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New Moon in Pisces; New I Ching Gua
The Moon emerged from conjunction with the Sun at 3:51 pm EDT on Monday. I like to do an I Ching reading on the New Moon to see what energies might have influence over the coming month (or Moonth as it was once known). The Gua I cast using the traditional yarrow stalk method contained three changing lines! Maybe this is appropriate since we are approaching spring here in the Northern Hemisphere and with the Sun moving toward Aries there is always new beginnings, growth, change. Here is the first Gua:
This is Jie/Relief.
The second, third and forth lines were all moving; to avoid confusion I selected the middle line to read as the changing line. It was a yin, six which then changes to a yang line to create the approached Gua:
This is Heng/Long Lasting.
So, what does any of this mean? First, from the last New Moon my Yi moved from “Hindrance” to “Watching” – see my February 11 post. In mid-February I did feel stuck; we were in the mid-winter doldrums so this made some sense to me. Then I could “watch” for opportunities to come along to make changes, to break free of the stuck-ness!
Along came Qi Revolution with Jeff Primack on February 16 and I went; I definitely felt the change, the break out!
Now for this month I get some “relief.” But with that changing line at the third position I need to be attentive to the work; there is no time to let down now. This is directly related to my Qigong practice. As the I Ching says, I need to remain “steadfast and upright” in this practice for it to be effective; otherwise I could lose it.
Then “long lasting” comes into play. This is a propitious Gua. Sincerity, purity and unselfishness are demanded (more about my practice).
The form of this Gua is Thunder (the top trigram) over Wind (the lower trigram). This is a very natural occurrence, and therefore is auspicious. It can represent marriage or partnership with “firm” over “gentle.” And it is favorable to have somewhere to go.
Some warnings also go with this Gua: “never over-react and hold to the central path”; good advice for any partnership! This is an excellent Gua with great news as we approach the Spring Equinox. It is time to move forward with plans; the elements and Heaven and Earth are in alignment. It’s time to move ahead with all possible good intention and energy.
Here’s what Confucius wrote as the main theme of this Gua:
Sun and moon rely on the Tao of Heaven;
Thus can their shining be long lasting.
The four seasons change and transform;
Thus can their production of beings long endure.
The holy sage remains long lasting in his way of life;
Then all things under Heaven are transformed to completion.
Contemplate the Tao of Long Lasting,
To see the nature of Heaven and Earth and of all beings.
[from The Complete I Ching by Taoist Master Alfred Huang]
This divining of the energies for the next four weeks fits very well with my plans and intentions. I hope you can find some relevance in this reading for you and where you are headed!
MONDAY’S POEM: Qigong Level 1 Instruction
This past weekend I went through a certification process for teaching Qigong at Level 1 in Jeff Primack’s Qi Revolution Movement. And I passed the test! Wow, hurray, I am a Certified Level 1 Qigong Instructor! In celebration of this accomplishment (there are only a couple thousand of us in the whole country!) I wrote this:
Qigong Level 1 Instruction
Breathe in,
Expand.
Breathe out,
Contract.
Inhale,
Larger.
Exhale,
Smaller.
Breath first,
Then act.
Feel
The Qi.
Breathe in,
Raise arms.
Breathe out,
Relax.
Inhale,
Round arms.
Exhale,
Hug tree.
Breathe first,
Then move.
Actions
Are slow.
Inhale,
Rise up.
Exhale,
Lower.
Building
The Qi
Higher,
Stronger.
Live long,
Prosper,
Feel
The Peace.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Join the revolution! Feel the Qi! May you all be blessed with abundance!

Fatigue and Qi
It was an exhausting day yesterday. Once again I had too many priorities to juggle. But at least everyone was back at work so there was some quiet time to move into the day. However, I did feel my thorns coming out on a few occasions; I worked hard to shed them!
It was final prep time for Rosemary’s Rainbow Balance Color Therapy class. I knew it would be a long day and was as prepared for it as I could be. We had all the materials, we had already begun the assembly process and the presentation contents were coming together well. While I wasn’t worried about time I knew I didn’t have any to spare.
I had thought I would go about my normal morning routine: morning tonic and hot tea, shower, pages, smoothie, qigong, etc. But, I made a mistake and sat at my computer to determine the day’s schedule and must dos before the evening’s class. And one thing led to another.
Nine hours later we grabbed a nibble and headed to class. Yes, most of those things that can go wrong did. And, no, none of those things I had planned my morning around happened. Did this upset me? Yes, it did.
Let’s just take Qigong as one part of my practice: after Qi Revolution with Jeff Primack a couple of weeks ago, I committed to practicing his Level 1 Form daily for 30 days. I did not enter into this agreement lightly. And I am working on my certification to teach this Level; practice is mandatory! Certification is two days away!
No practice, inadequate intake of food, no chance to really catch my breath. Everything for the class got done on time, and all turned out well. Rosemary and I even had fun with colors discovering a neat website that converts just about any kind of color code you can think of, from RGB codes to the paint manufacturers’ codes, etc!
After a successful class it was time to publish the weekly MuseLetter. Oh, yes, there was more to my priority list. And the content had not been completed for that yet either. Rosemary set to work writing…
And I got my Qigong practice in!
Then I went back to work.
So, why am I telling you all of this? From my article yesterday you can probably guess that I can get pretty prickly at times; my thorns can be sharp. But I’m working hard to trim them, to contain my energy, control it and be in the flow of the Qi. And I think it’s working. I’m not saying all was smooth; computers acted up, the printer crashed several times, the network was slow, our high-speed connection was neither at times. But we got through it and even laughed as good old Murphy stepped in to scramble our printer’s brain!
My Qigong practice is working. And now, late at night as I write I feel good about this. I am breathing, deeply, into my core. I am reaching down and out to gather, then drawing it back to deliver. The movements of the practice are etching themselves more deeply into my neural nets that are controlling it all. I wonder if my practice is beginning to show up in the lines of my hands! (I’ll have to have Rosemary take a look!)
So I close out the week feeling accomplished. I think my thorns are tucked away for now.
But you better confirm that with Rosemary!
MONDAY’S POEM: Beyond Flatland
Yesterday was our monthly ACT (A Community of Transformation) meeting; this month there was a great talk: The Myth of Science, Trusting YOUR Intuition to Assist in YOUR Transformation by Kim Watson. The essence of the presentation was that science can use data to prove just about anything depending on the starting assumptions that are made, those pesky underlying beliefs.
Kim’s talk reminded me of a poem I had written riffing off the great story, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott. Here for your entertainment is that poem:
Beyond Flatland
The 2-Ds find it
Impossible to look
Up.
The wall of their
Existence is a nano
High.
The 3-Ds can climb
Rising up to the
Heights.
The sky of their
World is light-years
Far.
The 4-Ds can bend
Time with their mind’s
Eye.
The clock of their
Vision has no
Hands.
And what of the 5-Ds?
Do they have limits?
One.
Whatever it is that
Keeps them from knowing
Six.

©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.





