Clarity,
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The deeper energies of any situation pass through those 4 gates no matter what. Whether King Wen had one eye on these gates or anything else when he arranged the sequence I think matters not.And that all of the hexagrams core's ends up in these four hexagrams, the two first and the two last in the whole arrangement could make one suspect that the one who arranged the hexagrams this way, in the so-called king Wen order, had an eye on the nuclear-hexagram-phenomena...
The names of some geomantic figures are also very suggestive: Caput Draconis and Cauda Draconis mean the Head and the Tail of the Dragon, namely, Qian and Kun. Via and Populus are alternative denominations of Qian and Kun as well. Carcer and Coniunctio are resemblant to Kan and Li. Kan, 6th line, actually mentions a Prison (Carcer), while Li is considered to mean what is Adherent (Coniunctio).This morning in my email this link were present:
https://www.biroco.com/yijing/scan.htm#geomancy
- with the note: "Geomantic figures and nuclear hexagrams
A small addition to the Yijing Dao site that I think is quite fascinating:" from Yijing Dao Update.
"There is difficulty in knowing (the significance of) the first line, while to know that of the topmost line is easy; - they form the beginning and the end (of the diagram)."
Xi Ci II, Chapter IX. The Lines, §.2; Legge Translation
"La primera y la última línea son el comienzo y el final de un cuerpo hexagramático, el antes y el después de un asunto."
Wang Bi, Observaciones generales sobre el Libro de los Cambios; Yijing, El Libro de los Cambios, Jordi Vilá & Albert Galvany
"The first and last lines are the beginning and final of a hexagramatic body, the before and the after of a matter."
To me, the first and last line are somehow transpersonal. The first line is potential, it could be anything, it is underground, or in its initial states ("hidden dragon"; "treading on hoarfrost"). The sixth line is usually considered as excessive ("arrogant dragon"; "dragons fighting"). So, the core, the main activity, according to this viewpoint, would be developed between the 2nd and 5th line."La primera línea apunta hacia el estado inicial de una evolución que todavía no se ha afirmado; la última hace el balance de la misma asignándole un resultado."
François Jullien, Figures de l'immanence, chap. 4; based on the text of Wang Fu Zhi
"The first line points towards the initial state of an evolution that has not het affirmed itself; the last one makes the balance of (the evolution) assigning it a result."
Think about how society sees kids and elders: kids are "out" of the world of the "grown ups" because they are too young to understand or participate in it, and the elders are "out" of the world because they are considered to be too old to participate. Now, two things: first, there are necessary exceptions to this rule; and second: both stadiums, the first and sixth lines, are essential and of utmost importance, yet they don't seem to participate in the core movement of the hexagram as actively as lines 2, 3, 4 and 5.To be honest I can't agree that the Bottom and TopLines are to be considered out of the main situation
Hi PlutoHi sur!
I will check out the text you shared.
About the authors, they are all mainly of the XVI century, approx.
on Agrippa; on Paracelsus.
What I meant, is that they are the ones that mostly worked upon the 16 Geomantic Figures.
I do have a good source to share various associated meanings for each of the Figures, if you're interested I can make a thread to share them.
About the 1st and 6th line, well, it depends on what your interpretation method is. But I offer here some cites about what I want to say (if needed, I'll cite the original text from my books in Spanish, and google translate below):
To me, the first and last line are somehow transpersonal. The first line is potential, it could be anything, it is underground, or in its initial states ("hidden dragon"; "treading on hoarfrost"). The sixth line is usually considered as excessive ("arrogant dragon"; "dragons fighting"). So, the core, the main activity, according to this viewpoint, would be developed between the 2nd and 5th line.
Think about how society sees kids and elders: kids are "out" of the world of the "grown ups" because they are too young to understand or participate in it, and the elders are "out" of the world because they are considered to be too old to participate. Now, two things: first, there are necessary exceptions to this rule; and second: both stadiums, the first and sixth lines, are essential and of utmost importance, yet they don't seem to participate in the core movement of the hexagram as actively as lines 2, 3, 4 and 5.
But, again, this is only a theory, I'm not affirming it. I guess I'm just being the Devil's lawyer
I'll leave some links for you to check out if you are interested in digging deeper in the Geomancy stuff.
Agrippa on Geomancy
About Islamic Geomancy
The 32 Prophecies of Paracelsus (there is a deck of cards that associates each one of the prophecies with a certain geomantic figure, having 16 yin cards and 16 yang cards. But I don't really know the facticity of that syncretism)
About Fludds Geomancy
Hi Surnevs! Could I ask you to share the "figure 2.2a" that Pankenier mentions in the quote you shared? Thanks!Hi Plutonian,
Thank You. When You mentioned "Draconis", Caput/Cauda, it pointed almost literary toward a book * I began to read a while ago (and still reading, meaning I can't draw conclusions) where it's suggested that actually the first hexagram and the second hexagram can be found to have had connections with the Starconstellation Dragon.
From the book:
".................... We will ignore the layers of metaphysical commentary in the Book of Changes
that have accumulated through the ages around the first hexagram qian
and simply consider the earliest stratum of the text, the individual line texts
associated with the lines of the hexagram:
(1) hidden Dragon: do no work
(2) Dragon appearing in the fields
(3) [unrelated]
(4) perhaps bounding in the void
(5) soaring Dragon in the sky
(6) recalcitrant Dragon: there is regret
And about the lines collectively, “a flock of Dragons with no head: auspicious.”
Now, though generally ignored in metaphysical commentaries, it was never
a secret that these line texts of hexagram qian refer to the seasonal appearance
of the Cerulean Dragon, a huge constellation comprising stars from Virgo
through Scorpius (Figure 2.2a). (In what follows, “Dragon” in italics will refer
to the constellation, and “dragon” to the iconic creature.) Wen Yiduo was
the first modern Chinese scholar to elaborate on the connection in detail. As
Wen says, “when ancient texts mention ‘dragon,’ most often they are referring
to the Dragon constellation”; numerous other scholars have also taken up the
seasonally related astronomy of the hexagram’s line texts.15 My interpretation
of the astronomical significance of the line texts differs from all the others in
crucial respects, particularly in providing an account of seasonal role of both
Celestial Dragons during the yin and yang portions of the year, which had been
previously ignored. ........................." **
Well, if I'm not remembering wrong You should be able to search for it on academia.edu and find a more comprehensive part of this book. As mentioned, I can't draw any conclusions, just point out what your initial mention here reminded me of...
It's late here and I will take a second look at your posting later.
______________________
*) 'Astrology and Cosmology in Early China', David W. Pankenier, Cambridge University Press, 2013
**) ibid. pg. 44
On #24 here there are links to this book and also comment on that maybe You'll find it on Academia.edu for download in pdf.Hi Surnevs! Could I ask you to share the "figure 2.2a" that Pankenier mentions in the quote you shared? Thanks!
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).