Psychic Readings from The
Psychic Internet often feature images drawn from the
I Ching Oracle. To offer supplementary
information about these images for our clients,
and for the public, we have provided this archive
of brief articles.
For general information on
the I Ching Oracle, click here.
The
abstract images of the I Ching Oracle (usually
called "hexagrams") symbolize all of
the related and interacting aspects of reality.
In the following excerpts from actual Psychic Readings, the images of the I Ching
are discussed.
Click here for links to all
of the images.
The Corners
of the Mouth
The
appearance of the image of The Corners of the
Mouth is more than appropriate under the
circumstances. As the name implies, it is,
naturally enough, a symbol of nourishment, and in
the Richard Wilhelm edition of the oracle, the
image is given an alternative name,
“Providing Nourishment.” But the symbol
of the mouth is based on the formal structure of
the image, which almost literally describes the
human jaw, down to the relation of a movable
lower part that rises to meet a stationary upper
part. Indeed, one attempt at a more literal
translation of the oracle translates the name of
the image as "Jaws,” with the
subsidiary translation of “Swallowing.”
It may be
worth quoting from the initial comment on this
image provided by the last-mentioned translation
(Ritsema/Karcher). It says, “To be in accord
with the image, you are told to open your jaws
and swallow.” This brings to mind the
condition of having a lump at the top of the
throat. And, this is so much like the feeling
that you described, and the depression you feel
at the contemplation of returning to something in
your life that causes you unhappiness.
Now, some
versions of the idea of “swallowing”
are rather cynical in their implications. One
swallows what one hasn’t the power to
resist. This may be the most common connotation
of the word when attached to a psychological
attitude. But there is another way of looking at
it. Opening the jaws, first of all, is a sign of
relaxation. And swallowing is the best thing you
can do for that lump at the top of the throat,
the incipient sign of weeping and sorrow. NOT
swallowing in the sense of accepting your
punishment like awful-tasting medicine.
That’s like keeping a stiff upper lip, and
by opening the jaw you have on the contrary
already begun to relax. The path forward has
nothing to do with keeping a stiff upper lip.
There is nothing in your future that you have to
ENDURE. When Faulkner accepted the Nobel Prize in
literature, his acceptance speech declared his
fundamental faith in a higher vision. He said
that man was not meant merely to endure, but to
PREVAIL.
More
on The Corners of the Mouth
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