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New Moon in Virgo I Ching Divination
As I posted earlier this “Moon-day” the Moon and Sun were conjunct at 10:13 AM EDT just inside Virgo (about 2 1/2 degrees). As I do just after this New Moon event I cast an I Ching Gua, the six line hexagram of the ancient Chinese approach to divination. I do this to get a sense of the energies coming in with the New Moon. For me this is a meditation practice and a way to tap into the “inner” to determine what is going on in the “outer.”
Today’s divination is very auspicious; the energies the New Moon brought in are strong yet balanced; and even as they change (I means change) the auspiciousness of the time grows!
The initial Gua I cast (I use the 50-yarrow stalk method) is pictured here. The bottom trigram is Qian meaning Heaven. These were all 7s, strong Yang lines forming a very sturdy foundation for the month. The upper trigram was formed by two 8s and a 9; two strong yin lines and a weak Yang line. The top 9 then shifts to an open Yin line forming the new “accomplished” Gua (see that hexagram below).
The initial Gua is composed of “Mountain” over “Heaven” and means “great accumulation.” In the sequence of the 64 hexagrams that compose the I Ching great accumulation follows “Without Falsehood.” The implication is “when truthful there is great accumulation of virtue.” And with virtue comes great power, wealth and prosperity.
We are entering harvest time. It will be a good, even great harvest.
In the hexagram Heaven is below Mountain. The image is of clouds hanging within the mountains accumulating cooling and nourishing rain – a majestic image! And this is a good sign for continuing fair weather for the abundant harvest.
When the top line shifts from Yang to Yin the accomplished Gua is Tai which means “advance.” It is pictured here:
To capture an image of this, one sees that the top line of the initial Gua “opens” as it changes. This opening lets the accumulation of virtue flow out in “advancement” and we use the accumulation to good purpose. The accomplished Gua means it is favorable to take action.
Quoting Master Alfred Huang, author of my main reference, The Complete I Ching, “Tai is one of the most auspicious words in Chinese.” It can mean: “more than great, peace, safety, good health, progress, proceeding, and advancing.”
Continuing to quote from Master Huang, here is King Wen’s decision for this Gua:
Advance.
The little is departing,
The great is arriving.
Good fortune.
Prosperous and smooth.
The keys to this accomplished Gua are union and harmony. Within the structure of the hexagram, the two trigrams, Heaven below and Earth above, are coming together in union. This is why the word Tai is so auspicious: when Heaven unites with Earth blessing and bliss are attained. And humans are the connectors. As the Taoteching states: “Heaven is great, Earth is great, Humans are also great.”
It is a time of unity and harmony. As we advance in the year toward the Autumnal Equinox, as this Moon-cycle begins to wane, we can move into the balance point in the Sun-cycle.
Harvest is great. Accumulate great virtue over the next few weeks and on that strength advance toward balance and harmony!
PS: As always, my dear friend and awesome astrologer, Gloria Hesseloff writes the perfectly synchronous newsletter on this Virgo New Moon; quoting: Virgo energy asks us to become highly competent in a skill that is of value to others. We then generously offer it as our high service. Your specific gifts are truly needed at this significant moment in history. The goal is to do this without arrogance (humbly) but also without self-deprecation. This can be a tricky task…
Through “great accumulation” of virtue we make gains “of value to others.” From this accumulation we “advance” and offer our gains as “our high service.” And we do this from a point of harmony and balance!
Know Thyself – Tools for Self-Knowledge – Richard’s Commentary
As I was writing my “morning pages” today I realized after a couple of paragraphs that I was writing today’s post and commentary on Rosemary’s Exploration article. I began my pages, as I often do, writing about the passage of time; here’s my entry:
We are running out of Leo fast; and then August. Everyone seems to be noting how fast time is now passing.
Of course it is all perception – as everything is. One effect on our perception is the amount of information we are bombarded with moment to moment. 24-hour news, FaceBook, email, the never ending stream of websites and blogs is literally overwhelming. When we are overwhelmed we can go into a spin, a dive that seems endless, frightening and high-speed. Time melts away in the dive – it almost feels like a death-defying dive!
