Hexagram 57 and 58
Hexagram 57
Like
thunder is the voice of heaven, wind is the voice of earth. Thunder tells about
laws, cycles and time, wind about dao, blueprints and karma.
Wind is the 'image' in a chicken egg which makes it grow into a chicken or a
hawk's egg to grow into a hawk. The chicken-seal, the hawk-seal. It is heredity,
predestination, evolution. One cannot see the wind, only its results.
Your 'seal' is your sense of responsibility. Towards a task assigned to you, but
also towards your own destination.
Xun is both receiving and bestowing a seal. For receiving it, one
has to be humble, yield to it. Bestowing seals is issuing commands, delegating
affairs, broadcasting.
The ‘picture’ of the hexagram name (the ideogram) is a stand with seals on it,
and a pair of hands.
The emperor gave one half of a jade tablet to a vassal, and kept the other half
himself. When the vassal had an audience with the emperor, he would hold up his
half of the tablet, as a sign that he had received his authority from the
emperor. More or less in the same way someone puts Ph D before his name, the
butcher has his certificate hanging in the shop, or the visitors of an
exhibition show their invitation, so they are allowed in. Or the seal on a ring,
used as a kind of signature. Signs that they are who they claim to be, a
hallmark of authenticity.
In a hexagram a seal necessarily has a wider meaning. It cannot be 1/64 of
universe and only refer to this half tablet. So it is the ‘meaning’ of the
tablet, carrying a seal, behaving according to your seal. It means you can be
trusted, because your deeds conform with who you are. Not because you are honest
in your words, or because you are nice in your actions, but because you are true
to yourself. A true criminal cannot be trusted in what he will do to you.. but
he is honest to his being a criminal. WYSIWYG..
So in an egg is a tiny unformed creature with the seal to become a chicken, in
your soul is a blueprint of who you are and where you are heading. If you fill
in your true destination, it will give you a sense of fulfilling your life’s
purpose.
In line 5 Geng day is mentioned, it is the day of metal. Metal can be formed,
but once cooled off, it is very hard. You shape your life and everything you do
in your own way, according to your seal. It seems as if it has little form when
you start, or along the road, but if you pour it into the mould of your seal,
you get in the end a quite indestructable life you can call yours. If you pour
it in a wrong form, it will cool off to a wrong life...
About 57 second and top line: seal assignment below the bed.
I have a new Yi
Jing, "The Essentials of
the Yi Jing" by Chung Wu. He
says under the bed means to kowtow so low, that one's head is lower than the bed
(a Chinese bed is something people use not only for sleeping, but also for
sitting on it. So a visitor is probably received before the bed). Being
given a seal 'below the bed' probably means to accept it with great reverence,
very humbly. And accepting it completely, without the slightest resistance,
without any ego interfering.
In the top line, "qualifications
and abilities"
translates 'zi fu': the
axe (fu) is not for fighting but for
cutting wood (and for
working soil?). Zi is
money; expenses, endowment;
natural ability, qualifications; record of service, capital, subsidize; support,
provide; supply.
It can be one word together:
zifu
is traveling expenses. Or it can be two words, zi and fu: losing one's abilities
(or money, qualification, support) and tools (or hack).
***
I had already combined the Yi Jing with Western astrology, with the Sabian Symbols. But it is of course important if it can also be combined with Chinese astrology. The following mail suddenly put me on the right track:
From a mail of dr. David Twicken: Today
(April 28, 2001) is a Geng Shen (Metal Monkey) day, the 57th day in the 60-day stem and
branch cycle. This day is an important day in Taoist energy and
spiritual cultivation; it is a double Metal day and has been used by
people to meditate or cultivate to "cut" through the previous
cycles difficulties, obstacles and challenges and prepare for the new
60-day cycle beginning in four days.
Traditionally, devotees stayed up the night before cultivating, bringing
in this new daily/cycle energy. In modern times it is a wonderful day to
spend some extra time "Cultivating" in whatever tradition one
practices. The effects will be enhanced by nature's energy cycle. (David
Twicken, www.chineseastrologynow.com
)
Hexagram 57, line 5 mentions Geng: before Geng 3 days, after Geng 3 days. I
decided to combine hex.57 with day 57 (3 days before new moon) and so on.
It made sense! Not everything was clear right away, but some things were
interesting. Hexagram 18 is 3 days after full moon, and there too 3 days is
mentioned.
[July 2020: maybe the start is full moon: ±Feb. 5. This reverses full and new moon above: 57 is 3 days after new moon (#54, beginning and end), #18 3 days after new moon (#15)]
In the Taoist I Ching (tr.Thomas Cleary) I found more evidence. At hex.57.5 the 3 days before new moon are mentioned, and at hex.18 the 3 days after full moon! (See hex. 17-18)
Page 212:
The
image of there being no beginning yet there being an end is as of the last three
days and the first three days of the lunar cycle. The last three days start on
the twenty-eighth of the lunar month, and first three days end on the third. On
the twenty-eighth, the slight yang fades in the north-east, till the light
finally becomes completely hidden on the thirtieth. At the new moon, the moon is
tinged with the light of the sun; this is concealing yang within yin. By the
third day, light like a wispy eyebrow appears in the west. The last three days
of waning represent obedience concealing positive energy; the first three days
of waxing represent obedience furthering positive energy.
The
path of spiritual alchemy first follows lowliness to deep attainment, using
flexibility and yielding, then follows the superior to self-realization,
completing firm strength. Including yang within yin, using yin within yang,
great and small are undamaged, completely balanced and correct, so the gold
elixir crystallizes. The advantage of obedience in strength is most great. This
is obedience using both strength and flexibility
Hexagram 58
Who has everything but has not love, he has nothing...
Exchange can be the greatest gift among people. Being open to the other,
listening, and really seeing the other, is love. Giving oneself, sharing one's
own life, is love.
In lines 1 and 2 harmony and being true lay the base. In 3 and 4 warnings:
expecting or discussing are not exchanging in a loving way, they lay demands on
the other. In line 5 a very different warning: don't be open to everyone, listen
to your intuition.
The top line: love extends beyond the borders of meeting, touching, living
together. It does not need the presence of the other in order to stay alive.
Even death cannot destroy love. It all depends on keeping the channels of
exchange open.
The range of exchange is huge. From a remark over the counter to things
which cut deep into your soul. Bringing deepest hate, or deepest love.