28 – preponderance of the great

Scope of Questions


For hexagram 28 – Preponderance of the Great users shared various – in part dramatic – situations with me. What is the common denominator? Eventually, how important it is, in the darkest moment, to be centered, to recollect on oneself: “I, I, all I!”

Weiterlesen: 28 – preponderance of the great

29 – the abysmal

Scope of Questions

So far the following feedbacks regarding regarding hexagram 29 – the Abysmal:

  • Due to circumstances beyond her control a user lives in an international long distance relationship. Her libertarian partner does fine with it, for herself it is a “better-than-nothing”: Basically the situation does not work for her.
  • Another user reflects on a glassy sea over shoals as follows: “For me, a glassy sea brings the following to mind: keeping everything quiet. From the outside, everything looks calm, however, under the glassy surface there are enormous emotional shoals. These shoals are the ancient behavioral patterns that have been passed on from generation to generation for thousands of years. I myself, as part of this chain, am without any influence on it, my consciousness / body consciousness does not react at all to my wishes for liberation or change. The result is that I am actually incapable of action. I can rebel against the unwanted circumstances, but when my strength is used up, I am left with only resignation. In my case it’s a cycle that has been going on for more than 50 years now.”
  • The user’s landlady terminated his lease for personal use – after less than a year and a lot of money for renovation work. With three children and a dog, however, it is not easy to find an affordable replacement apartment. The lawyer advises calm. The question to the I Ching is, “Will there be a lawsuit and how will it turn out for us?”
  • One user asks: “How can I now find joy, peace and hope – as the last scion of a thorny family drama, impoverished, chronically exhausted, in inner emigration? Must the family always have the last word, may we not decide our own relationships and connections?”
    The I Ching answers with 29 – the abysmal.
  • One user asks: “Will I ever be able to open up to a partner or love again?”

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/878878.htm

30 – the clinging

Is it good for me – or is harmful? How can I find out? The easiest method is probably: to try it out. But before marching off we should carefully examine the whole situation. Nothing is ever so new to us that we have no prior experience at all. What do we already know? What is the situation’s background? Well-being? Stomach ache?

Weiterlesen: 30 – the clinging

31 – influence

And now a short recipe for… happiness! 1. Briefly take stock and examine what may be an unnecessary burden, blocking your forces and as a result weakening. Let go all of it! 2. This releases new energies are and off you go…. Without any active involvement from your side, something starts happening: unstoppably, relentlessly, pushing out from your own core. Like a caterpillar inside the cocoon turning into a butterfly, invisibly following its own perfect pathway.

Weiterlesen: 31 – influence

32 – duration

Being truthful – that is a big word. How to get there? In many small steps, one after the other, until eventually one day we arrive: at self-centeredness. One with ourselves. Initially you may perceive your inner truth only vaguely. But by and by it intensifies. And one day you will start to express it. To the environment. Bravely. Uncensored.

Weiterlesen: 32 – duration

35 – progress

Scope of Questions

Regarding hexagram 35 – progress I received the following inquiries:

  • A user asks: “If I won the jackpot this week: How do I deal with the all that money?”
  • Another user asks: “What kind of approach / working method is best suitable for my artistic work?”
  • Another user wants to know what to expected “in terms of love, career and [his] life as a whole” in the upcoming year.
  • One user receives hexagram 35 – progress as a comment to his situation which he describes as follows: “I am heartbroken, financially broken and in deep depression. I am in love with NR, but she left me for no good reason.”
Weiterlesen: 35 – progress

36 – darkening of the light

Scope of Questions

  • A user describes her situation as follows: “I feel lots of love for the children, the love for my partner, however, is gone. I wish it was different, but this is as things are now. I feel a great sense of duty towards my family.” Regarding this situation the user asks the following question: “How to proceed?” The I Ching responds with hexagram 36 – darkening of the light.
  • A user asks the I Ging: “What does she want me to do?”
  • One user asks: “What is the cause of the agonizing ringing in my ears? What can I do to deal with it better or can it possibly go away completely?” She writes that it is particularly bad when she is alone in her flat. She reacts very strongly to her environment and wonders which buttons are being pressed. Is it the feeling of abandonment? Is it the feeling of abandonment in the presence of another person?
Weiterlesen: 36 – darkening of the light

37 – the clan

Scope of Questions

I received the following inquiry regarding hexagram 37 – the Clan:

  • “I have been trying to start a venture. I have done research and know the field. But it all goes slow. I just keep feeling that something is not right. I am looking for a way to move forward.”
  • One user describes her situation and her question to the I Ching as follows: “I’ve had a new neighbour in the immediate vicinity for some time now, who is very loud, likes to party and is sociable. The situation is a real challenge for me because I overhear almost everything, friends, phone calls, parties, pets. Five months after she moved in, I tried to talk to her, but she reacted very angrily and said she didn’t want to restrict herself. My question to the I Ching is therefore: ‘Was it right to speak to her and what should I do now?'”
    The I Ching’s answer is hexagram 37 – the Clan, that later develops into hexagram 30 – the clinging.

