Insight series: The Yi Jing

This past week I spent four days in an intensive Yi Jing class. It was a crash course in the subject that is the basis for all Chinese metaphysics. It’s eight trigrams (series of three line), that combine together to form a hexagram (a series of six lines) Basically, it’s a bunch of lines that tells you cool stuff. It used to be done with coins landing on heads or tails, for ancient Chinese divination, the practice and knowledge is still carried out today. We used a Yi Jing deck of cards. What I didn’t expect, is the whole trip I would experience a series of repeating patterns and synchronicities, but as many of you know when you are open to this universal energy you can find yourself feeling like you live in the Matrix. To start off we were told to loosen up & using the Yi Jing decks and were told to pull out a card for our neighbor. I think i asked how to further my business this year & The first card I got that day was “Marsh” which is two of the same element (metal) , it represents connection, communication and networking etc. I wrote this down and took it into account, but it ended up being a theme for the rest of the week.

The question:

One of first thing we learned was to ask the Yi Ching a question it had to be a good one. If you ask a frivolous question you’ll get a frivolous answer. So we needed to ask a good insightful question. Again, we were asked to draw for our neighbor. I had the perfect question! In my most Buddha, Zen way i could i asked it... “How can I effectively communicate with my husband? ” Totally selfless and ego free right! Pat myself in the back! Total separation from ego, i achieved enlightenment to ask this question. A dove flew down from heaven and picked a card from the deck I got... “earth” wait.. WTF?! if anyone’s ever learned about the Yin Jing they automatically know earth is a crap card. Having all Yin lines therefore all negative or bad in the situation. I felt like crying because I thought it meant there’s nothing I can do! Our teacher Iverson asked if anyone wanted their card looked at. I raised my hand I told him I didn’t know what to think. I repeated my enlightened question to him which he replied something along the lines of I just wanted to talk and make my husband listen. I tried to explain that to me communication meant it worked both ways but he called me on my selfish question. I considered his statement. He then told the class while generally considered negative, “Earth” can also be attributed to nurturing and the motherly figure, think Mother Nature. Because all the lines were yin representing the female, it meant I could be more nurturing towards my husband. I felt better, I can except that because I’m nurturing AF! Cool, my feelings of impending doom over the complete breakdown of communication with my husband (which I concocted entirely in my mind in that moment) had passed.

The insights: While going over the attributes of each of the 64 hexagrams The one that’s stuck out to me the most was hexagram 61 “Sincerity”. That attributes of this hexagram are two faces, facing each other it represents a young man and a young woman forming a true connection, acceptance without judgment and true happiness. Iverson explained to us the difference between communication and connection. How you can talk at someone all you want but the relationship is formed when there’s a true connection. And that doesn’t always come through communication. When connection is formed, understanding & communication follow. It’s then for me that it clicked that I still asked the wrong question! I should really have asked “How can i connect with my husband?” Its all about the connection before communication. Throughout the rest of the class that pesky “Marsh” card and the metal element kept popping up on me. Again “Marsh” representing connection. I got the point.

The Yi Jing: The universal power that is the Yi Jing seriously will mess with you. We did an exercise where he picked 3 objects, and we had to guess which one he picked, i went off the visual queue i thought was right and decided the answer was the cup because teh hexagram looked like a cup. I was wrong. He explained that it was a visual BUT the way I was looking at it was wrong. No biggie, my first time right? The day we were leaving our hotel I stopped and asked what i needed to know for the day, I got the hexagram “observation” I thought, “Ahh, be observant on the road” We were driving down south to see my sister. Driving goes fine, we get to the next hotel & i can’t find the boxes to charge our phones. Later that night I realize the observation hexagram looked like a iPhone charging box. Why is the Yi Jing messing with me like that?? I couldn’t find them anywhere i thought I left them at the hotel. The next day i found them in my purse which I looked thru multiple times. Why Yi Jing?? Why??

The experience I found the whole experience a bit to much to put into words as somethings would only be meaningful to me, even if i tried to express them I couldn’t. The insights that I was open to, I was able to receive because I payed attention and tried to look without judgement. I know I’m not the only one that had some revelations into myself. Our teacher Iverson did such a wonderful job of teaching the material but making sure you understood, all in a way that seemed like he was just talking to a friend. All in all, a very enlightening, contemplative experience. Whether you read tarot, palms or asparagus sticks (yes, that’s a thing) your tapping into that consciousness that knows all. When you are open to receiving insight to the question you can’t seem to answer you’ll gain what you truly need to know, even if it’s not what you think you need. If you ask a frivolous question, you’ll get a frivolous answer. If you seek deeper meaning you’ll find it. What questions will you ask yourself today?