Oct 24 23
Two of Pentacles (reversed)
34. The Power of the Great
43. Break-through (Resoluteness)
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.)
From “M.S.”: Though we find it quite difficult to employ ourself, we aspire to the adage — “cooler heads prevail.” Does the oracle have any advice for managing one’s emotions in situations where one risks being triggered into violent emotions or anger? (We believe it is deeply embarrassing to lose control and cause needless damage.)
Start with knowing you are not right, ever. No one is. Another way: the rightness that you may feel about your perspectiveis simply not complete. How could it be?
You may say, “How does this help me if someone is hurting me?” Only if you are an actual prisoner should you fight directly. In 99.9% of situations you should simply remove yourself.
Why are you in this triggering situation in the first place? Let’s say you had something terrible happen to you as a child (like us, we were molested) and the situation has caused you to put yourself in all sorts of self harming situations (like it does and has for us) — still, no one is coming to save you/us. We/you must develop a strategy.
Calm/cool comes from within, never from without. It is a long process of removal and reserve. You can do it! Really.
Complete Reading
This week we pulled The Two of Cups (reversed). Here we have a kind of stress test — can you keep your head in an extreme? “An extreme” by definition would also include a middle and other outer reaches. This is the key to surviving a radical circumstance — the knowledge that it isn’t the only circumstance.
Our first hexagram this week is #34, The Power of the Great. At times, an individual can come into great power. Such a situation comes with a (likely) counter-intuitive admonition: rather than a time of unbridled action, sudden extreme power should be a time of restraint. No one person is infallible, nor do single individuals contain multitudes of perspectives — so, momentum in a single direction will always cause more damage than not.
There was one change this week, of which the specific note is: if you have lived your life in defiance or opposition because real forces have been bearing down on you — be careful not to maintain a defiant stance when outward forces are in your favor and no longer oppositional.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #43, Break-through (Resoluteness). Resoluteness in the “good” is the only way to fight “evil.” Fighting/engaging enemies (or shit ideas) directly, that is fighting “blow for blow” will only develop endless enmity/confusion — the thing to do is commit to long term dignity. This is a tough route for sure — you’ll have to sustain painful blows, but there is no other way. You can’t ever fully vanquish a foe. Especially as the enemy, in some way, is always from inside ourselves and you can’t outpace or vanquish yourself. Also, don’t ignore enemies, manage them — “distribute while accumulating.”
- An extreme is only one aspect of a scenario — be careful not to take an outer limit as the whole.
- Great momentum in a single direction will always cause more damage than not.
- Rather than a time of unbridled action, sudden extreme power should be a time of restraint.
- No one person is infallible, nor do single individuals contain multitudes of perspectives.
- A single way of doing things is only good if nothing ever changes; but everything always changes.
- Distribute while accumulating.
- Do not fight enemies directly or blow for blow — if you do, endless enmity and confusion will result.
- A significant portion of any enemy is within.
From “M.S.”: Though we find it quite difficult to employ ourself, we aspire to the adage — “cooler heads prevail.” Does the oracle have any advice for managing one’s emotions in situations where one risks being triggered into violent emotions or anger? (We believe it is deeply embarrassing to lose control and cause needless damage.)
Start with knowing you are not right, ever. No one is. Another way: the rightness that you may feel about your perspectiveis simply not complete. How could it be?
You may say, “How does this help me if someone is hurting me?” Only if you are an actual prisoner should you fight directly. In 99.9% of situations you should simply remove yourself.
Why are you in this triggering situation in the first place? Let’s say you had something terrible happen to you as a child (like us, we were molested) and the situation has caused you to put yourself in all sorts of self harming situations (like it does and has for us) — still, no one is coming to save you/us. We/you must develop a strategy.
Calm/cool comes from within, never from without. It is a long process of removal and reserve. You can do it! Really.
Complete Reading
This week we pulled The Two of Cups (reversed). Here we have a kind of stress test — can you keep your head in an extreme? “An extreme” by definition would also include a middle and other outer reaches. This is the key to surviving a radical circumstance — the knowledge that it isn’t the only circumstance.
Our first hexagram this week is #34, The Power of the Great. At times, an individual can come into great power. Such a situation comes with a (likely) counter-intuitive admonition: rather than a time of unbridled action, sudden extreme power should be a time of restraint. No one person is infallible, nor do single individuals contain multitudes of perspectives — so, momentum in a single direction will always cause more damage than not.
There was one change this week, of which the specific note is: if you have lived your life in defiance or opposition because real forces have been bearing down on you — be careful not to maintain a defiant stance when outward forces are in your favor and no longer oppositional.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #43, Break-through (Resoluteness). Resoluteness in the “good” is the only way to fight “evil.” Fighting/engaging enemies (or shit ideas) directly, that is fighting “blow for blow” will only develop endless enmity/confusion — the thing to do is commit to long term dignity. This is a tough route for sure — you’ll have to sustain painful blows, but there is no other way. You can’t ever fully vanquish a foe. Especially as the enemy, in some way, is always from inside ourselves and you can’t outpace or vanquish yourself. Also, don’t ignore enemies, manage them — “distribute while accumulating.”