All times are not all times. Some stages or conditions are favorable, some middling, whilst others are outright hostile to one’s interests/goals. An intelligent person knows this (by “intelligent person” we mean someone transcendentally sensitive, self reproachful, and always striving for well-rounded awareness).

So if you are someone transcendentally sensitive, self reproachful, and always striving for well-rounded awareness, continue to be bold in the understanding of your conditions — really struggle to weigh your personal biases/preoccupations against the biases/preoccupations of the time you live in (or are going through). Interior and exterior situations most often don’t line up. It is important to bide your time and think long term.

The twist is that you have to make mistakes to actually see your biases and materialize your talents. Go out into the world mildly but sincerely and then return to your quarters to take stock. If you come home every time covered in tomatoes and shit — take a break and figure out another way.

Unintelligent people are presumptuous. Intelligent people know that they don’t know — their main quality is sensitivity.

(Side note: If you’ve managed to yoke the sphinxes; make it your life’s work to get to know them!!)



This week we “pulled” The Chariot. Tis true that fortune favors the bold, but it also rewards organization; this card is kind of a combo of both. A.E. Waite said that it is important to note that the Charioteer and their Chariot are pulled by sphinxes — that is, they have yoked / dominated / answered-successfully the riddle — a symbol of the “triumph of the mind.” Be brave and “intelligent” this week.

Our first hexagram this week is #9, The Taming Power of the Small. A great army can be hindered by the collapse of a small bridge in an insignificant town. A gigantic machine can be thoroughly wrecked by a tiny pin entering its works. It is not only hurricanes and tectonic shifts that have the power to prevent major advance — sometimes impediments are caused by little, unassuming things. If something bars your way this period, perhaps investigate basic, small causations. There were four changes this week (expect unevenness or even turbulence) the specific notes are as follows: be open to differing methods (retreat or advance), if your advance is not in harmony with the time — fall back, expectations of success are dangerous to ultimate goals, and the best (least destructive) truth is a non-partisan/disinterested truth.

Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #12, Standstill (Stagnation). Here we have a depiction of a time out of joint. The I Ching expresses that it is the pre-fall time; that typifies this type of condition (how apropos). “This hexagram is linked with the seventh month (August–September), when the year has passed its zenith and autumnal decay is setting in.” “When, owing to the influence of inferior people, mutual mistrust prevails in public life, fruitful activity is rendered impossible, because the fundaments are wrong. Therefore the intelligent people know what they must do under such circumstances; they do not allow themselves to be tempted by dazzling offers to take part in public activities. This would only expose them to danger, since they cannot assent to the meanness of the others. “They therefore hide their worth…” and “nevertheless remain faithful to their principles and withdraw into seclusion.”