Tea-ching friend

[tsuki]

Today I had my first divination session using I-Ching. 
In this journal I will share the contemplation on my life guided by the Oracle.
I'm using the version rewritten by Carol K. Anthony and Hanna Moog titled: I CHING The Oracle of the Cosmic Way.

The question: How can I fulfill my role better?
The hexagram: 35. Progressing
The judgement: Progressing. The true self is honored by the Sage's presence so that there is help in everything he does.
I received two changing lines:
Line 2: Progressing, but in sorrow, due to looking to one's ancestress. Being firmly correct brings success. Then one obtains great happiness.
Line 4: Progressing like a hamster. Perseverance brings danger.

Contemplation:

I couldn't have thought of a better answer to my question. The role plays itself organically. The role grows, like a flower and to do anything to make it better is to damage it. The judgement has been rewritten by the authors to remove the feudal and human-centered nature of the original one:

Progressing. The powerful prince is honored with horses in large numbers. In a single day he is granted audience three times.

Upon reading the first changing line, I had an emotional release. It powerfully connected with my childhood memories to the point of tears. When I read the interpretation from the book, there was not much I could connect with. Apparently, it points at the belief of lost paradise, original sin and guilt.

The second changing line made me smile, as it points at my unhealthy tendency towards money and the dynamic between me and my wife that we're trying to work through. It's getting better (progressing, huh?).

During the Retrospective-Three-Coin method (RTCM), it was communicated to me that the first changing line was directed towards my wife and I was asked to draw a hexagram for her. Later it became clear that my question was ambiguous - was the drawing supposed to be a gift for her, or should I simply read it to her on behalf of the Sage? I drew:

Hexagram: 22. Grace
The judgement: Grace shows success. It is not favorable to create form for its own sake.
I received two changing lines:
Line 2: He lends grace to the beard on his chin.
Line 3: Graceful and moist. Being firmly correct brings good fortune.

What I read in this hexagram is superficiality of our sexuality. I need to contemplate that more, as I'm not sure what is this all about yet. RTCM questions weren't of much help, unfortunately.
I'm not sure whether I should share the sexual aspect of my marriage here on the forum, so that's it for now.

I read this hexagram to my wife and her facial expression was tense. I think she was being superstitious.

Edited March 24, 2019 by tsuki

[Zigzag Idiot]

I'm tickled you're doing this. You seem to go about things more thourghly than I do and that will help me learn more about and integrate its many facets. 

I use the RTCM only occasionally and need to start utilizing and practicing it more. My practice is really simple. I don't even ask a question but simply throw the coins every morning with the expectation that I'll get the hexagram and reading that will benifit my inner world the most for that day. Often times it's in the form of a heads up in regard to stressful situations. Other times it confirms balance or inner truth. There are times when it doesn't make any sense and usually I can trace that back to insincerity in my attitude. Also if I ignore its advice or I'm  looking for it to confirm something I want, the Sage retreats,,,

[tsuki]

I had a short RTCM session today when I tried to clarify the message, but I was unable to.
Apparently, It's not about helping my wife, her mother or her father. It is not about helping at all.
It is not about understanding hexagrams and I'm not supposed to draw a new one to clarify the message.
It is not even about applying the meditations that are described in the book.

@Zigzag Idiot The sage confirmed that your method is more suitable for me, so I'm going to stick with it for now. 

Edited March 23, 2019 by tsuki

[tsuki]

I drew the hexagram 23: Splitting apart 

The judgement: Splitting apart: it does not further to go anywhere.

and received two changing lines:
Line 1: The leg of the bed is split. Those who preservere are destroyed. Misfortune.
Line 2: The bed is split at the edge. Those, who preservere are destroyed. Misfortune.

I have a lot to say about those, but I'm going to listen to the Sage's advice and simply let it sink in.

[Zigzag Idiot]

5 hours ago, tsuki said:

I had a short RTCM session today when I tried to clarify the message, but I was unable to.
Apparently, It's not about helping my wife, her mother or her father. It is not about helping at all.

I forget where it's at but every now and then I get a line of a hexagram that is somewhat of an admonishment for proselytizing the ICHING. If your wife has doubts and you find yourself trying to convince her of its possible validity then this might be a cause for the Sage too retreat.

Im headed out the door to visit my grandmother in the nursing home and just received hexagram 55 lines 123&5 which create a second hexagram of 47. Evidently I have one or more issues today in which my perspective is skewed in some way.

