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MONDAY’S POEM: Transparency
I have several ways I reach inside myself to gain insight (inner sight) into energies around me, intuitive knowing within me. One way is to use cards of various kinds: everything from a number of Tarot decks, to spirit and goddess cards by several authors and artists. I recently picked up a new set of cards that has been in our collection for some time but had remained untouched – The Mayan Oracle deck by Ariel Spilsbury and Michael Bryner. There is deep wisdom in these cards and the writing describing them. I am enjoying the study and the guidance they are bringing to me. I particularly like the subtitle: Return Path to the Stars!
Yesterday I drew a “lens” card, Transparency. I am challenged by it to become more open, clear-minded – like a canvas on which to paint a new self! Today’s poem came from considering this challenge!
Transparency
An open book, a sheet of white paper
Waiting for words, reaching for wisdom.
A gateless gate, the clear sky beyond
Flowing to then, leading to lessons.
A faceless face, the makeup in jars
Tempting the soul, offering a mask.
Five empty lines, a staff with no strokes
Begging for notes, listening for music.
It all begins somewhere, nowhere, now
In the emptiness and purity of light.
This is transparency!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.

New Moon in Cancer I Ching Divination
For each new moon I cast an I Ching Gua – a six-line hexagram composed of open and closed lines. I do this using the yarrow stalk method. I do this to capture the nature of the moon’s energy and what she will bring to us in the way of benefits, changes, guidance and vibrational tone during the month ahead (moonth).
The moon was new (exactly conjunct the sun) in the sign of Cancer last Friday at 4:10 AM Eastern time. She is now waxing and as this is the third day after the conjunction look for her smiling crescent on the western horizon this evening, just after sunset.
The initial Gua I cast for this month is Jian, which means “Hardship” according to my main reference, The Complete I Ching by Taoist Master Alfred Huang. I have included a picture here.
The first thing to notice is the three changing lines in this initial Gua. There are two 6s (Yin) and one 9 (Yang). In this situation Master Huang suggests reading only the middle line, in this case the 9 which then changes to a 6, an open Yin line. With all these changing lines I think we can expect July to be a month of some change. But I don’t think this is necessarily a concern.
The second thing to notice is the initial Gua, “Hardship” follows Kui or “Diversity” in the order of the hexagrams in the I Ching. Diversity was the accomplished Gua from the previous New Moon Divination (link). Master Huang observes that Hardship can arise out of Diversity.
And here is the response that may be appropriate to this Hardship message. This comes from early 3rd Century BC philosopher, Mencius:
If one loves others and they do not respond in the same way,
one should turn inward and examine one’s own love.
If one treats others politely, and they do not return politeness,
one should turn inward and examine one’s own politeness.
When one does not realize what one desires,
one must turn inward and examine oneself in every point.
This hardship coming from diversity requires inner work. Notice that the lower trigram of the Gua is Gen, meaning mountain. This is a time to be still, like a
mountain. The changing line at the third position also indicates a time to be still. Go inside to examine the diversity that led to this hardship. There is good news here: in this case the third line is the changing line that moves to a Yin line. Keeping still leads to “rejoicing and union.” When the third line changes it forms a new “accomplished” Gua – Bi meaning “Union.”
The new Gua is pictured here.
This accomplished Gua overcomes the hardship indicated by the initial Gua. Union is about love and harmony within a group of people, especially within one’s intimate relationships. To understand and strengthen these relationships this divination suggests that we go within ourselves to find the love and harmony. Then extend and reflect the inner love to the outer, close relationships. Choose wisely here. There are those who don’t necessarily want to be in relationship. Loving relationships can’t be forced. Release those who wish to go their way.

PS: My friend and astrologer, Gloria Hesseloff, writes this about the New Moon in Cancer: “Cancer brings up in all of us a yearning for a safe haven. The Cancerian feminine force calls us back to home and family. Give birth to new forms. Cultivate life. Cooperate. Be creative. Build community.” And she adds: “Life seems more mysterious than ever and Cancer energy invites us to probe deeply into our inner experiences, pressing toward the heart. A Cancer period is a time to penetrate the dimensions of our inner life.” This certainly sounds like a time for Union and for inner seeking. Astrology supports the I Ching in a most satisfying way!
Have a wonderful moonth!
Blocked? – Part 2
I know; it’s “poem Firday”. But this business of “blocks” is on my mind.
Yesterday I wrote here about being blocked: blocked from listening to my intuition, from changing my language to speak (and think) in positive terms. And I wrote about practice. After 10 years Tenno became a teacher of Zen; he was practiced. Then Nan-in demonstrated how he was not “fully aware.” So Tenno became his student and practiced another 10 years! And I concluded my post yesterday with …another nine years of practice and study and “lessons in lost sunglasses”!
But practice what? OK, I’ve got 9 more years, probably 10! But what am I to practice; what am I to learn; how do I break through the blocks?
Later yesterday I was in one of my practices: Artist Pages writing as prescribed by Julia Cameron. I am fairly disciplined in writing my “morning pages” (sometimes afternoon); and I really know when I skip that something isn’t quite right with my day. I wrote yesterday and came up with some answers to my blocks; not only what is blocking but how to respond; to break through. Here’s what I wrote:
“I wrote my blog post for Rosemary’s site this morning – on “Awareness” again although the title was about blocks. What are my blocks to “full awareness”?
“I think the main one is fear – fear of letting go completely and relaxing into full awareness. If I let go completely I might lose myself! I am not yet fully willing to let go of the ego – that little self that appears to be so important to me. I have no problem with this for moments – while sitting, while doing Qigong, while writing pages when I merge and let come whatever words flow. Practices like these are easy times to let go. But when I’m at a bank ATM my ego is busy in the forefront – considering a number of choices: what’s my balance, how much cash do I need, what do I want to buy at the market, how long will this nice weather last, on and on…
“The conscious mind, the ego, can only handle 7 to 9 bits of information at one time. The thought of the sunglasses on the shelf gets pushed aside. The ego can’t handle all the information. And I am not practicing standing at the ATM. Why not?
“What if I had stood at the ATM in a relaxed but present Qigong posture? What if I had softened my focus moving into peripheral vision? What if I had remembered to breathe deeply and slowly as when practicing Qigong or sitting on my cushion? Would I have seen the sunglasses and remembered?
“Practice can be constant. And there needs to be no fear in this. If we drop our attention and expand our awareness the ego doesn’t disappear, it simply recedes into the background of the 10-million bits of information being processed by the unconscious mind. It is there, aware, processing its 7 to 9 bits, and content to rest, yet ready to come alive as needed. The “full awareness” is in the unconscious mind lifted out of its obscurity through constant practice.
“Blocks are revealed, recognized and broken through by balancing conscious ego awareness with practiced unconscious access.
“Relax, let go, breathe deeply, sink, broaden, move fully into self and become fully aware of Self.”
I think I have my answers! Now to put them into practice…
Happy Full Moon. Have a good weekend!




