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45 Gathering CUI

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Make an offering and you will succeed.
The King approaches his Ancestral Temple. See the Great People. Advantageous Trial. Use the Great Offerings. Wise Words! The Way is open.
Advantageous to have a direction to go.

Don’t keep things for yourself. Take precautions and eliminate cause of conflict. Beware of divisive tendencies, envious or jealous behavior, selfish motivations. Cooperate with others on all levels.

The Image
The old character shows the uniform of a soldier or servant and two bundles of grass, resources assembled.

Circle of Meanings
Gather, assemble, collect resources, bunch or call together; concentrate, collect, unite; inspire fellow feeling, come to someone’s aid; crowds, multitudes, dense vegetation; a time when great efforts bring a great reward. Inner devotion now gives you the ability to express the spirit in the human community. Heart Theme: 53 Gradual Advance to the symbolic world.

Spirit Helpers
Lake over Earth. Youngest Daughter and Mother, the Mediator and the Midwife, create an inner field that sustains outer stimulation. Assemble your resources for a great project. Unite people through common feeling and make them into an organized whole. Visit those who can help and advise you. Look at your own central idea and how you organize your thoughts. Make a great offering now and you will have a great reward. Help all become part of the great vision. Great ideas are needed now. Anticipate dangers so you are not taken by surprise. Yield to the mandate in the time and work with it. By contemplating how people are brought together, you can understand the motives of all the beings under Heaven.

Voice of the Mothers
Gather the resources for a great project. Unite people through fellow-feeling and images of a great common goal. Inner devotion now gives you the ability to express the spirit in the human community. This is a time to reaffirm common human needs and strengths (48). Do not focus on the signs of your own emergence (20).

Cui, Gathering refers to sacrifices offered to the Four Directions, the Hidden Winds or Hidden Lands that precede any great project. It is a going-out-to-meet the spirits at the Outskirts Altar, bringing them into the community. This welcoming ritual provides a symbol that unifies the people, inspiring and organizing the Great Work. It suggests the sacrifice and feast of the Red Bull that opens the fields in spring and the summer yue-sacrifice of first fruits to the gathered spirit tablets in the Ancestral Temple. These are the great sacrifices that gather the people, an inner collection of force in view of great projects: building the rammed earth walls of palaces, dikes and dams or casting the bronze vessels. They bring communion with spirit powers, opening the flow of collective emotions and concentrating a strong force through the connection with Heaven. This frees our feelings, turning them into a flow of spirit that unites people, purifying and loosening them from anger, greed and divisiveness and offering a firm purpose and ruling idea connected with the Way. Through these rituals the King harmonizes Heaven and Earth. He works through the Great People, the ritual specialists who connect the living and the dead and release the power to achieve lasting and significant things.

Winter (45): Find the seed of the new by speaking out about where you are and what you want to do. Change your attitude. Serve your highest ideals. Gather energy for a decisive new move.
Spring (17): Rouse new growth by applying your experience to the ongoing project. Do not resort to previous methods. Correct past mistakes and you can open the way for everyone involved.
Summer (25): Ripen the fruits by clarifying your purpose. Be open to the unexpected. Collect the energy and insight to start anew. Have no fear. Success is assured.
Fall (12): Harvest the crop. You feel cut off, but have no fear. The rough patch is ending. Search out your true friends.

Voice of the Fathers
This is an Inspiring Figure, part of the Sacred Sickness Pathways that connect personal disorders with cultural change. It is an experience of the Centers of Power in the stage of the Symbolic Life that confers higher levels of empowerment in culture and a new ritual status on a fully individualized being.

The Situation: A time to gather people through great leadership and a great central idea.

Caring for Others: You need strength and self-possession in order to inspire confidence in others and in the overall purpose or plan.

Setting Intentions: Inspire people to work together. Encourage new talent. Enhance the identity of your family. Possibilities are great. Make aims and intentions clear. Use your creative ability to prepare the way.

Communication and Interaction: Excellent. Cultivate receptivity in all family members. Create a positive atmosphere for action.

Change from the Inside Out: Big ideas are in the works. Coordination and cooperation are the keys to success. Use resources for a wide range of activities. Seek multiple sources of support. Your full potential has by no means been realized. New endeavors are auspicious if you first gain people’s cooperation. Negotiate agreements through a great vision that encourages the participation of all.

