Jan 17 23
The Tower (reversed)
1. The Creative
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.)
There is a primordial pairing this week: foundational soundness with The Creative (writ large). It is assumed likely that those reading these words are involved in creative acts and endeavors. The following deals with this directly.
Creation is what it is ALL about, that is, coming into being. For lasting success, or general durability, there is nothing more important than a sound foundation. This is not just about having a great team, or idea(s), or solid financials — it’s bigger than those. It’s having a direct, clear, constant and joyful connection to the REASON why you are doing something. Your foundation, for all your creative acts, must be a clear vision of your purpose. Without a strong, positive rhythm of purpose your acts will be weaker, and likely, vague in execution.
But how do I find my purpose? By simplifying and “consciously casting out all that is inferior and degrading.”
Complete Reading
This week we pulled The Tower (reversed). When encountered upright, the indication is unavoidable disaster, like the poor foundation has finally failed. When inverted, as it comes to us here, the implication is to take stock of structural weaknesses — you can avoid disaster if you take pains to reinforce existing deficiencies, or, if at the beginning of an endeavor, do everything you can to make your base strong.
There were no changes this week so we only have a single hexagram: #1, The Creative. As we have indicated before this first hexagram is the ultimate statement of the I Ching; it is like a parent to all others. “The first hexagram is made up of six unbroken lines. These unbroken lines stand for the primal power, which is light–giving, active, strong, and of the spirit. The hexagram is consistently strong in character, and since it is without weakness, its essence is power or energy.” This primordial power comes from the “primal depths of the universe.” There are four words that are said to define the hexagram: “sublime, success, furthering, and perseverance”. These are paired with what are termed “the four cardinal virtues in humanity.”
sublimity → love (“sublimity” is the “fundamental principle” it “embraces all the other attributes” therefore it links love)
success → mores (“these regulate and organize expressions of love and thereby make them successful”)
furthering → justice (this “creates the conditions in which each receives that which accords to their being, that which is due to them and which constitutes their happiness”)
perseverance → wisdom (this “discerns the immutable laws of all that happens and can therefore bring about enduring conditions”)
- take stock of structural weaknesses
- take pains to reinforce existing deficiencies
- work to cast out all that is inferior and degrading
- develop a clear and strong rhythm of purpose
There is a primordial pairing this week: foundational soundness with The Creative (writ large). It is assumed likely that those reading these words are involved in creative acts and endeavors. The following deals with this directly.
Creation is what it is ALL about, that is, coming into being. For lasting success, or general durability, there is nothing more important than a sound foundation. This is not just about having a great team, or idea(s), or solid financials — it’s bigger than those. It’s having a direct, clear, constant and joyful connection to the REASON why you are doing something. Your foundation, for all your creative acts, must be a clear vision of your purpose. Without a strong, positive rhythm of purpose your acts will be weaker, and likely, vague in execution.
But how do I find my purpose? By simplifying and “consciously casting out all that is inferior and degrading.”
Complete Reading
This week we pulled The Tower (reversed). When encountered upright, the indication is unavoidable disaster, like the poor foundation has finally failed. When inverted, as it comes to us here, the implication is to take stock of structural weaknesses — you can avoid disaster if you take pains to reinforce existing deficiencies, or, if at the beginning of an endeavor, do everything you can to make your base strong.
There were no changes this week so we only have a single hexagram: #1, The Creative. As we have indicated before this first hexagram is the ultimate statement of the I Ching; it is like a parent to all others. “The first hexagram is made up of six unbroken lines. These unbroken lines stand for the primal power, which is light–giving, active, strong, and of the spirit. The hexagram is consistently strong in character, and since it is without weakness, its essence is power or energy.” This primordial power comes from the “primal depths of the universe.” There are four words that are said to define the hexagram: “sublime, success, furthering, and perseverance”. These are paired with what are termed “the four cardinal virtues in humanity.”
sublimity → love (“sublimity” is the “fundamental principle” it “embraces all the other attributes” therefore it links love)
success → mores (“these regulate and organize expressions of love and thereby make them successful”)
furthering → justice (this “creates the conditions in which each receives that which accords to their being, that which is due to them and which constitutes their happiness”)
perseverance → wisdom (this “discerns the immutable laws of all that happens and can therefore bring about enduring conditions”)