When I posted my I Ching Valentine yesterday, Trish MacGregor from Syncrosecrets asked me what hexagram would best represent Valentine’s day, I immediately thought of not necessarily the entire hexagram, but the fifth line of hexagram 13, Fellowship. In the Wilhelm version that quotes Confucius says, “Life leads the thoughtful person on a path of many windings. Now the course is checked, now it runs straight again. Here winged thoughts may pour freely forth in words, there the heavy burden of knowledge must be shut away in silence. But when two people are at one in their inmost hearts, they shatter even the strength of iron or of bronze, and when two people understand each other in their inmost hearts, their words are sweet and strong, like the fragrance of orchids.”
We cry in the frustration of separation. Our thoughts have met when our words said the opposite. Our hearts have heard what our ears have not. This truth breaks all walls exploding into the open with the joyous fragrance of our laughter.
That’s a pretty romantic statement. In my interpretation for line 5 of hexagram 13, I created the image above for that line.
But there is a double synchronicity for me here. The first one is that just by asking the I Ching a question, one is relying on the “chance” of that moment. I have lately been in the habit of throwing the coins every morning asking, “What is my I Ching Prescription for the day?” On the 14th, I didn’t ask about Valentine’s day but my usual general inquiry. I received Hexagram 55, Abundance, with the 4th line changing to hexagram 36. I like Abundance but I dread getting hexagram 36 – The darkening of the Light.
Like most hexagrams, even with the ones we deem good ones, there are usually lines within the whole that are not always what we want to deal with. On the other hand, in the more difficult hexagrams there are always words somewhere that are positive and uplifting. Nothing is ever all black or all white in the I Ching.
In the Wilhelm interpretation for the 4th line of Abundance he says, “The curtain is of such fullness that the polestars can be seen at noon. S/he meets his/her ruler who is of like kind. Good fortune.”
Well that sounds more like a valentine to me. But then there is still that hexagram 36 to think about.
But this is the far out synchronicity that happened later in the day when I saw Trish’s question posted here, asking what would the I Ching’s hexagram be for a Valentine? While I didn’t hesitate thinking about that 5th line in hexagram 13, I decided to throw the coins with respect to Trish’s question and asked what the I Ching thought appropriate for a Valentine. I received the exact same response that I got earlier in the day – hexagram 55 changing to hexagram 36. I don’t know what the math is for receiving the same hexagram with the same changing line twice – once for my day in general and again for the specific meaning for a valentine’s day. But it struck me as noteworthy and why I bother recording it here.
I can speculate about the significance of this I Ching chance response for myself personally. One has to always keep in mind that the responses one gets when asking the I Ching a question, the answer is always subjective. So it would be interesting if anyone else asks that question to see what the response is for them.
I looked up what I had written in my I Ching Prescriptions book. For line 5. I said, “You attract those of like mind by combining energy with wisdom of what you have learned.” Not too for from a valentine – especially within the whole of Abundance.
I would love to know what others think about this issue of the I Ching and Valentine’s day.
Tags: Art, Hexagram 13, I Ching, Questions, Synchronicity