  • Immediate Future: new possibilities emerge.
  • Personal Development: find your mission and devote yourself to it.
  • Working within the Family: help people find what they really need to do.
  • Expanding the Circle: inspire confidence through inner strength.
  • Partnership: realign your central purpose. Share your goals and feelings.

Pairing: Bringing Change to Life
Each hexagram is part of a Pair that that activates hidden paths of transformative energy through the interaction of the trigrams or Spirit Helpers, connecting phases of Inspiration and Realization. You are in the Inspiring phase of this Pair.

The transformative process of the Pair 45:46 Gathering and Ascending develops the strength to gather inner resources and the drive to take things to a higher spiritual level.

Outer to Inner: The process transforms the Mediator trigram in the outer world of 45 into the Matchmaker trigram in the inner world of 46. This turns your need to express yourself in public into inner self cultivation.

Inner to Outer: This interiorisation shifts the Midwife trigram from the inner world of 45 to the outer world of 46. It turns your inner devotion to following a path into a deep faith in the overall processes of life.

Transforming Lines

Mothering Change presents Transforming Lines as Steps of Change that show you where and how to focus your energy. Click on the links to connect with the Relating Figure generated by each line.

Inner World

Step 1 Beginnings: This return of the spirit attracts a new fate.
The connection to the spirits is not complete.
Thus there is disorder, then gathering.
Cry out! One grasp of the hand will bring laughter.
Have no cares. Going on is not a mistake.
You are connected to a deep source of energy but the link with others is unclear. Leave your current position and mingle with the people. Reach out and the tension will dissolve. This is how you can achieve something great. Do not involve yourself with corrupt authority. Serve only the highest ideals. Do not pause in your efforts to eliminate discord. Proceed step by step. Gather energy for a decisive new move. (17 Following)

Step 2 Inner Center: This inner re-organization leads to harmony with others.
Extend the Gathering. Wise Words! The Way is open.
There is a connection to the spirit that will carry you through.
Advantageous to make the summer sacrifice.
This is a time for great things. You ostensibly have all you need but you feel cut off and oppressed. Make an offering. Return to the common source of human values and strengths and open your heart anew. You will soon find supportive friends. Gather energy for the decisive new move. (47 Confining/Oppression)

Step 3 Threshold: This inner re-balancing lets you make your way in life.
Gathering, then lamenting. No direction is advantageous.
Going on is not a mistake. Being Small brings distress.
As soon as you begin to gather with others a flood of painful memories swamps you. There is nothing you can do so leave gently and quietly. If you try to adapt to this situation you will be covered in confusion. Hold onto your desire to follow things impulsively. There is no game in the field now. Dedicate your efforts to the real common good. Be open to new influences. You are coupled with a creative force. (31 Conjoining)

Outer World

Step 4 Arrival: This inner preparation leads to what is greater.
The Great Way opens. This is not a mistake.
You can do anything you want now if you act with a full and loving heart.   You feel outside your present group but you are in this position because of your real moral and intellectual worth. Let go of old memories, useless ideas and false images. This is the moment to emerge. Strip away the past and set your forces in order. There is no resistance to your efforts. Be open and provide what is needed. (8 Grouping)

Step 5 Outer Center: This inner re-grouping lets your real purpose shine.
Gather them in ranks. This is not a mistake.
You do not need to offer victims.
Trial: An ever-flowing source. The cause of sorrow disappears.
This can be a long-term source of energy and inspiration. Simply gather the people and give them rank and position. Provide for this endeavor even if you feel afflicted or oppressed. Your efforts will call out to others. Step outside the norms and re-imagine the situation. Gather energy for a decisive new move. (16 Providing For)

Step 6 Culmination: This inner stripping leads to a breakthrough.
Sighs and sobs, tears and moans. This is not a mistake.
Expressing your sorrow now can open blocked communication. Everything seems clogged up now but have no fear. You will soon have cause to rejoice. The obstruction you feel is toppling. It is time to get this great endeavor off the ground. Find people of worth you really belong with. Put things in order. Proceed step by step. Gather energy for a decisive new move. (12 Obstruction)