Eleven months ago I consulted the I Ching about Hillary Clinton's presidential prospects. The oracle came back with what I took to be a cautious response. I thought the time was ripe, and the political context sufficiently different, to ask again (I know, I usually do divinations on Fridays, but I just couldn't wait for this one...). And this time the fortune is very positive. The I Ching seems to anticipate the first woman president of the United States.
More below the jump...
For those following along at home, the reading was as follows.
Hexagram 14, Possession in Great Measure
with moving lines in the first and last places, thus tending toward Hexagram 32, Duration.
Hexagram 14, Possession in Great Measure, has a very simple and direct Judgment: "Supreme Success." The broken, yin line in the fifth place is a "female" line, holding all the other "strong" yang, male lines together. Do we need a clearer picture than that?
The I Ching is telling Clinton how to take advantage of her front-runner position:
The two trigrams indicate that strength and clarity unite. Possession in great measure is determined by fate and accords with the time. How is it possible that the weak line has power to hold the strong lines fast and to possess them? It is done by virtue of unselfish modesty. The time is favorable–a time of strength within, clarity and culture without. Power is expressing itself in graceful and controlled way. This brings supreme success and wealth.
The moving line in the first place seems especially apt, pointing out that "great possession is still in its beginning," and care must be taken to avoid mistakes. But the pure yang line in the sixth place promises a very good outcome:
Nine at the top means:
He is blessed by heaven.
Good fortune.
Nothing that does not further.
"He" is obviously a she in this case; and "heaven" does not have the same connotation as it does in Western Christianity. Here it implies something closer to fate and destiny. She may not be touched by the hand of God, but Senator Clinton, the oracle is saying, has a very bright future in politics.
Hexagram 32, Duration, lends some caution to the reading but does not, it seems to me, upend the generally positive forecast. "Duration" here implies, rather ironically, marriage. When complementary forces - male/female, inside/outside, summer/winter, thunder/lightening - are in balance, the patterns that emerge endure over time:
The seasons of the year follow a fixed law of change and transformation, hence can produce effects that endure.
So likewise the dedicated man embodies an enduring meaning in his way of life, and thereby the world is formed. In that which gives things their duration, we can come to understand the nature of all beings in heaven and on earth.
So, a leader must discern the enduring patterns of politics, society, and economy to find the best way forward. This is not automatic. It requires a great deal of attention and care. But if done well, all will benefit:
Thunder rolls, and the wind blows; both are examples of extreme mobility and so are seemingly the very opposite of duration, but the laws governing their appearance and subsidence, their coming and going, endure. In the same way the independence of the superior man is not based on rigidity and immobility of character. He always keeps abreast of the time and changes with it. What endures is the unswerving directive, the inner law of his being, which determines all his actions.
Sounds like a vision for a successful presidency.
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