And it is all perception! The only reality is of our own making, our own perceiving. To change our reality all we need to do is change our perspective. And this is a matter of intention and attention.
It begins with intention: what is going on inside. If we feel we are in free-fall, take a breath, maybe two, deep cleansing breaths, and then put the brakes on. Stop the fall. Sink into the dantien (the lower abdomen area) and breathe there. It is possible to float here. And as we float we can get a sense of flow, of going with the flow. The current doesn’t have to be a raging rapids; it can be a slow, lazy summer river taking its time in search of the sea. It can take on any speed we give it because this is our reality. We can imagine it to be any rate of flow we desire!
It’s good to take time out of a busy life to slow the pace. There really is no place to go. There’s nothing to do. Oh, OK, there are chores of life, tasks we set for ourselves, responsibilities we sign up for and lessons to learn. But we can be and breathe through all of these.
The “being part” is the witness who rides above all of the rapid pace, the wild passage of time, the endless stream of information. Rise up to that level and watch it all. How serious does it all appear to be – how real? How important?
From that vantage the passage of time seems almost irrelevant. Yes, we have our lessons to work out, our karmic Lesson Plan. Here’s where attention comes in. There are external influences that come to play in our lives. We have other people’s perceptions to take into account and to process. When we pay attention we can see and learn the lessons these interactions hold for us. This is a matter of shifting our perspective from “encounter” to “classroom.” We shift from “other” to “mirror” – how is this person mirroring me, my interactions and my behavior?
Inner perspective, intention, and outer perspective, attention, are always relative, which means they are adaptable, transmutable. The simple technique of using breath to do the adapting is all that’s needed. One breath can stop the fall, gain a fresh perspective and shift reality.
I have moved now well into my birthday month, working on my 70th year! To many, and sometimes me, this sounds old! And from this perspective that time is speeding up, I may not have much time left! So, I take a breath and try this on: “70 is the new 50”! Ah, that’s better and about how I feel! And soon enough 100 will be the new 70!
Rosemary asks: Have you explored tools to help you understand where you are coming from? What about where others are coming from? Do you value the differences in how people approach learning, or life, or do you expect everyone to see things as you see them? To listen and to hear exactly what you hear? To feel the way you feel?
My answer, as it is for many things these days, is “I practice Qigong.” Breathe deeply and gain a new perspective on your “reality.”
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!
Blocked? – Richard’s Commentary
It was a bright, sunny day with low humidity and a light breeze – a lovely June day in Maryland. I stopped at the bank on the way home to get some cash for the farmers’ market the next day. Because it was a sunny, bright day I wore my new “reader sunglasses” – sunglasses with a bifocal area for magnification to aid these aging eyes when reading in bright light. I needed to take them off to see the ATM screen at the bank; I placed them on the handy ledge below the machine.
I was halfway home when I realized I wasn’t wearing my sunglasses – my route is shady and the light less bright. I quick search of my many-pocketed vest – my alternative to carrying a purse – turned up empty. Reverse, dash back to the bank – no sunglasses on the ledge. Inside the bank the teller I know by name is free – “did anyone turn in a pair of sunglasses in the last few minutes?” She looks at other tellers and in their lost-and-found area – “no, sorry.”
I am disappointed – mostly in myself. Why these lapses? And when will I listen to my unconscious mind, my intuition? You see, when I placed my sunglasses on that little ledge under the ATM I had a brief glimpse of forgetting them there – just a flash. And I may even have muttered to myself – “don’t forget your sunglasses there.”
If I listened to that voice my unconscious mind heard “forget your sunglasses there.” The unconscious mind does not process negatives. It only hears and processes positive statements – I learned this in hypnosis and NLP training when I went to a few classes with Rosemary when she was earning her certifications.
So, how am I blocked from listening to my intuition, changing my language used in “self-talk” to make only positive statement and become more fully aware, in every moment, of what is going on within me and all around me? And, what do I do about it?
Here’s what Rosemary writes in her post about this subject:
Be grateful for your unconscious mind. It keeps your heart pumping and your brain functioning and your lungs breathing and a whole lot of other processes operating in your life without your having to consciously make things happen. However, that same unconscious mind is operating in ways that can cause patterns and blocks that you might not know consciously, and might not have chosen if you did know, and you struggle with understanding why you can’t get things done or why you seem to be blocked from your successes.
