Make an offering and you will succeed. Advantageous Trial.
This allows Small affairs, it does not allow Great affairs.
The Flying Bird brings the omen as it leaves.
Above is not the proper place, below is the proper place.
Wise Words! The Great Way is open.
The Image
The old characters show a river between two banks and a foot at a crossroads or decisive moment seen as a mountain ridge and a closed mouth.
A dangerous and final transition; finalize the details, stay in the process, adapt to each thing, be very careful, very small, very frugal and very sincere; words and deep feelings that carry to a new generation; the flow of life. Accepting the shock of inner enlightenment gives you the ability to see the patterns that mark real ends and beginnings. Heart Theme: 28 the Great Transition and emergence as an individual.
Spirit Helpers
Thunder over Mountain. Eldest Son and Youngest Son, the Groundbreaker and the Gatekeeper are finalizing all the details. This is an important transition. You must be very careful and very small, courteous, sincere and frugal. Carefully adapt to each thing. Do small things, not great things. Keep your sense of purpose and do not look to others to solve your problems. Keep your power and virtue hidden. Do not impose your will. This is not the time to try something important. Let the little bird tell you: your place is below. Do not go up, go down. By being exceedingly small and careful, you will open the Great Way.
Voice of the Mothers
This is the final transition. Stay in the process. Carefully adapt to each thing you confront. Be very small, very careful and very sincere. Inner self-restraint now brings a liberating awareness of the whole. Actively bite through obstacles to union (21). Do not try to create a new world around you (3).
Xiao Guo, Small Traverses is a transition or passage to a new time, a passage across the Burning Water, the river of life and death. It must be realized through the Small and the power of the yin and its result is words that have the power to extend to a new generation. It suggests enlisting the aid of the Small People, nobles without patrimony who acted as scribes, diviners, ministers, attendants, soldiers and cooks, dependent on the changing whims of a ruler. It presents the image of a bird in danger of being caught by the hunters, a bird that must fly low, moving towards autumn and the festivals of harvest and realization. The figure is concerned with making actions and omens coincide through very scrupulous attention, a ritual in which every detail counts and every step is carefully measured. It is a dance that calls the spirit and houses it in an image or tablet rather than letting it burn up and vanish. This time of transition through the Small is a journey through liminal space where rules dissolve and borders are crossed, imaged as the hunter and the prey, the bird taken or not taken in the net. It is a quality of the Way, the littlest possible thing (ji), something hardly visible that is the precise place where things will turn and change. The motto is: Keep a small heart.
Winter (62): Find the seed of the newby making very careful moves. Stay low and humble. Be sincere. Rescue what is important. Hold on to the hidden connections. They lead to honor and reward.
Spring (55): Rouse new growth by spreading abundance to all. Do not stay in isolation. Seize the opportunity and take decisive action. Don’t be afraid to act alone.
Summer (30): Ripen the fruits by evaluating your motives and feelings. Be very careful taking the first steps. Don’t get trapped by the past.
Fall (56): Harvest the crop by sticking to your principles and connections. Do deviate from what you must do. Stay with the influence and go through all the steps. It will bring you all you want.
Voice of the Fathers
This is a Realizing Figure and Engine of Change that recharges our existence with meaning and energy. It is a Gate to the final stage of the Symbolic Life, birth into the life of the spirit and the passage across the River of Life and Death where the significance of life is revealed.
The Situation: A time to know your capabilities and focus on the work at hand.
Caring for Others: Accept and work with everyone’s limitations to lay the ground for the future. Stick with established channels and routines. Keep everything simple, straightforward and accountable.
Setting Intentions: Do nothing out of the ordinary. Focus on the quality of small things and how normal things are done. Your creative judgment is out of focus. Be safe and be relevant to the here and now.
Communication and Interaction: Keep it to a minimum. Listen to what others say. Do not go it alone.
Change from the Inside Out: Keep efforts to a minimum. Do not seek help from others. Do not try to start something new.
- Immediate Future: a profusion of seemingly unrelated difficulties.
- Personal Development: carefully consider each thing you confront.
- Working within the Family: bring out the real meaning of each detail.
- Expanding the Circle: stay simple. Pay attention to details.
- Partnership: do not take control. Practice saying yes instead of no.
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 Realizing phase of this Pair.
The Pair 61:62 Opened Heart and Small Traverses is an Engine of Change that develops the inner peace to understand the significance of your life and the ability to craft its meaning into an enduring message for a new generation.
Outer to Inner: The process transforms the Matchmaker trigram in the outer world of 61 into the Gatekeeper trigram in the inner world of 62. This turns your need to influence the world into inner self-restraint.
Inner to Outer: This interiorisation transforms the Mediator trigram in the inner world of 61 into the Groundbreaker trigram in the outer world of 62. This turns inner self reflection into a liberating awareness of the whole.
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
You are acting like a bird that flies away. Trap! The Way closes.
Stay low, humble and grounded. Do not take on other people’s problems. Disperse your old identity. If you fly away now you will surely regret it. Use your strength to rescue what is important. You will encounter someone who can change the course of your life. It will bring you honor and reward. You are connected to a creative force. (55 Abounding)
Pass by your Grandfather, meet your Grandmother.
Do not extend to the Leader, meet the Servant.
This is not a mistake.
Do not push yourself forward. Identify with people in secondary roles. The connections you make now have a deep, enduring value. This hidden energy will augment you. A hasty move now leads to nothing but trouble. You are connected to a creative force. (32 Persevering)
You cannot Exceed defending yourself.
If you carry on, you may be killed. Trap! The Way closes.
You are overextending yourself. You are in real danger, cycling through endless arguments in an escalating spiral. Re-imagine this situation. Leave old quarrels behind so that new life can enter the world. Do not be skeptical and do not hold back. These goings and comings release energy bound up in the past. Gather the resources for a decisive new move. (16 Providing For)
Outer World
This is not a mistake. You do not pass by, you meet it.
Let the adversity you experienced be a warning.
Do not use it in a long-term Trial.
The transition is made. Take a look at the dangers you have just passed through and let them be a warning. Let go of your old connections. Demonstrate your inner worth by cutting through pride and complication and everything will benefit. These goings and comings release the energy now bound up in the past. Co-operate with the on-going process of change. (15 Humbling)
Shrouding clouds bring no rain yet. It comes from our western outskirts.
A prince uses a string-arrow to grasp another in a cave.
You make an enduring connection with someone who is in retreat. This hidden spirit will augment you. This is a deep influence that will endure and manifest over time. All cause for sorrow will disappear. You are connected with a creative force. (31 Conjoining)
You do not meet it, you pass it by.
The flying birds scatter and are trapped.
Trap! The Way closes. This is called a disaster and a blunder.
You overreach yourself, flying higher and higher, a disaster from within and without. Change now. You must let go of the sorrows that impel this flight. Help and nourish others. Make no mistake, if you fly away all your connections to life will vanish. If you can disperse this old identity you will be able to articulate a new time. You are connected to a creative force. (56 Sojourning)