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The Wanderer56
Embrace the journey. Stay adaptable and attentive. Balance independence with humility. Success comes from accepting change and being resourceful.
↓ Line 1
Focus on what is important and avoid distractions to prevent misfortune.
↓ Line 3
Unexpected events can lead to loss and instability; be prepared for challenges.
↓ Line 5
Success through skill and precision leads to recognition and advancement.
↓ Innocence 25
Embrace spontaneity and authenticity, avoiding needless complexity or pretense. Honor simplicity and genuine intentions, allowing truth to guide your actions without ulterior motives.
Original Readings
56 The Wanderer
Other titles: The Wanderer, The Symbol of the Traveler, The Exile, Sojourning, The Newcomer, To Lodge, To Travel, Traveling, The Stranger, Strangers, The Traveling Stranger, The Outsider, The Alien, The Gnostic, The Tarot Fool, Wandering, Homeless, Uncommitted, On Your Own, "Can refer to being out of one's element." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Transition means that small attainments are possible. If the traveling stranger is firm and correct, there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Wanderer. Success through smallness. Perseverance brings good fortune to the wanderer.
Blofeld:The Traveler -- success in small matters. Persistence with regard to traveling brings good fortune.
Liu: The Exile. Small success. To continue leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Sojourning, the small: Growing. Sojourning, Trial: significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of wandering journeys and living in exile. It emphasizes that mingling with others as a stranger whose identity comes from a distant center is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Traveling. Small receipt. Traveling; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Travel is developmental when small; if travel is correct, it leads to good fortune.
Cleary (2): Travel has a little success. Travel is auspicious if correct.
Wu:Traveling indicates small pervasion. Perseverance will bring auspiciousness.
The Image
Legge: A fire on the mountain -- the image of Transition. The superior man exerts cautious wisdom in his punishments, and does not permit prolonged litigation.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Fire on the mountain: the image of The Wanderer. Thus the superior man is clear-minded and cautious in imposing penalties, and protracts no lawsuits.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire upon a mountain. The Superior Man employs wise caution in administering punishments and does not suffer the cases brought before him to be delayed.
Liu: Fire over the mountain symbolizes the Exile. The superior man is careful and clever in imposing punishments, and does not delay the cases brought.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above mountain possessing fire. Sojourning. A chun tzu uses brightening consideration to avail-of punishing and-also not to detain litigating.
Cleary (1): There is fire atop a mountain, transient. Thus superior people apply punishments with understanding and prudence, and do not keep people imprisoned.
Cleary (2): Fire on a mountain – traveling. Etc.
Wu: There is fire on the mountain; this is Traveling. Thus the jun zi exercises the utmost deliberations in exacting punishments such that prisoners will not be detained without cause.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Transition indicates that there may be some small attainment and progress -- the magnetic line occupies the central place in the upper trigram, and is obedient to the dynamic lines above and below it. We also have the attributes of Keeping Still connected with Intelligence in the lower and upper trigrams. Hence it is said that there may be some small attainment and progress. If the traveling stranger is firm and correct as he ought to be, there will be good fortune. Great is the time and great is the right course to be taken under these circumstances!
Legge: The written Chinese character for this hexagram denotes people traveling abroad, and is often translated as Strangers. The figure addresses itself to traveling strangers, and tells them how they ought to comport themselves through the cultivation of humility and firm correctness. By means of these they would escape harm, and make progress. The status of traveling stranger is seen as too low to expect great things of them.
It is assumed that the wanderer is in the position of the fifth line. The ideas of humility, docility, calmness and intelligence are derived from the attributes of the component trigrams. These are all characteristics which are proper to a stranger, and are likely to lead to advancement and attainment of his desires. Concerning the Image, K'ung Ying-ta comments: "A fire on a mountain lays hold of the grass, and runs with it over the whole space, not stopping anywhere long, and soon disappearing -- such is the emblem of the traveler."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: During a Transition, keep your willpower great and your expectations small.
The Superior Man sees clearly and does not embroil himself in complexity. He is clear-minded and cautious in judging the truth of the situation, maintaining detachment from the social milieu.
Wilhelm's translation of the title of this hexagram is The Wanderer. A wanderer is one who has no home, or who is between one home and another. This reminds us of the gnostic notion of the "Alien": the incarnate soul exiled to wander in the space-time dimension (i.e., this world).