For the record let me say in advance that I might not always share my readings. If I find myself to be in a precarious mental/emotional state and I see that sharing would cause me a lot of neurotic inner considering then I may choose to be quiet. Although if it's simply a matter of revealing some of my misguided thinking or unflattering foibles  then I have no problem in being vulnerable to revealing these unless I can see it would trigger a form of psychic entropy. I feel like I'll probably share most of my I CHING readings from my own Journal. Haven't really thought about it though. I'll just let things unfold.

A synchronicity- my ragged book split apart months ago in the section describing hexagram 23-Splitting Apart.

[tsuki]

30 minutes ago, Zigzag Idiot said:

I feel like I'll probably share most of my I CHING readings from my own Journal. Haven't really thought about it though. I'll just let things unfold.

@Zigzag Idiot I've been thinking about the format of this particular journal because I don't consider it mine.
It's okay if you share them here, but I'm neither encouraging, nor discouraging.

37 minutes ago, Zigzag Idiot said:

I forget where it's at but every now and then I get a line of a hexagram that is somewhat of an admonishment for proselytizing the ICHING. If your wife has doubts and you find yourself trying to convince her of its possible validity then this might be a cause for the Sage too retreat.

I stumbled upon something similar in the judgement of hexagram 35. Page 301 in my edition.
It's was about receptivity to openness of another person. I struggle with it a lot in my relationship.

I've been sitting on the hexagram I received and I stumbled upon this post by @Preetom:

As I was reading the article, something clicked within me and I experienced what it means to put awareness on awareness itself.
It's very similar to what I call presence/being in the now, but has an empty, timeless quality to it.

[Zigzag Idiot]

4 hours ago, tsuki said:

@Zigzag Idiot I've been thinking about the format of this particular journal because I don't consider it mine.
It's okay if you share them here, but I'm neither encouraging, nor discouraging.

Thanks, I'll probably post all my I Ching readings here then. 

Most likely, some days I won't elaborate on my readings. Maybe just a short comment or two but certainly at other times I will.

To me, Awareness and Existence are about the same and in a certain sense Knowing is closely related.

[Zigzag Idiot]

The false use of language starts with words that have come from thinking which is not based on feeling and is the chief cause of misunderstanding - This was a sentence from my reading which is from Hexagram 55 line 2.

 

From the Glossary under Good/Evil Page 565 - Cosmic Consciousness is primarily a feeling Consciousness and that every person is connected directly with it through His feelings. When he connects with his feelings they tell him the inner truth of what he is experiencing.  Doing this allows him to call things by their true names.   

 

Cosmic Consciousness is also another name for God.

[tsuki]

Yesterday's hexagram allowed me to stay centered during a fight I had with my wife in the afternoon.
It was about me failing to meet her expectations that resulted in internalized anger.
This anger was not expressed by her at the appropriate moment in fear of taking responsibility of the evening.
My observation was that the emotional center (that responds to the moment) was hijacked by the mind to justify its subversive attitude.
While the feeling of anger itself is energizing and positive, the mind's tendency to say no to whatever arises is what produces angry tantrums.

The yesterday's hexagram was useful in that it allowed me to:

1. grasp the proper meaning of self-inquiry, putting awareness on awareness
2. being mindful during the fight and not buying into readymade solutions suggested by the Ego

What was unusual is that I did not respond to her anger with calmness, but with raw energy devoid of hostility.
She was very confused, but was able to see through herself. The morning was a little tense, but still very fruitful.
I kept being mindful of the arising resentment and said the internal no to it.
She admitted to having this feeling by herself it and we had a heartfelt conversation about it.

Today, I drew hexagram with no questions like advised by the Sage and received 31: Influence.
The judgement: Influence. Success. If one is firm and correct in taking the mate offered, it brings good fortune.
I also received the 6th changing line: The influence shows itself in jaws, cheeks and tongue.

The judgement brought peace to me after yesterday's turmoil. It is unsettlingly poignant.
The author's comments about this judgement has led me to read more about imps, demons and dragons, which allowed me to identify a demon of my own. It was confirmed with a firm yes in the RTCM that it was the message.

