36 – Thirty-Six  Ming I / Eclipsing the Light

Warmth and Light are swallowed by Deep Darkness:
The Superior Person shows his brilliance by keeping it veiled among the masses.

Stay true to your course, despite the visible obstacles ahead.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This time calls for a saintly effort to turn the other cheek.
You have been deliberately injured.
Going blow-for-blow will only escalate this war.
Abstain from vengeance.
Show all watching that you are above it.
Sidestep your aggressor’s headlong charge, giving him the opportunity to fall on his face.

Nine in the third place means:
Darkening of the light during the hunt in the south.
Their great leader is captured.
One must not expect perseverance too soon.

The wounded pheasant hesitates outside the grain-filled cage.

The man chases the agent of darkness back into the night, risking his own safety in the shadowy domain.

‘Napoléon Bonaparte abdicated in Fontainebleau’, 1845 – Paul Delaroche

It seems as if chance were at work. While the strong, loyal man is striving eagerly and in good faith to create order, he meets the ringleader of the disorder, as if by accident, and seizes him. Thus victory is achieved. But in abolishing abuses one must not be too hasty. This would turn out badly because the abuses have been in existence so long.

24 – Twenty-Four  Fu / Return

Thunder regenerates deep within Earth’s womb:
Sage rulers recognized that the end of Earth’s seasonal cycle was also the starting point of a new year and a time for dormancy.
They closed the passes at the Solstice to enforce a rest from commerce and activity.
The ruler himself did not travel.

You have passed this way before but you are not regressing.
This is progress, for the cycle now repeats itself, and this time you are aware that it truly is a cycle.
The return of old familiars is welcome.
You can be as sure of this cycle as you are that seven days bring the start of a new week.
Use this dormancy phase to plan which direction you will grow.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are about to experience a rebirth — about to be given another chance, a new lease on life.
You have persevered, gone the distance through an entire cycle — through the Spring of hope or new passion, through a Summer of growth and building, only to be sacrificed like the archetypal Harvest King at the Autumn reaping.
You lie dormant like seed beneath Winter snows now, healing and absorbing new energies in preparation for the new young Spring coming shortly to your life.

8 – Eight  Pi / Bonding

Deep Waters on the face of the Earth:
Surface waters flow together.
The Superior Person recognizes the situation calls for joining together.
Thus he cultivates friendly relations with all.

Good fortune is possible.
Cast the coins again to discover if you have the qualities needed to lead such a group.
Then there will be no error.
Those uncertain will gradually join.
Those who join too late will meet with misfortune.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is a time of connection with another or others — not just an alliance, but a melding of parts into a new whole.
Such a connection may be too close, too intense for some.
Consult the oracle again to see if you have the qualities needed to strengthen and withstand such an intense synthesis.

28 – Twenty-Eight  Ta Kuo / Critical Mass

The Flood rises above the tallest Tree:
Amidst a rising tide of human folly, the Superior Person retires to higher ground, renouncing his world without looking back.

Any direction is better than where you now stand.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Several high-priority concerns demand immediate attention.
All are crucial.
None will be denied.
Yet some demand the denial of others.
Like two atoms seeking to occupy the same space, these irresistible forces and immovable objects threaten to ignite a cataclysm that could irreversibly alter your world.
This is no time for fatal heroics.
You are at Ground Point Zero.
Remove yourself from this situation without delay.
Find sanctuary.
Later you may deal with these concerns on your own terms, from a position of strength.

36 – Thirty-Six  Ming I / Eclipsing the Light

Warmth and Light are swallowed by Deep Darkness:
The Superior Person shows his brilliance by keeping it veiled among the masses.

Stay true to your course, despite the visible obstacles ahead.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This time calls for a saintly effort to turn the other cheek.
You have been deliberately injured.
Going blow-for-blow will only escalate this war.
Abstain from vengeance.
Show all watching that you are above it.
Sidestep your aggressor’s headlong charge, giving him the opportunity to fall on his face.

Six in the second place means:

The grieving pheasant has a wounded left wing.
The agent of darkness wounds the man in his left thigh.
Still the man helps others to safety with the strength of a horse.

Darkening of the light injures him in the left thigh.
He gives aid with the strength of a horse.
Good fortune.

Here the Lord of Light is in a subordinate place and is wounded by the Lord of Darkness. But the injury is not fatal; it is only a hindrance. Rescue is still possible. The wounded man gives no thought to himself; he thinks only of saving the others who are also in danger. Therefore he tries with all his strength to save all that can be saved. There is good fortune in thus acting according to duty.

