Saturn is raining!
Specifically, Saturn is losing its rings; water particles are leaking out of its rings at a “worst-case scenario rate.” That sounds alarming, but it will be a hundred million years before the rings completely vanish as a result of the”ring rain.” (source: The New Yorker)
That’s a slow pace even for Saturn. Due to the way Saturn will tilt in 2025, however, it will create the illusion that the rings are invisible (which sounds Saturn-Neptune-ish, too, but I digress). We’ll get a sneak peek of how Saturn will look a hundred million years from now.
This cosmic phenomenon, with its slow pace and inevitable transformation, feels aligned with the reflective wisdom of the I Ching, which also speaks to cycles of change and decisive action.
At sunrise today, New Year’s Day, I asked the I Ching oracle for wisdom for the new year to share here on the blog.
Creative Power, the first Hexagram, was the reply.
Its energy is all yang (masculine). It correlates with the beginning of summer. It advises that what has been hidden is now on the rise but we should pause before proceeding:
Know who you are. Know where you came from. Be humble and modest. Be above reproach—then those who seek to harm will be rendered harmless. You will become the dragon that emerges from the depths, visible and rising above your peers. A pillar of beneficent astral light guides your movements. You face a moment of choice: the temporal or the spiritual. Endurance and patience will be required of you, as what is to unfold shall do so for a prolonged length of time. – Benebell Wen, I Ching, The Oracle
The dragon, a symbol of power and wisdom, emerges from the depths to guide us; Saturn helps provide the endurance and patience. Although it sounds awesome to be like a dragon guided by astral light, changing line six echoes the caution to remember where you came from. If creative powers are misused, they will be retracted. “The arrogant and reckless dragon will repent.”
Decisive Action (Hexagram 43) is the follow up hexagram to this, suggesting the possible future state. Its image is of an impending flood and having to plan and act decisively.
Instead of all yang energy, there is now a hint of yin (feminine) added to the mix, as one of the six lines is yin.
After a long period of tension, there will be a breakthrough. Be careful, as there may be risks ahead. Your interests are not the only ones at stake in the endeavor; be sure to warn others about the risks involved, but do not yet reveal your intentions. No gains from reactive combat. You intuit that you must take decisive action, but how? In which direction will you go? Send a prayer upward to Heaven. Place full faith in the Divine that blesses your path, and your prayer shall be answered. The solution will be a different path from the one initially conceived. – Benebell Wen, I Ching, The Oracle
It correlates with late spring, before summer’s Creative Power, and is referred to as Grain Rain in the I Ching calendar. Grain rain is rain that brings forth a hundred grains. Whereas Saturn’s ring rain reminds us of the impermanence and cycles within the cosmos.
May we, like dragons following astral light, rise with the wisdom to navigate life’s impermanent yet fertile cycles, sowing the seeds of transformation in the new year and for generations to come.
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