The demon manifests itself as a flash of primal fear with a mental image when I'm having showers with my eyes closed.
The image consists of a figure... as I'm writing this I started wondering if bringing the image of the demon to my inner eye feeds it, so I asked the sage whether it's appropriate to describe it in the journal and I received a firm yes.
So, the image consists of a short anthropomorphous figure, approximately half my size. Its whole body is covered in black fur.
Its neck is very sturdy so that its head is basically forced to look straight ahead.
Its eyes are round, fish-like, but they are mounted at the front of the head, carnivore-style, as opposed to the sides like herbivores have.
It has very long claws reminiscent of Edward Scissorhands.
It appears during showers when I'm standing with my eyes closed. It's waiting outside of the cabin, still, looking at me.
I meet this flash of experience with curiosity and it lasts less than a second.

I did the mini-meditation #3 page 553 with the image of the cosmic vacuum cleaner.
As the demon was being sucked in, a few associations came to mind.
They were about my cultivation of anger towards my manager and about biting my fingernails.
Apparently, I also have imps and dragons and I am to repeat this mini-meditation tomorrow.
I have a few hunches what are those, I'll investigate them later on today.

Edited March 24, 2019 by tsuki

[Zigzag Idiot]

Carol's use of metaphor that utilized something as ordinary and mundane like a vacuum cleaner was off putting to me in the beginning. Only later did I begin to realize how this added a great degree of practicality into the wisdom to make it more recognizable. Most everyone is familiar with what a vacuum cleaner is. Near the end of this 4 minute clip she touches on the use of metaphor.

 

The coins just gave me one Hexagram today #17 Following.

Maybe more later,,,,

[Zigzag Idiot]

In an online I CHING site, I saw these instructions which I can't remember seeing anywhere in THE ORACLE OF THE COSMIC WAY.

No lines are changing: Read the unchanging interpretation for that Hexagram.
One line is changing: Read the line interpretation for that Hexagram.
Two lines are changing: If the lines are the same (changing broken/Yin or changing solid/Yang) the changing line closest to the top prevails. If there is one of each, read only the changing broken (Yin) line.
Three lines are changing: Read the middle line.
Four lines are changing: Read the uppermost line that is not changing.
Five lines are changing: Read the only non changing line.
Six lines are changing: Read only the transformed hexagram as the first hexagram has been exhausted.

Carol Anthony admitted she wrote the lines of the hexagram top to bottom instead of bottom to top for a long time as a beginner and says despite that, it still provided guidance. I think she said that thru the RTCM, the sage indicted that her sincerity allowed  it to be workable even though she was writing it down consistently backwards  and it was hinted at that the Oracle had the capacity to adjust to her wrong application. To me this gives an indication of how important being honest with oneself is in relation to the amount of help that comes from the Sage.

[tsuki]

On 23.03.2019 at 4:01 PM, Zigzag Idiot said:

just received hexagram 55 lines 123&5 which create a second hexagram of 47

@Zigzag Idiot What are the mechanics of transforming a hexagram to another one?

I just found this.

Edited March 25, 2019 by tsuki

[Zigzag Idiot]

@tsuki  Using 3 coins            heads = 3          tails     = 2

3 tails                 = 6    Is a changing line from yin to yang

1 head + 2 tails = 7    Yang line

2 heads + 1 tail = 8    Yin line

3 heads              = 9    Is a changing line from yang to yin

The lines are written down from bottom to top. The bottom line is line 1. The top line is line 6.

if I get just one hexagram, I just read the general text for the overall hexagram.

Using the table in the back of the book and distinguishing a bottom and top trigram, I determine the hexagram.

If there are changing lines which generate a second hexagram, I read all the lines which change in the first hexagram and just the general text of the second Hexagram.

This is the only method I have followed and not saying it's the correct way,,,, simply the way I've followed up to now. Unless I'm missing or overlooking something ( which is very common for me) it matches in general what Carol says in this video.

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

About to head out the door and realized I didn't record my Morning I Ching reading.

Hexagram 51 Shock; line 5 and then hexagram 17

Self Remembering is key today.

[tsuki]

Yesterday I asked for hexagram for today and I received 33. Retreating/hiding. Changing line 6.

The judgement: Retreating. Success. In what is small, it furthers to be firmly correct.
Line 6: Cheerful retreat. Everything serves to further.

The hexagram was useful yesterday. We watched Taxi Driver and it proved to be very unsettling emotionally for me.
We had a discussion about the movie and it triggered a lot of guilt in me. This guilt is what is referred as 'small' in hexagram.
Being firmly correct refers to the inner no. Priming my subconscious mind with hexagrams and the text is very fruitful for deprogramming.