The alien is that which stems from elsewhere and does not belong here ... The stranger who does not know the ways of the foreign land wanders about lost; if he learns its ways too well, he forgets that he is a stranger and gets lost in a different sense by succumbing to the lure of the alien world and becoming estranged to his own origin ... The recollection of his own alienness, the recognition of his place of exile for what it is, is the first step back; the awakened homesickness is the beginning of the return. Hans Jonas -- The Gnostic Religion
In the broadest interpretation then, the message in the Judgment: "If the traveling stranger is firm and correct, there will be good fortune" can refer to not becoming entangled in the affairs of this world in which we wander -- an idea emphasized in the first line. Ritsema/Karcher state it explicitly -- defining our challenge as "mingling with others as a stranger whose identity comes from a distant center." This is good general advice for anyone seriously engaged in the Work, since the "distant center" ("God," or the Self) represents the essence we incarnated to serve.
We are strangers in this world, and the body is the tomb of the soul, and yet we must not seek to escape by self- murder; for we are the chattels of God who is our herdsman, and without his command we have no right to make our escape. Pythagorean ethic
In more specific situations, the hexagram symbolizes a transitional phase. Lines two, three and four all depict "Inns" or temporary resting places (commonly experienced in dreams as images of hotels or motels). The symbolism is identical: the psyche is reflecting an interim situation during a state of Transition.
By definition, a transition is fluid and not yet fixed. Depending upon the choices made, one can go in different directions. In terms of consciousness, it is obvious that the transition can be from a lower state of awareness to a higher one, or vice-versa. Because a transition is an opportunity for deliberate choice-making, the Confucian commentary concludes with: "Great is the time and great is the right course to be taken under these circumstances!"
Lines one, three and six depict very negative situations involving ignorant, arrogant choices. We think of the ego blindly pushing the river of its desires, unable to see the unfortunate consequences it thereby engenders. Line two suggests a solid resting place during our journey, while line four depicts a tenuous, though not necessarily incorrect, similar situation. The fifth line counsels a kind of sacrifice to the ruler (the Self) which results in an eventual reward. The message is to let the Self guide you through a Transition.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Hexagram number fifty-six is the reverse of hexagram number fifty-five. Compare the role of the superior man in the Image of each figure. How are they the same? How are they different? What are the differences and similarities of the component trigrams of each hexagram, and how do they affect their respective meanings?
Notes, August 15, 2009: A new paraphrase of the Judgment and Image:
The Gnostic Alien. Small attainments are possible if the Alien keeps a clear head and maintains his self-discipline. The initiated Adept is intelligent, discreet, and displays vigilant wisdom: he maintains and protects his gnosis via cautious reserve in worldly disputes, eschewing needless contention. [He can do this because he knows that this is an illusory reality: a set-up, a trap, a Loosh factory created by the Demiurge.] A chun tzu uses brightening consideration to avail-of punishing and-also not to detain litigating. [In other words “do the work in the place in which you find yourself” quickly, and efficiently, with as few entanglements as possible under the circumstances. Shun new karma. Implicit is that this experience is preparation for the bodhisattva vow.]
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows the stranger mean and meanly occupied. It is thus that she brings on herself further calamity.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If the wanderer busies himself with trivial things, he draws down misfortune upon himself.
Blofeld: Trifling with unimportant matters, the traveler draws upon himself calamity.
Liu: If the exile dallies with petty matters, he will draw disaster on himself.
Shaughnessy: Traveling so trivially; this is the fire that he has taken.
Cleary (1): Restless in travel, this is the misfortune you get.
Cleary (2): Petty fussing on a journey brings misfortune.
Wu: The traveler complains about trivial things and he is poorly received.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Her aim has become of the lowest character, and calamity will ensue. Wilhelm/Baynes: Thereby his will is spent, and this is a misfortune. Blofeld: The calamity attendant upon having no will of our own. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose exhausted, calamity indeed. Cleary (2): The misfortune of frustration. Wu: His small-mindedness causes poor reception.
Legge: Line one is magnetic in a dynamic place at the bottom of the hexagram, thus the unfavorable auspice. The meanness of the first line doesn't arise from the nature of her occupation, but from her mind and aim being emptied of all that is good and ennobling.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the newcomer in a lowly position is occupying himself with disgraceful machinations. His aspirations invite troubles.
Wing: Do not assume a demeaning role in the general situation. Do not pay attention to trivial matters. This is not a way to gain entry into a group or situation. Maintain a dignified attitude about yourself. Through self-abasement you will only invite ridicule.
Editor: Legge's "Mean" is rendered by the other translators as: "trivial,""unimportant," and "petty." The Confucian commentaries are translated as a failure of willpower which brings about disaster. Implied is loss of purpose and hence of being unclear or ignorant of the situation at hand.
