Oct 05 21
The Hierophant (reversed)
45. Gathering Together [Massing]
3. Difficulty at the Beginning
Petite Reading
You can’t do it all, and relatively speaking you can’t do that much. Therefore, the goal should be a maturity of being. That is, make sure you inform yourself properly (with patience and sharp discernment) whilst simultaneously developing the tenacity (the perseverance) to enact what you have learned. If you have a large-scale endeavor, keep in mind you will need other people — to have a “maturity of being” in a group is not easy; you will have to keep a minimal, laser focus on your goals.
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Hierophant card reversed. Upright the card is an intimation to consider going with the flow, that is advantage and growth is to come from alignment with established orders rather than combatting them. When the card is reversed (as it is here) the intimation is that you are being hemmed in by convention. This week consider going your own way — don’t hide your specificity, lead with it.
Our first hexagram this week is #45, Gathering Together (Massing). Here we have a theory for what makes humans bind together en masse. “Only collective moral force can unite the world. Such great times of unification will leave great achievements behind them.” But that’s not it, there is a warning and recommendation here: “Human woes usually come as a result of unexpected events against which we are not forearmed. If we are prepared, they can be prevented.” Before involving yourself in any large scale endeavors, make diversity of method and a flexibility of outcome, ever-present modes. There were two changes this week, of which the specific notes are: don’t lose your focus in a crowd, keep your eye to the moral leader and do this without guile and in a spirit of selflessness.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #3, Difficulty at the Beginning. Here we have a sort of ancient advocacy for learning to see the forest for the trees. The metaphoric image is that of thunder and clouds: “clouds and thunder are represented by definite outlines; this means that in the chaos of difficulty… order is already implicit.” So: “In order to find one’s place in the infinity of being, one must be able both to separate and to unite.”
You can’t do it all, and relatively speaking you can’t do that much. Therefore, the goal should be a maturity of being. That is, make sure you inform yourself properly (with patience and sharp discernment) whilst simultaneously developing the tenacity (the perseverance) to enact what you have learned. If you have a large-scale endeavor, keep in mind you will need other people — to have a “maturity of being” in a group is not easy; you will have to keep a minimal, laser focus on your goals.
Complete Reading
This week we pulled the Hierophant card reversed. Upright the card is an intimation to consider going with the flow, that is advantage and growth is to come from alignment with established orders rather than combatting them. When the card is reversed (as it is here) the intimation is that you are being hemmed in by convention. This week consider going your own way — don’t hide your specificity, lead with it.
Our first hexagram this week is #45, Gathering Together (Massing). Here we have a theory for what makes humans bind together en masse. “Only collective moral force can unite the world. Such great times of unification will leave great achievements behind them.” But that’s not it, there is a warning and recommendation here: “Human woes usually come as a result of unexpected events against which we are not forearmed. If we are prepared, they can be prevented.” Before involving yourself in any large scale endeavors, make diversity of method and a flexibility of outcome, ever-present modes. There were two changes this week, of which the specific notes are: don’t lose your focus in a crowd, keep your eye to the moral leader and do this without guile and in a spirit of selflessness.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #3, Difficulty at the Beginning. Here we have a sort of ancient advocacy for learning to see the forest for the trees. The metaphoric image is that of thunder and clouds: “clouds and thunder are represented by definite outlines; this means that in the chaos of difficulty… order is already implicit.” So: “In order to find one’s place in the infinity of being, one must be able both to separate and to unite.”