I Ching: Monday, September 21

One of the sixty-four hexagrams

This is an archived reading, kept as it was published.

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Youthful Folly

Hexagram 4 is a spring at the foot of a mountain: water out of the ground with no channel yet. It is the hexagram of inexperience, and the one place the oracle describes its own manners. It is not I who seek the young fool, the Judgment says; the young fool seeks me. At the first casting I answer; ask a second and third time and that is pestering, which gets no answer. Today, ask once, in earnest, of the right source, and take what comes. Asking again is a way of not listening. Decisiveness gives the spring its channel, and character is what the channel is made of.

For your star sign

The same reading, taken through each sign of the zodiac.

Aries

You will ask, not like the answer, and ask again louder. That is the pestering the Judgment names. Today one question, one answer, and then act on it even if it was not the one you wanted.

Taurus

You will not ask at all, on the grounds that you should already know. You do not, and the spring has no channel yet. Today ask once, plainly, and let the answer cut the course.

Gemini

You will ask six people the same question and average the replies. The hexagram answers the first casting only. Today pick the one source that actually knows and stop there.

Cancer

You ask by hinting and then feel unanswered. Ask outright today. The young fool who seeks the teacher gets a reply; the one who waits to be noticed is the mountain.

Leo

You would rather be the one asked. Today you are the one asking, and the hexagram is not embarrassed about it. Inexperience owned is how the water finds its channel.

Virgo

You will research instead of asking, which is a way of asking a hundred times. Today put one question to one person. The answer arrives faster than the research and is usually better.

Libra

You will ask, then ask someone else to check the answer. That is the second casting, and it gets nothing. Today take the first reply and let it decide.

Scorpio

You do not ask because asking shows what you do not know. The hexagram says the fool who seeks is answered. Today show the gap, once, to the one person who can fill it.

Sagittarius

You will ask and then set off before the answer is finished. Stay for the whole reply today. The spring with no channel is you leaving early.

Capricorn

You treat inexperience as a fault to hide. The hexagram treats it as a spring, which is a beginning. Today ask what you need to know and let the decisiveness come after.

Aquarius

You will question the question. Ask it instead. Today the oracle answers earnest inquiry once, and philosophical inquiry about inquiry not at all.

Pisces

You will absorb the answer without hearing it. Today write it down. The spring has no channel, and a channel is a line on paper before it is anything else.

For your Chinese animal

The same reading, taken through each animal of the Chinese zodiac.

Rat

You will ask three sources and use the one that flatters your plan. Today use the first one. The hexagram is clear that the second casting gets nothing, and the third gets less.

Ox

You will not ask, and will work it out over a month. Ask today. The mountain does not come to the spring; the spring seeks the mountain, and the answer is sitting there.

Tiger

You ask by demanding. The young fool seeks the teacher; the teacher does not respond to being seized. Today ask like someone who does not know yet.

Rabbit

You will ask so quietly nobody hears it. Ask loud enough to be answered today. Inexperience is not a shame in this hexagram; it is the whole subject.

Dragon

Being the young fool is beneath you. It is the position the hexagram rewards. Today ask the thing you have been pretending to know, and let the answer give the water a course.

Snake

You gather knowledge without ever asking for it. Today ask. One direct question, in earnest, and the reply saves the season you would have spent inferring.

Horse

You will ask on the move and be gone before the answer. Stand still for it today. The channel is cut by decisiveness after the reply, not by running before it.

Goat

You ask and then ask whether the answer was right. That is pestering, the Judgment says. Today take the first answer as the answer and move on it.

Monkey

You will ask a clever question to look like you know. Ask the plain one today. The spring has no channel and cleverness does not dig one.

Rooster

You will ask, correct the answer, and ask again. Once. Today the reply is what it is, and the correction is the third casting the hexagram refuses.

Dog

You ask on behalf of others and never for yourself. Today the young fool is you. Ask your own question, once, and let the reply be yours.

Pig

You will ask and be content with any answer. Be content with the right one today. The first casting is answered; make it the question that matters.

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