40 Relief - The I Ching
Relief in the South West brings gain. With nowhere to go, it’s good to return. The Morning is good when you have far to go .
Lines
1
No regrets.
2
Catching three foxes in the field. Finding a yellow arrow.
3
Riding with riches invites thieves.
4
Amputate your toes. Have faith, friends will come.
5
The Sage is strong when he has to amputate. Have faith in small people.
6
The Prince shoots the falcon atop the high wall, he catches it without a problem.
Qabalah
Imperfectly The Path of Daleth: Binah to Chokmah. The Empress.
The pressure which has been building for the past two hexagrams is broken here at last. The thunder storm relieves the heaviness through a tempestuous show of force. The ideogram gives us the image of a cow having its horn cut off. This is the image of relief, an amputation or separation which lightens.
Judgment: In the Primal Arrangement, the South West relates to Wind, the Gentle. Thus it’s good to separate oneself from trouble and obstacles while things are still going well. If you wait too long, it will get more and more difficult.
1 For many people, break ups and separations can be a major source of regret, and fear of this potential regret often keeps people in bad situations. The text advises that there will be no regrets following this separation.
2 The foxes here represent bad actors, corrupters, and negative influences in a structure. When they are caught, the proper path, marked by the yellow arrow, can be followed. Think of a “fox in the henhouse” or the trickery of the foxes in Aesop’s fables. These are deceptive people who have led to the decay necessitating the current amputations.
3 When we show off, we invite thieves. When we have a happy life, we invite enemies. As good is the enemy of evil, keeping a low profile helps prevent this sort of targeting. Insofar as anything of value “has weight”, a thief will happily relieve us of it.
4 “One bad apple spoils the bunch”. Just as corrupt officials corrupt a whole organization, so too can an infection lead to necrosis and the necessity of amputation. In this case, it is a big toe: a significant official, a right hand man who must be fired. This may be a friend revealed to be a parasite. Though it seems a severe loss, we will get help from our true friends.
5 A wise person does not experience difficulty when breaking up or cutting off bad influences. This strength, when witnessed by the people, makes it much easier for them to do the same. The wise lead by example. This often occurs on a personal scale in friend groups, one person quitting a job or breaking up with a partner can give others the will to do the same.
6 Here the falcon on the high wall is a more significant enemy, one who, according to Confucius, promotes rebellion. This is a demagogue on a soap box, an individual trying to form a union, a rabble rouser. As they are the source of trouble, removing them is cutting the head off of the snake.
When pressure builds and situations grow worse and worse, we can not simply have faith that things will naturally improve. We must take decisive, often painful action for the sake of relief and healing. A building up of pressure will inevitably lead to a greater conflict. Through the proper actions indicated in the text - ridding oneself of bad friends, partners, and employees - we can avert greater disaster.
In more visceral cases, we can think of famous cases of self amputation such as that of Aron Ralston, which was depicted in the film 127 Hours. Having his arm trapped under rock, he chose to cut off his arm rather than die trapped.
While we may not be faced with problems like that, we are often in bad situations which can be helped by removing the instigator. Have faith in yourself, be strong, and make the cut. Relief will follow.