Archetype 45: Uniting
When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him...Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
—Luke 22:14–20
The Reading
Jesus is spending his last hours with his disciples. In the morning he will be arrested and, soon after, crucified. Jesus needs to leave his disciples with something that will unify them after he has left. Indeed, something that will unify all his followers for all time. He leaves them with the first Eucharist, that symbolic act in which the participant partakes of the essence of Jesus as spiritual nourishment and that would serve as the core of many Christian worship services for the following two thousand years.
The Book of Common Prayer celebrates the Eucharist and remembers this final act of Jesus with these words: “Sanctify this bread and this wine by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in him. Sanctify us also that we may faithfully receive this holy Sacrament, and serve you in unity, constancy, and peace.”
The Hexagram
The hexagram contains the image of Lake above Earth. Water unites in a lake, and a lake is most naturally found above the earth. The hexagram also consists of two strong lines in the fourth and fifth positions, uniting the weak lines below. There is only one more weak line to unite, that in the top position, so the unification is still in progress but almost complete.
This hexagram is in contrast to the hexagram for archetype 8 (Holding Together). In that hexagram, there is only a single strong line uniting the weak lines. Now there are two, so the unity is stronger.
The Archetype
There is a time...
- To unite people into a single group, such as a family, a community, or a state.
- To nurture spiritual traditions that bind the group together over time.
- To identify the central figure of the group.
- To be sure the central figure of the group is one who is grounded in Wisdom.
- To leverage the unity to create great things.
- To take steps to ward off the internal strife that develops in even the closest groups.
- To prepare for the unexpected.
Now is that time.
Moving Lines
Other interpretations of Archetype 45:
- Tom Christensen's interpretation [click here]
- Cafe Au Soul's interpretation [click here]
- LiSe's interpretation [click here]
- Richard Wilhelm's interpretation [click here]
Internal Links:
- Return to the Hexagram Index Table [click here].
- Return to Consulting the Christian I Ching [click here].
- Purchase a printed copy of Wisdom's Way; The Christian I Ching [click here].
- Learn about our Online Christian I Ching Workshop [click here].
- Find out about personal consultations [click here].
Reproduced with permission from Wisdom's Way; The Christian I Ching copyright (c) 2015 Roger Sessions.