We're still struggling with the aftermath of the fight. It was not without an argument, but I followed the Sage's advice given in line 6. It refers to the fact that the Sage retreats for the sole purpose of teaching the person that he is acting from egoic standpoint. Depriving the ego of energy it feeds off is the best strategy to resolve the situation. We were even able to transform this energy to ahem, cardio exercise.

My wife had a lot of insights about herself today.
She even uttered something about working on her relationship with her father.
She admitted to projecting a lot. Fingers crossed.

Today, I consulted the sage on a method I'm supposed to use and I received guidance to keep reading all changing lines, but also transform the hexagram and read it as well. So, today I drew:

49. Renewal/Revolution/Ending fate.
The judgement: On your own day, you are believed. Supreme success, furthering through perseverance. Remorse disappears.
Line 4: Remorse disappears. Men believe him. Changing the form of government brings good fortune.
Line 5: The great man changes like tiger. Even before he questions oracle he is believed. 
Line 6: The Sage makes changes like a panther. Without help, one molts only in the face. To be firm and correct brings good fortune.

Hexagram transforms to 22. Grace:
The judgement: Grace shows success. It is not favorable to create form for its own sake.

Hexagram 49 mostly deals with renewal and its difference from revolution. It is explained in terms of Oracle's cosmology, the former being a Cosmic term, while the other is Collective ego's. The most important fact that I spotted is that Renewal has to do with removal of mistaken beliefs without installing any other in its place. Revolution on the other hand overthrows one egoic system with another.
Apparently, it is a sign of ending of fate, which I associate with the banishing of my demon.
My wife even asked me to ask the oracle for directions on her behalf. Let's see how this unfolds.

The changing lines are an encouragement, but also contain warning. I am believed in by the people, but I am not to believe that I can lead them. I am also to be weary of trying to change them. Lastly, I should be weary of forming self-images with respect to this process.

Hexagram 22 is about grace, which manifests as beauty of something through its uniqueness. This hexagram warns against creating form for its own sake and it clicked with my recent detachment from my work. I'll be mindful of that tomorrow.

[tsuki]

We drew a hexagram for my wife. She asked: What should I do with my life?

The response was 20. Seeing.
The Judgement: The ablution has been made, but not the offering. Full of trust they look up to him.
No changing lines.

This is not funny at all. If I were to answer her question myself, I wouldn't be able to come up with a better answer.
This hexagram deals with looking up to authority for acknowledgement of one's existence.
We are both perfectly aware that this is one of her biggest issues in relationships - with me and professionally.
Supposedly, it is instilled by the collective ego in childhood as a false belief that a child needs to be seen in order to have its needs met. This is how striving for visibility/fame is born. Out of fear of neglect.
This is not funny at all. This shit blurs the line between superstition and transrationality. SHE NEEDED TO HEAR THAT!
If I had received this message, it wouldn't fit! It's completely different from what I've received so far.

It's also been a difficult test for my translation skills, as I've read this chapter in Polish out loud.
I'm getting better at translating things on the fly. This book has very long sentences and unusual words.
It's strange that I get the meaning of the sentence without having the full knowledge how each word maps to its Polish equivalent.

Edited March 25, 2019 by tsuki

[Zigzag Idiot]

@tsuki I didn't realize English wasn't your primary language. You do damn good. I can't imagine taking on a second language.

I like her use of the the term collective ego. I had forgotten Eckart Tolle using it in his book The New Earth. I was hooked into Leo's teaching in a fresh way when I saw he had made a video on the Collective ego.

Im glad to read about your wife making a connection with the Oracle. It's definitely transrational and I would say also transpersonal, in a sense, when considering it from the perspective of the Review on the back cover. It says so much in just one sentence, I've gotten a lot out of rereading it on occasion and pondering it.

Removing the Ego as the defining agent of reality releases awareness to reinhabit the natural world. --Jose Cedillos, Ph.D. Prof. of Consciousness and Creativity Studies, The Union Institute.
 

 

[tsuki]

7 hours ago, Zigzag Idiot said:

@tsuki I didn't realize English wasn't your primary language. You do damn good. I can't imagine taking on a second language.

Not to brag, but it became my go-to language for thinking ever since I started posting here.
If my relationship with a person is established in Polish, my internal dialogue with that person is in Polish.
The inner dialogues with the forum folk are always English. My philosophical inquiry is always English too.
I guess that it depends on the language I learned something in.

