Whenever I feel the blues, I revisit these lines from The Living I-Ching by Deng Ming-Dao.*
A cycle reaching its zenith descends towards its nadir. Likewise, the only path from the nadir is ascent.
A wise person engages in constant self-cultivation to become more sensitive to change. Cultivated persons are not sad when misfortune occurs. They use the occasion to seek errors within themselves. A person who can discern the cycles of life can learn to utilize them. The Changes advocate spirituality, humility, reverence, and service to others as the highest standards.
All endings are only transitions.
Since Jupiter moved into Capricorn last week, I have felt some of the glum and grump of this transit. Anyone else? Jupiter in Capricorn can feel like the comedown after a big action — it has a bit of a deflating effect. If you’re feeling it, know that you’re not alone. For me, I’ve been adjusting to a loss in the expansive sense of possibility that was propelling me, and now I must draw upon my own determination for fuel.
And so, I turn to the sages for wisdom on change. The I-Ching and Lao Zi’s Dao de Jing talk about change as the divine order of nature. Octavia Butler called it, “God is Change.”
In fact, ancient divination practices like astrology and the I-Ching developed as a study in change and transformation. Central to their teachings is the acknowledgement that change is cyclical and is therefore inevitable and predictable. To cultivate wisdom is to learn how to ebb and flow with life’s changes.
How do we flow and sway with change, while keeping still at the center?
My learnings, as inspired by the Dao de Jing and the I-Ching:
Happy and sad chase each other, like a dog after its tail.
To go up is to go down, and to grieve brings relief.
Notes of silence between sound make music.
To give is to gain.
Love, when used, is never exhausted.
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Some change is a long process (like Jupiter’s decade+ orbit), and some changes happen quickly, like the lunar phases. Because the moon is relatively quick to complete a cycle (29.5 days), lunar cycles are good practice in working consciously with change.
We have a Full Moon in Gemini on December 12, at 12:12am Eastern.
A few notes on the Gemini Full Moon:
The full moon in Gemini brings a lighter tone to what may have felt like more serious vibes of late. This full moon is sociable and wants to talk. It is curious and outward focused, tuning in to whatever is alive in the community.
At the same time, Gemini tends to want answers. This is a sign that wants to understand what is going on, to make sense of things, and to find the meaning in changes that have arisen.
Meanwhile, Venus is forming a conjunction with Saturn and Pluto. This a short and minor transit, but for a week or so, it can bring some restraint to relationships. Connections might feel more serious or tense, and they may simply need a check-in. Good Saturn medicine is to slow down and take time to work through the knots. Not rushing to answers, but instead breathing space into what feels tight.
May you flow and change with ease. May you be rooted in your center. May the earth’s hold give you the footing to sway like grass in the breeze.
With lunar love,
LiZhen
*The Living I-Ching by Deng Ming-Dao is one of the only I-Ching translations written by a Chinese American. The other is The Complete I-Ching, by Master Alfred Huang. Most English translations are done by Westerners who are missing knowledge either about Chinese language or history, or both. I could get mad about it, and sometimes I do. But mostly, I just settle into the rare and deep, bone-warming comfort of getting to learn from a fellow ABC like myself.