39 Halting (Limping) - The I Ching

In this hexagram we are left with a halt (limp) from 38’s conflict. The hexagram shows water atop a mountain, the danger of a slippery climb or rocky waters. The ideogram shows a man crippled by these treacherous afflictions. The lines go on to give us several “choices” between coming and going, which is to say, between Scylla and Charybdis, or between a rock and a hard place. If we move on, we will be halted, in both senses of the word: stopped and left with a limp.
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Judgment: A way to grasp the directions less literally is to utilize the Taoist view of the trigrams, wherein they are mapped to the compass. This  is the “Primal Arrangement” or “Sequence of Earlier Heaven”; in it the North East relates to Thunder and the shift from Winter to Spring, South West is Wind and the shift from Summer to Fall. Accordingly, this is a bad time to start something new, but a good time to tie up loose ends.

1 If we go forward, we run into trouble, are halted and injured. If we come, we will be praised. This is easy to say with divinatory guidance, but when one is in the midst of a journey, it’s quite difficult to turn back. The praise that awaits their return is not known to the traveler.

2 Kings and slaves alike are afflicted by fate, moved by greater forces. Lacan understood well that the kings and masters in the world are not “free” or “happy”, but just as reliant and tied to the people as their slaves and servants. 

We can see this manifested literally in the ancient traditions described by Robert Graves in the White Goddess: “the sacred king was ritually lamed in a way that obliged him to swagger or lurch on high heels.”

This too is a punishment the Biblical patriarch Jacob receives after wrestling with an Angel, and, of course, the state of Richard III who was: 

Curtail'd of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,

And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;

3 “Should I stay or should I go?” Whether or not to continue down a dangerous path or give up and come back is the trouble of the whole hexagram. This line gives us the purest form, where there is nothing waiting for us on our return. We either continue and injure ourselves, or go home.

4 Sometimes when we are afflicted, we can retreat and find reinforcements. Consider the phrase “the cavalry is coming”. When injured and losing a battle, the cavalry can often turn the tide and save the day. This is also true on a larger scale, when a nation is losing a war, they can wait for allied countries to come to their aid.

5 Similar to the last line, but with a  more personal dimension. When we are terribly injured or set back, our “fairweather friends” will abandon us, but our true friends, our “foulweather friends”, will come to our aid in our time of greatest need.

6 Even when a massive goal remains distant, if we achieve enough before the going gets too rough, we can still gain eminence and great respect. It is the downfall of many great men, who having achieved greatness in the eyes of the world, continued down a treacherous path and destroyed themselves. 

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When we think of the “location” of this hexagram, we should think of a fork in the road, where one path will take us through terrible terrain, and one which takes us back. There are many such choices we make constantly, to take a dangerous shortcut or the long way? To try something new, or go back to the old?

As Elijah says in 1 Kings 18:21
How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.

We cannot be of two minds or in service to two masters, we must make our decision and choose to come or go.

The answer of this hexagram is quite clear, if we go on, we will be gravely injured. It is better to wait for friends and prepare ourselves for a time when the journey can be made safely.