I Ching for day seventeen

Qian:Heaven over Zhen:Thunder = Honesty

Let the seeds develop in their own way. Nothing can be forced to grow in a hurry.

My culture epitomizes the get _____ quick philosophy.

It is a shame that most humans are too wrapped up in desire, to recognize the ill-side-effects of such actions.

The religion of my youth, Christianity, has sold their seeds of faith to corporations.

Hear me now, no matter your beliefs, buying goods whose manufacturing poisons you or your neighbors water, soil or air, is the equivalent of spitting in God's face.

To knowingly spend wages of labor on products which require the hyper-exploitation of precious, finite Earthly resources is hypocritical to any theology that values life, and is just sheer madness.

Let the seeds develop in their own ways...the natural, organic way ordained by the celestial lights.

I Ching for day sixteen

Gen:Mountain over Dui:Sea = Decrease

Dispense with bad habits and you will gain unexpected profit.

Mountains should be high and the sea should be deep. Restrain your anger, suppress your longings and take no action without careful thought.

Today while talking with our family counselor, it became clear that I must concentrate upon the appropriate measure of increase and decrease in my every thought and action.

The journey dictates the need and thus I must meter my worldview to accommodate the lessons of the moment. Balancing reduction and gain is crucial to maintaining the warrior's path of integrity.

To dispense with destructive habits is no easy task and yet is a cause worth being sought.

Your sanity is the measure of control you have over your destructive compulsions; maintaining its health ensures a longer, more free existence.

In humble admission and the subsequent eradication of bad habits, unexpected profits may appear as universal gifts bestowed upon the faithful.

The warmth of my lover's embrace and the sweet smell of her skin remind me that it is time to decrease, time to discover my subtlety and my finesse, time to crowd out bad habits with good ones.

I Ching for day fifteen

Zhen:Thunder over Qian:Heaven = Great Strength

Gather power with the help of teachings, tactics, willpower and determination.

Maintain a noble character and you will enlist many to the cause. Your strength has grown but it is not yet time for battle. A victory gained through force will short-lived, just as the echo of thunder in the sky quickly fades.

Whether or not you are aware of your surroundings, an army is growing. The discontent is palpable. Balance must be and will be restored.

It does not matter your allegiance to rigid beliefs, when your spirit of life is on the docket. Letting someone else choose your fate proves your cause a sham.

Clarify your purpose were you to clarify your mind. Free yourself from the unnecessary burdens of men who deal in shadows by not giving away your power to their hyper-exploitative corporations.

Gather your strength and you will find a great army building. Your willpower manifests through the clarity of your intent. Seek the path of nobility along the path of integrity.

Find freedom, find happiness, find great strength.

I Ching for day fourteen

Kun:Earth over Qian:Heaven = Peace

Come together with others without envy, just as heaven blends with the earth.

The high and the low mingle, majesty and humility share a mutual respect. The surface of the earth rises and falls just like the ups and downs of life.

Waking up late next to the warm skin of my lover, the coffee tastes sweeter and the bacon more savory.

As the sun pierces the crisp October air, I let my spirit rise and fall on the breeze. Silencing the inner voices, I find myself free to follow the birdsongs and my lover's sighs.

It is constantly astounding that when allowed to speak, Nature exudes a wisdom far more relevant than the incessant drone of society.

When it is your turn to face Infinity, all the indignation you can muster will not alter the course of your death.

Peace is scarce in a shrinking world and therefore must be championed at the sake of your dignity.

I Ching for day thirteen

Li:Fire over Kan:Water = Striving to Accomplish

Continue to improve yourself and continue to benefit others.

Male and female powers beget each other. Life and death follow each other, this is the circle of nature and the I Ching.

Follow the example of heaven and earth to continue your progression. Just as they keep moving to nurture the myriad creatures, you should continue to accomplish your duties. That is the only way to reach the summit.

There is much before us that must be made right. It is insufficient to simply recognize the need for change, action must follow acknowledgment in order for your situation to improve.

Equal voices will carry the day and must be allowed to speak were you to understand the true nature of the I Ching.

I Ching for day twelve

Kan:Water over Gen:Mountain = Obstruction

Depart courageously for you will return with honour.

Do not automatically take the easy way, use dignity to discover the correct way.

The wheel of time has turned around and faced with well-worn paths, you must depart courageously.

Strike out from the cultural norms and face your true self naked of culturally imposed worldviews.

Do not complain about your lot because in doing so you reinforce your fate by biasing your world-view. Instead use positive affirmations derived from the path of integrity.

Integrity adheres to trueness thereby finding the perfect boundaries of respect.

Swim against the current to find your origins and you will attract others walking similar paths of dignity.

I Ching for day eleven

Li:Fire over Zhen:Thunder = Biting Through

Enforce the law and apply it the right way.