Yes, that seems true for me and does explain the blockage to becoming fully aware so that sunglasses are not lost. Is there a solution to the blocks; a way to move into full awareness?
Rosemary writes: …if you are reading these words, then you are called to continue forward on your path. Take a step in the direction of your dreams. If you feel blocked, if you stumble, rejoice that you are growing. There are ways to see beyond what is holding you back. There are tools to help you and people to support you in your growth.
Another lesson, another growth opportunity. Is this what my lost sunglasses episode is telling me? Here you can imagine hearing a loud groan!
It was just about a year ago (June 28, 2013, as a matter of fact) that I wrote a similar post here titled “Awareness.” In that post I told the Zen tale of Nan-in and Tenno. The master, Nan-in, asked Tenno when he arrived on a rainy day to which side of the door he had placed his umbrella and clogs on entering Nan-in’s house. Tenno could not answer; he studied at the feet of Nan-in for 10 more years to become fully aware!
I guess this means I have another nine years to go, another nine years of practice and study and “lessons in lost sunglasses”!
MONDAY’S POEM: Awareness and Action
I published today’s poem here about a year ago. I publish it again as a reminder and as a setup for my post coming on Thursday: a commentary on Rosemary’s article Blocked? and an exploration of my own blocks that seem to hold me in unawareness.
The poem’s reference to Nan-in and Tenno is to a classic Zen story.
Awareness and Action
A million bits of information
Streaming from a thousand sources.
Are you aware of seven or nine?
Your unconscious mind
Absorbs it all!
Awareness is a nebulous thing:
Seven, nine, ten-thousand things
Add to consciousness moment
To moment even as we sleep.
Absorb it all?
Nan-in asks Tenno umbrella to clogs,
Left or right? Ten-thousand bits
Lost in unconsciousness. Ten more
Years of Awareness practice;
Absorb it all!
Practice in Action. It is all
Practice! For what you ask;
How will you ever know
Bliss if you don’t
Absorb it All?
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – What Is This?
Today’s poem doesn’t exactly belong in the “Rhythms and Cycles” collection; and yet, the lessons come at us, sometimes in waves. And we have to deal with the lessons as they come. I learned this Koan through an article in Tricycle magazine several years ago and do apply it often when I catch myself in the midst of some crisis (lesson). The practice is to ask this question when something disrupts the flow of life. And when the first answer arises, ask the question again. Continue this cyclic, nested examining, analyzing and asking, spiraling in until a satisfactory answer manifests. Try it the next time you meet up with frustration!
What Is This?
A Koan in the Korean Zen tradition:
When impatience arises ask
What is this?
A question to penetrate to the essence.
When fear stares from the mirror ask
What is this?
A lesson in each waking moment.
When doubt and despair assail ask
What is this?
An offering to self and life and growth.
When wonder and joy abound ask
What is this?
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
You Are Being Lied To! – Richard’s Commentary
I don’t know about you but I lie to myself all the time. And part of “growing up” is to catch myself doing it, question why, and the underlying beliefs that trigger the lies, and then digging down underneath the beliefs to work on rewiring the neurology or filling in the ruts in the neural pathways that entrenched the beliefs underpinning the lies.
Here’s an example: I use the word “never” a lot! “I will never win that prize.” “I will never figure out a way to stop misplacing my glasses.” “I will never get published.” The “nevers” go on and on.
There seems to be a negative trench in my brain that too often goes to the improbability of something happening rather than to the possibility! Part of this is the way I came into the world, my genetic wiring. And part of it was the way I was raised, the environmental wiring. We all have these vestige neural pathways carved into us; some more deeply than others.
But there is good news here; neuro-biology is examining the “neuro-plasticity” of the human brain and discovering that we can change the way we think. Ruts in the plastic can be worn deeply by repeated thoughts, beliefs, lies. But they can also be modified, filled in, redirected through conscious choice.