32 – Thirty-Two  Hêng / Durability

Arousing Thunder and penetrating Wind.
Close companions in any storm:
The Superior Person possesses a resiliency and durability that lets him remain firmly and faithfully on course.

Such constancy deserves success.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Endurance is the key to success in this situation.
However, durability is not synonymous with stone-like rigidity.
True resilience requires a flexibility that allows adaptation to any adverse condition, while still remaining true to the core.
Can you maintain your integrity under any circumstance?
Can you influence the situation without giving opposing forces anything to resist?
Then you will endure to reach your goal.

32 – Thirty-Two  Hêng / Durability

Arousing Thunder and penetrating Wind.
Close companions in any storm:
The Superior Person possesses a resiliency and durability that lets him remain firmly and faithfully on course.

Such constancy deserves success.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Endurance is the key to success in this situation.
However, durability is not synonymous with stone-like rigidity.
True resilience requires a flexibility that allows adaptation to any adverse condition, while still remaining true to the core.
Can you maintain your integrity under any circumstance?
Can you influence the situation without giving opposing forces anything to resist?
Then you will endure to reach your goal.

Six at the top means:

Constant only in his inconstancy, even fortune is eventually exhausted.

Restlessness as an enduring condition brings misfortune.

‘Restlessness’ – Julie Mehretu

There are people who live in a state of perpetual hurry without ever attaining inner composure. Restlessness not only prevents all thoroughness but actually becomes a danger if it is dominant in places of authority.

56 – Fifty-Six  Lu / The Wanderer

Fire on the Mountain, catastrophic to man, a passing annoyance to the Mountain:
The Superior Person waits for wisdom and clarity before exacting Justice, then lets no protest sway him.

Find satisfaction in small gains.
To move constantly forward is good fortune to a Wanderer.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are a stranger to this situation.
It is your attraction to the exotic that has led you here, but you will move on to a new vista when this one has lost its mystique.
Because much of this environment is foreign to you, you must exercise only the best judgement.
You don’t know the custom here, and it’s too easy to cross a line you don’t know is there.
Because you are the foreigner in this setting, you have no history to acquit you.
Watch, listen, study, contemplate, then step lightly but decisively on.

62 – Sixty-Two  Hsiao Kuo / Lying Low

Thunder high on the Mountain, active passivity:
The Superior Person is unsurpassed in his ability to remain small.
In a time for humility, he is supremely modest.
In a time of mourning, he uplifts with somber reverence.
In a time of want, he is resourcefully frugal.

When a bird flies too high, its song is lost.
Rather than push upward now, it is best to remain below.
This will bring surprising good fortune, if you keep to your course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There is no profit to striving here.
To be content with oneself is the greatest success imaginable.
The enlightened person has nothing to prove to himself or others, and thus may always operate from a position of sincerity, with no pretense or posturing.
His humility is guileless simplicity.
His mourning is selfless compassion.
His frugality is an unshakeable faith that he is but a conduit, letting what is needed flow through him to others, with no loss to himself.

Six at the top means:

He flies too high, beyond his limit.
The plummet to earth is spent lamenting.

He passes him by, not meeting him.
The flying bird leaves him.
Misfortune.
This means bad luck and injury.

‘Daedalus and Icarus’ – Ludovico Lana

If one overshoots the goal, one cannot hit it. If a bird will not come to its nest but flies higher and higher, it eventually falls into the hunter’s net. He who in times of extraordinary salience of small things does not know how to call a halt, but restlessly seeks to press on and on, draws upon himself misfortune at the hands of gods and men, because he deviates from the order of nature.

56 – Fifty-Six  Lu / The Wanderer

Fire on the Mountain, catastrophic to man, a passing annoyance to the Mountain:
The Superior Person waits for wisdom and clarity before exacting Justice, then lets no protest sway him.

Find satisfaction in small gains.
To move constantly forward is good fortune to a Wanderer.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

You are a stranger to this situation.
It is your attraction to the exotic that has led you here, but you will move on to a new vista when this one has lost its mystique.
Because much of this environment is foreign to you, you must exercise only the best judgement.
You don’t know the custom here, and it’s too easy to cross a line you don’t know is there.
Because you are the foreigner in this setting, you have no history to acquit you.
Watch, listen, study, contemplate, then step lightly but decisively on.

