38 Opposition - The I Ching
Separating brings luck in small matters.
Lines
1
Losing a horse, without seeking, it returns. Meeting an evil man.
2
Meeting the master in an alley.
3
See the cart dragged back. His cattle stop. He is maimed. His nose is cut off. Not starting, ending.
4
Separated and alone. Meeting a good man and sharing in faith.
5
His ancestor eats. What could go wrong?
6
Separated and alone. See the muddy pig and carriage full of phantoms. He draws his bow, then stops. No thieves seize the young girl. Rain falls.
Qabalah
The Path of Yod: Tiphereth to Chesed. The Hermit.
While the previous hexagram showed the warmth of the family, here we are shown the dangers of being alone. The hexagram shows the sun over a lake, a dynamic of distance. The ideogram shows us eyes and crossed weapons, thus “not seeing eye to eye” and “staring daggers”.
Judgment: When small problems arise, it is often best to simply cut off the source. A little issue can grow when it’s allowed to fester. When an argument breaks out, don’t fight, just walk away.
1 The dynamic is shown immediately: when traveling accompanied, you will be separated. Not only will you be left alone, you will then be met with wickedness. This is the vulnerability of isolation. As with all of the I Ching, the situation remedies itself, those you were separated from will return on their own in due time.
2 A classic motif: meeting a master in an unexpected place. This is the Greek concept of Theoxeny: any beggar or traveler may be a God in disguise. This is the mythic origin of Xenia, the virtue of hospitality. Many wise men dress themselves as fools and lay about in trash like Diogenes. Famously Zeus and Hermes did this, and being disappointed with mankind’s lack of kindness, flooded the Earth.
3 Similar to line 1, when accompanied by cart and cattle, you are separated. Not only from your belongings, but from your nose too!
4 Now, similar to line 2, when you travel alone, the good will meet you and show you hospitality.
5 When you believe in ancestral spirits, you will find “you are never really alone”. Even when we are isolated, spirits walk with us.
6 Here we are seeing a deeply Buddhist image: assault by phantoms. This, of course, was Buddha’s ordeal with Mara: demonic armies swarming Buddha, who recognizes them as illusory and is unharmed. This is also a test we all face in the Tibetan Book of the Dead: terrible spirits and phantoms assault us, if we feel fear we are destroyed. We must recognize them as empty projections.
This hexagram resonates deeply with the corresponding path and Tarot card, the Hermit. The Hermit is Mercury ruled Virgo, and depicts Hermes (from whom the word itself arises) in his disguise. While the family has natural hospitality and the instinctual kindness of familial love, this is the far more difficult kindness toward strangers.
Zeus Xenios is an oft called upon form of the King of the Gods, one that survived even in Christianity as “Lord of Hosts”, a God who takes care of the people. This is certainly true for those who can’t care for themselves, the sick, lonely, and isolated. The notion of Theoxeny also served the early Church, when Paul and Barnabas preached in Lycaonia, they were mistaken for disguised Gods.
Acts 14
11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
Let us then be wary when we are alone, and hope for the hospitality of hosts. Then, when we can, show kindness to strangers lest they be Gods in disguise.