Hexagram from the street

I pieced together a message from the I Ching by using the coins we found laying in the street. It took a while. We´ve been gathering fallen coins since Texas but I finally got the six required for a hexagram. I take this first one as the theme for the trip. #18 KU: mountain, wind. IMAGE: Worms breeding in a bowl. Work on what has been spoiled. The winds at the foot of a mountain penetrate everywhere.

THE JUDGMENT WORK ON WHAT HAS BEEN SPOILED Has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days. One should weigh and consider well, both days before and after a turning point. And a truly lofty spirit attends to one's own affairs. THE IMAGE The wind blows low on the mountain: The image of DECAY. Thus the superior man stirs up the people And strengthens their spirit. When the wind blows slow on the mountain, it is thrown back and spoils the vegetation. This contains a challenge to improvement. What has been spoiled through man's fault can be made good again through man's work. IT is not immutable fate, as in the time of STANDSTILL, that has caused the state of corruption, but rather the abuse of human freedom. Work toward improving conditions promises well, because it accords the possibilities of the time. We must not recoil from work and danger-symbolized by crossing of the great water-but must take hold energetically. Success depends, however, on proper deliberation. This is expressed by the lines, "Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days." We must first know the cause of corruption before we can do away with them; hence it is necessary to be cautious during the time before the start. Then we must see to it that the new way is safely entered upon, so that a relapse may be avoided; therefore we must pay attention to the time after the start. Decisiveness and energy must take the place of inertia andindifference that have led to decay, in order that the ending may be followed by a new beginning.

It´s not my job to "prove" the I Ching, God or anything else. It´s my job is to make sense out of nothing so in that spirit here´s my general take on the reading. Might as well start with the obvious. Wind in the mountain spoiling everything. We started out on this trip in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Stan and are currently in San Cristobol waiting out Hurricane Wilma which is at the moment grinding away over the Yucatan. It´s even cloudy and raining here as we are just at the edge of the storm. We are leaving tomorrow and heading east into the jungle region closer to the Yucatan and probably into more rain but our plans are up for a moment's change if the weather worsens. Naturally, the I Ching´s message is always many layered. Worms breeding in a bowl covers a lot of issues, social and personal but, as always time has run out here in the ol´ internet cafe and I still haven´t even gotten around to posting the photos from Oaxaca or checking my email but I´ve got to go. Hasta la vista until manyaña. ------------------- Photo credits: #1: The Gold Scales #2: Springs Greeting Cards