Jan 03 23
Nine of Pentacles
13. Fellowship with Men
9. The Taming Power of the Small
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.)
- Recognize and utilize a culmination of experience and learning.
- Do not condemn one group to bolster another, as it is a short-term method (you are now smarter, more experienced than that).
- Be open towards larger social goals — dismiss selfishness. (You are not the world, but part of the world.)
- Promote healthy compromise among different parts of your self, your family, your team and/or the world.
- Embrace a situation of clear obstacles, as you can develop a powerful understanding, so as to make durable/nutritive preparations for eventual advances.
A new year is upon us — not that we conceive of calendars, and the like, to be indelible foundations. Though, we do understand these transcendental configurations of utility to be broadly held, therefore relatively implacable — thus, significantly determinant of future events/behaviors. So, with that in mind we ask, what is a good way to begin 2023?
All returns/responses from the oracle point to the closing of a process or cycle. There is clear indication that it is a time of culminated experience, to learn from what has passed — that, if one takes advantage of past trials and errors, one can clearly see what the difficulties are and therefore, behave in kind. There are no ways to cheaply avoid repitition of a cycle — it takes intelligence and openness — a disavowal of the selfishness of a single perspective.
Complete Reading:
This week we pulled the Nine of Pentacles (or Discs or Coins). “Nines” in the tarot point to a culmination of a particular suite’s meaning. The suite of Pentacles (or Discs or Coins) deal with material prospects, either of the body, finances or career. So in combination the Nine of Discs implies a security in some sort of material way — a foundational stability of which, subsequent wiser decisions can be made.
Our first hexagram this week is #13, Fellowship with Peoples. Here it is taken as a given that fellowship, that is, the mutual support and respect of peoples, is wanted. In recent times, with so much celebrated antagonism and divisiveness, for some, this may no longer be a given — but we (along with the I Ching) are taking the fellowship of people as a desired optimal state. To bring about mellifluously communal situations it is suggested that there needs to be a “yielding nature among many firm persons.” “A yielding nature.” “True fellowship among people must be based upon a concern that is universal. It is not the private interests of the individual that create lasting fellowship, but rather the goals of humanity. That is why it is said that fellowship with people in the open succeeds. If unity of this kind prevails, even difficult and dangerous tasks can be accomplished. But in order to bring about this sort of fellowship, a persevering and enlightened leader is needed—a person with clear, convincing, and inspiring aims and the strength to carry them out (inner clarity; outer strength).” There were two changes this week, of which the specific notes are: Do not condemn one group to unite another (it is a cheap method, thus non-lasting/short-term. Massive divisions between groups can actually be useful, in that extreme factions typically cause their own inner problems, making ultimate wars impossible.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #9, The Taming Power of the Small. “The hexagram presents a configuration of circumstances in which a strong element is temporarily held in leash by a weak element. It is only through gentleness that this can have a successful outcome.” But the implication here is that, since the situation is clear, it contains no real surprise; one can make preparations for action. That is, seeing clearly what holds one back (or informs one’s behavior by fear) one can take steps to move to a more favorable place. It is perhaps a time of difficulty (or being held in check) but not a time of darkness.
All returns/responses from the oracle point to the closing of a process or cycle. There is clear indication that it is a time of culminated experience, to learn from what has passed — that, if one takes advantage of past trials and errors, one can clearly see what the difficulties are and therefore, behave in kind. There are no ways to cheaply avoid repitition of a cycle — it takes intelligence and openness — a disavowal of the selfishness of a single perspective.
Complete Reading:
This week we pulled the Nine of Pentacles (or Discs or Coins). “Nines” in the tarot point to a culmination of a particular suite’s meaning. The suite of Pentacles (or Discs or Coins) deal with material prospects, either of the body, finances or career. So in combination the Nine of Discs implies a security in some sort of material way — a foundational stability of which, subsequent wiser decisions can be made.
Our first hexagram this week is #13, Fellowship with Peoples. Here it is taken as a given that fellowship, that is, the mutual support and respect of peoples, is wanted. In recent times, with so much celebrated antagonism and divisiveness, for some, this may no longer be a given — but we (along with the I Ching) are taking the fellowship of people as a desired optimal state. To bring about mellifluously communal situations it is suggested that there needs to be a “yielding nature among many firm persons.” “A yielding nature.” “True fellowship among people must be based upon a concern that is universal. It is not the private interests of the individual that create lasting fellowship, but rather the goals of humanity. That is why it is said that fellowship with people in the open succeeds. If unity of this kind prevails, even difficult and dangerous tasks can be accomplished. But in order to bring about this sort of fellowship, a persevering and enlightened leader is needed—a person with clear, convincing, and inspiring aims and the strength to carry them out (inner clarity; outer strength).” There were two changes this week, of which the specific notes are: Do not condemn one group to unite another (it is a cheap method, thus non-lasting/short-term. Massive divisions between groups can actually be useful, in that extreme factions typically cause their own inner problems, making ultimate wars impossible.
Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #9, The Taming Power of the Small. “The hexagram presents a configuration of circumstances in which a strong element is temporarily held in leash by a weak element. It is only through gentleness that this can have a successful outcome.” But the implication here is that, since the situation is clear, it contains no real surprise; one can make preparations for action. That is, seeing clearly what holds one back (or informs one’s behavior by fear) one can take steps to move to a more favorable place. It is perhaps a time of difficulty (or being held in check) but not a time of darkness.