The US Presidential contest has taken on bizarre twists and turns in recent weeks and months, mostly generated by the unstable behavior of Donald Trump. So, it is high time we settle the matter and consult the oracle, which I did today with the question: Will Hillary win the Presidency this year?
I wanted to be specific in my question by focusing on "this year" because you never know when the Yi is taking a longer view than you might be expecting. Remember way back in 2006 when I asked the Yi Jing if she should run for president? At that time she was the presumptive favorite to be the Democratic candidate but the Yi was not fooled: it suggested that she should not have thrown her hat in the ring for 2008.
But now we are in a very different moment of Dao. We're getting close to the time of decision, and the Yi is quite clear: Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States. Let's go to the reading.
The oracle returned Hexagram 5, Waiting, with a moving yang line in the second position:
The upper trigram, symbolizing water, sits above, or in this case perhaps within, the upper, heaven, suggesting the possibility of rain. We know a change is coming, the rain will fall, but we cannot force it, we have to wait for it. Thus, the title that Whilhelm gives to this hexagram: Waiting. It suggests a situation when patience is of the utmost importance. Here is The Judgment is full:
Waiting. If you are sincere, you have light and success. Perseverance brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
I can hear the anti-Hillary wags right away: she's not sincere so she won't be successful. But the Yi is not referring here to emails and ersatz scandals (Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!). It is more about a sincerity and honesty of recognizing the situation one faces. The Judgment suggests a time of danger, the coming storm could be damaging. It is saying that Hillary has to stand up and persevere in the face of the coming assaults from Trump. That's how I would interpret this portion of Wilhelm's commentary:
It is only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are, without any sort of self-deception or illusion, that a light will develop out of events, by which the path to success may be recognized. This recognition must be followed by resolute and persevering action.
It should be noted here that when the Yi counsels perseverance, it is most often formulated as "perseverance furthers;" but notice here the more definite sense of positive outcome: "perseverance brings good fortune." The Yi is optimistic.
And the advice to "cross the great water" suggests that, once a certain patience has been exercised, resolute action will bring success.
The moving yang line in the second position strengthens this sense of a second Clinton Presidency:
Nine in the second place means: waiting on the sand. There is some gossip. The end brings good fortune.
The sand here implies the banks of a river, a potentially dangerous place. And notice how specific the Yi is here in identifying the kind of challenge Hillary faces: "there is some gossip." Trump is obviously going to attack her with every libel and assault that he can muster. This is what she must patiently endure. The commentary reads: "Slander will be silenced if we do not gratify it with injured retorts." If she maintains her campaign discipline, stays on her message, doesn't take take whatever bait Trump throws out, she will be good.
And, once we account for that moving line, where is the situation tending? To one of the most favorable of hexagrams, 63, After Completion:
Here is Whilhelm's opening commentary:
The transition from confusion to order is completed, and everything is in its proper place even in particulars. The strong lines are in the strong places, the weak lines in the weak places. This is a very favorable outlook...
Of course, in good Yi fashion, there is a note of caution: when everything is just as it should be, the future is bound to bring some decay, the emergence of a new disorder. Here that could suggest that once she secures the office of President, Hillary will face new political challenges, something she is certainly expecting. But as a sign of the general tendency from where we are right now, After Completion points to a positive outcome for the Clinton campaign.
So congratulations President Clinton, but be on guard as your political adversaries will soon be looking to bring you down.
Comments