ABSTRACT

In dreams and fairy tales the grandmother, or ancestress, often represents the unconscious, because the latter in a man contains the feminine component of the psyche. If the I Ching is not accepted by the conscious, at least the unconscious meets it halfway, for the I Ching is more closely connected with the unconscious than with the rational attitude of consciousness. Since the unconscious is often represented in dreams by a feminine figure, this may be the explanation here. The feminine person might be the translator, who has given the book her maternal care, and this might easily appear to the I Ching a "great happiness". It anticipates general understanding, but is afraid of misuse "Progress like a hamster". The image of people helping one another would seem to refer to the reconstruction of the well, for it is broken down and full of mud.