I ching

I Ching Hexagram 23
Po (Split Apart)

Action: Regenerate

Hu Gua (hidden influence) 2: Receptive: Yield

Zong Gua (underlying cause) 43: Determination: Breakthrough

All of life will not change you;
it unfolds as a way to unmask you.

Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and
chisel and complete a character. – Goethe

Reading at a Glance: There are times when disintegration or letting go is the only pathway to regeneration. Po is a message about how things become stronger by removing outgrown elements. Pruning a tree allows its branches to become more luxuriant. In this situation there is a need to release what is outworn or which no longer serves you so that you can return to a path that is more fulfilling. Sometimes you have to separate aspects in your life in order to achieve balance. A relationship that is in this stage can reach an impasse where either release or renew is at play. It can no longer operate within the unhealthy dynamics of the past. Similarly, a relationship reaching a commitment phase can also become more stressed as each partner examines the other more acutely. Like Autumn, leaves are stripped away in preparation for the rebirth of Spring. When familiar landscapes die away it can be frightening, however this is how nature moves toward the next cycle. The time requires patience ~ where emptiness can be returned to fullness. Some type of overhaul is taking place so trust the process. The time requires great courage as you wait the situation out ~ without acting ~ until the way becomes clear. What a delightful lesson in patience! Where Breakthrough would have been a time to push through the difficulty with action, now you must acknowledge that there is little you can do to change events other than to let go and open to the inner experience. The hidden influence of K’un shows a need to respond inwardly while awaiting for the change to complete its cycle outwardly.

When the seed

falls,

adversity

breaks away

the protective covering.

“The Mountain rests on the Earth: the image of splitting apart.” Po reflects how feelings must break through the firm ideas that are rooted above. Nature does not remain stagnant and brings rain after a time of oppressive heat. Too much thought and life returns you to your feeling nature. Too much feeling and life brings you back to logic. Whether manifesting as emotional, logical or spiritual awareness, in actuality it is only one mind seeking balance.

Too much of anything and nature brings forward opposite energy. Like the high and low pressure systems that bring change in the weather, emotions rise to reinvigorate your internal atmosphere. Sometimes we must lose something before we understand its value to us. While we may not be able to hold onto what is being removed, we will proceed more cautiously in the future to avoid losing it again.

Relationships exploring love and adventure can take on a more somber tone when commitment is in the air. Splitting apart is how life separates the necessary from the unnecessary, whittling away the husk until only the germinating seed remains. "Nothing real can be threatened and nothing unreal exists." In the image of carving, pruning or being ‘split apart,’ your feelings are being brought to the surface. Like fruit that has fallen to the earth, the seed can only take root when its protective covering disintegrates.

You may understand that change must come, while clinging to the illusion of what you need. During the time of splitting apart, you will discover new life stirring beneath the mind’s abstractions. Sincerity is the stirring of your authenticity. It is something, which is shaped by feelings, not mind. The mind may be looking for a Breakthrough ~ but opening will occur in the heart.

Feelings make life valuable and without them, you will be forced to ‘turn back’ and become open again. If feelings of fear have created a situation that moves toward Splitting Apart, we learn that fear can only lead to decay. It takes unconditional love and care to keep anything thriving. The time is bringing the intangible to expression and sometimes it has little to do with logic. Like dreaming, we are often exploring the exact opposite of what we believe to be true about ourselves. Why? Because the day is spent defending mindsets and the night dissolves them. In dream analysis it is sometimes more important to understand the feeling that the images conjured up ~ rather than attempt to understand the symbols.

Po reveals how sensitivity funds the urge for transformation; it is not an intellectual endeavor. Splitting apart is your willingness to remain compassionate in all you do.

The ancient text seems to suggest that our normal perspective has everything backwards. Conflict makes us defensive, although it comes to break our protective covering; the unnecessary blockages we create will merely evaporate when we become open. You may defend your concrete perspective when approaching others even while they have come to help you let it go. All of experience presents you with a mysterious mirror that reflects the well-being of your inner world.

Following the energy of life becomes a profound exercise in learning to overturn your mindset. Splitting apart is how the protective covering of the past is removed so you may grow to meet the future. The same hand that is forced open to give will now be open to receive. Whatever it is, let it go so that your inner garden can be cultivated. Allow the way to guide you toward the appropriate path.