I Ching, Yijing or Zhou Yi
"Oracle of the moon": © 2000 LiSe
Yi Jing, Oracle of the Moon
The image of hexagram 53
Jiàn, the big river
What does it mean, 'inner' and 'outer trigram' (popup)
Gèn below Xún: Xún spreads messages and influences but according to those it was provided with. Gèn is solid and reliable, so the messages are solid and reliable as well. Very different from Water-messages which result in a hexagram like 59, dispersion, flood. Hex.53 is the image of strong things which take a long time to grow. Or the flight of wild geese, the strongest flyer of all birds, who can be relied on to come back year after year with their partner. It is the image of an ideal marriage.
Water, whirling cartwheels and a woodcutter's axe - water flowing through a groove: a (big) watercourse. Meanings: gradually, by degrees, drop-wise, dredging, beginning, conditions, sequence, growth, right, soon, to arrive, flows, immersion, moisturizing, edification, serious (of disease). Name of the big river Jiàn which flows in a slow and steady way and never stops.
The Image says: On the mountain is wind: Gradualness. The noble one stays in dignity and virtue and improves the customs.
Hex.53 is the contrast of 54, which is about landing in the middle of your future.
In hex.53 you have to build a future for yourself, a family and descendants of people or an enterprise or an idea, find your own role in it and fulfill the roles already in place for you. The only way is to work on it day after day, relentlessly toward that goal.
If you have no river Jiàn available, then make your own waterwheel, your own small imitation of a steady river. Make sure that your fields will not dry out. The slow and constant supply of water makes the plants, or anything you create, grow harmoniously, without stagnations, abundant.
Starting something is usually not the most difficult part; it is harder to keep it going. Every day caring for it, feeding, repairing, giving it love: every creation has to be kept alive day after day, year after year - not letting it deteriorate into a treadmill.
The wild goose can only reach its far-away destination, and come back every year, by beating its wings second after second, never losing its strength or direction.