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/787877.htm

38 – opposition

…and I return to the world: my (re-)birth!

What reactions do I get? What are the environment’s responses? Am I received with with open arms, listened to carefully? Or does nobody really care about what I have to say, preferring the old “me”? And, how do I respond? No, definitely not retelling the old, pleasing stories. But: my true story. Anything else would result in a false life and we know: there is no right life amidst wrongs.

Weiterlesen: 38 – opposition

39 – obstruction

Scope of Questions

A user suffers from not having any real contact with people. She asks the I Ching: “What will arise for me from keeping a dream diary? I do have the impression that it will work for me – and that perhaps it will even help me to bridge stagnation and isolation.” The idea of possibly publishing her diary and thereby accepting her life as it is has something redeeming, liberating for her.

Weiterlesen: 39 – obstruction

40 – deliverance

Scope of Questions

Sometimes unexpected twists arise from what initially gave us uneasy feelings. Especially when we examine ambiguous emotional states with a clear head: are these gut feelings actually related to the current situation, to the here-and-now? A cool head may bring liberation. And gut feelings may cause avalanches. In any direction.

I received the following comments regarding hexagram 40 – Deliverance:

Weiterlesen: 40 – deliverance

41 – decrease

Scope of Questions

So far I received various questions regarding hexagram 41 – decrease:

  • A user asks: “Was it just my own thought … or did I really hear his voice?”*
  • Another user would like to buy a nice condominium, but is not yet sure if he should do so. His question to the I Ching: “What happens if I buy the condo?”
  • One user describes himself as a person full of mental blockades. However, these began to loosen up recently. His question now to the I Ching is: “How do I get closer to a new professional vision?”
  • A user asks: “How can I fulfill my life path/soul path?”
Weiterlesen: 41 – decrease

42 – increase

Scope of Questions

In the context of hexagram 42 – Increase users share the following concerns with me:

  • A user analyzes his current situation as follows: “Nothing is at stake and it was not an ego-driven decision of my will that made me come here.” This results in his question: “If nothing is at stake: How can I live here and now in the most pleasant way?”
  • Another user asks: “Shall I build my consulting activities on the I Ching and use the hexagrams?”
  • A user asks: “After a long search, a friend told me that a room will become available at her place. I accepted. But then she offered that we could also look for something new together. My question to the I Ching is: ‘Should I move in with my friend?'”
  • One user asks: “What situation am I in at the moment and what will help me?”
  • A user asks: “Does S. still love me?”

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/788877.htm

43 – break-through

“I, I, all I!” – all one with myself for a moment. All centered, undisturbed by the world’s demands. This is my moment for taking a deep breath. My moment to be just by myself… How does it feel, this, my innermost circle? What hides here, deep within my heart? Secret thoughts? Heartfelt wishes? Desirable objectives, life plans that I usually keep to myself?

Weiterlesen: 43 – break-through

45 – gathering together

Scope of Questions

  •  A user asks what exactly is meant by “lesson learned” in contemporary interpretation. His personal life situation: paradisaical abundance, tempting offers – and he immediately would like to accept everything. His question to the I Ching is: “What should I do?”
  • A user describes her situation as follows: “I am very interested in a man, who is – unfortunately – quite prominent. However, I would like to meet him.”
  •  A user asks the I Ching: “What can I do to calm down and stay focused?” Her financial situation scares her, makes her freeze up and prevents her from doing things and getting things done. She would like to better prepare and communicate her offers so that her products are noticed and bought by as many people as possible. Secretly she knows that she has treasures just waiting to be shared with the world.
  • An other user asks: “Should I take up painting art professionally to earn a living?“ And about his situation: “I am trying to find my way professionally after a long period of unemployment, following a high stress, executive position from which I was terminated without cause. My mother was a professional artist, who died right after I lost my job. I grew up working with her and am very knowledgeable about art, own her equipment and materials, and used to do art when I was much younger.“
  • One user asked the I Ching where he was in his life and career and what he need to do next/focus on. Recently he quit his job and drastically changed careers, starting his own business and adjusting to a very different life.
  • A user has conversations with her partner in which she clearly discloses her emotional needs. She asks the I Ching whether the other person even understands what she is concerned about and whether these conversations are more likely to strengthen or end the relationship. The the I Ching’s answer for her is hexagram 45 – gathering together, which then develops into hexagram 47 – oppression. Apparently a decision has to be made. And she gradually asks herself where her own emotional needs are coming from at heart. She also realizes what relationship means to her, namely together, complementary, emotionally involved – but by no means oppression. The partners’ respective basic needs should match, otherwise the relationship should be left alone.
Weiterlesen: 45 – gathering together