All men, from birth onward, live more by sensation than by thought, forced as they are by necessity to give heed to sense impressions. Some stay in the sensate their whole life long. For them, sense is the beginning and end of everything. Good and evil are the pleasures of sense and the pains of sense; it is enough to chase the one and flee the other. Those of them who philosophize say that therein wisdom lies. Like big earthy birds are they, prevented by their bulk from rising off the ground even though they have wings. Plotinus --The Enneads
A. Don't waste your energy on unimportant matters.
B. "Trivial pursuit."
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows the stranger, burning his lodging-house, and having lost his servants. However firm and correct he tries to be, he will be in peril.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wanderer's inn burns down. He loses the steadfastness of his young servant. Danger.
Blofeld: Owing to the traveler’s lack of caution, the inn is burnt down and he no longer enjoys the young servant's loyalty. Persistence now would lead to trouble. [Our carelessness leads us into such difficulties that it would be folly to proceed.]
Liu: The inn where the exile stays burns down. He loses the loyalty of his young servant. To continue is dangerous.
Shaughnessy: In traveling burning his lodging, and losing his young servant; determination is dangerous.
Cleary (1): Burning the lodge on a journey, you lose your attendants. Even if righteous there is danger.
Cleary (2): Burning the inn on a journey, losing the servants, is dangerous even if one is upright.
Wu: The lodge is on fire. He loses the favor of his helper. He is in danger even persevering.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: By burning down his lodging-house he himself also suffers harm. When as a stranger, he treats those below him as the line indicates, the right relation between master and servant is lost. Wilhelm/Baynes: This is a loss for him personally. If he deals like a stranger with his subordinate, it is only right that he should lose him. Blofeld: Traveling on a downward path, our sense of duty and fitness is impaired. Ritsema/Karcher: Actually truly using injuring. One's righteousness lost indeed. Cleary (2): One will also be injured. Duty is lost. Wu: It is a pity. Being stern to the helper in traveling is an invitation to loss.
Legge: The third line is dynamic in a dynamic place, but because he is at the top of the lower trigram, he may be expected to be violent. In the case symbolized he is violent to an extraordinary degree, and incapable of correctness. He treats those below him (his servants) with arrogance, which of course alienates them from him. The K'ang-hsi editors remark that the second and third lines are represented as having lodging-houses when the other lines don't, because they are the only two lines in the figure who are in their proper places.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The newcomer becomes arrogant and truculent. He eventually loses his house and servant and finds himself without support in a perilous situation.
Wing: Offensive and careless behavior in your position are great mistakes. You are in danger of losing what security you have by interfering in matters that are not your concern. Those who may have once been loyal will then withdraw, leaving you in a perilous state.
Editor: Wilhelm points out that the dynamic line in a dynamic place is in this case too overbearing -- representing one who shows no respect for either those above or below him. For a "stranger in a strange land" to behave in this fashion is a sure formula for failure. One is reminded of the boorish behavior of some tourists in foreign countries -- their insensitivity invariably costs them both money and respect. Sometimes the line can suggest a kind of masochistic petulance in your attitude toward the Work. Note: Oracle interpretation must always remain open and flexible. A recent receipt of this line reversed its usual syntax to portray a situation in which the “ Inn set on fire” referred to an organization which lost a faithful servant (the querent-employee) through unethical business practices. Always allow your best intuition to recognize the best fit for the symbolism, particularly if an answer doesn’t seem to make sense. Try inverting the situation to see if that works better – if so, the answer will usually be numinous.
The arrogant heart is abhorrent to Yahweh,
be sure it will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 16: 5
A. A position is undermined and support is lost because of arrogance.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows its subject shooting a pheasant. She will lose her arrow, but in the end she will obtain praise and a high charge.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He shoots a pheasant. It drops with the first arrow. In the end this brings both praise and office.
Blofeld: While pheasant shooting, he loses an arrow. In the end he wins praise and attains to office. [After suffering a small loss, we shall receive considerable benefits from those above us.]
Liu: He shoots a pheasant, losing one arrow. In the end he gains honor and position.
Shaughnessy: Shooting the pheasant, one arrow is gone; in the winter he is thereby presented a command.
Cleary (1): Shooting a pheasant, one arrow is lost; eventually one is entitled, because of good repute.
Cleary (2): ... Ultimately one is lauded and given a mandate.
Wu: He shoots a pheasant, but loses an arrow. Eventually he receives a conferment of praise.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She has reached a high place. Wilhelm/Baynes: In the end he rises through praise and office. Blofeld: Both of these are bestowed from above. Ritsema/ Karcher: Overtaking the above indeed. Cleary (2): Reaching the highest. Wu:“Eventually he receives a conferment of praise” from his superior.
