I Ching - Hexagrams

Tony Crisp

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Hexagram One

Ch’ien (Pro: Chee’en) - The Creative Power

Utmost creativity can manifest in regard to this query.

Persistence in a direction harmonious with yourself and the society you live in will lead to success!

All that is creative, all that is fructifying, all that pushes toward fruition; all that in us urges onwards beyond groping and struggles, is at its peak. In nature there is a power that drives, that grows, that emerges out of difficulties, but in itself has no form. This is the power active in regard to the question. It is the light, the confidence and urge enabling a person to lift themselves out of things that hinder, and thus to break through. There is even the power now to lift up those things that in the past have been hesitations and problems in life. They can now be used to form what is emerging from within. They can become material, bricks to build something real in the world. But this is not the sign that gives form, more the inspirer or fertiliser.

Darkness has been dispersed, light and understanding emerges. You are enabled to see, to understand, to find, what is sought.

The outer life is in harmony with inner potential. Only this harmony leads to success in this issue.

If there is any difficulties with this power flowing so fully in life, it is that if you do not keep balance in affairs through remaining alert, then this positiveness may lead to becoming overbearing, to be overconfident, to not respect the needs of others. It is also essential to find something to receive and give form to the enormous potential.

This is the energy that pushes us to emerge from the womb and grow. But through the difficult experiences of our life, this energy has often become restrained and blocked. In each of us it has in some measure become held back. But now there is a breaking through those hesitations that have beset our life, that may have caused us not express what we are capable of. Previously this may have led to dissatisfaction, or the lack of power in expressing oneself. But now these hesitations and blockages have been overcome enabling you to lead and create.

Key words: Creativity persisting through time.

The Moving Lines.

1. The creative force has still not fully emerged. There may be a tendency to be withdrawn from the world. Or perhaps the value within is not yet recognised. Be patient. Emergence comes.

2. You stand at the centre of things and are modest. But your light is seen and you can move on to create with more support and acclaim.

3. There are difficulties at hand. In the transition to greater influence, be aware of the subversive power of popularity. Through thoroughness you create support from others. Hard work is required, but you are capable.

4. You are on the move amidst great changes, great transformation. Be aware, but do not draw back. There is uncertainty of direction, but remain true to guidance from your innermost intuitions, in choosing between treading the outer or the inner world.

5. The point of achievement has been reached. Those in accord with your purpose will come to you. You are a light. Shine! Contacts become firm, let your power flow throughout the world.

6. It takes a different strength to lose with honour than to win, or to retreat rather than advance. To have aimed too high leads to failure.

Hexagram Two

K’un (Pro: Kwên; vowel so short as to be almost non-existent)- Receptivity

The vital feminine principle of receptivity and formation is indicated by this hexagram. All that is receptive, nurtures and gives birth is at work. Persistence in a direction harmonious with personal needs and the society one lives within lead to success!

With careful awareness your ability to receive, to nurture and bring forth the new can stream through you. Do not avoid uncertainty, or losing your way, but hold to your goal, and you will find your direction. Much confronts you. Take from it like the plant takes the minerals it needs from the soil. Build it into what you are developing within you. But also give of yourself to what is forming.

Allow those who are warm and supportive to draw close. Let those who are cold and distant be lost from you.

Remaining receptive like the fertile earth mother, avoiding interference from distractions will bring success in a new birth. But receptivity is not passiveness. It receives, but it gives a quality of its own.

The power of receptivity is enormously enhanced in regard to the question. Allow the openness to remain to let the immense richness flow in and be shaped. Much that has existed in the past may now be re-formed and given new life. There may be a time when this seems very abstract. But as the new takes form and grows, then recognition arises. Follow the needs of what is growing in this way. Be nurturing to it. Recognise the fragility of what is still young and immature. Guard it well until it grows into strength.

To nourish means to give all your resources, to offer them to be used in what has been received through receptivity. Like the mother of the unborn baby whose very body becomes the nourishment for the inner child, let all your experience and feelings be food for what is developing.

If there is not a sense of being already fertile with inner growth, then that which will fertilise will be sought out or attracted. Constancy is a means of attaining great ends.

Key words: Receptivity, nurturing, creativity.

The Moving Lines.

1. The results of past action now accumulates - the reaping of what was sown. Be cautious. A wintry season approaches. Be prepared for it. Things must die before being re-formed

2. Have no doubt, the way is clear and broad ahead. What is undertaken will prosper. There is little need for effort. Greater space is coming. Remain true to your principles.

3. Success in this issue may not be immediate. Nevertheless it lies ahead. Meanwhile do not parade talent or beauty. This will unfold or be seen in its season.

4. Be watchful and problems will be met and dealt with. But keep your light under cover in this issue. When the power of emergence is not strong, it has little effect to display what cannot be used.

5. The inner quality is more important here than external show or reward. From this quality will emerge success in the world.

6. When there is conflict between the male and the female, the receptive and the dynamic, there is a loss of power. Do not be in conflict when there can arise a joining together.

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