46 – pushing upward

Scope of Questions

Several users describe situations and questions regarding Hexagram 46 – Pushing Upward:

  • One user describes his situation as follows: “In my family, it is all about success and competition. And I always was the loser, the problem. On the occasion of his new beginning and moving into his own, new apartment, he asks the following question: “Under what star will I be living in this apartment?”
  • A user writes: “About a year ago I met a man, who, like me, lives in a relationship. We understood each other extremely well and decided to be Platonic friends. But we both fell in love with each other. We were so naive..
    My mind tells me: give him up! But it is hard to let somebody go you like so much. It all starts to hurt me.”
  • One user feels almost like pregnant with lots of different information which want to be put together into a meaningful whole. Her question to the I Ching: “How can this happen?”
  •  Another user asks: “There is a lot of bullying at my place of work, even nice colleagues are affected. What should I do?”
  • A user asks the following question: “How can I act towards and with my art, get into a relationship with it?“ Again and again he found himself in conflict with his self and his art. How should he present himself and his art to the outside world without being identified exclusively through it or identifying himself with it too much? During the past years this dichotomy became so bad that he literally suffered from fear and panic attacks: of the expectations of others – and of his own expectations. He could make art only under immense inner pressure and in the meantime gained the insight that right at the very center of his creativity lies his worst (old) injury. All this stands in his way and hinders practicing his art freely and easily.
  • One user asks, “Is my boyfriend cheating on me?”
  • One user describes her situation as follows: “I am currently being harshly bullied out of work and in return I am trying to slowly detach myself, I have sent out job applications and hope to be accepted.”

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/877888.htm

47 – oppression

Scope of Questions

Here some questions and also a very individual interpretation of hexagram 47 – Oppression:

  • “How well developed is my ability to have relationships?”
  • “Why is my own life, my urge for self expression, so massively blocked by external needs this year? How can I resolve the conflict?

When working with hexagram 47 – Oppression the user developed his reading of the hexagram which I reproduce here:

Weiterlesen: 47 – oppression

48 – the well

Scope of Questions

  • A user asks the I Ching about his entrepreneurial orientation and several times (!) he receives hexagram 48 – the Well as an answer. More precisely his question refers to the criteria by which he should make future professional and business decisions. Should he concentrate on more conventional criteria (security, pay) or rather on his personal beliefs (ethics, philosophy) and interests (development, innovation)?
  • One user asks: “Will I have a relationship with my first lover?”
  • A user asks: “Why is it always me who listens and who gives – without ever being listened to, without getting anything myself?”
  • One user asks: “Will my partner find his way back to me after the separation and can I be a positive part of his future project? Because so far my strengths have not been recognized and I don’t feel integrated. Do I need to take more initiative or let go?”
Weiterlesen: 48 – the well

51 – arousing

Scope of Questions

  • A user has recently been promoted, i.e. internally ascended to a higher position. But he does not get along with the new challenge: he feels not being taken seriously by colleagues and employees. His question to the I Ching: “How should I conduct myself?”
  • A user asks: “How can I resolve my unconscious fears and adjustment tendencies and live a truly independent and unsuited life?”
  • A user has sent work abroad and asks if at all, and if so, what kind of reaction he can expect: “Is now something coming into motion?”
  • A user constantly experiences conflict situations with his partner, with issues being discussed that have not been right for a long time. There are no other conversations than that. He is faced with the question – and he asks it to the I Ching – whether the relationship has ended.

