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.
The Wanderer
The first
of the images that we have drawn for you today
from our I Ching Oracle also speaks in a
different way about the transition that you are
experiencing. Thus in the two verses that have
been highlighted specifically by today’s
Reading from the image of The Wanderer, the
oracle describes two related events. In the first
verse, the oracle says, “The wanderer comes
to an inn. She has her property with her. She
wins the steadfastness of a young servant.”
And in the second, the oracle says, “The
wanderer’s inn burns down. She loses the
steadfastness of her young servant. Danger.”
In these
verses, the oracle paints a picture of your
previous experience. In your sojourn through
life, you found a place of temporary habitation
and occupation in the corporate world. People
coalesced around you in your work, and things
were accomplished. But as time went on, certain
contradictions made themselves apparent, and in
your response to those contradictions, you found
that people around you began to disassociate
themselves from you, leaving you isolated,
something like a round peg in a square hole.
Then, your real position as a
“wanderer” in that world became obvious
to you, and you knew that you had to move on.
In a
great commentary on the image of The Wanderer by
a Taoist philosopher (Liu I-Ming, translated by
the incomparable Thomas Cleary), I think you will
find some food for thought with regard to the
necessity of setting to work on the
“differentiation of things.” He wrote,
“This image represents nurturing the fire
and transcending the world. It follows on the
previous image [The Marrying Maiden, in which]
there is uncontrolled action based on emotion,
obeying the mundane energy of conditioning and
burying the primal celestial energy, taking the
artificial to be real, taking misery for
pleasure. Practitioners of Tao should first see
through worldly things, looking upon all
conditions, all existents, as passing by, not
injuring the real by delighting in the false, not
disturbing the inward because of the outward.
Understanding stillness and staying in the proper
place, stabilizing illumination so that it is not
damaged, when illumination and stillness are used
together one can thereby transcend the world
while in the world. The good fortune of
correctness is when illumination is based on
stillness, resting in ultimate good. Applying
illumination with stillness, one forgets feelings
in the face of objects. When illumination is
based on stillness, one ejects extreme
intellectualism. Unperturbed, like a mountain
stably resting on the earth, unbefuddled, like
the sunlight shining in the sky, inwardly there
is no disturbance, outwardly there is no
obscurity: When there is something to do, you use
clarity to deal with it; when there is nothing to
do, you use clarity to remain still. You are then
free from greed and craving, not expecting or
pursuing, not lingering or tarrying. If you are
concerned with externals, you forget the inward;
by pursuing ramifications you abandon the root.
When illumination is called for, then be aware;
but while aware still remain clam. When stillness
is called for, be still; but while still, remain
aware. When illumination and stability, awareness
and stillness, are unified, how can there be
failure to develop and prosper.”
In these
words, the commentator takes his cue from the two
subsidiary images that together comprise the
whole image of The Wanderer. These are the image
of The Mountain and the image of Fire. The
Mountain symbolizes stability, stillness, and
permanence. The Fire symbolizes intelligence in
the widest sense of the word, and inspiration. In
some ways, the commentator might be describing
the kind of intelligent insight into the nature
of things that comes naturally when we sit still
in mediation, and I’m sure, despite the
Taoist origin, you can easily recognize the
affinity in this commentary for traditional ideas
associated with Buddhism. These words remind me
of the many years that Buddha spent in a cave and
meditating constantly before coming finally to
the realization that he needed to go out into the
world and spread his Buddhist doctrine. I think
also of the many years that the Apostle Paul
spent after his personal revelation, stitching
tents in Tarsus, waiting on God, before his
mission was revealed to him.
As a
musician, I can’t help relating these ideas
to a kind of secret that every accomplished
player needs to learn and reduce to second
nature. This is that before every movement, there
is a preparation. In the broadest sense, this is
manifested in the idea that music comes out of
silence. If you watch a conductor before the
orchestra, you will notice that there is a moment
of perfect stillness AFTER the baton is raised,
and before it makes its descent to indicate the
downbeat when the music first sounds. The novice
musician is never aware of this, and the teacher
has to painstakingly impart a sense of restraint
to the student. It is a delicate balancing act,
since too much restraint results in music that
never truly sings. I’m not at all sure I can
find the words to express this properly. It needs
to be felt more than put into words. Stillness
and silence are the basis. Everything follows
from it. As Thomas Aquinas said in his remarks
about the Gregorian music of the church
(paraphrasing), “It is the pause that gives
sweetness to the chant.”
Accept,
then, with grace this moment of stillness in your
life. It’s not necessary for you to be
“busy” doing something at this point,
not necessary for you to have a goal toward which
you are working. Our work in the world is like
the thunder and the crashing of the storm. But
the truth is always heard in the “still
small voice.” Be patient. Be inwardly still
and aware. Everything will follow from this and
your questions will be answered when the moment
is right.
More on
The Wanderer
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