I have been holding off on this question for some time, waiting for the right moment to consult the oracle. Today, I went ahead and asked: will the New York Yankees win the American League East? And the I Ching came back with a positive answer! Hang on, nervous Yankee fans. When the dust settles at the end of the season, the boys from the Bronx will be sitting atop the division! That is what the oracle says. Details below the fold:
The reading runs like this:
Hexagram 21, "Biting Through,"
with a moving line in the fourth place, tending toward Hexagram 27, "The Corners of the Mouth:"
That first Hexagram is very well suited to the situation the Yankees find themselves in now. It is has been a difficult year. Today, we are still eight games behind Boston; our pitching has been problematic all year and Roger Clemens appears not to be the answer. On the bright side, Yankee hitting has come alive since the All-Star break. Everyone is in the swing now. Matsui was AL player of the month for July. Even Damon seems be be coming alive (he is 7 for 13 at the plate in his last three games...). Promising rookie pitcher, Phil Hughes, comes back from his leg injury this weekend.
It would seem then that the Yankees are poised to overcome their difficulties, and that is just what Hexagram 21 says:
This hexagram represents an open mouth...with an obstruction (in the fourth place) between the teeth. As a result the lips cannot meet. To bring them together one must bite energetically through the obstacle. Since the hexagram is made up of the trigrams for thunder and lightening, it indicates how obstacles are forcibly removed in nature. Energetic biting through overcomes the obstacle that prevents joining of the lips; the storm with its thunder and lightening overcomes the disturbing tension in nature...
There is an obstacle (the Red Sox) that must be overcome by energetic action (good hitting, good pitching). And, as the Judgment predicts, "Biting through has success."
The line reading is especially apt:
Nine in the fourth place means:
Bites on dry gristly meat.
Receives metal arrows.
It furthers one to be mindful of difficulties
And to be persevering.
Good fortune.
That "good fortune" is reassuring, as is the commentary on this line:
There are great obstacles to be overcome, powerful opponents are to be punished. Though this is arduous, the effort succeeds. But it is necessary to be hard as metal and straight as an arrow to surmount the difficulties. If one know these difficulties are remains persevering, he attains good fortune. The difficult task is achieved in the end.
Excellent! And if there is any question as to the definiteness of this prophecy, consider Hexagram 27, toward which things are tending. Just look at the pictures of the two hexagrams above. In 21 the obstacle (solid line in fourth place) is there; and in 27 it is gone! Perfect!
"The Corners of the Mouth" is all about nourishment. Again, the Judgment is positive:
The corners of the mouth.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
Pay heed to the providing of nourishment
And to what a man seeks
To fill his mouth with.
There is a message here about not getting carried away with too much food and drink. Stay off the partying fellas! But I don't worry too much about this (if it were 1977, I might...). Jeter and company are sober and serious. They are set on their goal. They know what nourishment means here: another AL East title. And, by the lights of the I Ching, they will have their fill!
Go Yankees!
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