howshudimoveforward01122019

Your reading resulted in the following hexagrams:

Hexagram 41.1.2.6 to 2

Hexagram 41, Decreasing

Key Questions
Why do you want to make such an offering?
How much is truly asked of you?
Could this be simpler?

Oracle
'Decreasing: there is truth and confidence.
From the source, good fortune.
Not a mistake, there can be constancy.
Fruitful to have a direction to go.
How to use this?
Two simple baskets may be used for the offering.'

The early Chinese character for 'Decreasing' shows a hand with a vessel: decreasing, you pour out what you
have in offering. You focus your faith and hope on something higher than your everyday life, and sacrifice
lower things to this. When you do so with an undivided heart, it opens the flow of good fortune, and your life
becomes lighter and simpler.

Yi offers reassurance: even when you have little to give, making offerings is not wrong. Trusting your insight
and persevering in your chosen direction, you understand why you are doing this, rather than dwelling on what
you are giving up. You may still wonder how you can do it, or how much you are expected to give. But the
offering need only be modest – not hundreds of animals, but just two baskets. You are not asked to give
beyond your means.

Image
'Below the mountain is the lake: Decreasing.
A noble one curbs anger and restrains desires.'

Sequence
Decreasing follows from Hexagram 40, Release:
'Letting things take their time naturally means letting go, and so Decreasing follows.'

Pair
Decreasing forms a pair with Hexagram 42, Increasing:
'Decreasing, Increasing: the beginnings of abundance and decline.'

Page 1/3
Changing Lines
Line 1

'Bringing your own business to an end, going swiftly – not a mistake.
Considering decreasing it.'

Line 2

'Constancy bears fruit,

Setting out to bring order: pitfall.
Not decreasing, increasing it.'

Line 6

'Not decreasing, increasing it – not a mistake.

Constancy, good fortune.
Fruitful to have a direction to go.
Gaining servants, not a home.'

Hexagram 2, Earth

Key Questions
How are you being guided?
How can you lend your strength?

Oracle
'Earth.
From the source, creating success.
The constancy of a mare bears fruit.
A noble one has a direction to go.
At first, confusion. Later, gains a master.
Fruitful in the southwest, gaining partners.
In the northeast, losing partners.
Peaceful constancy brings good fortune.'

Earth is first described in the same words as the Creative Force of Hexagram 1 because they are partners in the
flow of creation. Creation unfolds from the original vital energy, creating success with an ongoing exchange
between spirit and daily work, flowing through to fruition – in Earth, through the constancy of a mare.

The mare is strong, tireless and incomparably fast, and she is acutely sensitive to the subtlest cues. When you
have a mare's constancy, you will be steadily loyal to the truth, and always alert and responsive to guidance.

The noble one has a direction to go: she is purposeful, she has a destination in mind, but this doesn't mean she
has her route to it already mapped out. And so at first there is confusion: you set out like a pioneer, open to all
the possibilities, and find them as many as scattered rice-grains. But later, since you have set yourself in
motion, you can receive guidance – you 'gain a master'.

Page 2/3
A master is someone who lights the way. You gain someone or something to be loyal to, where you can find
fulfilment in service. Once you have this guiding principle (which may or may not be a person), you begin to
follow signs as fluently as the mare.

The Zhou people sought out allies in the southwest before venturing into the northeast to face the Shang.
There is a balance to be found between joining with like-minded people and following your own calling alone
– but gaining allies comes first. Perhaps your individual sense of purpose emerges more strongly when
you've learned to work responsively with others, like the mare running with the herd.

And when you can spread your senses out to roam southwest and northeast without limit, you will be
peacefully at home in the whole earth.

Image
'Power of the land: Earth.
A noble one, with generous character, carries all the beings.'

You can share your reading with the I Ching Community here: explain to people what you were asking about,
and post your question howshudimoveforward01122019 and Yi's answer, 41.1.2.6 to 2.

You can also search for similar readings in the I Ching Community archives.

Page 3/3