******************************************************Day 22,066 - 2012 0101Belov-ED Days - 4977SundayJames Oliver Smith, Jr.http://josjr.com/http://ichingreflections.com/I Ching imagesFu Hsi SequenceHexagram 64: Embracing, Nature, Earth, Creation, Responding01 --- --- Earth (Valley, Canyon, Plains, Desert, Plateau, Womb)02 --- --- Belly, Solar Plexus04 --- --- The Embracing, Creation, Substance, Foundation, Nature08 --- --- Earth (Valley, Canyon, Plains, Desert, Plateau, womb)16 --- --- Belly, Solar Plexus32 --- ---X The Embracing, Creation, Substance, Foundation, Naturechanging towardsHexagram 32: Returning, Repeating, Turning Back01 --- --- Thunder (Lightning, Storms, Viper)02 --- --- Belly, Solar Plexus04 --- --- The Embracing, Creation, Substance, Foundation, Nature08 --- --- Thunder (Lightning, Storms, Viper)16 --- --- Feet32 -------- The Arousal, Catalyst, Movement, Surprise, ActionDay 22,060 - Images from the I Ching: Earth [The Embracing] over Earth [The Embracing] (Hexagram 64 - Embracing, Nature, Earth, Creation, Responding) changing towards [.....x] Earth [The Embracing] over Thunder [The Arousing] (Hexagram 32 - Returning, Repeating, Turning Back ) -- Earth over Earth is a welcome image for me. It is an image of embracing, creation, substance and protection. With the Earth I feel safe, stable and centered. As a Leo I am all too familiar with Fire and all that comes with it: power, heat, clarity, vision and total consumption if energy through the use of that power. At the time of my birth Aquarius was rising, so I am familiar with the abyss that comes with Water. Last month (December 2011) I was surround by a lot of Fire, Water, Thunder and Wind, a stormy, agitated context. It was a month of struggle within me and around me. Challenges abounded and continue to press upon the horizon of this new year. I really needed the centering force of the Earth, and there it was: Earth. Within me and around me, Earth arose from the stalks and established a strong presence for this first day in the new year. It felt good to feel the Earth within my fingers, body, spirit and intellect.The Venetian Star (la mia Stella di Venezia), my daughter from the Universe, greeted me from Italy. The Contessa awakened and requested her espresso. At 60, waking up each morning genuinely does become a joyful experience. To be surrounded by friends who welcome me as I am is a plus. To see Earth over Earth unfolding within the stalks is a particularly special way to start any day, not to mention the first day of the Year and the birth day of the Contessa. So I am brought to think of things that center me as I stand upon the Earth. I think of the substance that enters my consciousness as I touch that which surrounds me and find comfort that it all came from the Earth ... like me.As my eyes lose their grip on the world, my fingers are revelling in their heightened significance, as are my ears, my tongue and my nostrils. The smells and touch and sounds and tastes of the Earth are everywhere and now there is very little vision to eclipse their potency, so I experience these new dimensions of the Earth with joy. I practice clicking my tongue when I walk down the hall or descend steps with my walking stick, seeking and embracing the "sense" of my location without vision ... My brain has discovered that there is so much to sample, even from the wind on my face that grazes the skin with subtle variance as it channels and skirts around buildings, trees, bus shelters and cars ... My nostrels seek the substance of that which inhabits the air. My tongue embraces the ensembles of flavors that greet me with each bite, sip, swig and swirl. In some ways, the images that form in my brain, behind the hazy curtain of my eyes are becoming richer, even visually (cognitively), because the brain adds the brilliant tapestry of hue and shade that the eyes are no longer capable of transmitting. My dreamscapes are becoming palpable.It is more than a little ironic that our human world of vision saturation is really only a glossy pop-up page of experience, compared to what can flow in from the other senses. so the presence of Earth over Earth is welcome as I "look" ahead into this year where all of the paths opening up to me are extending towards the Earth's horizons through terrain that is completely unfamiliar. Wherever these paths