As I’ve probably mentioned from time to time, I’m working on an enlarged and improved version of the Words of Change Yijing glossary, to be included as part of the upcoming journal software. This gives me the perfect excuse for lots of completely engrossing research and exploration into Yi, while… Read more »Marriage and Mandate
Warning: this post is pure, unadulterated gleeful Yeekery. I’ve been reading about how the ancient Chinese bronze vessels were made. Here’s a fascinating pdf on the subject (right click and choose ‘save as’ to download), with images of the finished vessels and also the moulds used in the casting, and… Read more »Casting the Vessel
This is from Havi at Fluent Self, who once again is writing about Yi without knowing it. This time she’s unwittingly explaining Hexagram 11, line 1, as a matter of fractal flowers. Hexagram 11 is about Flow, working with it or creating it or stepping into it. There is no… Read more »More accidental Yi wisdom
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
Years ago, I wrote that Hexagram 11 seems like the hexagram of love – “not so much love in its various expressions in human relationships, but as a pure, overwhelming cosmic force for creation.” I think it’s also love as power. Certainly I’ve rarely seen it mean a peaceful experience… Read more »Thoughts on Hexagram 11
At the heart of every hexagram is its ‘nuclear hexagram’. It’s made up of its inner lines: 234 for its lower trigram, 345 for the upper. So for instance if your original hexagram is 18, Corruption – – then by taking its lines 234,345 you uncover the nuclear hexagram 54,… Read more »Nuclear hexagrams – why bother?
It occurs to me that back in an agrarian society, every ordinary activity would have its ritual place in the bigger scheme of things. Ploughing, sowing, harvesting, storing and ripening – these things have so much latent meaning that we still use them as part of our daily language even… Read more »Another question for the I Ching
