48 The Well - The I Ching
Towns change, but you can’t change the Well.
No loss, no gain. Coming and going to the well Well.
Almost there… but before the rope is in the Well, the pail breaks.
Lines
1
The Well is muddy, none drink from it. A ruined well without life.
2
The Well is used for fishing. The pail is broken and leaking.
3
The Well is dredged, but none drink from it. We are sorry, for it can give water. A wise King would help us, and we’d all drink.
4
The Well is walled.
5
The Wellspring has cool clear water to drink.
6
The Well is used, not covered.
Qabalah
Path of Resh: Hod to Yesod. The Sun.
In this hexagram we have wood below water: a pail raising up from a well. The ideogram shows us a walled well. Yet wood will not stay below water for long, it must float up. The movement of the hexagram, then, is an upward motion, a restoration to the natural state. Wood relates to the intellect, and Water to the Unconscious, forming a symbol of Psychoanalysis, the dredging of the psyche.
Judgment: Beyond the literal truth of the immobility of the well, when we understand the well as the unconscious, this judgement is an alternative form of the saying “Wherever you go, there you are.” The mind can be filled with knowledge and experience and not grow any bigger, and we can express all we know without losing any of it: the psyche, like a well, stays the same. When a well is well, people use it often. If it breaks, fix it before it falls into disrepair.
1 This is a “poisoned well”, unsafe for people and animals, stagnant water, made putrid by disuse. This is an old well which fell out of use and has been ruined by time. A mind that is not put to use will grow stagnant and breed nightmares. One must use the well to keep it useful.
2 The well of the previous line was turned sour by disuse, this well is made undrinkable by misuse. This is a mind filled with daydreams and fancies, thinking only of nonsense. Obviously, a drinking well should not be used for fishing, it’s like using a razor for an axe’s job. The mind should be set on a proper path, rather than allowed to amuse itself to death.
3 Here, the well is in disuse but it’s not too late, the water is still clean. The right man will put it to use and everyone will profit. This is a mind which yearns for stimulation, but hasn’t yet found it. One must learn how to use their mind early lest it grow stagnant with disuse as the first line shows.
4 The well is made of brick, it will not fall apart or spoil so easily now. This is a mind treated with proper respect and given support. A good education makes for a sturdy mind in the same way that bricks give greater longevity and usefulness to a well.
5 Having risen through the previous four lines, we at last have a well ready to be used properly, the water is cool and clear, good to drink. Through dredging, cleaning, and lining, it has been made useful and been rid of the errors we have seen. The mind, having been expunged of neuroses and trained properly, thinks clearly now. It has returned to the original state of brilliance.
6 No longer covered in filth or closed off, the well is at last in good use. The mind is no longer “along for the ride” or acting as “our own worst enemy”. What was unconscious has been made conscious, and we can now think freely.
We can think of the lines in this hexagram as an abandoned building. It was once put to great use, but having been left to rot, has become a home for miscreants, then someone buys it and begins to restore it, then it’s remodeled, and given stock. The final line is the “grand opening”, the shutters are opened, and people are able to make use of it again.
This restoration of the well reflects the buoyancy of wood; it can be dragged below the water, but it will float back to the top. So it is too with the cleansing and disciplining of the mind. Freud sought to dredge the waters of the unconscious, in hopes that it could be made useful to man. The human soul is buoyant in this way: no matter how degraded man is made, we will naturally rise back up only for the pail to break at the last moment if we’re not careful!