1 – One  Ch’ien / Creative Activity

Heaven above and Heaven below:
Heaven in constant motion.
With the strength of the dragon, the Superior Person steels himself for ceaseless activity.

Productive Activity.
Potent Influence.
Sublime Success if you keep to your course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

The time for action has come.
You now have the focus and the stamina necessary for accomplishing great tasks.
The path before you is being cleared and reward lies ahead.

Nine in the second place means:

The dragon climbs to the surface.
Seek advice from an authority you respect.

Dragon appearing in the field.
It furthers one to see the great man.

La Palma Lizard (Gallotia galloti palmae), La Palma – Canary Islands, May 2013
photo Lex van den Bos

Here the effects of the light-giving power begin to manifest themselves. In terms of human affairs, this means that the great man makes his appearance in his chosen field of activity. As yet he has no commanding position but is still with his peers. However, what distinguishes him from the others is his seriousness of purpose, his unqualified reliability, and the influence he exerts on his environment without conscious effort. Such a man is destined to gain great influence and to set the world in order. Therefore it is favorable to see him.

13 – Thirteen  T’ung Jên / Social Mechanism

Heaven reflects the Flame of clarity:
The Superior Person analyzes the various levels and working parts of the social structure, and uses them to advantage.

Success if you keep to your course.
You may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is a matter of Positioning — not only yourself, but others as well.
There are niches to be filled, potentials to be realized, right livelihoods to be found.
You are not building a new organization, but shoring up an existing infrastructure.
It’s worth the effort, because it will provide union, community, and an ironclad alliance.

25 – Twenty-Five  Wu Wang / Remaining Blameless

Thunder rolls beneath Heaven, as is its nature and place:
Sage rulers aligned themselves with the changing seasons, nurturing and guiding their subjects to do the same.

Exceptional Progress if you are mindful to keep out of the way of the natural Flow.
It would be a fatal error to try to alter its course.
This is a time of Being, not Doing.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is thoroughly a matter of the heart.
If everything you attempt, no matter how carefully planned, ends in disarray, then examine your motives.
They are the cause of your predicament.
It isn’t that your motives aren’t pure — even the best intentions will fail under these circumstances.
What stymies you in this situation is that you have a motive at all.
Free yourself of all expectations, release any tenuous grip you may have, and roll with it.
This is totally out of your control.
There are higher powers and more elements affecting the outcome of this situation than you can imagine.
Get out of their way.

Six in the third place means:

An innocent man is unjustly accused of the theft of an ox taken by a drifter.
His very simplicity will acquit him.

Undeserved misfortune.
The cow that was tethered by someone
Is the wanderer’s gain, the citizen’s loss.

Sometimes undeserved misfortune befalls a man at the hands of another, as for instance when someone passes by and takes a tethered cow along with him. His gain is the owner’s loss. In all transactions, no matter how innocent, we must accommodate ourselves to the demands of the time, otherwise unexpected misfortune overtakes us.

13 – Thirteen  T’ung Jên / Social Mechanism

Heaven reflects the Flame of clarity:
The Superior Person analyzes the various levels and working parts of the social structure, and uses them to advantage.

Success if you keep to your course.
You may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

This is a matter of Positioning — not only yourself, but others as well.
There are niches to be filled, potentials to be realized, right livelihoods to be found.
You are not building a new organization, but shoring up an existing infrastructure.
It’s worth the effort, because it will provide union, community, and an ironclad alliance.

22 – Twenty-Two  Pi / Grace

Fire illuminates the base of the Mountain:
The Superior Person realizes he has not the wisdom to move the course of the world, except by attending to each day’s affairs as they come.

Success in small matters.
This is a good time to begin something.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

The emphasis now is on form, not function — on the sizzle and not the steak.
The environment around you is not one of depth, and you are appreciated now for your image, not your essence.
You perfectly fill a role, and no one is seeing the genuine you.
Still, you are being listened to and watched.
Use this influence to further your goals as much as possible.
Even if you don’t feel understood, you can perhaps connect with a few isolated hearts.
Relax and enjoy the attention.

