The term ‘fan yao‘ – literally, the ‘reverse line’ – was coined by Bradford Hatcher to describe the line that ‘reverses’ the change of a single changing line. (For instance, 1.3 changes to 10, and 10.3 changes to 1: 10.3 and 1.3 are one another’s fan yao.)
The fan yao can be helpful on its own, though it’s best understood as part of a pathway of four related lines including your changing line, for a deep exploration of its themes and resonances. There’s a short course on line pathways inside Change Circle, including…
- An introduction to the four lines of the pathway and how to find them.
- An explanation of the fan yao and how to use it in readings
- …and the qian yao or ‘paired line’
- …and the ‘hidden line’ that completes the pathway.
- An alternative pathway you can follow when your cast hexagram is in a complementary pair.
- An example ‘walk’ round a complete line pathway.
It’ll get you started including line pathways in your own ‘deep dive’ readings. But here’s Module 2 from the course for you now, as a taster, about the fan yao –
Join or log in to Change Circle to access the full course.
Finding the fan yao
Each changing line you cast has its individual ‘step of change’: the hexagram created by changing that line alone. So if you cast 42.2.6 to 60, the steps of change would be…
- Hexagram 61 for line 2 (42.2 zhi 61)
- Hexagram 3 for line 6 (42.6 zhi 3).
The fan yao is the corresponding line in the step of change that ‘comes back’ to the cast hexagram:
- the fan yao of 42.2 (zhi 61) is 61.2 (zhi 42);
- the fan yao of 42.6 (zhi 3) is 3.6 (zhi 42).
What the fan yao shows
A fan yao is part of the line’s zhi gua (or ‘step of change’). The zhi gua might show
- a quality of the cast hexagram highlighted by this moving line,
- a direction or tendency of the cast hexagram (expressed in the moving line), or
- what this line is about for you (as a ‘miniature relating hexagram’).
Just as the moving line shows you exactly where you are in the cast hexagram, so the fan yao can show what’s specific and personal to you in the ‘miniature relating hexagram’ of the zhi gua. In practice, that tends to mean it shows you the emotional world under the surface of the line: a feeling, experience or belief.
Hence this is not the place to look for answers or advice; instead, it can offer you the sense of being recognised and acknowledged by the Yi – whether or not you’re ‘getting’ the reading, at least you know the Oracle ‘gets’ you. It can also offer emotional insight, showing you motivations, or how something feels, or why it might feel that way.
