🌎 The Receptive: Earth, Horse, and Healing

This morning, still tender from the night’s unrest, The Tree of Serendipity and the Muse chose: The I Ching: The Book of Changes. Falling open to page 385, a commentary on Hexagram 2—K’un, The Receptive. I felt a deep sense of recognition. The lines spoke of yielding, devotion, and strength within receptivity, of the mare who finds her power not in leading but in following the boundless natural rhythm of life.

How perfect that this image of the horse appears again here, as it has throughout my path—Walk This Earth, In This Circle, and our Beauty Prayer. The mare represents a grounded, feminine strength: intuitive, steady, responsive to the guidance of the unseen reins of Heaven.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching, Mind and Body Are One, echoed the same current this morning. In his gentle voice, he invites us to open to the healing energy of Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, whose presence flows through the sangha—the collective field of hearts breathing together. Listening, I could feel that same receptive power moving through me: not striving to heal, but allowing healing to happen.

Even my dream from last night fits into this pattern of renewal—rescuing a wounded little dog, tending to him with care, and watching him find joy again. The small creature within me—symbol of innocence, loyalty, and instinct—was brought back to life through gentleness and devotion.

🌿 Reflection

The Receptive teaches that yielding is not weakness. True receptivity is fertile, courageous, and vast as the earth. It receives Heaven’s seed and brings life into form.

Just as the Earth carries the sky, the compassionate heart carries the world—quietly, steadily, without losing its own nature.

To live this is to remember:

“If he tries to lead, he goes astray; if he follows, he finds guidance.”

This is the secret of the mare’s wisdom, of the earth’s strength, and of Avalokiteśvara’s boundless compassion: to follow Love itself.