The growing tragedy in New Orleans has absorbed my attention of late; so, I asked the I Ching: what can we expect there in the coming months. The oracle brought back one of the most significant hexagrams, "The Receptive." When I looked at the reading as a whole, the message, in short, seems to be: if we avoid factional infighting and enact policies that are suited to the natural circumstances, then New Orleans with gradually recover. That may not seem like an earth-shattering insight, but there was some reassurance there, and some interesting details….
First, the whole reading was, Hexagram 2, "The Receptive," which is made up of all broken or yin lines, with three pure yin lines in the third, fifth and sixth positions, thus tending in the direction of Hexagram 53, "Development (Gradual Progress)."
The Receptive signifies the earth, nature, female and a subordinate political position (yes, ancient China equated female and subordination). This symbol seems an apt description of the terrible flood that broke the levees in New Orleans: nature rebelled, it resisted the constraint of the dams and rose up to subdue its controllers. Water, too, is an element of the symbolic ensemble here: water seeks low places, it is soft and pliable and, in many circumstances, subordinate in that it takes the shape of its surroundings.
The hexagram does more than simply describe a vast flood. It also tells us how to go about putting life back together again in difficult conditions. Perseverance is, unsurprisingly, called for, but of a special kind:
Furthering through the perseverance of a mare.
If the superior man undertakes something and tries to lead
He goes astray;
But if he follows, he finds guidance.
The mare is rooted in the earth; thus, the kind of leadership needed is one that carefully follows conditions as they exist. Abstract and preconceived plans unrelated to the specific environment as inappropriate. This sounds about right when we are talking about rebuilding a complex system of dikes and levees. But it is more than that. The commentary continues:
Since there is something to be accomplished, we need friends and helpers in the hour of toil and effort, once the ideas to be realized are finally set.
So, those charged with the reconstruction must not place themselves out in front of the process; they must seek helpers and accept guidance from others. The pure yin lines reinforce this idea.
The moving lines in the third and fifth positions both suggest modesty and reserve on the part of leaders, subordinating themselves, as it were, to the situation at hand. But the pure line in the sixth position warns against hubris and contention:
Dragons fight in the meadow.
Their blood is black and yellow.
This is an ill omen, implying that political or factional infighting could bring harm to all. Can federal and local officials find a way to avoid conflict and follow where the necessary job of reconstruction leads them? If they don’t, the city may suffer.
But the I Ching is ultimately optimistic. If the situation is moving in the direction of hexagram 53, "Development (Gradual Progress)," then rebuilding New Orleans will likely turn out well. One of the images here is of a tree growing on a mountainside:
The tree on the mountain is visible from afar, and its development influences the landscape of the entire region. It does not shoot up like a swamp plant; its growth proceeds gradually.
Of course, in the Delta the tree will rise up from the swamp. But if it is carefully nurtured and allowed to grow slowly and steadily, good fortune will follow.
The Useless Tree 
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