Jan 24 23
The Empress
14. Possession in Great Measure
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.)
“A.W.” asks — How do you approach the mid game and end game for enduring creative projects (in my case musical) as they pertain to your vision?
Unfortunately there are no easy answers for making it through to the end of artistic projects; it’s a holistic affair.
All returns point to making Creation (writ large) your only focus, and to make this narrowed effort be as most processes in non-human nature are, graceful and near-involuntary.
As an artist your absorption, your vision and your invention come before all else. This doesn’t mean you have to be a narcissistic monster, just that you can’t let phantom paths distract you. This also doesn’t mean that the artist’s path is a straight one. And since inspiration is mysterious and unreliable, patience and readiness are key. It may be awhile before you’re able to finish your projects with regularity — or you may realize that the current state of your output is its final form.
All of your projects should have strong personal conviction and be denuded of needless adornment (this might help in finishing).
Something to meditate on: the manner in which a tree becomes a tree or a bird becomes a bird is the way you should be making music (finished or otherwise).
Complete Reading
This week we pulled The Empress card. There is a line from a Dylan Thomas poem “…the force that through the green fuse drives the flower” — this is how we think of The Empress — the energy that drives creation. The appearance of this card pushes one to allow primordial creativity to drive them.
There was only one hexagram this week #14: Possession in Great Measure. Much of the I Ching regards the proper conduct for leaders — but if it happens that you are in charge of self only, the advice still applies, as one must order their own mind before external delegation. “All things come to the person who is modest and kind in a high position.” Such a person fosters “strength within” and “clarity and culture without.” Their power is “graceful” and “controlled.” To be in control of a team or the various parts of self, one has to be completely dedicated to the good of that team or selves; to lead one has to be a model and shaper of conduct — this is what is meant by “strength within” and “clarity and culture without.” If one is lazy, fragmented and selfish — establishing outer order and health will be impossible.
- be driven by creative forces
- creative power comes from inner strength and outward clarity
“A.W.” asks — How do you approach the mid game and end game for enduring creative projects (in my case musical) as they pertain to your vision?
Unfortunately there are no easy answers for making it through to the end of artistic projects; it’s a holistic affair.
All returns point to making Creation (writ large) your only focus, and to make this narrowed effort be as most processes in non-human nature are, graceful and near-involuntary.
As an artist your absorption, your vision and your invention come before all else. This doesn’t mean you have to be a narcissistic monster, just that you can’t let phantom paths distract you. This also doesn’t mean that the artist’s path is a straight one. And since inspiration is mysterious and unreliable, patience and readiness are key. It may be awhile before you’re able to finish your projects with regularity — or you may realize that the current state of your output is its final form.
All of your projects should have strong personal conviction and be denuded of needless adornment (this might help in finishing).
Something to meditate on: the manner in which a tree becomes a tree or a bird becomes a bird is the way you should be making music (finished or otherwise).
Complete Reading
This week we pulled The Empress card. There is a line from a Dylan Thomas poem “…the force that through the green fuse drives the flower” — this is how we think of The Empress — the energy that drives creation. The appearance of this card pushes one to allow primordial creativity to drive them.
There was only one hexagram this week #14: Possession in Great Measure. Much of the I Ching regards the proper conduct for leaders — but if it happens that you are in charge of self only, the advice still applies, as one must order their own mind before external delegation. “All things come to the person who is modest and kind in a high position.” Such a person fosters “strength within” and “clarity and culture without.” Their power is “graceful” and “controlled.” To be in control of a team or the various parts of self, one has to be completely dedicated to the good of that team or selves; to lead one has to be a model and shaper of conduct — this is what is meant by “strength within” and “clarity and culture without.” If one is lazy, fragmented and selfish — establishing outer order and health will be impossible.