21 / 37 Biting Through
Ruling, Problem Solving
(50->21->03->48)

"SHIH HO -
SHIH : bit away, chew; bite persistently and remove; snap at, nibble; reach the essential by removing the unnecessary. The ideogram: mouth and divination, revealing the essential..

HO : close the jaws, bite through, crush between teeth. The ideogram: mouth and conver, jaws fit together as a lid fits a vessel." ERANOS p276

Image :

"[With enlightement comes direction].
Thunder, lightning. Biting through (Revealing the essential).
In primal times one heightened awareness by enforcing the laws through flogging."

In a context of enlightenment, a new beginning, we utilise setting a direction (an ideology).

Commentary

In hexagram 21, problems are solved through the establishment of laws as part of the process of moving from chaos, or an old established order (50), to order.

(All four hexagrams (50,21,3,48) deal with foundations as part of the concept of transition and influence symbolised in their base trigrams.)

Hexagram 21 is the general form of hexagram 39

The Traditional Single Changing Line Comments:

Line 1

"A deviation occurs. It is punished. Social Balance must be maintained."

Line 2

"A further deviation occurs. In punishing, one goes too far. despite this the punishment is just."

Line 3

"In developing and applying rules (guides), an unexpected error is found. It acts like poison, causing confusion and distress. Once fixed no harm is done."

Line 4

"In law there are times when it's rigidity makes achieving results difficult. One must get to the core of the matter for success, avoid the technicalities."

Line 5

"Making judgement requires good knowledge of the facts and being wary of possible bias. The middle path is followed."

Line 6

"The professional law breaker can no longer distinguish good from bad. He is deaf to the law. Irrespective of the punishment, he is dedicated to darkness."

Extended Commentary

The raw context from which the situation derives is described by hexagram 16 Forseeing. It passes through hexagram 17 Believing before reaching here.

Transformative methods

By introducing this hexagram as context, you can change a state described by any other hexagram into a state described by hexagram 51. To make a state associated with another hexagram transform into this state, introduce hexagram 51 as context.

It is important to remember that, when using transformative methods, the more lines requiring change, the more energy required when attempting to introduce a different context. It may therefore be of benefit to work on existing changing lines and achieve your goal in steps rather than attempt, for example, a six-line change all at once.

Further IC+ extensions