My rune and I Ching readings on Obama today

I did some saging this morning and raised energy before doing the readings, a short time before the President Obama took the oath of office. I can hardly believe how extremely timely and appropriate the results were. Very favorable.

Did anyone lay out Tarot cards?

RUNES

The Rune I drew was Teiwaz, which according to Ralph Blum's The Book of Runes stands for Warrior Energy and the Sky God Tiw. It's the rune of the Spiritual Warrior, whose battle is with the self. "Embodied in the Rune is the sword of discrimination that enables you to cut away the old, the dead, the extraneous." Blum associates it with the sun, masculine energy and the active principle, and says it calls for awareness, single-mindedness and the willing to undergo one's passage with compassion and in total trust. I view this as referring not only to President Obama, but to what President Obama asks of us. Blum says Teiwaz counsels perseverance in issues of relationship, and in devotion to a cause, idea or path of conduct.

Francis Melville's The Book of Runes associates this rune with the creator god, divinity, and the positive aspects of the Roman god Mars. The rune means victory, honor, justice, law, balance, self-sacrifice and righteousness, according to Melville's interpretation. All appropriate to the inauguration of our new president and a new era in our history. Other meanings mentioned by Melville are magical equilibrium, selflessness and spiritual purity. Melville associates Teiwaz with the oak tree, the wolf, the crow, the color red, the sign of Libra and the air element. Finally, Melville notes that drawing Teiwaz means {b}truth will be victorious, justice will prevail, and a time of success is heralded.{/b}

I certainly hope justice will prevail in America, whether it be positive justice for those losing their homes and health coverage, or punitive justice for those who violated our Constitution during the past 8 years. This rune indicates that justice indeed will prevail.

I CHING

For those who may not be familiar with it, the I Ching or Book of Changes is an ancient Chinese system of divination based on casting yarrow stalks. Nowadays people use three coins instead. There are 64 hexagrams in the I Ching, and each hexagram contains additional potential changes of meaning if the cast coins come up and three heads or three tails. I use the Richard Wilhelm translation of the I Ching first published in 1950.

In casting the coins, I came up with Hexagram 35, Progress, changing to Hexagram 45, Gathering Together.

Progress represents the rising of the sun over the earth, a symbol of rapid, easy progress.
The Judgment is: "The powerful prince is honored with horses in large numbers. In a single day he is granted audience three times". According to Wilhelm, "This leader has enough clarity of vision not to abuse his great influence but to use it rather for the benefit of his ruler." My interpretation of ruler, in this instance, is the American people.

The coins I cast showed a line value of six in the 5th line of the hexagram. The Book says "Remorse disappears. Take not gain and loss to heart. Undertakings bring good fortune. Everything serves to further." I interpret this to mean that we should not take too much to heart our economic losses. The efforts, undertakings, we will make under Obama's leadership will bring good fortune.

Gathering Together is what took place today in Washington DC, and in places around the world.
The Judgment is: Success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to see the great man. This brings success. Perseverance furthers. To bring great offerings creates great fortune. It furthers one to undertake something."

Wilhelm writes: "Where men are to be gathered together, religious forces are needed. But there must also be a human leader to serve as the center of the group.In order to be able to bring others together, the leader must first be collected within himself. Only collective moral force can unite the world. Such great times of unification will leave great achievements behind them.This is the significance of the great offerings that are made. In the secular sphere likewise there is need of great deeds in the time of Gathering Together."

Wilhelm also notes the need for preparation in order to meet or prevent unforeseen events.

The Nine in the 5th place, corresponding to the previous hexagram's Six in the 5th place, is as follows; "In in gathering together one has position, this brings no blame. If there are some who are not yet sincerely in the work, sublime and enduring perseverance is needed. Then remorse disappears." This denotes a need to deal with those who gather around the leader solely because of his influence. It advises gaining their confidence "through steadfastness and intensified, unswerving devotion to duty. In this way secret mistrust will gradually be overcome, and there will be no occasion for regret."

I interpret this last part as showing a need for President Obama to win over the skeptics and the power-brokers, and perhaps some Republicans, but I also see him being aware of this and being prepared to work to gain their confidence. He has already shown that he intends to do this.


Blessings to President Obama, his family, his advisers, and to all of us as we enter this new era.

Lillis/LiberalEsto

changing aspect.

Please? :D

This is taken from the IChing Workbook by R.L.Wing.

Hexagram 18 is Work on What Has Been Spoiled (Decay).

According to Richard Wilhelm's translation of the I Ching, first published in 1950 and well worth studying, the current situation has come about because of indifference in the lower trigram of the hexagram, together with rigid inertia in the upper trigram. This is a pretty accurate description of the Bush Misadministration: rigidness and inertia on top of indifference. Wilhelm writes that this situation implies guilt, and that conditions demand removal of the cause of the decay. Again, an extremely apt analysis of the mess President Obama has inherited. The hexagram points to the need for work to remedy what has been spoiled.

Work on What Has Been Spoiled has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water, which means that taking great measures and perhaps great risks will facilitate the cleanup effort.

"What has been spoiled through man's fault, can be made good again by man's work," writes Wilhelm, adding that this current state of has been caused by abuse of human freedom. (my italics) "We must not recoil from work and danger." He says success depends on proper deliberation, "before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days."

Wilhelm continues: "We must first know the causes of corruption before we can do away with them; hence, it is necessary to be cautious before the start. Then we must see to it that the new way is safely entered upon, so that a relapse may be avoided; therefore we must pay attention to the time after the start. Decisiveness and energy must take the place of inertia and indifference that have led to decay, in order that the ending may be followed by a new beginning."

I'm always amazed at the wisdom that can be found in this ancient book.

The image of the hexagram is
"The wind blows on the mountain: The image of DECAY. Thus the superior man stirs up the people and strengthens their spirit." That is precisely what our new president is doing!

Wilhelm goes on to interpret the image: "When the wind blows low on the mountain, it is thrown back and spoils the vegetation. This contains a challenge to improvement. It is the same with debasing attitudes and fashions; they corrupt human society. To do away with this corruption, the superior man must regenerate society...The superior man must first remove stagnation by stirring up public opinion, as the wind stirs everything, and must then strengthen and tranquillize the character of the people, as the mountain gives tranquillity and nourishment to all that grows in its vicinity."

The Book of Commentaries, the third part of the Wilhelm translation, says this hexagram means undertakings. President Obama certainly faces lots of those.

The Commentaries on Hexagram 18 note that after the undertakings, there is order in the world. "That a new beginning follows every ending, is the course of heaven."

The Commentaries also suggest a timetable: Spring is the starting point, so it may be that March 20, the Spring Equinox, is when things really get going in the effort to rebuild our nation. The things of the past come to an end during the winter months. "From spring to summer is the new beginning." The commentaries also note that "love must prevail and extend over both the beginning and the end."

Yes, what we must do to restore our country must be done in a spirit of love -- love for our country, for one another, and for humanity!

The commentaries say the wind stirs things up and, joined with the power of the mountain, fosters and nourishes the spirit of the people.


Source: The I Ching or Book of Changes, the Richard Wilhelm translation, rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes, Copyright 1950 by Bollingen Foundation, Inc., New York, NY.

came to me as part of a bind-rune a few weeks ago
(entirely different context however)

In short, Tyr (law, justice, etc.) sacrificed his hand in the jaws of the Fenris wolf
so that the gods could bind him so that he would not destroy everything.

It confirms, I think, who we all believe President Obama to be.