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/788788.htm

52 – keeping still

Scope of Questions

I received a variety of questions regarding hexagram 52 – keeping still:

  • A user consults the I Ching with the following concern: “How can I get to work independently in my profession?” She adds: “This year I attended a professional training. Ever since I play with the idea of working independently, self-employed, to develop a new supporting leg. The professional training’s speaker has really impressed me a lot. And anyway, for some time now I feel like trying out some new methods and professional approaches.” The I Ching replies with hexagram 52 – keeping still.
  • Another user asks, “May I heal with Reiki and alternative methods?” The user works as a butcher, his learned profession, but this becomes more and more a burden, especially because this environment does not share his spiritual interests. For more than 15 years now he has been intensively engaged with Reiki and has great respect for this kind of work. Hence his reserved question whether he may help others with Reiki.
  • Another user receives  hexagram 52 – keeping still as a comment to his situation: “I find myself in a hopeless situation. Nothing is possible!”
  • A user asks: “What is the best way to stop smoking?” The advice of the I Ching: hexagram 52 – keeping still.
  • One user is afraid to quit her job (and thus a stable income) with no prospect of a new one. The job market is difficult. However, she has an upcoming interview with a 25 percent chance because she is one of four applicants in the second round. She is very interested in this new job.
  • One user asks: “What is relevant in the current situation in relation to my partner?”
  • A user writes: “Today I was once again impressed by the depth of this site and am currently digesting the story about the cook/oxen. Very exciting – thank you!”
Weiterlesen: 52 – keeping still

53 – development

Scope of Questions

  • A user writes: “The development was sketched out, but I refused to see it. My inability to have a healthy relationship let me only see myself, never community. Now there is this gap, I’m all alone.
    Actually there has been a gap since quite some time.”
  • A user: “We have fallen in love with each other, but he remains at a distance. What exactly does he want from me? Will we have a common future?”
  • Another user: “I do not know what to do. My husband has no interest in me anymore.”
  • A user describes his situation as follows: “My partner went to her homeland for a one-month holidays. Alone as I am now, I feel lost. My reason to come back from abroad to my homeland and to paralyze my doctorate studies was to be with her. And now she is far away from me. By other side, I feel that, if I do not define or find what I want to do (my career), I cannot go back. I feel fear. My question to the I Ching: What should I know?”*
  • A user asks: “How can I defeat the inner and outer demons (especially the inner ones) once and for all so that I no longer harm myself and others?”
  • A user spontaneously proposed to his partner on the phone. He then asked the I Ching what it could tell him about it. The answer: Hexagram 53 – the development.
  • One user has the following question for the I Ching: “Does the man I love also love me?” So far, the relationship has mainly taken place in her dreams, in reality there is silence.
  • A user asks: “Where is H. at the moment, how is she?”
Weiterlesen: 53 – development

54 – the marrying maiden

Scope of Questions

The Marrying Maiden – what a programmatic title! Although hexagram  54 – The Marrying Maiden most probably speaks about beginnings (beyond partnership!) in general, I have received the corresponding request:

  •  A user asks: “What is the current state of our connection: Will we have a relationship?”
  • One user describes her situation as follows: “I’ve been in a relationship for seven years now. We are opposites, we are both dominant, we are no strangers to arguments… Nevertheless, we always find our way back to each other and the topic of marriage has been on the table for a long time. My question to the I Ching: ‘How should I behave in this partnership, which I often feel is a struggle?'”

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/778788.htm

55 – abundance

Scope of Questions

  • A user asks the I Ching the following question: “How should I deal with my lack of jobs – and the corresponding low income? Is there maybe something good about the situation?” The I Ching’s answer is hexagram 55 – abundance. A wonderful response to a question which relates to scarcity…
  • A user writes: “Two weeks ago I decided to separate from my wife after 13 years of marriage. My question for the I Ching is, ‘What situation am I in?’”
  • A user asks: “My only son is leaving the house. I am currently not working. How should I deal with the future emptiness?”
  • A user asks how his professional situation will develop for him.
  • A user wants to buy and renovate an old building in Sicily. However, everything is delayed while she lives in her mobile home and waits, waits, waits. She writes: “Basically, it looks as if what we have planned won’t work anyway. Hence the question to the I Ching: ‘What can you tell me about the problems with the purchase?'”
  • One user asks: “Is he just a friend to me or more of a future partner?”

Some Reflections

LIcht am Ende des Tunnels
Light at the end of the tunnel

The last inquiry regarding hexagram 55 – abundance, the oil mill in Italy, was sent in recently. And at about the same time, on a walk, I came across an image that I find somehow fitting: Light at the end of the tunnel.
What I like about this image is that the tunnel itself is pretty. But exactly that is what you lose sight of when you only focus on the end of the tunnel, that single point, the problem. Yet the surroundings are full of beauty. And probably also full of alternative solutions.
Perhaps this is what is meant by abundance (in the hexagrams name): All the possible solutions that actually exist – but for which one is blind as long as one’s focus is exclusively on the problem.