Those two languages sort of flow without me noticing which one I'm using. I would love to think directly in mathematics though.
That would be fun.

I'm somewhat lost in the book's cosmology though. There is the Oracle, the Sage and numerous Helpers.
Do you have any models of those entities? I like the idea that the Sage is my true self that I communicate with using the book.
It had helped me tremendously so far. I'm very grounded in the now and very peaceful, emotionally speaking.

Edited March 26, 2019 by tsuki

[Zigzag Idiot]

I've been intrigued by the idea of the helpers moreso than the Sage. An uplifting idea from the Oracle that one can free an army of helpers to assist us when we are balanced and in harmony with the Cosmos.

This is from a previous post in my Journal;

,,,,,,,,,when the heart is awakened and purified.

Looking at the Cosmos through the I-CHING. This same inner process allows assistance from the "helpers" who are defined as individualized aspects of the Cosmic Consciousness and of nature that are neither humans nor Angels.

Carol Anthony claimed that divination revealed to her that the identity of the "helpers" are what's known today as the phenomenon of "Orbs". 

Activation of the helpers can only happen when we are in harmony with the Cosmos. In that sense, subservience is just as detrimental as arrogance. The helpers are activated by one's contact with the harmony of the inner truth of one's True Self.

Returning to the vocabulary of Esoteric Christianity, I correlate this harmony as one being in contact with awakened Conscience.

 

This short article may be helpful if anyone is following along;

Article 1. The Sage as our Cosmic Teacher by Carol and Hanna

© by Carol Anthony and Hanna Moog

   Carol’s experience of the Sage in the 1970’s was of an alive consciousness that wants to communicate with us. This took away for her the understanding that what we read in the written text of the book, is all we have for an oracle. It becomes apparent through its use that the I Ching is a Cosmic gift to humans. Its purpose is show people (1) the nature of the Cosmos as a system of Principles of Harmony, (2) our true human nature, and (3) the way we individually can return to harmony with these Cosmic Principles when we have lost our way. 

   The Sage, as part of this interaction, is a presence within us that uses the oracle to draw up from the depths of our nature, our innate knowledge of Cosmic truth. (This truth is contained in the DNA of every body cell.) The I Ching Hexagram 61, titled “Inner Truth,” refers to this source that is stored in our bodies, not in words, but in the form of feelings of what is harmonious and what is not. Thus, the Sage uses the I Ching to speak through its text, but the text itself is not the oracle.

   The Sage makes it clear, through the method we call the retrospective-three-coin-method, or “rtcm” (which will be described in our next article), that it does not teach us the handed down platitudes that have often been taken as ‘ancient wisdom.’ It rather discourages this kind of memorized mental approach by reaching into our own deepest inner truth to bring forth the answers that are already there. We find, in so doing, that our inner truth has been suppressed in favor of these platitudes and commandments. That is why, on finding the answer we need, we recognize that we “knew that” all along, but did not dare to trust it. Thus, we find that the Sage is all the time connecting us with a part of ourselves that has been repressed through conditioning.

   This process of reaching into the depths is described in Hexagram 48, “The Well,” which calls our inner truth “a clear, cold spring from which one can drink.” Often, we cannot access our inner truth because “there is mud in the well” in the form of fixed, preconceived ideas, fears, old grievances, and memories of wrongs done to us. When we drink from this mud, we are kept stalling. With the help of the I Ching text, the Sage not only wants to make us aware of this fact, it also offers us help to cleanse our inner well. Then we find that our inner truth is a gold mine containing everything we need to know.

   The more we work with the Sage and give it the necessary space in our mind, the more we realize that it wants to speak to us as a friend, not as a godlike figure that expects obeisance and punishes us when we make mistakes. On the contrary, the Sage wants to free us from ideas that are either grandiose, making us see ourselves as the center of the universe, or that inspire us with fear and awe, and make us see ourselves as small and insignificant. The ancient Greeks had an idea of the Sage when they spoke of “a tutelary spirit that accompanies each person lifelong.” They named it “genii,” root of the word “genius.” Writers have long called it “the muse.” For many artists, athletes, and inventors, it is an “elusive thing” that takes over in us when we give up relying on the “brilliance and ability of the thinking mind,” or the pure brawn of our bodies, to provide the success we seek.

[Zigzag Idiot]

3/26 reading

1'st hexagram 14 line 1

2nd hexagram 1