Legge: Although magnetic, the fifth line is in the center of the upper trigram of Clarity and Intelligence. She is the ruler of the trigram and the dynamic fourth and sixth lines loyally defend and help her. She shoots a pheasant. When an officer was traveling abroad in ancient times, the gift of introduction at any feudal court was a pheasant. The wanderer is here praised by her friends and exalted to a place of dignity by the ruler to whom she is acceptable. Note that the idea of the fifth line being the ruler's seat is dropped here as being alien to the idea of the hexagram.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man succeeds in his task and receives the recognition and praise of his friends. They recommend him to the prince, who accepts his services in a highly responsible position.
Wing: It may be that you must establish a place for yourself in altogether new territory. Be mindful of your approach. Modesty and generosity in the beginning will be rewarded with position and acceptance. Success is indicated.
Editor: There is some ambiguity in the various interpretations of this line. Some say that the fifth line is the seat of the ruler, though the logic of the symbolism suggests that since the ruler bestows favors on the subject of the line, he must be elsewhere. Wilhelm says that line four represents the wanderer's friends, and line six represents the high place to which she is promoted. As a bird, the pheasant is a creature of air, or mental realm, hence symbolic of an idea, concept or thought. Here the thought is given (sacrificed) to the ruler or Self. The arrow here suggests aspiration or intent: to perceive a goal or target (the pheasant) and make it one's own. However, the arrow is lost, and the quarry is given to the ruler in a gesture of fealty. In the end this results in a reward for the wanderer. All of these images suggest a kind of willing sacrifice which one may not completely understand, but which will eventually result in an ample reward.
Intellectually the Self is no more than a psychological concept, a construct that serves to express an unknowable essence which we cannot grasp as such, since by definition it transcends our powers of comprehension. It might equally well be called the "God within us." The beginnings of our whole psychic life seem to be inextricably rooted in this point, and all our highest and ultimate purposes seem to be striving towards it. Jung -- Two Essays on Analytical Psychology
A. Your aspiration exceeds your comprehension. Sacrifice a small reward now and receive a big one later on.
B. Sacrifice your need to understand. Have faith in the Work.
25 Innocence
Other titles: The Unexpected, The Unintentional, The Symbol of Freedom from Error, Integrity, Without Embroiling, Pestilence, Fidelity, No Error, Freedom from Vainness, Instinctive Goodness, The Simple, Correctness, Subconscious, "Whatever happens, keep calm and do what is right." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Innocenceindicates progress and success through firm correctness. If the action of its subject is incorrect, he will fall into error. In such a case it will not be advantageous to move in any direction.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Innocence. Supreme success. Perseverance furthers. If someone is not as he should be, he has misfortune, and it does not further him to undertake anything.
Blofeld: Integrity. (The Unexpected). [this hexagram has two widely different meanings, both of which occur in what follows.] Sublime success! Righteous persistence brings reward. Those opposed to righteousness meet with injury. It is not favorable to have in view any goal (or destination). [Usually this sentence may be taken to have a wide application; but, in this case, (the Confucian commentary) suggests that it applies only to the enemies of righteousness, though it does have a general application for those who receive a moving line for the sixth place.]
Liu: The Unexpected: sublime success. Benefit. Perseverance. Someone acts incorrectly: misfortune. No benefit for undertakings.
Ritsema/Karcher: Without embroiling. Spring Growing Harvesting Trial. One in-no-way correcting: possessing blunder. Not Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation as being without confusion or fault. It emphasizes that acting while remaining free from entangling, vanity or recklessness is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told: act without becoming embroiled!]
Shaughnessy: Pestilence: Prime receipt; beneficial to determine. If it is not upright there will be an inspection; not beneficial to have somewhere to go.
Cleary (1):Fidelity is creative and developmental. It is beneficial to be correct; if it is not correct, there will be disaster, and it will not be beneficial to go anywhere.
Cleary (2):Freedom from error is very successful, beneficial for the upright. Denial of what is correct is mistaken, etc.
Wu:Freedom from Vainness is primordial, pervasive, prosperous and persevering. If it does not stay in the correct course, there will be calamities and there will be no advantage to have any undertaking.
The Image
Legge: Thunder rolls under heaven, and everything manifests its original nature, free from all insincerity. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, made their regulations in complete accordance with the seasons, thereby nourishing all things.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Under heaven thunder rolls: all things attain the natural state of innocence. Thus the kings of old, rich in virtue, and in harmony with the time, fostered and nourished all beings.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder rolling across the whole earth; from it, all things receive their integrity. [The lower trigram is pictured as thunder, but it acts through its power to quicken growth.] The ancient rulers gave abundant and timely nourishment to all.
