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16 Providing for YU

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Providing for a Joyous Response. Ride the Elephant.
Advantageous to install the lords to move the legions.

Collect what you need to meet the future joyously. Rouse people’s Idealism.
Don’t get caught in the details. Beware of negative feedback that damps spirit and enthusiasm. Create a harmonious and enthusiastic environment that brings out creative energy; open exchange, positive feedback.

The Image
The old character shows a hand holding the shuttle of a loom, the hidden power of the symbols and a child riding an elephant who can act spontaneously.

Circle of Meanings
Arrange for, make ready, collect what you need to meet the future; enthusiasm, spontaneous and direct response; enjoy, take pleasure in. Heart Theme: 39 the Difficult comings and goings that prepare deliverance.

 

 

Spirit Helpers
Thunder springs from Earth. Eldest Son and Mother, the Groundbreaker and the Midwife, are activating inner energy. Establish and empower helpers. Think things through so you can move smoothly with the flow of events, like riding an elephant that you have trained. This is the time to build strength and resources to meet whatever the future may bring. That way you can respond joyously and spontaneously when the call to action comes. Take pleasure in things. Your accumulated energy will bound out of the earth at a sudden call. Have a firm purpose and be adaptable. Amass a great store of grace and strength. This is how Heaven and Earth work together to create time and order the seasons. The old sages acted like this. They responded immediately from their store of power and virtue and thus the people accepted them. The time is both righteous and great.

Voice of the Mothers
Gather the strength to joyously respond when a real call to action comes. Think things through. Establish and empower helpers. Inner devotion now brings you a liberating awareness of the whole. Establish a new sacred image (50). Do not focus on skinning away the old forms of culture (49).

The name of this figure “yu, providing” evokes the culture founder Yu the Great. It centers on building up the ability to respond directly, joyously, spontaneously and effectively to any situation, gathering reserves of energy and grace into a store of power and virtue (de) from which you can respond without thought. This sort of training is used in the martial arts and many performing arts, a kind of sub-cortical patterning whereby a corrected or straightened response becomes simultaneous with stimulus, bypassing cerebral systems of rational choice. This ability to respond directly and correctly allows you to enjoy the moment, to take pleasure in life. It suggests the sets of great bronze bells that were used to wake the earth in spring and harmonize the reviving forces. The process is imaged as a child riding on an Elephant, combining spontaneity with great power and grace in an emblem of the paradise state prior to the restrictions of culture. The elephant was an omen animal used to mean symbol (xiang), the term that describes the figures of Change and their power of storing and discharging spirit. As an emblem of the Shang Dynasty, it also shows how we can make use of the past, turning it into a symbol.

Winter (16): Find the seed of the new. Don’t call out for help. Lead by example. Be generous and activate the creative energy.
Spring: (51): Rouse new growth by staying calm when others are confused. Watch who you let in. Re-imagine the whole situation.
Summer (21): Ripen the fruits by biting through the obstacles. Change your perspective. Be clear and simple. Your worth will soon be recognized.
Fall (35): Harvest the crop by applying your talents. Strip away your negativity and take action. You can influence people if you master your words. Hidden forces are working in your favor.

Voice of the Fathers
This is a Realizing Figure, part of the Sacred Sickness Pathway that connects personal disorders and cultural change. It is part of a Zone of Radical Transformation where the realizing power of Earth manifests as words that carry to a new generation. This is an experience of the Centers of Power in the stage of the Symbolic Life when we confront the problems of individual identity, sexuality and personal destiny.

The Situation: A time to refresh and re-invigorate, energizing others.

Caring for Others: Creating enthusiasm is the key to success. Do not force your plans or ideas. Understand your family members and adapt to their requirements. Create an atmosphere of ease in which people feel appreciated. Expand the field of activity and open new possibilities. This is a “people-first” situation.

Setting Intentions: Expand the terms of reference of the enterprise without breaking down unity. Your primary goal is to release tension and bring out creative activity. Invite outsiders to get a feel of the family personally.

Communication and Interaction: Have no secrets. Be enthusiastic. Express yourself and motivate others. Feedback is extremely positive. Do not hide your light. Your ideas will be well received both inside and outside.

