I'll get to the bit about the Underground Railroad at the end. First I want to build up to the story by talking about the whole hexagram.
I asked the I Ching "What is love?" and got hexagram 29.5, the line about the water level in the pit reaching just high enough to support a person but not enough to drown them, like being in a flotation tank. I thought this was a wonderful way to visualize the unseen supportive power of love that fills all the spaces, and it led me to looking at the whole hexagram:
The Judgement, "When you have success in your heart everything you do succeeds." could also be "Love is all you need."
The Image, "The superior man walks in lasting virtue and carries on the business of teaching." could also be "Walk your talk." or being a guide and showing the way. Love lights up the path.
So I'm seeing 29 as being about a kind and loving act of rescue as in someone gets in water over their head (28.6), and is
29.1 - 60 unable to rescue himself, he's stuck, 60.limited, as are those who would save him until he reaches out for help - that is, recognizes, believes, that even in such dire circumstances, love can always find a way.
29.2 - 8 He looks about and with all the love he has in his own heart (before it's snuffed out by fear)8. Seeks Union just as Love is Seeking Union with him..
29.3 Still working on these two.
29.4
29.5 - 7 Help arrives - Love finds away - and the person is once again feeling he is (7. The Army) Master of his domain.
29.6 - 59. The person has been freed but he doesn't realize it. Old fears holding one back 59. Dispersion could mean either prayer or death finally dissolves the stuck attitude - maybe this accounts for why 29 is considered such a dangerous hexagram - only an act of "Stepping out in faith" moves through it.
So what does this have to do with The Underground Railroad? The Underground Railroad was a name given to the efforts of Harriot Tubman to lead 1,000 slaves to freedom during the American Civil War. She smuggled slaves from the South to freedom in the North. Her route became known as The Underground Railroad but it was not an actual subway (that's why I thought when I first heard the story as a kid!) but a series of Safe Houses. She commented after the war, "I could have saved ten times that many if only I could have convinced them they were slaves." This comment made me think of hex 29.5.6, the rescuing(29.5) and then those who simply would not be rescued (29.6).
Interesting 29 is about water - to lead the slaves to freedom she often had them hide in swamps.
I asked the I Ching "What is love?" and got hexagram 29.5, the line about the water level in the pit reaching just high enough to support a person but not enough to drown them, like being in a flotation tank. I thought this was a wonderful way to visualize the unseen supportive power of love that fills all the spaces, and it led me to looking at the whole hexagram:
The Judgement, "When you have success in your heart everything you do succeeds." could also be "Love is all you need."
The Image, "The superior man walks in lasting virtue and carries on the business of teaching." could also be "Walk your talk." or being a guide and showing the way. Love lights up the path.
So I'm seeing 29 as being about a kind and loving act of rescue as in someone gets in water over their head (28.6), and is
29.1 - 60 unable to rescue himself, he's stuck, 60.limited, as are those who would save him until he reaches out for help - that is, recognizes, believes, that even in such dire circumstances, love can always find a way.
29.2 - 8 He looks about and with all the love he has in his own heart (before it's snuffed out by fear)8. Seeks Union just as Love is Seeking Union with him..
29.3 Still working on these two.
29.4
29.5 - 7 Help arrives - Love finds away - and the person is once again feeling he is (7. The Army) Master of his domain.
29.6 - 59. The person has been freed but he doesn't realize it. Old fears holding one back 59. Dispersion could mean either prayer or death finally dissolves the stuck attitude - maybe this accounts for why 29 is considered such a dangerous hexagram - only an act of "Stepping out in faith" moves through it.
So what does this have to do with The Underground Railroad? The Underground Railroad was a name given to the efforts of Harriot Tubman to lead 1,000 slaves to freedom during the American Civil War. She smuggled slaves from the South to freedom in the North. Her route became known as The Underground Railroad but it was not an actual subway (that's why I thought when I first heard the story as a kid!) but a series of Safe Houses. She commented after the war, "I could have saved ten times that many if only I could have convinced them they were slaves." This comment made me think of hex 29.5.6, the rescuing(29.5) and then those who simply would not be rescued (29.6).
Interesting 29 is about water - to lead the slaves to freedom she often had them hide in swamps.