Great Invigorating Strength. Drive the herds forward.
Advantageous to put your ideas to the Trial.
Develop the strength of your central idea. Don’t just look at things. Step outside the rules and press forward. Beware of procrastination, trusting the wrong people, oppressive authority. Actively pursue worthy goals.
The Image
The old characters show a Great Person, the left half of a tree meaning stiff and strong and a weapon or phallus, fully adult strength and energy.
Circle of Meanings
The strength of a great idea; strong, robust, vigorous and mature, a warrior with the power to kill and offer sacrifice; orient your will towards a self-imposed goal, focus, advance, drive on; fully adult male strength and energy. Inner perseverance now brings a liberating awareness of the whole. Heart Theme: 43 Decide and part from the past.
Spirit Helpers
Heaven drives on Thunder. Father and Eldest Son, the Creator and the Groundbreaker, create inner ideas that are expressed through rousing action. Focus your strength through a central creative idea and push forward vigorously. Step outside the rules. Put your ideas to the trial. Beware of hurting others through excessive use of force. This inner strength manifests itself directly, so come out of retirement and engage yourself. A strong creative force is stirring things up. You must be able to hold onto this strength and control it. Correct one-sidedness in yourself and the situation. Having a great idea and correcting your own path lets you look into the heart of Heaven and Earth.
Voice of the Mothers
Focus on your strength through a central creative idea goal and push forward. Do not be afraid to break the rules. Inner perseverance now brings a liberating awareness of the whole. Set off on your quest (56). Do not focus on bringing others together (31).
The retreat is over and the strength born from it takes the field. Great Invigorating Strength (da zhuang) means both great strength and the strength of the Great Ones. It is cognate with a word that means injuring and can signify: Attack them and injure them. It signifies being adult with the capacity to kill and to offer sacrifice. It is the eighth month when the plants are resplendent and the grain ripens. It combines animal strength, force and treachery in the person of Wang Hai, nomad warrior and shepherd. The figure of Wang Hai combines fertility, sexuality, magic, great animal strength and violence. From him comes the line of civilized rulers. He was the First Herdsman, a metal-magician and warrior. When he was guest of the ruler of Yi, he performed the war dance. He took a bird in each hand, ate its head and went into trance. The ruler’s wife was inflamed with desire. They enjoyed each other and she became pregnant. When her husband found out, he killed Wang Hai. The Lord of the River mourned him. Wang Hai’s son used the River Lord’s armies to invade Yi and kill the king, leading back the flocks. This made Wang Hai a hero, sign of the strength that bursts from the dark underworld waters.
Spring (34): Rouse new growth by learning from past mistakes. Accept the hard work. Make a clean break. Invigorate your great idea and push on.
Summer (14): Ripen the fruits. Your motives and aims are good. Clear the channels of communication. Success is assured.
Fall: (50): Harvest the crop by articulating images that change people’s awareness. You have the perfect plan. Give it an enduring form.
Winter (32): Find the seed of the new by waiting patiently. Do not try to organize people. The connection is there. Move slowly and carefully.
Voice of the Fathers
This is a Realizing Figure, part of the Sacred Sickness Pathways that connect personal disorders with cultural change. It is an Approach to Centers of Power in the stage of the Symbolic Life when we struggle to found an individual dwelling, family and career.
The Situation: A time to focus energy through a great idea or principle.
Caring for Others: Articulate the higher principles that govern your family and carry them into action. What you do now will create the central pattern for all. Take the initiative. Motivate people to work in terms of underlying values. Make comprehensive plans and act on them.
Setting Intentions: Establish new platforms of activity that meet emerging needs and trends. Support people in their ability to act on their own. Make sure everyone knows they belong. Establish overall values and encourage individual initiative. Clarify key directions and implement them.
Communication and Interaction: You have the power to achieve things with a minimum of cooperation, but make your intentions known to those who will be of help in the future. Bring fresh insights into established practices.
