Hexagram 21 Shi He – Yi’s confirmation?

First the various oracles, then a confirmation, I love the way the Zhouyi speaks to Professor Sam Crane, a fellow Yi diviner. His sincerity in studying and teaching the ancient Way may have ‘moved’ Heaven. (His I Ching divinations, interpretations, and thoughts on Confucian and Daoist doctrines can be read at his blog, ‘The Useless Tree’ – link at Recommended Sites.)

To his question, ‘Will President Bush find a compromise on Iraq that will allow him to reverse his declining political fortunes?’ the Yi answered Professor Crane with Hexagram 21 Shi He / Biting Through, unchanging.

After the Yi and the American people have spoken (with their votes on November 7), Nancy Pelosi had also spoken (in a short video taped interview made available by Yahoo.com last week). In line with our recent discussions on President Bush’s current precarious position – his Republican Party has lost majority control of both Houses to the Democrats in the recent elections – it appears that the Yi may have given a confirmation on what would happen to the US President.

Before we proceed to interpret the prognostication, we have to keep in mind the purpose of and the personalities involved in the war in Iraq. The justification (s) for the invasion of Iraq given then was to destroy its ‘remaining’ weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and to remove Saddam Hussein, a tyrant who had killed tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis. The United Nations and the majority of countries in the world were against the invasion of a sovereign country without sufficient proof of the WMD – none was ever found since it was a slander - but nevertheless the US and Britain invaded the ‘peaceful’ country.

After a quick US led victory with superior weaponry and logistics, the Iraqi people were hardly pacified and protected. In fact the forty four months occupation of Iraq and the war may have cost more innocent lives (and still counting) than those killed by Saddam Hussein during his twenty over years rule. Does the world really need twenty years to look back at the history of this invasion? Who will speak up for humanity, and for the weak?

Let’s see what the Yi wants to say about all this.

The Judgment: Biting Through has success. It is favorable to let justice be administrated.

The Image: Thunder and lightning: The image of Biting Through. Thus the kings of former times made firm the laws through clearly defined penalties.

‘This hexagram represents an open mouth with an obstruction 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 lightning, it indicates how obstacles are forcibly removed in nature.’ ‘Recourse to law and penalties overcomes the disturbances of harmonious social life caused by criminals and slanderers. The theme of this hexagram is a criminal suit.’[W/B]

In a footnote, Richard Wilhelm added: ‘Apart from the meaning of the hexagram as a whole, the single lines are explained, as follows :the persons represented by the first and the top line suffer punishment, the others inflict it.

If we connect the lines of past oracles that the Yi gave to the professor on American leadership issues and the Iraq war including one not discussed here (Hexagram 38 Kui / Opposition with moving lines – the first and the sixth – which changed it to Hexagram 40 Xie / Deliverance), there had been much talk about horses and wagons.

The mare as we know happens to represent Kun / The Receptive Earth, while the dragon represents Qian / The Creative Heaven. One attribute of trigram Kun is masses of people or humanity. Without the horse, the wagon cannot move on its own. Without a horse, a cowboy can do nothing! (Yes, my late father and I loved to watch Westerns during the fifties and sixties – especially those movies which starred Cary Grant, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood.)

In fact, the horse (representing the American people) had run away to the opposition (Democrats) signified by the prognostications in Hexagram 38 Kui / Opposition. (This is read with hindsight. The minority party in Parliament is known as the opposition in Great Britain and the Commonwealth.)

As indicated in the latest unfolding of his annual hexagram, President Bush is without a horse (the people) and going to face ‘bloody tears’ shortly. In Hexagram Shi He, we can connect the following:

Recourse to law and penalties overcomes the disturbances of harmonious social life caused by criminals and slanderers. The theme of this hexagram is a criminal suit. The persons represented by the first and the top line suffer punishment, the others – the majority - inflict it.

The Yi has spoken, the American people have spoken, and Nancy Pelosi representing the majority of Americans and in Congress has also spoken – and one paraphrased what she had said in the short interview: ’Impeachment would be an easy way out for President Bush. It will not be that easy for him!

Professor Crane got it right when he interpreted that Republican heads will roll! Other than the named Cheney and Rumsfeld; perhaps more officials’ heads especially those involved in the falsification of the WMD Report (read ‘criminals and slanderers’) to justify the Iraq war may also roll?

But Sam may be a bit soft on the US President. (One could be wrong or just pulling his legs.) According to the Yi, the Democrat leaders may have aggressive plans of action (signified by the thunder and lightning) than merely an impeachment, since the hexagram talks about a criminal suit.

Backed by the American people and the rule of law (see Image), perhaps the majority Democrats may uphold justice for the weak and for humanity. For no one, including a modern day ruler is above the laws of the land and Heaven!

With fair justice duly served on the ‘criminals and slanderers’, the obstruction (s) is thus removed and the lips meet - the main theme of this hexagram Shi He.