3 Difficult Beginning (Rough Start) - The I Ching
Pflanzenleben, Kerner von Marilaun. 1887
Chris Gabriel November 22, 2025
Judgment
Difficult Beginnings are the origins of prosperity. Don’t go on, get help.
Lines
1
At a crossroads it’s best to stay put.
2
A rough start, your horse turns back.
No bandits seize the young girl, she remains a virgin. Ten years later she has a child.
3
Hunting deer without a guide, getting lost in the middle of the woods. What would the sage do?
He would stay put, not go on and regret it.
4
Your horse turns back. Ask her hand in marriage.
5
What’s rich is difficult. What’s little is lucky. What’s great is cursed.
6
Your horse turns back. Tears of blood flow and flow.
Qabalah
Imperfectly Binah to Chokmah: the Path of Daleth. The Empress.
The Mother and the Father’s creation.
Here we have the third hexagram and the image formed by the lines is that of a thunderstorm. Just as storms grow, so too does the sprout. The ideogram shows a little sprout struggling to get through the soil. We can think of this as “growing pains” or a “rough start”. It is a difficult situation in which opposed forces meet and struggle, like a sprout trying to make its way through concrete. As Heaven fertilized the Earth, this is the growing seed that resulted from that union. The purity of the two previous hexagrams are gone, the elements here are in confusion.
Consider the difficulty of going through a storm, whether you’re driving with low visibility on wet roads, or getting soaked by rain as you walk. This is the state of our hexagram. When we are born, we come into a sensory storm, the calm of the womb is replaced by blinding light, blaring sounds, and cold air. We are lost, and it is only with the help of our parents that we make our way - thus “get help”. Of course, the same applies in the inverse, for when a woman gives birth there is an immense amount of pain. Birth is difficult for both of the people involved.
1
In the first line, we are confused, stuck hesitating at a crossroads.
2
When we go ahead in spite of this confusion, it leads to more trouble. The young girl overcomes difficulty and waits for the right time to marry and have children.
3
When one is hasty in times of confusion and pushes forward, it leads to even bigger trouble. In many ways, getting lost is like being born, for we are again put into the terror of a world we do not understand.
4
The right time will come even if we don’t rush ahead.
5
As this hexagram relates to growing up and being born, I think of the family and fate here. To be born rich will lead to trouble; I think of this as literal baggage, weight. To be born in a humble family allows for free growth. To be born into a great family can carry a heavy burden.
6
No matter what one does, growing up will be difficult. Tears will be shed. This is undoubtedly one of the most horrific lines in the I Ching.
This hexagram reminds me of the fourth verse of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, (the title even fits the subject perfectly)
“Oh, get born, keep warm, short pants, romance
Learn to dance, get dressed, get blessed, try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts, don't steal, don't lift”
The troubles of early life, the struggle for warmth, love, and security. These are the troubles of this hexagram. Where do I go? How will I find love? Where am I? Who am I?
They are the problems of a child, but for nearly all of us, they will continue to make things difficult throughout life.
