The Dance of Expansion and Contraction (1/22/2012)

By Tara McKinney

This week I decided to ask the I Ching for a message from the Children of the Earth about the energy that is highlighted this week in the grand evolutionary scheme of things, so it seemed entirely appropriate to consult Inner Sight’s TeenChing 2GO. The hexagrams that came up in the Right Now and Coming Soon positions were #40 Freedom and #29 Red Flags, respectively. Not surprisingly, this message from the Earth’s Children, through the divinatory medium of the I Ching, coincides very well with the basic energy of the lunar phase portal opening this Sunday, January 22. The New Moon is at 8+ degrees Capricorn (sidereal) conjunct the Sun, in a T-square with Saturn in Libra and Jupiter in Aries, emphasizing the importance of finding balance between the freedom and expansiveness of Jupiter, on the one hand, and the contraction and gravitational grounding of Saturn.

In the words of TeenChing 2GO:

#40. Freedom:

Today is the day you finally bust out of that tight space you've been in lately. Freedom!

Changing into:

#29. Red Flags:

You'll be seeing a lot of red flags soon. Be careful! Trust your guts. You'll know what to do.

The juxtaposition of these two hexagrams may at first seem somewhat contradictory: bust out of that tight space you’ve been in lately, but, on the other hand, be careful! This actually isn’t a mixed message, however, when you really think about it. It’s all about establishing and maintaining healthy boundaries. In certain circumstances, it’s appropriate to expand your boundaries; in others it’s appropriate to contract your boundaries. This type of flexibility and responsiveness is the very definition of a healthy, self-regulating, open system, which is what all life forms, including human beings, naturally strive to be.