788788.htm

52 – keeping still

Case Study

A user consults the I Ching with the following concern: “How can I get to work independently in my profession?” She adds: “This year I attended a professional training course. Since then I have been playing with the idea of working independently, self-employed, to develop a new mainstay. I was really impressed by the speaker at the professional training. And anyway, for some time now I have felt like trying out some new methods and professional approaches.”
The I Ching responds with hexagram 52 – keeping still.

Weiterlesen: 52 – keeping still

53 – development

Questions on Hexagram 53

  • A user receives hexagram 55 – development as the I Ching’s answer to a situation which he describes as follows: “The development was actually foreseeable for a long time, but I refused to see it. My inability to have a healthy relationship meant that I only ever saw myself, never what we had in common. Now there’s this gap, I’m all alone. Actually, there has been a gap for a long time.”
  • A user: “We have fallen in love with each other, but he remains distant. What exactly does he want from me? Will we have a future together?”
  • Another user: “I don’t know what to do. My husband is no longer interested in me.”
  • One user described his situation as follows: “My partner went to her native country for a month’s holidays. Alone as I am now, I feel lost. My reason for coming back from abroad and to stopping my doctoral studies was to be with her. And now she is far away from me. On the other hand, I feel that, if I do not define or find what I want to do (my career), I cannot go back. I feel fear. My question to the I Ching: what do I need to know?”*
  • A user asks: “How can I defeat the inner and outer demons (especially the inner ones) once and for all so that I no longer harm myself or others?”
  • A user spontaneously proposed to his partner over the phone. He then asked the I Ching what it could tell him about this. The answer: Hexagram 53 – the development.
  • One user has the following question for the I Ching: “Does the man I love also love me?” So far, the relationship has mainly taken place in her dreams, in reality there is silence.
  • A user asks: “Where is H. at the moment, how is she?”
Weiterlesen: 53 – development

54 – the marrying maiden

Questions on Hexagram 54

The Marrying Maiden – what a programmatic title! Although hexagram  54 – The Marrying Maiden probably speaks about beginnings in general(not only of a partnership nature), I have received, I have only received questions that literally fit the title:

  •  A user asks: “What is the current state of our connection: Will we have a relationship?”
  • One user describes her situation as follows: “I’ve been in a relationship for seven years now. We are opposites, we are both dominant, we are no strangers to arguments… Nevertheless, we always find our way back to each other and the subject of marriage has been on the table for a long time. My question to the I Ching: ‘How should I behave in this partnership, which I often feel is a battle?'”

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/778788.htm

56 – the wanderer

Questions on Hexagram 56

I have received the following questions regarding hexagram 56 – the wanderer:

  • The user’s question is: “What I can do to enjoy my life more?” She describes her general situation as follows: “I cannot bear disharmony with other people, it paralyzes my life force and makes me feel deeply depressed. At the same time I feel guilty and responsible for the situation. That’s why I’m always the one who takes the first step after disharmony, a pattern I’ve been following since childhood. I would really like to develop something like self-love.”
  • One user writes: “I am self-employed as a parent coach. However, the business is not going well yet. My question to the I Ching: ‘Am I on the right track? Should I rethink my target audience?'”

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/887787.htm