Yi is a she!

  The Yi (Zhou Yi, I ching) is utterly feminine. Many women have been searching for the female part in this book which is so clearly written for and about men. The Junzi is a man, and almost all advice is for men. When women are mentioned, Yi talks about them but very seldom to them.

  Of course men did need the Yi. Emperors and warlords consulted the Yi. Not for male advice - they had good brains, clever enough to become a general. What they needed was feminine advice, how to intuit the movement of the enemy or game. The voice of intuition, of nature herself. They couldn't bring women along. All women were pregnant or nursing a baby or caring for a bunch of children or all of that at once.

  Most questions asked by women concern facts. The facts of love, emotions, children and relations, way of living. Usually they know about the emotional part. They want to add the rational part, logical decisions, how to deal with facts. Yi does answer, even though it is not her strong side. But even for extricating facts you need intuition to interpret the text.

  It is for me the main reason why the Yi fascinates me so much and does so since so many years. I am a brainy person. Well - not really, but I grew up in a way which emphasized thinking and neglected feeling. The only girl among 6 brothers, a rational father and a mother who was feminine enough but did not show feelings that much.

  Living by thinking caused a lot of trouble for me. Most of all inside. Depressions, lack of self-esteem, insecurity. I was lucky that I had a good intuition, despite my habit of listening more to my rational inner voice. I am a stubborn person, and it seems my intuition reflects that too. That tiny little voice always keeps nagging me, until I do what she wants - even against all my logic.

  Yi has always been a wonderful ally for her. When thinking gets me in dark places, I ask Yi, and I usually get an answer which agrees with the little voice of intuition. The interpretation is not always easy. Thinking often makes a mess of it. But when I am a bunch of emotions the answer becomes clear, with very few exceptions.

  I read somewhere that men need to concentrate on the exact question before consulting the Yi. Women need to "feel" what they need to know, and not concentrate on it. They get the best answers when multitasking.