Till the Soil

The next trigram of the I Ching we will examine is the Earth Trigram. It is composed of three broken lines. A solid line is yang and a broken line is yin, so this Trigram is pure yin. In order to express itself, the one solid yang line splits in two, and the duality of yin and yang is born. All of our self development is based around this simple concept. Just as the Heaven Trigram is persevering, initiating, and motivating, the Earth Trigram is soft, intuitive, and receptive. You might think that Yin is a weaker force, but yin is deceiving and often the soft will overcome the hard.

In order to take the initiative in life, we must first have a plan. A wise person does not have a knee jerk approach. We need to quiet down and listen to what our inner guide is advising. When you sit in silence you open the door to a deeper wisdom. This is the virtue of the Earth Trigram. It represents mental transparency, openness, and keen receptivity. We turn inward before we move outward. We are open and sensitive to impression from subtle energy within our own energy field as well as the universe.

We are in a information age and we are bombarded by data constantly. Unfortunately this can lead to overload and nervous system problems. We need centering and grounding. The Earth is our center, our home. It is hard to accomplish anything in life if you don’t have a home base. We move forward rooted from our center.

Before cable TV, in the sitcom “Married With Children,” the Bundy family attempts to get reception on their TV, and the running joke was Fox had the weakest broadcast signal. The Bundys would play with their rabbit ear antennas in a crazy, desperate manner and even add aluminum foil to boost the signal. When we think of reception, we think of radio and TV, but reception doesn’t just come from an antenna on top of the Empire State building. When we go to sleep at night, our acupuncture points open their rabbit ear antennas and take in heavenly energy (stars, planets etc.,) as well as energy from the earth. This is how we heal and recharge. Acupuncture and Acupressure sharpen receptivity and open the points to absorb these finer healing forces.

Like working with clay our self development exercises help shape our mind and body into a beautiful piece of art. The lesson of the Earth Trigram is to stay soft,malleable and flexible in mind and body. Otherwise we become rigid and hard……no fun.

So when the Earth trigram appears in your minds-eye, take a deep breath, quiet down, center, and be receptive to impressions from within and without. Till the soil so your seed thoughts have a proper environment to grow into a revelation and plan.  Be open and remember that knowledge is not fixed, but knowing is perpetually in motion and change.

“The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not his force, but in meditation deep, communicates with his reflection.”