Change from the Inside Out: Take the initiative. Favor ideas that create or anticipate trends and answer visible needs. Listen, read, observe. Follow your intuitions. This is an excellent time for new initiatives that emphasize new directions. Seek adequate resources. Cast your net wide and make decisive arrangements. Energy is abundant. Keep to deadlines and appointments.
- Immediate Future: there are no obstacles in sight.
- Personal Development: invigorate your inner animal powers.
- Working with Others: pour in energy and provide inspiration.
- Working with Organizations: widen fields of activity. Take the initiative.
- Relationships: channel strength into mutual goals. Emphasize creativity.
Pairing: Bringing Change to Life
Each hexagram is part of a Pair that that activates the 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 33:34 Retiring and Great Invigorating develops the ability to free yourself from encumbering attachments and the force to advance by stepping outside the norms.
Outer to Inner: the process shifts the Creator trigram from the outer world of 33 to the inner world of 34. This turns your active connection with the world into inner perseverance.
Inner to Outer: This interiorisation transforms the Gatekeeper trigram in the inner world of 33 into the Groundbreaker trigram in the outer world of 34. 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.
Great Invigorating Strength in the feet.
Trap! Chastising closes the Way.
There is a connection to the spirits that will carry you through.
Hold back for now. Do not try to tell other people what to do or set out on an expedition. By retiring you can bring wealth and fertility to everything around you. The energy is there but if you act prematurely you will be lost in the abyss. Be resolute and part from the past. You are connected to a creative force. (32 Persevering)
Step 2 Inner Center: This inner re-organization leads to harmony with others.
Drive the animals forward.
Wise Words! Trial: The Way is open.
Drive on. Whatever you want to do now will succeed. You motives are straight and your strength is adequate to the task. You may feel isolated and unsure but you have a profound connection working at a great distance that will bring a time of blessing. Do not be afraid to act alone. You are coupled to a creative force. (55 Abounding)
Step 3 Threshold: This inner re-balancing lets you make your way in life.
Small People use Great Strength.
The Realizing Person uses the empty spaces of a net.
Trial: Adversity, the hungry souls and angry ghosts.
The ram butts a hedge and entangles his horns.
Do not use force now. Use strategy and an open heart. You are confronting troublesome past experiences. If you try to force things you will only become entangled. Think about what you truly care for and keep greedy people at a distance. This is a portent of future happiness. If you let yourself be led now you can realize the hidden potential. Co-operate with the on-going process of change. (54 Marrying Maiden)
Outer World
Step 4 Arrival: This inner preparation leads to what is greater.
Great Invigorating Strength. Wise Words! Trial: The Way is open.
The cause for sorrow disappears.
The hedge is broken through, no more entanglement.
Invigorate the axles of the great war chariots.
The obstacle vanishes. There is nothing holding you back. Do the great things that are in you to do. Trying to retire you were caught in a web of difficulties. Now you are like a young bird afraid to leave the nest. Act on your heart’s desire. A flourishing time approaches. If you let yourself be led you can realize the hidden potential. Co-operate with the on-going process of change. (11 Pervading)
Step 5 Outer Center: This inner re-grouping lets your real purpose shine.
He loses his flocks. We change with ease.
Without a cause for sorrow.
Let go of forward drive. Change your considerable strength into imagination. Do not always charge into obstacles. An inner retreat now will let you see into things. Do not let go of what you see for it is your purpose and belongs with you. Be resolute. You are connected to a creative force. (43 Deciding/Breakthrough)
Step 6 Culmination: This inner stripping leads to a breakthrough.
The ram butts a hedge.
He cannot pull back and he cannot push through.
There is no advantageous direction.
Wise Words! Accept the hardship and you will open the Way.
You are caught in a web of old plans and old promises and cannot cut through them immediately. Accept this hardship. Analyze your mistakes. The people are gathered at the gate, poised at the threshold. Heaven shields the birth of this group. Be resolute and part from the past. You are connected to a creative force. (14 Great Being)