Thunder shakes evil from below while fire examines both good and bad from above. To bite cleanly you must remove sand, stones and bones before you can chew and swallow the food.

Be sharp-sighted, using both kindness and intimidation. Be sure you do not wrong an innocent person or let the guilty go free.

Find decisiveness in your actions by following the path of Integrity.

A warrior's integrity leads him or her to dance in the face of Infinity, on Death's doorstep.

The path of Integrity must constantly be sought after in order to reach your maximum you. Stop the internal chatter propping up your world-view and let the you-you out!

Inner silence clarifies a warrior's path and allows the essence, the spirit of you to emerge and enliven your existence in this space and time.

I Ching for day ten

Kun:Earth over Gen:Mountain = Modesty

Exercise humility and respect others and you will be respected in return.

The mountains stay below the earth.

Somewhere a tablet calls to be found and old rights to be restored, but for now we must proceed with prudence and caution.

In my dreams i watched an elder bald eagle teach a young one to hunt and i watched humanity fell a gigantic lone pine. the voices of dissent are surfacing from deep unrest but humility will carry them all.

I Ching for day nine

Zhen:Thunder over Gen:Mountain = Minor Achievement

Remain lower rather than higher and act smaller rather than greater.

The power of the thunder is decreased by the strength of the mountain. Acting bigger than I am will lead to futility. Accepting modest assignments is wiser than rushing to overstep the mark.

My mind has been darkened as of late, overrun with worldly worries.

No matter the fate of the world, take the lesson of the mountain standing firm.

Accept the modest fate of being yourself, by letting your unique talents be fulfilled with the spirit of life.

I Ching for days seven & eight!

ZHEN:THUNDER OVER Dui:SEA (two days straight!) = Wedding Maiden

The thunder cracks over the sea for two days straight and I am to think of a Wedding Maiden?

Hmm, must be something here to look at...

Treat each event as the marriage of a daughter.

The wedding of a maiden is the most important event in the world. It is just like a union of heaven and earth, without which life cannot continue.

Obey the Spirit, upholding its moral ways: speaking impeccably and modestly...the most respectful of words enlivens the spirit within your breast.

Amidst the thunderous clouds flashing lightning over the sea, i can hear the sweetest voice whispering. It reminds me to treat all events with the reverence and blessings bestowed upon the marriage of a daughter.

The lightning streaks across my mental landscape according to the neural network in my skull. I suspect it does so in your mind as well. Oh the storms brewing in my skull have found growing unrest in the politics of our time.

It is hard for me to keep track of all the attacks on our freedoms. The White House must think this war is a joke. Are you serious?

Painful as it is to remember that this war was started because Sadaam Hussein had WMDs, it is helpful to recall the warning signs of a war started under false pretenses.

The stench of spoiled political offices has been rising for far too long. Our telephone calls can be routed through mainframe computers searching for prescribed keywords anytime your government sees fit.

I forgot, is our government meant to uphold our freedoms or not? It is not for the government to squelch the voices of its populace, it must protect the cleanliness of its political offices from corruption and follow the democratic majority of its citizens.

Before we can clean up the toxic byproducts of manufacturers, our government must stand up for our freedoms by restoring the hallowed nature of a political office. These are supposed to be individuals who will hear your voices and stand up for your freedoms amidst the voices of other districts.

And yet to maintain my balance, I must strain to hear the benevolent voice of the maiden's wedding amongst the thunderous peels ringing over the sea of my mind. A mighty task in times like these.

I Ching for day six

Kun:Earth over Li:Fire = Obscurity

Clear a new space if the place surrounding you is not favourable.

The Sun has sunk below the horizon and its brightness is lost. It is a difficult time: you had better keep a low profile and stick to your principles. Do not put your trust in people lightly, but also do not lose your faith.

Is the space around me not favourable?
What should I clear away?

There is darkness around me, it is a difficult time. My fellow humans seem to be more interested in who won American Idol than the fact that they willingly ingest carcinogens through their ignorance of chemistry and corporate practices.

Cure for cancer? The only cure for cancer is the non-absorption of carcinogens. Cancer is a symptom.

A nation lost in the fog of a war started under false pretenses.

You had better keep a low profile, stick to your principles. Find the truth that doesn't tarnish. Remove the filters around you, is this space favourable to your spirit of life?

Never lose faith in those untarnished threads of truth spun into your spirit of life, but reserve your trust for those whose actions funnel truth.

I Ching for day five

Li:Fire over Dui:Sea = Separation

The fire blazes upward and the water surges downward. This points to a divergence of views. Avoid uncoordinated actions originating from different wills.

There was much confusion in my mind surrounding this reading as I had specifically asked about my guilt. I was suspicious of my intentions and my guilt crippled me.

After twenty some odd hours filled with work, sex, live theater, public transportation and hot & sour Thai soup, this card begins to sink in. I have been crippled by my guilt and therefore am not free to let my spirit soar.

