Raising Yourself
tending to full-grown humans
What’s in store for the week?
This week for the Monday morning divination session, we offered a different type of inquiry, one more open-ended in a way, one that each of us could tailor to our own experience through the week. I took the question shape from one of my colleagues who put forth this kind of inquiry for themselves and it intrigued me. We cannot predict the future, and even more, it is dangerous to attempt to do so. Even the Oracle does not predict the future, but by asking, you begin to engage the energy that is in play, begin to feel into your own participation, your own cultivation, so that you can respond fully and consciously to what arises.
The initial hexagram, Hexagram 26 - Dà Chù - Great Accumulates/Great Taming is often talked about through the image of farming, the picture of raising animals or growing crops. The energy of the relationship between a farmer and their animals or the gardener and their garden is one of both desire and need. There is no question that animals, plants and people need care. They need food, water, shelter, stimulation and rest in varying degrees and in varying proportion to the natural elements that also impact their development. Here, at the moment depicted in this hexagram, we are asked to consider what is the right amount of interference, the right amount of patience in the presence of a profusion of things. We are confronted by the chaos of growth and the natural excitement of many things. We desire growth, beauty, abundance. What is it we really need? How will we get what we need?
In raising onself, that is cultivating one’s awareness, one’s essence, discovering the difference between need and desire if fundamental to one’s long-term health and success. Need is something we cannot ignore. It demands attention. Whether that attention comes from someone else or from oneself, true need is insistent. Need can be satsified. Need emanates from the very precious connection between caregiver and cared for, sensitizing you to the subtle but vital movements. Riding the flow of need brings you into alignment and into service to heaven and earth.
Desire, on the other hand, operates quite differently. Desire activates, calls forth creative energy and in many cases, is not easily satisfied. Desire animates our embodiment, our very personal experience of the world, while it expresses your individuality, your autonomy and creativity. Holding the reins of your own desire you become empowered, full, and enriched by your own experience.
As humans, we are blessed with the capacity to discern, to navigate these two aspects of experience. We can actually fill our own needs as adult humans, at least most of the time. When we can’t, we know how to ask for others to contribute to our well-being. It becomes a full and creative exploration when we find ourselves desiring without needing. The moment depicted in this hexagram is a moment full of both desire and need, the desire of growth and the discernment of need. Here we are in the midst of great accumulation, the result of our desire, you could say and, simultaneously, there is a need for great taming. That taming comes through the recognition and tempering of desire. Desire here is the activity beyond need, the things we might wish for that might have nothing to do with the natural process of growth and accumulation. Tempering desire is not repression or suppression. These would be damaging to one’s own being. Instead, tempering asks us to consider what matters, what is critical, what is actually important to us at such a moment. What is it we really need?
Tempering grows our strength, tapping into desire and funneling it to our roots, nourishing our foundation, bringing us into contact with our inner resources. This is the way to best nourish anything and everything after all, to connect things to their own deep resources, to their own essence, even in the presence of great change.
This week’s reading included 4 changing lines. That is great change! Changing lines are always moments where change will show itself to us and where you will have explicit choices to make. Lots of moments throughout the week will invite you to engage around your choices, or you could say your need and your desire. I suggest that as a practice for the week, when these moments arise, you ask yourself the question: what do I really need? This question can really level the ground, so to speak, putting you in contact with your body, your own heart and your own mind right away, putting things in perspective. You could also ask “what do I want from this moment?” holding steady, even still, as the answer may rock you or shock you if you listen openly to your own creative force.
Shock - Hexagram 51 - Zhen is the result of our 4 changing lines, the relating hexagram. Shock throws us unceremoniously into the present. It is common to think of shock as a negative experience, but on the path of self-cultivation, shock is viewed as an important way to be returned to presence. According to Carol Anthony:
“Shock has the effect of temporarily separating our ego from our psyche. The ego seems to disappear, in a somewhat cowardly fashion, returning only when the crisis subsides. During this separation, our real self learns that it is able to handle a situation it thought only the ego could handle.”
So this process of being rocked by change, especially when our accumulations are big and demanding (I’m thinking of gardening, of course, which is a very demanding endeavor at almost every step of the way), we can ride the change through staying in the saddle, keeping still, as it were, as things move under and around us, strengthening our connection to both ourselves and our various domains in the world. Such is the power of Great Accumlation/Great Taming.
The essential oil for the week is Camphor. Camphor is renowned for its capacity to awaken us, from a faint, from a slumber or from an emotional collapse. It literally opens our orifices, therefore bringing us out of shock. In opening your orifices you can experience a kind of re-set of your perception, get a new view of things. This allows you to capitalize on any shocking moment rather than backing away or shutting down to new ways of being or new opportunities. Just a small sniff will do the job, too much might lead to overstimulation, too much accentuation of movement or change. Best to sense into the subtle changes in the eyes, ears, nose, mouth or skin as you take in this potent aroma.
This is a good week to focus on your staying in your body, in the saddle of your life as the changes and choices come fast and furious to your experience. I wish you an exciting and adventurous ride and I hope you’ll share what arises!
Astounding insights ! Thank you so much for this gift ! I feel prepared in anticipation of this week ahead and a good practice to stay in the saddle , in my very essence , and not stray to reactivity .