This week we drew the “Ace of Swords” — a card of power and action. The “action and power” being of the noble kind, either brave or intellectual; not a blind, brute force. If anxiety or trepidation holds you from a desired course, now is the time to push through the fear. Of course, there should be caution (planning) when utilizing intense forces, as they hard to undo, their effects greater.
        Our first hexagram, which we partner with our tarot to describe (or further detail) the current situation, is #33, “Retreat”. “The power of the dark is ascending.” Hostile forces are advancing. These forces are not sensitive or particularly intelligent; but for whatever reason, they have the advantage. Here, “retreat is not to be confused with flight.” It is a time for the person of light and sense to act with “dignified reserve.”
        Our second hexagram, the one that suggests how best to meet the challenges (or the changes) is #29, “The Abysmal.” This hexagram like the previous, points to a time of general, external difficulty. Thus it is not an impediment to be eliminated, by reflection and a change of behavior — it is “an objective situation to which one must become accustomed.” In a very beautiful manner it is suggested that the advance or outlasting the difficulty can only be achieved by “sincerity.” It implies that the sincerity is a kind of inner joyousness — a “joyousness, which remains undaunted even if it must renounce the world.”
        Our extraction: Within the description of hexagram #29 there is a line of such depth, power and usefulness that we dare not say more; we only wish we could use some sort of AI to intermittently insert it into our site line: “hatred is a form of subjective involvement by which we are bound to the hated object.”