Zhun :: Sprouting

Supreme offering: favorable auspices :: No need to focus : appointing helpers is favorable

屯

䷂

6 :: first

There are omen,' but no progress. It is favorable to appoint helpers.

Cultivate patience and stay home. Gather helpers and wait. The situation is unformed and you are not properly prepared to act. A seed is still dormant.

9 :: second

No progress is made riding in circles. A rider approaches (not to rob) but to offer an alliance. It will be ten years to fruition.?

You are invited into the preliminary negotiations of a potential alliance. Long-term planning begins. Maturity is imminent. A seed shows its potential to sprout. Patience brings success.

6 :: third

Hunting deer without a guide. Lost in the forest. Not letting go brings harm.

Compulsion, unbridled desire and selfishness lead to calamity. Consulting the oracle without a wise interpreter bodes badly. Consulting the oracle when you are desperate leads to miscalculation and confusion. A seed sprouts and rots.

9 :: fourth

Set out for courtship on horseback. Good fortune prevails. No doubt.

You are authentic and natural, so things fall into place. Following conventional courtship customs (negotiations) you establish a marriage (alliance) that brings good fortune. A sprout breaks through the soil and turns towards the light of the sun.

9 :: fifth

Rewards are for the foot soldier. Benefits for the young, not for the old.

Rewards go to the inexperienced. The "old guard" resigns and subordinates to new leadership. It is a favorable situation for beginners, young people, and all small matters. New things flourish. Seedlings grow sturdy.

6 :: top

A rider-less horse. Streaming tears. Flowing blood.

What happens when a delicate situation is forced or rushed? Total loss. A horse returns without its rider and everyone weeps. Induced labor leads to miscar-riage. Quick judgment or a change of heart brings disaster. When there is too much sun, the seedlings wither and die.

Image

Thun represents the custom of "riding to capture the bride,"3 a formal courtship ritual that creates alliances between two families. The alliance is first made through marriage and then finalized by the birth of an heir. It is the image of dawn, sprouting grass--any situation that is not quite formed. Zhun represents gi patterns and promises in the formative stages of life.

Auspices

Zhun is favorable for young people, fresh thinking, new alliances, and gentle progress. Zhun is an inspired, delicate and new situation needing unpretentious leadership and experienced advice to grow. When Zhun is divined inexperience is the basis for difficulties, there are no real outside obstacles. Delays should be expected.

Good for education, apprenticeship, marriage, and initiation.

Bad for anxiousness, aggression, and travel.

Comment

The Zhouyi often states that alliance is the root of great success. Individual efforts, no matter how vigorous, do not amount to much. In this situation inexperience demands education before successful alliances are made. Power is found in following the customs that unite older and younger generations (even the living and the dead). Standards of hospitality (canonical rituals, manners and customs) make strangers into comrades.

When and where Heaven and Earth initially come together there is great potential but no certain fruition.

Other Correspondences

Business: New ventures and investments, staff training, using consultants, and negotiating contracts.

Disharmonies: Onset of acute conditions, influenza, common colds, and wind disorders.

Prognosis: Good. It is too early or the symptoms too minor for a physician to diagnose the patient easily. The patient's own self-discipline will be more effective than medical treatment.