Yi: 2021 Year of the Iron Ox

I went back to look at last year’s Yi throw and commentary and thought it interesting in that the Hexagram #54 was echoed in this year’s New Year’s Day Earthquake throw, Number Fifty One changing to Number Fifty Four (51,2 – 54).

The main page is pasted in as an image with the pdf for download down below.

2021-02-12: 2021 Year of the Iron Ox Yi Jing cast
2021-02-12-new-years-day-year-of-the-iron-ox-54-63Download

Haiku: Frozen trees in Kiev

Jewish-Ukrainian artist Abraham Manievich, A Frozen Scene Outside Kyiv (1908).

we stand together

through thick and thin

married at birth

silently honouring unwritten treaties

#111 2022/03/07

In response to a recently published tanka inspired by the above photo by Gabriel Rosenstock who composed it in both Irish and English:

ní bhraitear sa chroí
an draíocht atá i ngach crann
tá an croí sioctha
sa gheimhreadh atá an Úcráin
geimhreadh fada an anama

the magic of trees
is not mirrored in the heart:
it knows only frost
Ukraine is in a winter
the long winter of the soul

Gabriel ROSENSTOCK
https://www.culturematters.org.uk/index.php/arts/poetry/item/3917-frozen

Note from the Baron: shift in emphasis

The personal Yi for the Year was 31,6 – 33.

#31 Influence-Telepathy has to do with tuning into others and non-verbal communication, non-conceptual intelligence (also marriage which is on the schedule for this October) whilst #33 Retreat has to do with retreating into solitude, not engaging with negative outer situations. The changing line #6 in the #31 Hexagram indicates that it’s time to reduce use of the mouth including words and speech and rather emphasize non-conceptual realization. So this is what the author will be attempting this upcoming year, hopefully.

The posts that get the most views and likes are – by a factor of 5-10 – the haiku. Haiku involve developing a feel for the non-verbal presence of events and moments so are a good discipline and suit the upcoming gestalt. Therefore, in future this blog will mainly feature haiku and spontaneous poetry with little other more dense, intellectual input. People seem not to find it interesting and I think it would be better to spend less time on trying to explain what ultimately is not explainable and rather just do it quietly and alone.

So thanks to all those who have been liking the haiku and not liking anything else – with a few notable exceptions to whom more thanks. The message has been received and more importantly the oracle has spoken and most importantly it all aligns with the author’s mood these days, so less of the other stuff will be forthcoming.

So let’s close with a spontaneously composed haiku:

chrysanthemums and lollipops

like children playing in the fields

elicit gentle smiles

Yi: Earthquake on New Year’s Day!

Uncertainty rules, impermanence permanent... Be true to the ever-present moment never the same again The outer world is changing, changing the old normal never to return. When going forward not possible do not force but without fear or arrogance remain within the familiar hearth of humble home.
0-2022-03-03-event-earthquake-on-new-years-day-at-08.30-am-3Download

Using a special method that calculates the Hexagrams based on the time of an event produced an almost incredible coincidence: yesterday morning at 08.30, which was the Buddhist New Year’s Day, at our home we felt an earthquake strong enough to shake things around a little but not enough to make any cracks in the walls or anything like that. Enough to get us running out of the house.

I have no idea what the odds are that a method based on time consulting about an earthquake would yield the Hexagram #51 which is about Thunder, Shock. Some texts mention the earth shaking. Basically, it’s the Thunder and Earthquake hexagram. If the event had been more than 30 minutes earlier or later it would not have yielded #51.

To me, this re-inforces the throw I made later that day up in our cabin property which was the always significant Hexagram #1 Heaven, the Creative which I interpreted to mean that we may be on the verge of a new era in human history, the passing of the old normal and the emergence of something different.

  • First was the Earthquake which yielded #51, Shock!
  • Then came the throw for the year (which I have done now for 45 years in a row) which yielded the highly significant Hexagram #1, Heaven.
  • Then whilst doing the throw and consulting the Yi texts, first six vultures settled in a tree in front and after I finished consulting they were joined by one more, making seven. After a minute or two they flew away. (The Water Tiger Year throw featured six yang lines with one of them changing to yin, seven lines in all.)
  • Last year’s Yi cast yielded #54 which this cast features. https://baronbrasdor.art/2022/03/14/2021-lunar-new-years-yi/
  • Such coincidences, even though happening to a simple individual in the wilds of nowhere, indicate portentous times…..
7 vultures witnessing the author throw a Hexagram with six yang lines and one changing to yin: seven lines in all

Yi Jing: Year of the Water Tiger 2022

YI TEXT REFERENCES:

THE CREATIVE works sublime success, Furthering through perseverance.(Wilhelm)

The image is six dragons governing the heavens. The symbol is of all-inclusiveness.

(Jou Tsung Wa)

The movement of heaven is full of power. Thus the superior man makes himself strong and untiring.

(Wilhelm)

Changing Lines Fourth:

The Minister’s line of work in progress: A moving Yang line in the fourth place is about taking the lead when you should be following. Trigram Thunder wants to move forward too fast with overwhelming power which only encounters resistance, achieving the opposite of what is desired. Keep the big picture in mind and do not work from self-interest. (Harmen)

“Someone jumping in the abyss. No inauspicious omens.” Who is jumping? Is it man or dragon or both? The ideogram yue shows a foot, a bird, and feathers. This is a shamanistic picture of leaping about and dancing, a ritual to promote creativity. The abyss ideogram, yuan, is fashioned from the symbols for water and vortex, the whirlpool of constant, overwhelming phenomena. The recipient of this line must jump free of the whirlpool of everyday life. (Jing Nuan Wu Yijing)

If you don’t know what course of action to take, you will lose the opportunity. (Jou Tsung Wa Tao of I Ching)

Wavering flight over the depths. No blame. (Wilhelm)

Notes: Xu Shen’s dictionary defines long, “dragon,” as the archetype of all animals that swim or crawl. It is able to be visible or invisible, tiny or huge, short or long. In springtime it can ascend to the heavens; in autumn it lies hidden in the watery abyss. The ideogram follows the pictograph for flesh and a flying form.

  • Trigrams:
  • Below: Heaven: assertive, powerful, dragons, creation forces
  • Above:* Heaven*: war, authoritarian leadership, destruction, fanaticism, extremes
  • Above Derived: Wind: gentle, all-pervasive, gradual, spreading

(* unbalanced)

Note about Coincidences

  • An earthquake happening on the Lunar New Year Day is significant coincidence.
  • This earthquake event objectively calculated produced the Earthquake Hexagram.
  • The New Year throw produced #1, very powerful. Heaven trigram can indicate war.
  • During the throw six vultures, then after the throw seven vultures perched on a tree observing the author.
7 Vultures observing the author consult the Yi on New Year’s Day of the Year of the Water Tiger 2022
2022-03-03-year-of-the-water-tiger-2022-b-1Download

Cheerful (Lunar) New Year!

Today is traditional Buddhist New Year’s Day. This is the second new moon after the winter solstice. (Actually, that was yesterday but for some reason the scholars-that-be have proclaimed today The Day.)

Am heading up to our cabin property in the hills and will cast the Yi for the year and publish it here later.

No matter what Yi this individual throws, clearly this is a time of great change. Whether it will be for the better or worse largely depends on each and every one of us, how we handle whatever arises. That has always been and always will be true.

In this world of universal impermanence, some things never change!