I must allow due separation between my spirit and my guilt. They are not the same.

I must avoid uncoordinated actions, which is to say I must continually strive for coordinated actions surfacing from the will of my spirit. The spirit of life may be filtered or abused but its intentions remain true.

I am seeking a guilt-free alignment of my actions and my spirit of life, in order that I may live more fully and more freely.

I Ching for day four

Sun:Wind over Qian:Heaven = Accumulating

Distance yourself from your old path.

...rain is threatening but not yet falling. The time is not ripe for advancing and difficulties still lie before you.

Today a close friend of an officemate was found after committing suicide, the rain is threatening.

No amount of rain can wash away the stain of those unable to maintain their living responsibilities. At those moments it is advisable to maintain and cherish the same ideals as before. In this way you can be sure that the wheels will not separate from the axle.

What path must I distance myself from?


The path of my mind that leads down a road fraught with lies and self-content. That is an old path already traveled amongst the neurons and must be discarded as in direct contrast to the expansion of life.

Life is a continual action of expansion and contraction felt across cellular boundaries which unhealthy mental patterns can threaten.

I must let the winds of Heaven flow freely through the Spirit of my life.

I Ching for day three

Kun: Earth over Kun: Earth = Earth!

Follow the earth's example being humble and virtuous. The earth is soft and yet it is strong. It nurtures a myriad of creatures.

Uphold justice but act gently.

This morning started off with a late start as I overslept my alarm by hitting the kill switch instead of the snooze! Sometimes these rapid starts are good for the getting the blood flowing, but often things are left undone and I am left a bit unprepared to face the day.

"Be humble and virtuous, virtuous and humble," I chant throughout the day. Running around I feel a subtle shift in my awareness as the day progresses.

Snapshots are taken in time of birds flying through my vision. A hawk cruising across a raised road, only inches from the pavement. A crow's silhouette against a smoke filled sky. Each image became like an anchor, a timelessness etched in a racing world as my little green Tacoma raced amongst the vineyards of Sonoma and Napa.

Taking a moment to stretch my legs, I pluck a single Pinot Noir grape from one of the bunches left behind this harvest. Its sweet, soft middle is a stark contrast to its tannic skin, oh the beauty of a good glass of Pinot shared amongst good company fills my future I can tell!

How easily we humans forget that Mama Earth sustains us with her bounty. We think we are all high and mighty in our concrete jungles and yet all our flamboyant gestures come to naught without the Earth's natural goodness to sustain us.

It is up to the current generations to uphold justice for Mama Earth through gentle actions upon her stature.

Virtuous and humble, oh my!

I Ching for day two

Qian: Heaven over Qian: Heaven = Heaven

Celebrate the Sun, the Earth, Health and the beginning of the Universe.

The dragon is hiding. Cultivate your own moral character and wait for the right moment in which to act.

No one can hold an over-filled bowl without spilling its contents.

Oh these words strike ever truer chords within my breast. All vessels have a maximum volume.

It reminds me that humans are simply vessels filled with the spirit of life. Some have more, some have less; but no matter the amount they are meant to be filled to the brim.

Be vivacious but remember the dragon is hiding. Talking less and breathing more, I must patiently wait for the right moments to act.

Tis the beginning of another work week and I must be on my toes evermore to maintain today's lesson. Be firm yet understanding, work efficiently and with diligence and try not to make too many mistakes! :)

I Ching for day one

Kun: Earth over Sun: Wind = Ascendance

Following the tree's example, grow slowly and gather good deeds from below so that they rise up to perfection.

Today I mountain biked to the East Peak of Mt. Tamalpais after a week of sub-par health. My breathe was ragged and my legs fatigued due to my previous inactivity and the sun beat down heavy upon my head. The feeling of the Earth under me kept me balanced and half-way up the mountain I felt a breeze clearing out the heat radiating from the sun-baked trail.

I thought of the trees, steady and unabashedly reaching for the sky. Growing slowly they gather nutrients from earth and display them in a time-worthy fashion. I could learn from them.

Looking out from the mountain top sharing a moment with friends, I could sense a worldwide ascension of the soul. The time is becoming ripe for my generation to take the helm and set a new course for our world. We are rising and must be willing to learn from nature. The stalwart trees stand as legions of royalty against the pressures of time, much can be learned from their efficient examples.

a month of I CHING

I have committed myself to a thirty day discovery of the I Ching.

I will share the daily symbols arrived at through meditative thought and will intently post them here to face Infinity.

I will be using I Ching cards published by Marlowe & Company, with text by Chao-Hsiu Chen. Seen HERE.

Undoubtedly I will use some choice lines of text from Chao-Hsiu Chen combined with my own insights. I appreciate her insights and hope this serves as sufficient credit.