A special note on Hexagram 19 Approach

I was having a discussion with my boss when a mutual friend walked in to say good bye as he would be off to London in a couple of days and will stay there for a while. For how long he did not know. This discussion was back in October 1990. The only thing he said of interest was that he should have listened carefully to his ancestor master, a Quanzhen immortal. In January 1990 the immortal had said this about our shares market (which I translate and paraphrase):

“Springtime brings earth full of gold; in summer, everything turns to sand.”

My friend related how he made much money from shares trading during the months of spring but lost it all and more when Iraq invaded Kuwait that summer. He was very surprised and regretted not following his master’s advice which turned out true. When it came to my turn, I told him that the immortal’s advice was similar to the judgment in Hexagram 19 Approach. And that the Yi has advised me not to invest in the shares market since early 1990 and to invest in offshore foreign currency deposits-especially in US dollars deposits. The Yi had also indicated a major catastrophe will occur around August 2 1990 (a date based on my calculations) that will adversely affect the world financial markets. The 2nd of August was the day Iraq invaded Kuwait. (This was to be Yi’s first such omen revealed to me.) The world shares markets fell heavily, but US dollars were in good demand. The turmoil in the financial markets ended when the US led UN forces chased the Iraqi Army out of Kuwait six months later.

Since that conversation, we have become good friends sharing many ‘heaven’ secrets revealed by the immortals and the Yi throughout the past fifteen years.

For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the translation by Wilhelm/Baynes, the judgment of Hexagram 19 Approach is as follows.

“Approach has supreme success. Perseverance furthers. When the eighth month comes, there will be misfortune.”

Spring is approaching. Joy and forbearance bring high and low nearer together. Success is certain. But we must work with determination and perseverance to make full use of the propitiousness of the time. However spring does not last forever. In the eighth month the aspects are reversed. We must take heed of this change in good time. If we meet evil before it becomes reality-before it has begun to stir- we can master it. [W/B]