lead I am fully aware that I will never fully understand them visually, directly. I will have to feel my way through these new landscapes in much the same way that I extend fingers, elbows, hands and hips to discern my way around the house.There is one aging, changing line in this image of Earth over Earth, and that is in the most fundamental position: the first line, the innermost and significant of places. This changing line moves the inner Earth towards the inner Thunder, leaving the image of Earth over Thunder, an image of tremors within the Earth. The Earth moves in the presence of earthquakes and volcanos, nature's catalysts for change. So this first day of 2012 possesses the image of not only change, but also a turning point, for Earth over Thunder is the mid-point in the Fu Hsi sequence of the I Ching, step 32 in the 64 step sequence. It behaves in a manner similar to the Tarot's Wheel of Fortune. When the Wheel of Fortune spins it can change the course of many things in ways unexpected, so it is important to keep in mind that even though I may want things to be different than they are, there many ways that "different" may manifest in ways that are difficult.I will use the image of the stabilizing Earth as a centering point of concentration as I prepare for the unfolding passages of this new year and look forward to travelling with those sharing the path with me ... let the thunder roll within the the depths of the Earth ... il matto ...
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Day 22,065 - 2011 1231
Belov-ED Days - 4976
Saturday
James Oliver Smith, Jr.
http://josjr.com/
http://ichingreflections.com/
I Ching images
Fu Hsi Sequence
Hexagram 18: Revolution, Uprising, Renovation, Abolishing the Old
01 --- --- Lake (River, Lake, Well, Pond, sea, Ocean)
02 -------- Mouth
04 --------X The Joyful, Expression, Language, Gossip, Praise, Insults
08 --------X Fire (Sun, Lightning, Hearth)
16 --- --- Eyes
32 -------- The Clinging Fire, Clarity, Divination, Warmth, Burning
changing towards
Hexagram 30: Difficulty, Beginning
01 --- --- Lake (River, Pond, Sea, Ocean, Marsh, Swamp, Well)
02 -------- Mouth
04 --- --- The Joyfull, Expression, Language
08 --- --- Water (Fog, Mist, Rain, Floods, Haze)
16 -------- Ear
32 -------- The Abyss, Danger, Nourishment, Mystery
Day 22,060 - Images from the I Ching: Lake [The Joyful] over Fire [The Clarity] (Hexagram 18 - Revolution, Uprising, Renovation, Abolishing the Old) changing towards [..xx..] Water [The Abyss] over Thunder [The Arousing] (Hexagram 30 - Difficulty, Beginning) -- The Joyful Lake over the Clinging Fire is a recipe for turmoil ... Water can douse a Fire ... Fire can boil away Water ... They are opposites and equal in power and in their capacity to transform. This transformation can manifest itself in ways that are centering as wells as unsettling ... balance and unbalance ... comfort and discomfortable ... Without Water there would be no life that serves as the fuel for Fire ... Without Fire/Sun/Heat there would be no evaporation to fill clouds that release rain to nourish and sustain life ... The tension that arrives from this clash of opposing, but equal, forces is a revolutionary activity and it is through such dynamic powers that we encounter the most profound of changes.
This is the last day of this year ... Although the end and the beginning of a year are somewhat arbitrary, there is a very real point in which the Earth completes one rotation and begins another. We as humans have chosen the cycle of the Sun as our historical marker of time ... An interval we call a year ... In the same way we have chosen the Moon as a way to segment the Year ... Our languages, our bodies, our cities, our rituals and much of our personal behavior (and the Earth's behavior) are influenced by and calibrated with these two celestial entities. Water (the Moon) and Fire (the Sun) are the two mission critical elements in our life-sustaining ecosystems. Earth, Sky, Thunder, Wind, Mountain and Lake form the raw materials and contexts that Water and Fire act upon. Lakes (rivers, ponds, streams, seas, oceans, etcetera) contain and channel the force of Water and carve out the shape of everything thing we see. When we look across the Earth towards the horizon we are seeing the result of all this "revolution", "turmoil" and "imbalance" in our lives.
