Speculations on relations between hexagrams: the Sequence, patterns of trigrams, nuclear hexagrams, etc
Each hexagram of the Yijing contains a nuclear hexagram at its core. And since the nuclear hexagram unfolds from lines 2-5, it’s the first and last lines, the ‘entrance and exit’ or ‘roots and shoots’ of the hexagram, that vary – so that four hexagrams can be formed around each… Read more »The family of 54
This is just a speculative post, or a starting point for speculation… I’ve started thinking of the trigram li – fire and light – as being like eyes, particularly when it’s the inner trigram. Then sometimes it seems to look out at the outer trigram, and sometimes it seems to… Read more »Inner li as vision
One of the fascinating things about the structure of the Yijing is the way one hexagram in a pair (an odd-numbered hexagram with the even-numbered one that follows it, that is) can point to the other. It might contain it, or imply it, or give you a different perspective on… Read more »Inner truth and crossing over
Hexagram 34 is Great Vigour – or Power, or Strength. The old character shows a scholar, or an impressive man, and half the character for ‘tree’. It means robust, powerful, in the prime of life. Combined with the character for ‘great’ – a man standing straight – this gives a… Read more »Hexagram 34: Great Vigour
The other day, I responded to a client’s I Ching Course assignment about a reading with five moving lines. Since I’m not a fan of systems that reduce the number of moving lines (I reckon that if your answer were contained in a single moving line, you’d have received just… Read more »The lines that don’t change
You can learn a lot about moving lines in the Yijing by looking at where they’re headed – that is, the hexagram that would be generated if this line alone were changing. Arguing doesn’t lead to good fortune – unless it’s done in an awareness of being ‘Not Yet Across’.… Read more »Changing lines in groups
Hexagram 35: Advancing, Prospering, Flourishing – I love getting this one in readings and introducing people to it. ‘Prospering, Prince Kang used a gift of horses to breed a multitude. He mated them three times in one day.’ (There are other possible translations – it could be that Kang was… Read more »Gifts, life purpose and Yu the Great
