Lady Qiu in Flight
Inauspicious
The poem
Original: 奔波阻隔重重险 / 带水拖坭去度山 / 更望他乡求用事 / 千乡万里未回还
The story
Du Qiuniang of Jinling became the concubine of the rebel Li Qi at fifteen. When his revolt failed she was taken into the palace and won the emperor's favour, then was made nurse to a young prince. When the prince was stripped of his title she was sent home. Years later the poet Du Mu passed through Jinling and found her old and destitute.
What it means
The image is dragging mud and water. You are climbing a mountain with a soaked burden on your back, and the road is thick with obstacles; then you consider trying your luck somewhere far away and find you cannot get back. The word the lot presses on is burden. What you are attempting carries dead weight built into it, and pushing harder only sinks you deeper. A step back is the stable position: hold the place and living you already have, stop reaching upward, stop planning distant ventures, and change your luck slowly through generosity.
By area of life
Wealth
Money comes hard and losses grow the longer you hold. Take small gains and get out; do not sit through the decline or stake your reserves.
Love
You are working extremely hard for very little return, and new attachments after a break tend to fizzle. Accept things as they are for now.
Work
Job after job, trade after trade, with no stability and no profit. Hold what you have rather than reaching up, and build merit while you work.
Health
Your condition is not good and must not be dismissed. Make offerings, see a doctor early, and do not let a small problem grow through delay.
Travel
Ten thousand miles and no way back. Obstacles are heavy on this road, easy to leave and hard to return; this is no time to relocate.
Advice
Put down half the load on your back and stand on solid ground before you talk about crossing mountains.