It is tempting to interpret such "change" and "disruption" as destructive, evil, catastrophic and the handiwork of some kind of evil/good dualism ... but I don't see the usefulness in this perspective ... To attribute an event we like as "good" implies that an event we don't like is "evil" ... Being human we want to believe that this "evil" and "good" activity is the byproduct of some action taken by some entity greater than us ... But if we look at all events in the Universe as simply an oscillation between balance and imbalance ... comfort and discomfort ... fruitful and unfruitful ... it is easier to look at all changes in the Universe as possessing both balance and imbalance ... depending on the context. A flood can be seen as destructive, but it is also nurturing and enriching to the soil, the Earth. Earthquakes and volcanoes can also be seen as destructive, but it is from this same activity within the Earth that we see the birth of Mountains. As a species, humans want to think that their work is "permanent" and "good" and think that anything that disrupts what they have created is "bad". But to the Universe we are hardly a spec in the sands of time or even a drop in the sea of life.
As we await the arrival of spring, now that the Sun(Fire) is rising once more, with the beginning of a new revolution it may be helpful to understand the origin of the word "revolution", with is simply a new beginning.
Within this image of Lake over Fire, there are two aging lines that will shift polarity ... This time they are both Yang/Seeking lines. One changing line takes the outer Lake in the direction of Water, the Abyss. The Other changing line shifts the Fire in the direction of Thunder ... This is Water over Thunder. It is the Abyss, danger and nourishment of outer Water over the Catalytic, Arousing force of the inner Thunder ... This image of Lake over Water moving in the direction of Water over Thunder is a most appripriate set of images for this transition from what _was_ to what _will be_ ... Revolution launches us into a new beginning, an encore year. We can celebrate this New Year because the Universe has allowed us to embark on it. The difficulty will be (as always) in the living of it. New paradigms. New Relationships. New skills. New words. New challenges. Not to mention maintaining all that is still there, unchanged.
For some reason, for me, I think that this coming year of adapting to decresing vision, problematic finances (no job), uncertain health care and many changes in how I procede with my "encore" life is somehow "worse" or more challenging than any year before. But a close inspection of my life would reveal that it has never been guaranteed that any particular year would be "balanced", "fruitful" or "enjoyable". So we find ourselves back in the mode of seeing the balance and imbalance that all of life flows through in the course of every year, every day, every second. We can't spend all of our time in the Past or we will fail to appreciate the present or prepare for the Future. We can't spend all of our time in the Present or we will forget the lessons of the Past as we Prepare for the Future. And we can't spend all of our time in the Future because the Future will depend on how well we have learned from the past and how we apply that learing in the Present.
So reflect on the year just passed, and all of the years before that. Celebrate the act of waking up and breathing this morning, in the Present. Then, breath deeply of the air that surrounds us and look towards the horizon where the Rain (Water) and Thunder are creating some serious havoc ... When the storm passes, there will be a freshness to the air (Sky) and a moist richness within the Earth that will fill our nostrils, frolic within our ears and inspire our souls ... il matto ...
http://ichingreflections.blogspot.com/
http://www.KindleBlog.josjr.com
http://www.IlMattoblog.josjr.com
http://www.LifeBlog.josjr.com
http://www.PerlBlog.josjr.com
http://www.WritingBlog.josjr.com
http://Addewid.blogspot.com
http://CyberPoetPlace.blogspot.com
http://IlMattoVero.blogspot.com
http://josjr69.blogspot.com
http://PerlCatalyst.blogspot.com
http://CyberKindle.blogspot.com
http://panspiritualist.blogspot.com/
http://www.CyberPoet.com
www.addewid.com
www.fracturedparadise.com
www.roseannlloyd.com
www.cyberkindle.com
www.perlcatalyst.com
www.ciriad.com
