When you’re looking at a hexagram through the lens of its trigrams, I think it’s important to see how they work together, as a trigram picture rather than a dry list of attributes. However, it’s still interesting to single out a trigram and a position (inside or outside), to compare… Read more »Mountain above
I’ve been having another look at the mysterious fourth line of Hexagram 1, Creative Force: ‘Someone leaping in the abyss.No mistake.’ Hexagram 1, line 4 A story of dragons This line is generally understood to be part of the story that begins in line 1, with the dragon still asleep… Read more »Leaping in the abyss
Hexagram 12 is no fun at all… ‘Blocking it, non-people.Noble one’s constancy bears no fruit.Great goes, small comes.’ Hexagram 12, Oracle The noble one is typically imaginative and willing to learn; constancy means persistence, loyalty, holding firmly to the truth… and none of this is going to make any difference.… Read more »The noble one’s constancy, and inner light
The Yijing’s changing line texts are in conversation with the hexagrams created by each change. But they can also have quiet exchanges with their fan yao, the ‘reverse line’ that travels in the opposite direction. For instance, 11.2 changes to 36, and in reverse, 36.2 changes to 11: 11.2 and… Read more »Lines in conversation
Recently, I heard someone say that the phrase ‘no mistake’, wu jiu 无咎, occurs so often in the Yijing that he tends to ignore it in readings. Well… you know how I generally feel about ignoring bits of readings… so, naturally, I dived back in to see what more I… Read more »Not a mistake
In my last post, I mentioned all the meaning packed into a tiny space in Hexagram 56, line 6. The nest is burned, line 6 changes, and you can see the bird flying away, into Hexagram 62. Because the Yijing’s lines move, it creates this kind of magic all the… Read more »Hexagrams in conversation
As I was saying in my last post, Hexagram 61, Inner Truth has a hatchling in its name, and a crane with her young in it second line. Its paired hexagram is Hexagram 62, Small Exceeding – is the pair and complement of – and this has its own calling… Read more »More birds
