7 Ways to Live a Reading

7/27/2019 7 Ways to Live a Reading

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© Hilary J Barrett 20053

Before all else – record it

Yes, this is boring, broken-record advice. But keeping a reading in mind is tricky if you’re not entirely sure you’re remembering it right. One way or another, you needto record:

the questionthe names of the hexagramsthe words of the text

(I’ve done readings where I’ve written down the text, and readings where I’ve justassumed I could remember the gist of it. The ones where I write it down alwaysstay with me for longer and help me more.)

If you don’t like writing – or perhaps especially if you do like writing – you couldexperiment with using a voice recorder. You would read out your words and thenYi’s, reinforcing your awareness that this is a conversation, not just ‘homework’.

You might also try reading the question and answer aloud after your initialreflections on the reading. It’ll probably sound different.

Let the reading ask you questions

It’s been my experience that every hexagram and line contains its own implicitquestions. Finding one to ask doesn’t have to be particularly complicated: to beginwith, you can simply take the name of the hexagram and ask how it applies.

Hexagram 23:“What is getting old and might need Stripping Away?”“What old things have I got attached to?”

Or take what you feel to be a major theme of the hexagram, and do the samething:

Hexagram 35:“How is this an opportunity?”Hexagram 7:“What is the focal point for all this?”“What’s the campaign objective?”

And so on…

You might get more of a flow going if you brainstorm a list of questions thehexagram might be asking first (again, not worrying if they seem repetitive orobvious), and only then settle down to answer each one.




State an intention

In writing and aloud:

“In response to this reading, I will…”

If the reading was a ‘how to’ one, the intention is likely to be some specific thingto do: talk to x about y, take action to avoid further conflict with z, consult anexpert, etc.

In response to an open-ended question, the intention could be to maintain amindset or awareness: ‘I will be on the lookout for…’ or ‘I will pay attention to…’

Your intention can be written, read out, stuck on the bathroom mirror and thefridge door…

Move inside it

There must be scores of ways to move into a reading through visualisation. Here isjust one, based on moving into the trigrams – starting with just one at a time, toget into things gradually, without making an intellectual puzzle of it.

Lie somewhere quietTake your question (or your week ahead) and bring its possibilities/issues/problems swiftly to mind. Wrap them into a small parcel and put this ina bag or pocket to take with you

Imagine the lower trigram – can you see, hear, feel anything of it? Take yourself into the scene – follow it.As you travel through (or over, along, below…) the lower trigram and start toemerge from it, become aware of the upper trigram.Pause with the lower trigram behind or below you and the upper trigram beforeor above you. Take in the scene.Take your question-issue-package out, unwrap it. See how it looks, what itbecomes in this landscape, anything.Stay in the scene or travel through it for as long as you like. See what else younotice.

You may find you get small, fresh glimpses into the nature of the hexagram. Forinstance, travelling through Hexagram 59 I found that I could rely on the water of kan , its inner trigram, to carry me – but I was liable to get seasick! And standingbelow the mountain of Hexagram 23, I had a strong sense that it was ignoring theneeds of the earth below, and I needed to bring its attention down here.

Although this is a purely trigram-based exercise, it can’t hurt to be aware of theChinese character for the hexagram before you begin. ( LiSe’s site is the place to gofor this.) I found elements of the character found their way in to enrich theexperience unprompted. For instance, kan , the inner trigram of Hexagram 59,became an underground river that flowed out of a cave mouth and flooded the

http://www.anton-heyboer.org/i_ching/yi_index.html






whole landscape as far as I could see. And I skinned my knuckles knocking on thatmountain of 23 to get its attention!

The visualisation I’ve described takes you to the interface between the twotrigrams. Of course, if you have moving lines that place you somewhere else in the

hexagram landscape, that might provide the seed for something more elaborate.You could pause at each line’s vantage point to look at the scene… perhaps unwrapyour issue-package at each point to see how it changes?

One final suggestion. There may be more than one way to see the relationship of the trigrams within your hexagram. In particular, it’s sometimes possible totransform it from negative to positive through enlightened action or a change of attitude, as for instance in Hexagrams 23 or 18. In these cases, it would makesense to include that change in the visualisation.

Understand where it comes from

In other words, look at the hexagrams that precede yours in the Sequence – bothprimary and relating hexagram. The Sequence contains an implied story-line thatwill correlate directly with your real situation and its genesis. It’s an immenselyuseful, hugely underrated interpretive tool. And of course, when the reading itself is forward-looking, the preceding hexagrams may be the vital ‘missing link’ toconnect the reading into your own experience.

Again, the routine of asking yourself questions and answering them would workwell:

‘How does this situation have roots in [insert name of preceding hexagram]?’‘How does my attitude/ approach have roots in [insert name of hexagrampreceding the relating one]?’

Asking a questions about the situation’s ‘roots’ is an attempt to capture thedifferent possible meanings of the Sequence. A hexagram can grow out of the onepreceding it, or depend on it – or depend on mastering it.

Keep a synchronicity log

Starting a synchronicity log, or just writing the heading ‘synchronicities’ in yourusual reading journal, is a signal that you’re ready to receive the synchronicitiesthat will cast light on your reading. When you create just a small opening in thisway, the universe will surely respond with an abundance of communication. Or youcould see it as the reading providing you with new eyes and ears.

Synchronicities can enlarge on readings, sometimes practically interpret them foryou. They very often take the form of people using the oracle’s language andimagery in their own words. I find that they’re a real gift when working with anopen-ended question (‘What to pay attention to…?’), that might otherwise stay‘adrift’ in the realms of theory. Synchronistic links may help to bring out thepossible applications of the reading, the ways in which it could initiate change.




Compare it

The initial idea is to compare readings that involved one or both of the samehexagrams – though you could also look for recent readings with the same nuclearhexagram, for recurrent trigrams, and so on.

Of course, to do this you’ll need a record of past readings! It’s also helpful to havethem indexed or searchable in some way, so that finding readings with the same orrelated hexagrams isn’t a chore.

There is a whole lot to be gained from comparing a current reading to earlier ones.It can cast light on what the present reading is talking about; it can show howyou’re evolving; it can be a reminder of what needs attention; it can revealunderlying forces at work, way beyond your immediate preoccupations. And, nodoubt, much more.

Just browsing those past readings informally may be all you need. But if you getbogged down in the detail, then a formal process might help. Perhaps somethinglike this:

Select a reading (one at a time!)Immerse yourself in the background; bring the situation to mind as vividly asyou canRead the reading againWhat difference did it make at the time?Anything you’d say to your past self?

Anything s/he might say to you?Mentally end this conversation, and file the reading away

(I think that final step may be important – the idea is to review the previousreading, not to relive it.)

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7 Ways to Live a Reading