Sep 09 25
King of Pentacles
6. Conflict
64. Before Completion
These first few lines are the general aphoristic returns for the week. They are raw and uninterpreted; there to use how you’d like. (The specific readings follow.)
Question from “U.F.O.”: What about a rut? In our usage, a “rut” being a psychological valley, in which a person gets stuck, and can see no way out. Usually some wheel of addiction gets involved/established, as the continual self hatred of impotence needs an offset, some relief (usually one cheap and dirty and rut guaranteeing). So yes, what to do if you are the sewer king of overdraft charges (and mounting debt), or in some transcendentally tiring employ which leaves little energy for situational improvement, or a dark, stagnant relationship?
Oracle reply: A clarity of vision is necessary for enacting change. Often ruts involve a stinginess of vision; the negative end of an inability to compromise. “No compromise” is an illusion; one cannot do anything by themself — even a hermit needs water and air (which cannot be self-produced). So one must learn to recognize opportunities of collaboration. This starts by not demanding perfection but encouraging a kind of openness, a willingness to improvise. Ruts are rigidity. Personally, we suffer from depression (which ruts us); with the rising of its stifling walls is always a subtle recognition of general unwillingness; we don’t want to see the world outside of our own dark interpretation of it (it’s easier this way). Rigidity is suffering or death.
It is worth noting that the figure of the King of Pentacles depicts a personage in the opposite of a rut. A good omen. You can extricate yourself.
Complete Reading:
This week we pulled the King of Pentacles. Success in money type matters. Success in matters of material. Successful self confidence on the earthly plain.
Our first hexagram this week is #6, Conflict. “If a person is entangled in a conflict, their only salvation lies in being so clear–headed and inwardly strong that they are always ready to come to terms by meeting the opponent halfway. To carry on the conflict to the bitter end has evil effects even when one is in the right, because the enmity is then perpetuated.” What is more truthful than the condition of compromise? Topographies (both literally and symbolically) are simply too wide ranging for guaranteed fluidity — one always has to come to terms with situations. So yes, conflict is inevitable in life. As well, for any enterprise “to be successful they require concerted unity of forces” therefore it is unwise to proceed without respect and a mutuality of knowledge. If there is no dignity at the beginning of a collaboration do not proceed.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #64, Before Completion. This is the last hexagram of the I Ching, before it all repeats. It is a difficult reckoning of change. “If we wish to achieve an effect, we must first investigate the nature of the forces in question and ascertain their proper place. If we can bring these forces to bear in the right place, they will have the desired effect and completion will be achieved. But in order to handle external forces properly, we must above all arrive at the correct standpoint ourselves, for only from this vantage can we work correctly… Accordingly, in times before completion, deliberation and caution are the prerequisites of success.” “The conditions are difficult. The task is great and full of responsibility… it is nothing less than that of leading the world out of confusion back to order… .” What is the nature of your difficulty(?) — it is a serious internal question first. An additional note, though our entire existence has an external cause (like none of us asked to be born — we were conceived without consultation as it were) we develop as people in isolation. There may be confusion here that though the external world acts upon us, its effect happens in the isolation of our internal being (call it a soul, a consciousness, or what have you). Dig deep within for change — only then is powerful, nutritive outward expression effective.
- No condition is more truthful than that of compromise.
- If there is no dignity at the beginning of a collaboration it is unwise to proceed.
- To start to solve or start a relationship to a problem one must first consult the mirror.
Question from “U.F.O.”: What about a rut? In our usage, a “rut” being a psychological valley, in which a person gets stuck, and can see no way out. Usually some wheel of addiction gets involved/established, as the continual self hatred of impotence needs an offset, some relief (usually one cheap and dirty and rut guaranteeing). So yes, what to do if you are the sewer king of overdraft charges (and mounting debt), or in some transcendentally tiring employ which leaves little energy for situational improvement, or a dark, stagnant relationship?
Oracle reply: A clarity of vision is necessary for enacting change. Often ruts involve a stinginess of vision; the negative end of an inability to compromise. “No compromise” is an illusion; one cannot do anything by themself — even a hermit needs water and air (which cannot be self-produced). So one must learn to recognize opportunities of collaboration. This starts by not demanding perfection but encouraging a kind of openness, a willingness to improvise. Ruts are rigidity. Personally, we suffer from depression (which ruts us); with the rising of its stifling walls is always a subtle recognition of general unwillingness; we don’t want to see the world outside of our own dark interpretation of it (it’s easier this way). Rigidity is suffering or death.
It is worth noting that the figure of the King of Pentacles depicts a personage in the opposite of a rut. A good omen. You can extricate yourself.
Complete Reading:
This week we pulled the King of Pentacles. Success in money type matters. Success in matters of material. Successful self confidence on the earthly plain.
Our first hexagram this week is #6, Conflict. “If a person is entangled in a conflict, their only salvation lies in being so clear–headed and inwardly strong that they are always ready to come to terms by meeting the opponent halfway. To carry on the conflict to the bitter end has evil effects even when one is in the right, because the enmity is then perpetuated.” What is more truthful than the condition of compromise? Topographies (both literally and symbolically) are simply too wide ranging for guaranteed fluidity — one always has to come to terms with situations. So yes, conflict is inevitable in life. As well, for any enterprise “to be successful they require concerted unity of forces” therefore it is unwise to proceed without respect and a mutuality of knowledge. If there is no dignity at the beginning of a collaboration do not proceed.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #64, Before Completion. This is the last hexagram of the I Ching, before it all repeats. It is a difficult reckoning of change. “If we wish to achieve an effect, we must first investigate the nature of the forces in question and ascertain their proper place. If we can bring these forces to bear in the right place, they will have the desired effect and completion will be achieved. But in order to handle external forces properly, we must above all arrive at the correct standpoint ourselves, for only from this vantage can we work correctly… Accordingly, in times before completion, deliberation and caution are the prerequisites of success.” “The conditions are difficult. The task is great and full of responsibility… it is nothing less than that of leading the world out of confusion back to order… .” What is the nature of your difficulty(?) — it is a serious internal question first. An additional note, though our entire existence has an external cause (like none of us asked to be born — we were conceived without consultation as it were) we develop as people in isolation. There may be confusion here that though the external world acts upon us, its effect happens in the isolation of our internal being (call it a soul, a consciousness, or what have you). Dig deep within for change — only then is powerful, nutritive outward expression effective.