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.
Revolution
It is
interesting to consider the image of Revolution
in this Reading that also gives us the image of
Eight Swords. Eight Swords is an image of
restraint, but a revolution is, after all, the
breaking of all the bonds that restrain us.
Actually, the image of Revolution is rich with
detail, and as a whole it tends to emphasize the
briefness of the moment in which real change
occurs. This may be a change that has been
prepared over generations. But it can be
accomplished only in a comparative instant. In
the central verse, the oracle says, “Thus
the superior man sets the calendar in order and
makes the seasons clear.” Of course,
revolutions often aspire even to revise the
calendar, as did the French Revolution, which
proposed to begin again in 1787 with the year
One, renaming the months as well. But, more to
the point, a good revolutionary understands the
importance of preparing for a moment that comes
and goes with breathtaking speed. Until that
moment comes, and after it passes, the
revolutionary cause falls on deaf ears. There is
only that promise of ultimate success, you see,
that keeps the revolutionary going. It is
expressed in the Judgment verse associated with
the image of Revolution, wherein the oracle says,
“On your own day you are believed. Supreme
success. Furthering through perseverance. Remorse
disappears.”
Since
there is indeed something innovative in the way
that you are doing business, then this Judgment
comes to you as a magnificent portent of ultimate
success. The ways in which you have been
restructuring your business organization during
the recent past and at present create a great
prbability for success and satisfaction. The
oracle expresses this positive promise in several
verses that have been highlighted specifically
for you by today’s Reading from the image of
Revolution. In one of these, the oracle says,
“When one’s own day comes, one may
create revolution. Starting brings good fortune.
No blame.” And in another verse, it says,
“Remorse disappears. Men believe him.
Changing the form of government brings good
fortune.”
But in
the last of the verses that has been highlighted
specifically by today’s Reading from the
image of Revolution, the oracle qualifies this
excellent portent for the future with a warning
about how you handle the present and immediate
future. It says, “The superior man changes
like a panther. The inferior man molts in the
face. Starting brings misfortune. To remain
persevering brings good fortune.”
The
superior man is not motivated by a wil ‘o
the wisp, you see. He’s dealing in something
deeper than momentary whims and desires. For this
reason, he is able to take the long view of
things. He is satisfied with doing small things
when big things cannot be done. Richard Wilhelm
says, in his commentary on this verse, “We
must be satisfied with the attainable. If we
should go too far and try to achieve too much, it
would lead to unrest and misfortune.” And in
this way, of course, we come to the second image
that we have drawn for you today from our I Ching
Oracle, The Taming Power of the Small. Remember
the “dense clouds” that I referred to
with regard to this image. The image is also
connected in the Chinese imagination with a
period of time immediately prior to the
establishment of the Chou dynasty, when one of
its founders, King Wen, found himself trapped as
it were in the court of the last of the Chin
tyrants. This was not a good time for bold
measures. He had simply to bide his time and wait
for the proper moment for action. In fact, it
required that he attend primarily to his own
private affairs, and in the central verse
associate with the image of The Taming Power of
the Small, the oracle says, “Thus the
superior man refines the outward aspect of his
nature.”
More on Revolution
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