Liu: Thunder rolls under heaven; everything is innocent. The ancient kings cultivated virtue and used the appropriate time to nourish all beings.
Without embroiling. The Earlier Kings used luxuriance suiting the season to nurture the myriad beings.
Cleary (2): Thunder travels under the sky; things accompany with no error. Ancient kings promoted flourishing appropriate to the time and nurtured myriad beings.
Wu: Thunder moves under heaven. All things participate in the spirit of Freedom from Vainness. The ancient kings acted in time to cause all people and things to flourish.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Innocence shows the dynamic first line descending from the upper trigram to become the lord of the hexagram in the lower trigram. We see the attributes of Motive Power and Strength. The dynamic fifth line is central and responded to by the magnetic second line. It is the will of heaven that true progress can only proceed from correctness. If the action of the subject is incorrect he will fall into error, and it will be unfortunate for him to move in any direction. Where can one with the illusion of innocence proceed? Can anything be accomplished by someone without the assistance of heaven's will?
Legge: Of the two Chinese characters which symbolize Innocence, one is the symbol of being reckless, and often of being insincere; these two characters in combination describe a state of entire freedom from such a condition. The subject of the hexagram therefore, is one who is simple and sincere. This quality is characteristic of heaven, and of the highest style of humanity. The figure is an essay on this noble attribute. But an absolute rectitude is essential to it. The nearer one comes to the ideal of the quality, the more powerful will be his influence and the greater his success. But let him see to it that he never swerve from being correct.
Anthony: Innocence means to let go of the present, thereby letting the future become what it will and being at peace with it… When we have learned to do a thing for its own sake, we know the meaning of innocence… In keeping our minds open and free, we are able to meet unexpected events with the help of the Creative, which always points out the correct and most appropriate response.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Success is possible only if you are impeccably correct. If such is not the case, take no action at all. ("Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.")
The Superior Man acts in harmony with the times.
The ancient kings in the Image are mentioned by name in seven hexagrams. (See the commentary on hexagram number 20, Contemplation, for a fuller discussion of their symbolism.) Here, the Image shows them synchronizing their laws with the "laws of nature" -- an archetypal concept which is found in many mystical traditions. Here is the alchemical version:
The individual terrestrial life should correspond to the laws governing the universe; man's spiritual aspirations should be directed to harmonize with the wisdom of God. If we accomplish this, the inner consciousness will awaken to an understanding of the influences of the stars, and the mysteries of Nature will be revealed to his spiritual perception. Paracelsus
In terms of the hexagram of Innocence, the idea is that if you are truly synchronized with your inner cosmos, if you are truly "innocent" (i.e., perfect), you may succeed under the prevailing conditions, but if you are not in complete inner accord you would be well advised to sit tight and take no action. To paraphrase the last sentence of the Confucian commentary: "Can the ego do anything advantageously without the concurrence of the Self?"
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5: 48
To use the Christian injunction in illustration: the upper trigram of Heaven is perfect, and the lower trigram of Movement is asked to reflect on how far he conforms to this ideal. In psychological terms, how do the goals of the ego compare with those of the Self, the entity to whom the Work is dedicated?
Wilhelm has some interesting commentary on this hexagram, stating that it can indicate unexpected misfortune. In his book,Lectures on the I Ching, he comments:
Wu Wang is very peculiar, and its name is not easy to translate. I have used "Innocence," or the “Unintentional." Having meanwhile thought about the matter more, I would today render Wu Wang with the term “Subconscious," even though this expression seems somewhat too modern ... That which as [Divorcement] severs life enters here into unconscious realms ... Because the shock is within and is unconscious, it cannot take its course, and therefore causes the unexpected to happen. An unexpected disaster is afoot; something may be robbed or stolen.
See line three and its commentaries for further insights into Wilhelm's ideas here.
To receive this hexagram without changing lines is tantamount to being asked if you are perfect enough to take action without harm. Sometimes, depending on circumstances, it can also suggest that your position is correct and blameless. As always, the context of your query will leave no doubt when this latter interpretation is intended. If there is doubt, rephrase the question and ask until you understand. The oracle uses ambiguity to develop your intuition -- especially so on those occasions when all you want is a quick answer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare what is said here about the Ancient Kings with what is said about them in hexagrams 8, 16, 20, 21, 24, and 59. What common theme unites them, and how does it relate to the concept of the Work?