Case Study
I recently participated in a family constellation about partnership. Later I asked the I Ching for the whole situation – from the initial constellation to the healed, resolved outcome. The answer I received was hexagram 49 – revolution (molting).
Li,the fire (lower trigram) represents the beginning of hexagram 49 – revolution. Li symbolizes clarity, the ability to separate the important from the unimportant, to distinguish between facts and to focus on the essential. Surprisingly, the entire focus of the family constellation shifted dramatically quite early in the process: while the initial question was about the prospects for a new partnership, the family constellation soon brought up as the most dominant issue several unresolved bereavements within the family.
In 49 – revolution Li evolves into Sun, the wind / tree (first core character), a trigram representing growth. When the seeker [the person who initiated the family constellation] says goodbye to the deceased out of newfound clarity all involved experience noticeable relief on many levels. The whole situation begins to unravel. By addressing and solving his family’s dominant mechanisms (blocking out grief, “substitute” partnerships), he personally grows into greater wholeness. And consequently Qian, the heaven (second core characters) emerges from Sun: by emancipating himself from old family patterns he gains greater personal integrity and develops a self that ideally has a high degree of clarity and coherence.
In its final upper trigram Dui, the lake hexagram 49 – revolution finally answers the seeker’s original question: What are the chances for a new partnership? Dui represents an opening to the outside, for the interplay of receiving (the outside / environment penetrates our core) and releasing (we express our inner self to the outside). Dui invites us to loosen the border around our self, around our core, and to let the outside penetrate us: an indispensable basis for any functioning (new) partnership.
When I first read I Ching hexagram 49 – revolution against the backdrop of the family constellation mentioned above, I was surprised to find that none of the hexagram’s trigrams explicitly addressed issues of grief and letting go (e.g. as through Gen, the mountain). It wasn’t until later that I realized that the inability to grieve was not the seeker’s problem at all; he was just copying an old family pattern that was completely unfounded for him.. The seeker’s real issues, however, were far more accurately characterized by Sun and Qian (i.e. personal growth / empowerment and wholeness of the personality).
Scope of Questions
- A user is temporarily separated from his partner. His question: “How can I get her back?” The I Ching’s answer is hexagram 49 – revolution (molting).
The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/787778.htm
