Okay, so today I decided to mess around with I Ching, specifically hexagram 51, which is all about shock and thunder. It’s supposed to be about sudden change and shaking things up, so I figured, why not see what it has to say?
First, I grabbed my three coins. I don’t have any of those fancy yarrow stalks, so coins it is. I’ve actually marked one side of each coin with a Sharpie, just to make it super clear which is heads and which is tails. I’m all about keeping it simple, you know?
I cleared my mind – or at least, I tried to. It’s hard to be totally zen when the dog is barking at the mailman and the kids are arguing about screen time. But I focused as best I could on my question: “What unexpected thing might shake up my routine this week?”
Then, I started tossing the coins. Six times, that’s the drill. Each toss gives you a line, and you build the hexagram from the bottom up. I made a little chart to keep track:
- Toss 1: Heads, Heads, Tails (that’s a broken line, a Yin line)
- Toss 2: Tails, Tails, Tails (a solid line, Yang, but it’s a changing line)
- Toss 3: Heads, Heads, Heads (another solid, Yang line)
- Toss 4: Heads, Tails, Heads (broken, Yin)
- Toss 5: Tails, Tails, Heads(Yang)
- Toss 6: Heads, Heads, Heads(Yang)
I sketched out the lines as I went, one on top of the other. And boom, there it was: Hexagram 51, double thunder. It even looks kind of intense, two trigrams of thunder stacked on top of each other. I did change the second line which gives me the new hexagram:34.
Diving into the Meaning
Now, I’m no I Ching expert. I mostly rely on a couple of books I have and, of course, the internet. I looked up hexagram 51, and the main message was pretty clear: get ready for some surprises! It talks about shock, arousal, and the need to be adaptable. It also emphasizes staying true to yourself amidst the chaos.
The relating hexagram is number 34,I looked up, It is about great power,use great power carefully.
For me, this resonated with a few things going on. I’ve got a potential new project at work that could be a big shake-up, and my partner and I have been talking about some changes to our home routine. The I Ching seemed to be saying, “Yeah, things are gonna get bumpy, but roll with it, and don’t lose sight of what’s important.”
So, that’s my I Ching experiment for today. It’s not about predicting the future, I think. It’s more about giving you a framework to think about things differently, to see potential challenges and opportunities you might otherwise miss. Will there be literal thunder and lightning this week? Probably not. But will there be some metaphorical shaking going on? I’m keeping my eyes open and my mind flexible, just in case.