		above: Kên / Keeping Still, Mountain
		below: Li / The Clinging, Flame

This hexagram shows a fire that breaks out of the secret depths of the earth and, blazing up, illuminates and beautifies the mountain, the heavenly heights. Grace-beauty of form-is necessary in any union if it is to be well ordered and pleasing rather than disordered and chaotic. THE JUDGEMENT GRACE has success. In small matters It is favorable to undertake something. Grace brings success. However, it is not the essential or fundamental thing; it is only the ornament and must therefore be used sparingly and only in little things. In the lower trigram of fire a yielding line comes between two strong lines and makes them beautiful, but the strong lines are the essential content and the weak line is the beautifying form. In the upper trigram of the mountain, the strong line takes the lead, so that here again the strong element must be regarded as the decisive factor. In nature we see in the sky the strong light of the sun; the life of the world depends on it. But this strong, essential thing is changed and given pleasing variety by the moon and the stars. In human affairs, aesthetic form comes into being when traditions exist that, strong and abiding like mountains, are made pleasing by a lucid beauty. By contemplating the forms existing in the heavens we come to understand time and its changing demands. Through contemplation of the forms existing in human society it becomes possible to shape the world.1 ‘Fire On The Mountain’ – David Pantuso THE IMAGE Fire at the foot of the mountain: The image of GRACE. Thus does the superior man proceed When clearing up current affairs. But he dare not decide controversial issues in this way.

33 – Thirty-Three  Tun / Retreat

The tranquil Mountain towers overhead, yet remains this side of Heaven:
The Superior Person avoids the petty and superficial by keeping shallow men at a distance, not in anger but with dignity.

Such a retreat sweeps the path clear to Success.
Occupy yourself with minute detail.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Retreat in this instance is not a desperate flight in disarray, but a conscious choice to distance yourself from forces that would rob you of your peace.
It is not a surrender, but a regrouping.
Retreat from this conflict is actually an advance toward your own center.
You move toward balance, and thus a much stronger position.

28 – Twenty-Eight  Ta Kuo / Critical Mass

The Flood rises above the tallest Tree:
Amidst a rising tide of human folly, the Superior Person retires to higher ground, renouncing his world without looking back.

Any direction is better than where you now stand.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Several high-priority concerns demand immediate attention.
All are crucial.
None will be denied.
Yet some demand the denial of others.
Like two atoms seeking to occupy the same space, these irresistible forces and immovable objects threaten to ignite a cataclysm that could irreversibly alter your world.
This is no time for fatal heroics.
You are at Ground Point Zero.
Remove yourself from this situation without delay.
Find sanctuary.
Later you may deal with these concerns on your own terms, from a position of strength.

64 – Sixty-Four  Wei Chi / The End In Sight

Fire ascends above the Water:
The Superior Person examines the nature of things and keeps each in its proper place.

Too anxious the young fox gets his tail wet, just as he completes his crossing.
To attain success, be like the man and not like the fox.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

Resist the rush to completion.
Anticipation of fulfillment may cause you to be careless before you have fully absorbed the lessons of the journey.
The endpoint of this Quest will only prove to be the threshold for another.
You are short steps from Mastery on this plane, yet you stride toward Ignorance of the challenges lying beyond.
Savor this accomplishment.
Fully Become.
Take full possession of your world before embarking to discover the next one.
That voyage begins soon enough, and you will reminisce about this one.
These are the Good Old Days.

Nine in the fourth place means:

Deep in the Devil’s Domain, there is no room for despair.
Persevere for three years, and victory will be yours.

Perseverance brings good fortune.
Remorse disappears.
Shock, thus to discipline the Devil’s Country.
For three years, great realms are awarded.

‘The Oath of the Horatii’, 1786 – Jacques Louis David (1748-1825)

Now it is the time of struggle. The transition must be completed. We must make ourselves strong in resolution; this brings good fortune. All misgivings that might arise in such grave times of struggle must be silenced. It is a question of a fierce battle to break and to discipline the Devil’s Country, the forces of decadence. But the struggle also has its reward. Now is the time to lay the foundations of power and mastery for the future.

61 – Sixty-One  Chung Fu / Inner Truth

The gentle Wind ripples the Lake’s surface:
The Superior Person finds common ground between points of contention, wearing away rigid perspectives that would lead to fatal error.

Pigs and fishes.
You may cross to the far shore.
Great fortune if you stay on course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

The subject of this hexagram discovers a key to Tranquility by first gaining insight into his own nature, then turning that vision outward.
By resolving inner conflicts and being at peace with himself, he learns to gain insight into others.
In effect, he enters another, sees with the other’s eyes, listens with the other’s ears, feels with the other’s heart.
He then returns to his own center, with new perspective and understanding.