Case Study

Hexagram 55 – abundance begins of with Li, representing clear discernment. In acupuncture functional circuit of the small intestine is associated with this function and it is described as follows:

How does the heart gain such clarity and pioneering influence? Only through an entity that is able to discern between important and unimportant, to sort out what is essential and to put only the purest [substance] at the heart’s disposal. This function of the organism is attributed to the small intestine…
The small intestine, alchemist of the interior… Discernment is needed on all levels! Sorting out intellectually, differentiating facts, clarifying relationships and… feelings – all this falls under the responsibilities of the small intestine… This is why mental health is associated with the small intestine as well…

During our conversation I consequently I ask the user questions like: What exactly is the problem that led you to consult the I Ching? To what extent is your perception of scarcity actually true? Is your job situation really that bad? And what is your general financial outlook?
My inquiries bring up that she has a few small jobs, but not too many. Secretly, however, she sees this situation almost as a blessing, because currently she is intensively and with great joy engaged in a non-profit project – which certainly would not be possible if she had more “real” work. Financially, she has enough savings to make ends meet, although she would prefer not to touch her reserves and keep them for some ominous future (an attitude she was brought up with but gradually starts to feel doubtful about).
Clarity Bears Growth shows us here how an honest inventory may open up entirely new perspectives for dealing with a given situation. Originally the user was saddened because she did not receive what she believed to be wanting: more jobs. What she was given were not jobs but enough time for her non-profit work – without any real financial worries.
Admittedly, in our meritocracy it is an unusual attitude to use our own work force for charitable goals while living off savings. It’s definitely a new and unusual way, which certainly feels provocative to some people. The judgment of hexagram 55 says: Be not sad. Be like the sun at midday. This phrase seems to indicate that sometimes it is appropriate to not conform to others and not behave like everybody. In some situations it is advisable to make own decisions and to take new directions.
Step 2 (second core character) is Dui, the lake, a sign which refers to our connection with the environment and to our attentiveness towards the echoes of our actions. At this stage of development we are confronted with questions like: What exactly is reflected back to me through my environment (what is it really – not: what do I assume / am afraid of to get as a feedback!). The user’s clear answer is: Yes, she has less money available, but she feels very happy and fulfilled in her daily life. And contrary to her expectations she actually receives little criticism but is appreciated and supported.
Maybe that’s a good attitude for her to assume in the near future: to move forward with particular care and attention on this new path and to question again and again how she really feels – and what exactly it reflected to her through the environment.
We all are threads in the collective fabric of life: when one thread changes, it also affects the surrounding tissue. Quite often these changes are very subtle – but they can be perceived if we look really carefully at your environment.
In hexagram 55 – abundance the initial clarity finally becomes Zhen, clear determination: that which has slowly and perhaps even secretly grown will finally push outside, will become visible to all through determined action.

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/787788.htm

56 – the wanderer

Scope of Questions

I received the following inquiry regarding hexagram 56 – the Wanderer:

  • The user’s question is: “What I can do to enjoy my life?”
    She describes her overall situation as follows: “I cannot bear disharmony with other people, it paralyzes my life force and makes me feel deeply depresses. At the same time I feel guilty and responsible for the situation. Therefore, after discord, I’m always the one who takes the first step, a pattern I follow since my childhood. I would really love to develop something like self love.”
  • One user writes: “I am self-employed as a parent coach. However, the business is not going well yet. My question to the I Ching: ‘Am I on the right track? Should I rethink my target group?'”

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/887787.htm

57 – the gentle

Scope of Questions
  • A user writes: “I can’t go on, the situation is draining me, but fighting against it makes me even more tired and exhausted”. His question to the I Ching: “Is the attitude I agree, the answer?” The I Ching’s answer is 57 – the gentle.
  • A user asks, “How should I deal with the impulses, how do I center, what are my real intentions?”
  • A user asks, “Should I make a clear cut and work for a foundation?” Currently he is employed by an exploitative and inhumanly profit-oriented company, which he can hardly stand any more. Actually, his decision is made, now he hopes that everything will work out.
  • One user writes: “I had an intense secret love affair with lots of stop-and-go for a year and a half, but then my partner ended it unexpectedly. And now, after a long and bitter time, he has contacted me with a message that should actually make me feel confident. Nevertheless, I’m in doubt as to whether I should respond. He has refused to answer me for a long time and I would really like to ask him a few questions. I like the image that the I Ching gave me as an answer: the gentle. I would like to be with a person who treats me gently and considerately. I miss that.”

Case Study
Weiterlesen: 57 – the gentle