Change from the Inside Out: Development is unfettered now. Enthusiasm plus work generate energy and results. New initiatives are auspicious. First impressions are very important, so be enthusiastic. The way you present things should be adventurous and exciting, adding a touch of magic to things.

  • Immediate Future: prepare yourself. The call is coming.
  • Personal Development: develop your deep capacity for joy.
  • Working within the Family: bring out the symbols that connect us to the flow.
  • Expanding the Circle: Use enthusiasm and quality to generate profit. 
  • Partnership: concentrate what delights you. Build a store of loving energy.

Pairing: Bringing Change to Life
Each hexagram is part of a Pair that that activates hidden paths of transformative energy through the interaction of the trigrams or Spirit Helpers, connecting phases of Inspiration and Realization. You are in the Realizing phase of this Pair.

The transformative process of the Pair 15:16 Humbling and Providing For develops the inner balance to cut through pride and complication and the patience to wait for a real call to action.

Outer to Inner: The process shifts the power of the Midwife trigram from the outer world of 15 to the inner world of 16. This turns your abstract faith in the processes of life into a deep inner devotion.

Inner to Outer: This interiorisation transforms the Gatekeeper trigram in the inner world of 15 into the Groundbreaker trigram in the outer world of 16. This turns inner self-restraint into a liberating awareness of the whole.

Transforming Lines

Mothering Change presents Transforming Lines as Steps of Change that show you where and how to focus your energy. Click on the links to connect with the Relating Figure generated by each line.

Inner World

Step 1 Beginnings: This return of the spirit attracts a new fate.
Calling out for a response. Trap! The Way closes.
Do not call out to others for help. Let your actions speak, not your words. Marshal your forces and attack. You can set right your place, eliminate negativity and be of real help to all. Be generous. This fertile shock will rouse new energy and soon all will laugh together. These goings and comings release energy now bound up in the past. Gather energy for the decisive new move. (51 Shake/Groundbreaker)

Step 2 Inner Center: This inner re-organization leads to harmony with others.
The limits you set turn to you to stone.
Do not even complete the day like this.
Trial: Wise Words! The Way opens.
Free yourself from these constraints. Your purpose is correct and it is time to expand. Attack your problems aggressively. In the greatest difficulties partners will come. You can catch the hidden negativity and acquire the power to act directly. These goings and comings release the energy now bound up in the past. Co-operate with the ongoing process of change. (40 Deliverance/Liberating)

Step 3 Threshold: This inner re-balancing lets you make your way in life.
Skeptical response brings cause for sorrow.
Holding back brings cause for sorrow.
Do not hold back. Provide what is needed. Cut through pride and complications. Do not get involved in old arguments and everything will fall into your hands. Let the adversity that is going now be a warning. Do not carry on in the old ways! Do not be afraid to act alone. You are connected to a creative force. (62 Small Traverses/Flying Bird)

Outer World

Step 4 Arrival: This inner preparation leads to what is greater.
Do not doubt!
This source Provides For a joyous response and Great acquisitions.
You join friends in a string of cowries, as a hair clasp gathers the hair.
This is an undertaking sent from above. Have no doubts. You do not need to advertise for unconscious powers are at work on your behalf. Whatever you desire will simply appear. This is a containing beauty that empowers. All is bundled in the bag. (2 Field/Midwife)

Step 5 Outer Center: This inner re-grouping lets your real purpose shine.
Provide for this.
Trial: affliction. Fix the omen and you will not die.
This is a hard time. If you can see into the cause, the wisdom you gather will provide for you. The inner work you are doing now will call out to others. Open your heart. The new energy will carry you through. Gather the people in ranks and step out to meet the new destiny. All will be well in the end. Gather energy for the decisive new move. (45 Gathering)

Step 6 Culmination: This inner stripping leads to a breakthrough.
The shadow world. Provide For new accomplishments.
There will be changes. This is not a mistake.
Work on in the dark to provide for the future. Keep your pride out of the way. Your inner work will call out to others. Master your words and you can influence people. Attack the old ways and you will soon emerge into the light. These goings and comings release energy bound up in the past. Step outside the norms. Gather energy for the decisive new move. (35 Flourishing)