I Ching, Yijing or Zhou Yi
"Oracle of the moon": © 2000 LiSe
Yi Jing, Oracle of the Moon
The image of hexagram 44
Gòu, Birthing
What does it mean, 'inner' and 'outer trigram' (popup)
Xùn below Qián: influences are necessary or life would stagnate. But it depends which ones are beneficial and which ones are not. A very necessary one is the influence between male and female of any species. Or between an idea and your ability to create something with it. Without this attraction life would not be renewed. Hex.44 shows its result: a new child, new creation, new anything.
Ideogram of the hexagram name: the left part is a woman (a later addition), the right part is a woman giving birth. Just the right part, without the woman at left, is the character hòu: empress, (crown-)prince, king, ruler, to come after, behind, god of the earth. Meanings of Gòu: good, excellent, meet, run into, encounter, to pair off, copulate, to rival, match with, happen, occur, entertain, receive, treat(ment), luck, opportunity, meeting of minds, win confidence. "Good"... obviously all this when dread getting this hexagram is unneccessary.
The Image says: Everywhere under Heaven there is Wind: Encounter. The prince carries out his mandate, proclaiming it to the four regions.
The inner meeting of Xùn and Qián is your mandate: when the nature of your character aligns with the law of Heaven.
Hex.44 is the contrast of 24, returning to the core, recovering the essential.
Hex.44 is about new creation, being influenced or influencing others, spreading your species or your ideas.
Temptation is an interesting thing. It could bring ruin, or it might bring something life giving.
Everyone needs challenges, to awaken the senses, in order to feel fully alive. And who knows what may manifest from it? What 44 represents is that which is powerfully attractive to the ego. It can be a person, an event or something you have unwittingly put into train, which takes off out of control and far beyond your plan.
When we build a structure around us to protect us from 'wrong' and 'bad', we can build a solid life. But what we lose then, is our vulnerability to be freely influenced. That means we also lose our creativity and our receptivity to life's impulses. Gòu is dangerous and seductive, it can destroy, but it can also bring the birth of a new creation.