The benefit of divination, despite what you or I may commonly think, has nothing to do with knowing the future and everything to do with understanding the cosmos. Divination is a funny thing, because sometimes you get these results where it’s like, “Either I’m gonna die or I’m gonna end up like a half immortalContinue reading “Live Tree or Die: This Week in Divination”
Tag Archives: I Ching
Be like grass. Or like water. Or both.
Note: While I’m working on getting out the long-awaited Episode 18, I thought it worthwhile to adapt certain portions of Episode 17’s liturgy into post format, for your enjoyment. If you wish to listen to the entire liturgy (which I recommend), you can find it here on SoundCloud or search Wizard of Monadnock on any podcastContinue reading “Be like grass. Or like water. Or both.”
The sunrise salvation party (XXXV)
One of the coolest things about the I Ching is the way it manages to so simply describe events and possibilities we know to exist, things we know to be real and yet simultaneously know to be intangible, unprovable, and even to some degree imaginary. Fortunately, the I Ching is not an insecure Scripture. ItContinue reading “The sunrise salvation party (XXXV)”
They Say Power is a Double-Edged Sword – What do you Think? (XXXIV)
After a most regrettable absence of several months, the time has come at long last to resume our long-running series taking a hexagram-by-hexagram look at the I Ching. As a fallible wizard, I struggle with change. On the one hand, I want everything to stay the same. For example, I’m still pissed off every time IContinue reading “They Say Power is a Double-Edged Sword – What do you Think? (XXXIV)”
XXXIII. When the Bad Guys Win
As we continue our exploration of the I Ching’s thematic second half, the progression as it now stands goes: dating then marriage then the bad guys win. To some of you, that will sound strange. To some of you (who may have been married before), it actually makes tons of sense. Either way, we totallyContinue reading “XXXIII. When the Bad Guys Win”
XXXII. Marriage in the Solar System
As we stated on Monday, this second “half” of the I Ching concerns social relationships, and we’re starting with some of the most basic. In the previous hexagram, we were looking at influence, while here we go a step forward to union. Previously, we were looking at dating and courtship, while here we are looking atContinue reading “XXXII. Marriage in the Solar System”
XXXI. Girlfriends and Boyfriends
Despite the fact that we are numerically not there yet, hexagram 31 represents within the text the start of the second half, or “Book Two.” Whereas the first half was primarily concerned with natural/cosmic phenomena, we are here told that the second half will concern social interaction and relationships. Accordingly, we begin with the imageContinue reading “XXXI. Girlfriends and Boyfriends”
30. The Lesson of the Torch
Notice that, as with the previous hexagram, we again have a doubled trigram. Whereas in hexagram 29, we are seeing the repetition of water, here we see the complementary repetition of fire. Water falls from the sky and then flows all over the earth to bring life, but fire does the opposite, rising up from theContinue reading “30. The Lesson of the Torch”
XXIX. Water is Great if you don’t Drown
Arriving at hexagram twenty-nine, we come across the first symbol since the first two that is comprised of a repeating trigram. In other words, the top three lines are the same as the bottom three. In this instance, the repeated trigram – one solid line between two broken lines – represents water, which is, of course,Continue reading “XXIX. Water is Great if you don’t Drown”
XXVIII. CAUGHT IN THE FLOOD
There’s no way of getting around it – here, we are presented with unmitigated disaster. This not just any old rough time or seasonal storm, either. We are told again and again throughout the text that this is also an important and significant time. In other words, wake up and pay attention, because absolutely everything,Continue reading “XXVIII. CAUGHT IN THE FLOOD”
Christopher J. DiLoreto 