This is Rosemary’s whole point in her article about the lies we tell ourselves. And here’s the paragraph that helps me the most:
Now LAUGH!!! Feel how good it feels. You DESERVE to laugh, no matter what is going on in your life, no matter where you are, there is something to laugh about. I just looked out the window at a squirrel trying to get into a squirrel-proof bird feeder. Do you think the squirrel thinks that, just because he can’t get any birdseed out of it, there’s something wrong with him, that he’s not ‘good enough’ to be worthy of food? Heck, no! That squirrel goes around the corner of the house, climbs the tree to the non-squirrel-proof bird feeder, hangs upside down, and eats his fill. Only we humans compare ourselves to some mythological standard and find that we don’t measure up.
There is nothing wrong with me. We all have negative thoughts about ourselves, but these are lies buried in the beliefs we carry that no longer serve us.
I once had an Enneagram teacher ask me: “what if the world is perfect just the way it is?” I was stunned at first. Then I laughed; and I relaxed! Yeah, the world is perfect and I am perfect. The lessons come to help us become more perfect.
One of my lessons is to replace “never” with “sometimes” in my thoughts about myself– and every time I do I get to laugh! Through this practice maybe that “never rut” will begin to fill in. And when it is gone, when that lie disappears maybe I can replace “sometimes” with “always”!
How are you lying to yourself? How are you catching yourself doing it? Find a practice to rewire your neurology; pave over the old ruts and believe in your inner light!
Who is Your WHO? – Richard’s Commentary
Rosemary’s question this week is:
WHO is it that you are serving?
My first reaction to this question is to think about my Qigong students; they are my clients and I do feel that I am serving them when we are in class together, when I am leading them through a form, focusing on breath, gathering and storing Qi for health, well-being, and peace. The beauty of my “who” is I am serving myself as well. I am doing the research into Taoism, the basis for the effectiveness of Qigong. I am going through the form with my students, leading myself to health, well-being and peace. And I am working with the forms on my own as well, practicing the forms every day. I continue my research and reading on the subject to go deeper so I can take my students deeper.
In response to Rosemary’s statement:
If you don’t take care of your own health, no one else can do it. You know this. You accept this. But what about your spiritual and psychological health? Your emotional health? Your mental health? Are you serving yourself by taking care of yourself in those areas?
I can feel pretty good, right? Qigong covers all these aspects of my life. Qigong contributes to my health. And the study of Taoism supports my spiritual and psychological health. Reflection on the Five Elements, the basis for Traditional Chinese Medicine, helps me work through my emotional and mental issues. Through all these levels I am serving my students and I am serving myself at the same time!
If only it were that simple!
Everything I’ve written above is true. And Qigong does help my students and me work through issues. But what about others I serve?
What about Rosemary? She is my client as well. I support her business,TheScientificMystic.com, through managing the technology to operate the business, handling the finances, and helping her with the messaging and marketing of her services. How am I doing with that?
Here I can’t be quite as glib with my answers! Sometimes I grow impatient that Rosemary doesn’t work to my schedule! Whose business is this? Sometimes I get frustrated with the procrastination. But I am a great procrastinator! And too often I get bogged down with the technology rather than focusing on what drives the business – Rosemary’s talent!
So, I need to take Rosemary’s advice here:
My work is to build a relationship in which I support them.
My work with Rosemary is to create the best possible business relationship we can have in order to best serve her, as my client!
And I need to do this analysis for all of my relationships. Everyone is a “client” of everyone else. It is important to nurture client relationships and it is vital to nurture all of our inter-relationships.
Who are your clients? Are you nurturing them? Are you nurturing every relationship with others as if they were your client? Are you nurturing the relationship with yourself?
What a world it would be if this were the case!
Ask Yourself… – Richard’s Commentary
So, why DO you get up in the morning? My answer to this question has changed over the course of my long corporate career. I had the opportunity to work on and lead a number of exciting technical projects, from space and earth sciences exploration to commercial software development and logistics planning and management. I always enjoyed my work, its challenges and rewards.
But for all that time I had a bigger “why”…family. Rosemary and I raised three fabulous kids, now in their 30s; they are off doing their own “family things” now. Yes, we have grandkids – a wonder! But they are their parents’ responsibility and their “why” now.
