Guanyin fortune stick
70
Lower stick
Every morning you are like a bee among the flowers,
flying out to the southwest, then off to the east.
Spring is over, blossoms gone, nothing left to find,
yet your heart keeps flying the same old routes.
jadealmanac.com
Li Mi rebelling against the Tang is the story editions attach here. At the end of the Sui dynasty, Li Mi led the great rebel army based at Wagang and took the title Duke of Wei. After a heavy defeat in 618 his best commanders drifted away, and he surrendered to Li Yuan, founder of the new Tang dynasty, who gave him a lady of the imperial clan as a wife and a modest post. Li Mi could not settle for it. Within months he broke away to raise an army again and was ambushed and killed in 619, aged thirty-seven. His spring was over, yet he kept flying the old routes in search of flowers that were gone, exactly like the bee in the poem. That is why this lot is lower: the effort is real, but the season for it has passed.
Every morning you are like a bee gathering nectar. Readers take this as tireless daily effort, admirable in itself, which is why the warning that follows stings.
Flying out to the southwest, then off to the east. Traditionally the line describes scattered effort with no fixed target, and readers apply it to running between many schemes.
Spring is over, the flowers fade, and there is nowhere left to search. Temple readers say the opportunity itself has ended, so more searching cannot bring it back.
Yet the heart does not change and keeps to its old tracks. Readers treat this as the real fault the lot names: habit that outlasts its season.
朝朝恰似采花蜂
飞出西南又走东
春尽花残无觅处
此心不变旧行踪
Seven characters a line, as printed in the BW Monastery edition.
Sources for the story: https://www.51chouqian.com/guanyinlingqian/70.html (Li Mi Rebels Against Tang); masterseanchan.com/guanyin-oracle/lot-70 (edition A: Li Mi Rebels Against Tang).
Optional: the temple way
At a temple the stick is not yours until two moon blocks agree: one flat side up and one round side up, a holy cup.
Stick 70, "The Bee Gathering Nectar", is a lower stick, a cautionary stick. Spring's color is gone and the rain won't stop; rather than scheming and striving, stay still.
Unsteady.
Losses likely; in trade, beware partners who go back on their word.
Hard to get what you want; exams fall short.
Draw another stick , or for a straight yes or no, throw the moon blocks
The verse follows the BW Monastery edition of the Guanyin set; the English rendering and reading are Jade Almanac's own. A drawn stick is a tradition and a prompt for reflection, not advice about health, money or the law.
