Influence

Buddhismhex 31

Tanha (Craving) — The Origin of Suffering

Tanha (Pali) or trishna (Sanskrit) is the eighth link in dependent origination: from feeling arises craving. The Second Noble Truth identifies it as the origin of dukkha — not desire itself but the compulsive quality of grasping after experience. Three varieties: craving for sensory pleasure, craving for existence, craving for non-existence. Hex 31 (Influence/Wooing) is lake over mountain: the youngest daughter and youngest son attracted to each other. Mutual attraction, the pull that precedes choice. The I-Ching recognizes the naturalness of this pull — 'the superior man encourages people to approach him by his readiness to receive them.' But tanha is attraction that has lost awareness of itself, the pull mistaken for necessity. Hex 31 becomes suffering when influence becomes compulsion.

Christian Mysticismhex 31

Fifth Mansion — Prayer of Union

In the fifth mansion, the soul experiences brief but unmistakable union with God — Teresa compares it to a silkworm entering its cocoon and emerging as a butterfly. The faculties are suspended; the soul knows with certainty it was in God, though it cannot explain how. Hex 31 (Influence/Wooing) describes mutual attraction between lake and mountain — stimulation that arises not from force but from receptive openness. The hexagram's counsel to 'keep still' in order to attract resonates with Teresa's teaching that the soul cannot produce this union through effort. Both map a moment where separate things discover they were always connected. The I-Ching speaks of influence without coercion; Teresa speaks of union without comprehension.

Ifáhex 31

Oshun — Sweet Waters, Love, Abundance, Diplomacy

Oshun is the Orisha of rivers, love, fertility, and the strategic use of beauty. She is not merely a goddess of romance — in the Ifá narratives she is the diplomat who succeeds where force fails, the only Orisha who could persuade Ogun to leave his self-imposed exile in the forest and return to civilization. She governs fresh water (not salt water — that is Yemoja's domain) and the kind of sweetness that opens doors. Hex 58 (The Joyous) is doubled lake: shared delight, the joy that draws people together. Hex 31 (Influence) is lake over mountain: mutual attraction, the courtship that precedes union. Oshun inhabits both — the joy that attracts and the influence that accomplishes through attraction rather than coercion. The I-Ching's Hex 58 warns that joy must be grounded in perseverance; Oshun's stories carry the same warning — her sweetness is real, but it is also strategy.

Sufismhex 31

The Beloved (معشوق) — Divine Union as Erotic Love

Sufi poetry consistently uses the language of erotic love — the Beloved's face, the Beloved's wine, the annihilation of the lover in the beloved — to describe the soul's relationship to God. This is not metaphor deployed for lack of better language; it is the recognition that human love at its most overwhelming is the closest available analog to divine encounter. Hex 31 (Influence/Wooing) is the hexagram of mutual attraction: lake above mountain, the yielding above the still, the courtship that precedes union. Its Chinese name (Xian) means both 'influence' and 'all' — totality achieved through receptivity. Hex 45 (Gathering Together) is the congregation of the many toward the one — all streams flowing toward the lake, all lovers drawn to the single Beloved. Rumi's ghazals oscillate between these two poles: the magnetic pull toward the Beloved and the gathering of everything the lover is into the offering.

Alchemyhex 31

Copper (♀ Venus)

The metal of attraction and connection. Hex 31 (Influence): the mutual wooing of mountain and lake. Hex 58 (The Joyous): doubled lake, pleasure shared. Copper conducts — heat, electricity, affection.

Alchemyhex 31

Conjunction (Coniunctio)

The sacred marriage of opposites — sulfur and mercury, king and queen, sun and moon. Hex 11 (Peace): heaven below earth in willing union. Hex 31 (Influence): the mutual attraction before joining. Hex 63 (After Completion): the conjunction achieved, water over fire in perfect complementarity.

Ancient Egyptianhex 31

Hathor (𓉡) — Joy, Love, Music, Intoxication

Duì (The Joyous): doubled lake, shared delight. Xián (Influence): mutual attraction. Hathor is the cow-goddess of pleasure — music, dance, beer, love. But she has a dark form (Sekhmet) that destroys. Hex 58 contains the same duality: 'Joyous. Success. Perseverance is favorable.' Joy without perseverance becomes intoxication.

Hinduismhex 31

Svadhisthana — Sacral Chakra, Creative Waters

The sacral chakra governs desire, pleasure, creative flow — water element, the seat of rasa (aesthetic juice). Hex 58 (The Joyous) is doubled lake, shared delight that nourishes without depleting. Hex 31 (Influence) is lake over mountain, mutual attraction. Svadhisthana means 'one's own dwelling place' — the body's natural capacity for pleasure before shame or repression distort it. Both hexagrams describe receptivity as a form of strength.

I-Chinghex 31

Mountain (☶) — Keeping Still

One of the eight fundamental trigrams. Mountain (☶) represents Keeping Still — the power of stillness, meditation, and the boundary that defines. A yang line rests atop two yin lines, the third son, the gate between worlds.

I-Chinghex 31

Lake (☱) — Joyous

One of the eight fundamental trigrams. Lake (☱) represents Joyous — open expressiveness, shared delight, and the pleasure of communication. A yin line opens above two yang lines, the youngest daughter, the smile that invites.

Tarothex 31

The Lovers

Xián (Influence/Wooing): lake over mountain, the youngest daughter above the youngest son. Mutual attraction that precedes conscious choice. The card and hexagram both insist: genuine attraction cannot be willed.

Western Astrologyhex 31

Libra (♎) — Cardinal Air, The Harmonizer

Tài (Peace): heaven below earth, opposites in willing equilibrium. Xián (Influence): lake over mountain, mutual attraction finding balance. Libra holds the scales; Hex 11 is the I-Ching's most balanced state. But Hex 12 (Standstill) always follows 11 — Libra knows that balance is a verb, not a noun.

Western Astrologyhex 31

Venus (♀) — Love, Beauty, Value

Xián (Influence): lake over mountain, the mutual attraction of the youngest daughter and youngest son — the primal wooing. Duì (The Joyous): doubled lake, shared delight. Venus rules both Taurus (beauty as possession) and Libra (beauty as harmony). Hex 31 is Venus in Libra; Hex 58 is Venus in Taurus.