DARKENING OF THE LIGHT

Whooups! There go the trash trucks, right on time with me sitting down to write, ostensibly earlier. Well, maybe it is a little bit earlier. The struggle to get the dishes done is a bit more of a fight with the powers of procrastination than sometimes. I made bread again, this time with a bit of dried rosemary and black pepper, just a touch. I also substituted some 10 grain cereal for some of the flour so that it had a bit more bite. Came out great.

So, solstice! Arriba! I am relieved it is here. Not a great day in the annals of events, really. My cell phone was turned off. That freaked me out a bit. I scared up enough to get it turned back on, but it is certainly a money shuffle. The car need more repairs than adding anti-freeze. I walked to and from the mechanic, so the exercise was happening. The red dot is Meineke. I'm over by the green.

However, done is done. I got some interesting photos on the walk back from dropping off the car. (It was dark on the way to fetch it.)

Back somewhere in my youth and childhood, I studied the I Ching a lot (Bollingen Press edition). Of. Course. I don't look at it very often any more, but whatever the mojo there is in the book, I still respect. The hexagrams are archetypal, of course, and therfore, worthy of some mental reference. Today, the shortest day of the year, put me in mind of a hexagram that tortured me when I was younger. It seemed like a "bad" omen. Now, it doesn't freak me out much.

DARKENING OF THE LIGHT. In adversity
It furthers one to be perservering.

That makes sense.

One must not unresistingly let himself be swept along by unfavorable circumstances, nor permit his steadfastness to be shaken. He can avoid this by maintaining his inner light, while remaining outwardly yielding and tractable. With this attitude he can overcome even the greatest adversities.


In some situations indeed a man must hide his light, in order to make his will prevail in spite of the difficulties in his immediate environment. Perserverance must dwell in inmost consciousness and should not be discernable from without. Only thus is a man able to maintain his will in the face of difficulties.


It has been all about some kind of perserverance. Mostly, I have perservered to stay out of the darkest zone.

I'm not sure upon reading the rest of the hexagram that it fits, but the light sure hides on the solstice.