Psychic Readings from The
Psychic Internet often feature images drawn from the
I Ching Oracle. To offer supplementary
information about these images for our clients,
and for the public, we have provided this archive
of brief articles.
For general information on
the I Ching Oracle, click here.
The
abstract images of the I Ching Oracle (usually
called "hexagrams") symbolize all of
the related and interacting aspects of reality.
In the following excerpts from actual Psychic Readings, the images of the I Ching
are discussed.
Click here for links to all
of the images.
Before Completion
On
another level, we sense that you suffer from a
lack of recognition, and seemingly limited
success in your endeavors. We feel that this
results from your superficial view of the
influence and effect that you are actually having
in the world, and that you may not be taking into
consideration the ultimate results of your
efforts. And, in this regard, I may turn now to
the verse that is highlighted specifically for
you by today’s Reading from the image of
Before Completion.
In this
verse, the oracle says, “Before completion,
attack brings misfortune. It furthers one to
cross the great water.” And in his
commentary on this verse, Confucius said,
“The place is not the appropriate one.”
Thus, it should be understood that whatever lack
of success or fulfillment you may be experiencing
in your work at this time, this ought NOT to be
taken as a judgment on the nature of your work,
or on your commitment to it. Instead, the oracle
is telling you that you are probably NOT doing
the work in the appropriate place.
This idea
is echoed in the central verse that is associated
with the image of The Cauldron, in which the
oracle says, “Fire over wood: the image of
The Cauldron. Thus the superior man consolidates
his fate by making his position correct.”
And it is just in this sense of correcting your
position that you may understand the idea of
crossing “the great water.” You are at
a very crucial and transitional stage in the
development of your life’s work, and in
order to complete it, a move is necessary, from
your present position to another that will be
more appropriate and conducive to the kind of
success that you are destined to achieve.
It is
clear to us that your destiny in this respect is
a very great one, and a very responsible one.
There is no doubt that your ultimate success is
not merely a matter of personal significance. On
the contrary, we believe it has a worldly
importance, and your role in accomplishing it
must put you in the position of leading others
toward a collective goal that transcends purely
individual interests.
In the
image of Before Completion, one encounters a
situation in which there is a fundamental
disharmony in the way that its constituent
elements relate to each other. Indeed, at the
point at which the oracle takes up its analysis
of this situation, things in general may be said
to be in a state of apparent standstill or
stagnation. Addressing itself to the
“superior man” in such a situation, the
oracle declares that the task at hand requires a
conscious and intentional ordering of these
disparate elements. As the oracle says, in the
central verse associated with the image of Before
Completion, “Fire over water: the image of
the condition before transition. Thus the
superior man is careful in the differentiation of
things, so that each finds its place.”
In other
words, a great deal more than your own
advancement depends on the success to which you
are striving in your work. And, whatever
discouragement you have faced in the past, and
may be facing now, it is vital for you to keep
this in mind. There is, then, great significance
in the so-called Judgment that is associated with
the image of Before Completion. In it, the oracle
says, “Before Completion. Success. But if
the little fox, after nearly completing the
crossing, gets his tail in the water, there is
nothing that would further.” The image
describes a fox crossing an iced-over stream.
Apparently, it was observed that it was fatal to
the fox if he allowed his tail to droop, for, in
getting wet, this somehow made his further
progress impossible. In essence, the oracle is
describing the importance of posture,
metaphorically speaking. And this tends to
underline our own sense of what I could call a
temporary dropping in your spirits, referred to
at the beginning of this Reading.
The
danger in this situation is that progress that is
otherwise pre-determined becomes somehow aborted
mid-stream. As Confucius said about the fox,
“he is not yet past the middle. There is
nothing that would further, because the matter
does not go on to the end.”
But the
paramount message under the circumstances in
which you find yourself concerns, as I said
above, the need for a move from your current
position to a more appropriate one in which you
can once again hope to complete the work that you
are committed to.
More
on Before Completion
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