So as my family dynamics have shifted my “big why” is also shifting. Of course I still have family responsibilities to Rosemary but she is fully capable of taking care of herself. It is true that I am taking care of much of the “back-office” obligations of managing our businesses together, Rosemary’s The Scientific Mystic enterprise and our church and consciousness study center, Church of A New Alliance. And these efforts are fun and fruitful. But they are not up there with a “Big Why.”
I love to write. I write lots of things, including blog posts, like this one, poetry which I share selections on this blog, morning pages, sales copy for websites…I spend a lot of my time writing. But writing is not up there with a “Big Why.”
I love bodywork. Currently I am practicing both yoga and several forms of Qigong. In fact I am teaching three classes of Qigong now and really enjoying the sharing the physical “energetic” of the forms, the breath work and the Taoist philosophical underpinnings of Qigong.
This gets at another love: my love of world religions and spirituality. I am an ordained “Interfaith Minister” – by a seminary of Pebble Hill Church, Doylestown, PA. And since my ordination in 2000 I have continued to study, absorb and practice many of the world’s spiritual traditions, from Taoism, to Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sufism to Judaism and Christianity, not to exclude indigenous cultures and their spiritual traditions. My emphasis in understanding these traditions is to gain insight through practice, not just learning the beliefs and reading the texts. It is through practice that we truly get in touch with one another.
I love community. I enjoy the dynamics and give and take, the yin and yang of community, of people sharing their gifts, their understanding and wisdom. How else can we get in tune with the world around us than through community.
I guess the bottom line of what gets me up in the morning is love. I’ve said before in this space that my highest value is PRACTICE –> LOVE. I’ve also mentioned that my fingerprints tell the same tale; my 10 loops for prints point to my purpose: LOVE.
So, yeah, love gets me up in the morning. It keeps me going through the day. And it’s often the last thing on my mind and in my heart as I drift off to sleep.
Big Whys are important. If you don’t know yours do some soul searching. Get your hand and fingerprints read by a Scientific Hand Analyst. Get help eliciting your Big Why if you need it. Knowing makes it fun to get up in the morning!
Connect! – Richard’s Commentary
We are all connected in so many ways. Do you ever consider just how connected we are? Thich Nhat Hahn speaks of this as interdependence. I heard him speak years ago about this concept of interconnectedness, not just with humans but with all things. It’s his way to begin to explain shunyata, or the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of “emptiness.” We are interconnected with and interdependent on every atom and molecule on earth (and beyond)!
So as Rosemary writes:
Your life is all about connecting. You were born into a family or chosen by one. You have chosen friends and partners. You bore children or sired them. You have worked with people, paid some for services, gone to the doctor, bought groceries. Every thing you have done has contained an element of connection.
How deep does your “connecting” go?
All of these external, intricate interdependencies at the material, physical level are only a small (maybe miniscule) part of our connectedness. Rosemary urges another way to “Connect” – to the inner you:
When you connect with the inner you, you are tapping into your own power, your essence. When you have a strong connection to your inner wisdom, your guides, you gain clarity and confidence.
How vast is this connection for you? When you let your imagination run free how much ground does it cover, how many worlds do you visit?
Rosemary mentions many ways to connect to the inner you: meditation, contemplation, visualizations, writing. For those who don’t have a formal practice even daydreaming is a way to connect. Prayer is also an excellent way to connect and listen!
But how many of us resist this inner connection? How many even blot it out through various means of escape? Even in prayer it is easy to externalize the conversationmaking appeals to the Almighty out there somewhere in the Universe! Do we ever stop to listen, to keep this conversation bidirectional? When/if we do listen, where do we hear that voice?
Often people need help with this inner connection. For many indigenous peoples they relied on shamans as intercessors with the Spirit World. Western people rely on their priests and/or psychologists to facilitate the inner dialog. This is a wonderful way to begin the conversation. Sometimes we need translators to interpret the symbols. Sometimes we need validation that what we are hearing/feeling/seeing is true for us.
If you need help to jumpstart your inner connection, get it. The inner world is vast beyond belief. The inner connection, the inner dialog can take you on journeys beyond your wildest conscious imagination if you allow and listen. Your purpose calls you to this and your passion is waiting for you, just there, inside!
Have fun; have a great ride. And don’t worry about sending postcards!
Men and The Goddess 