Hello; I have been browsing and studying the forums with great interest and finally feel like I know enough to start asking questions; thank you everyone for your input.

I have been going back to revisit old I Ching readings and trying to determine what elements of interpretation were/would have been the most useful, beyond the basic hexagrams and lines. I have looked at nuclear and transitional hexagrams, steps of change, patterns of change, the shadow site, inverted trigrams, hexagram “foursomes,” and mutating and evolutionary hexagrams. The elements that seem to me to be the most useful are the steps of change, and the complement of the transformed hexagram. I am interested in anyone else’s experiences with these, especially the latter.

If one changes the non-changing lines in the original hexagram, one would presumably generate a hexagram which indicates what the current situation is not changing into. I have been calling this the “anti-hexagram,” but it is in fact the complement of the transformed hexagram. Just today I went back to some old readings and found that the anti-hexagram seems to have been consistently relevant to the situation. The complement of the original hexagram doesn’t seem to help nearly as much; sometimes it actually appears to give nearly the same information as the original hexagram, other times not.

So, the original hexagram with the changing lines, the transformed hexagram, the steps of change, and the anti-hexagram look like they are going to become my “standard” elements of interpretation, at least to start with. Does anyone have any opinions?

Thank you again,

—Russell
russellcottrell.com/VirtualYarrowStalks

Very interesting! I'm always aware of the complementary hexagram in the background, but rarely bring it into the interpretation unless it's obviously relevant. (Eg someone's thinking and talking in military imagery but receives 13 instead, or is talking of decision and defining themselves but receives 23.) It had never occurred to me that the complement of the relating hexagram was the result of changing the unchanging lines - that does give it the feel of a precise image of what isn't going on. So you have me intrigued. How do you find it applies/ works in readings? Do you have an example you could share?

Example

Thank you very much for the reply. If I have you intrigued, I must be on to something!

Here is an example:

A family member had been the recipient of very unexpected negative treatment from someone who until then had been a good friend of the family. This treatment had the potential to result in serious adverse consequences in the near future. I considered it to have been completely unjustified, and in my usual subtle style had the urge to lash out with accusations at said person, and others who were indirectly involved in the situation.

I consulted and got 31:4,5 - 15:


Influencing others through integrity/modesty and maintaining good relationships appears to be the message.

The anti-hexagram,


This made me think that my original plan to lash out may have had some degree of success, but at high risk and possibly harm to others.

The complement of the original hexagram,


This does not appear to be as useful as the anti-hexagram above; it does not suggest to me anything much different from the original. I find this to be true in some cases, not in others.

I am thinking of putting together an explanation of the anti-hexagram, with graphics illustrating what it is, and more examples. I was just wondering if others had ever had the same experience with it.

Thank you again,

—Russell

russell said:

Here is an example:

A family member had been the recipient of very unexpected negative treatment from someone who until then had been a good friend of the family. This treatment had the potential to result in serious adverse consequences in the near future. I considered it to have been completely unjustified, and in my usual subtle style had the urge to lash out with accusations at said person, and others who were indirectly involved in the situation.

—Russell

Click to expand...

The implications of the above, not from a traditional perspective, is we are dealing with a context covering betrayal by another and a focus on whether such is an identity issue (a minor betrayal and covers issues of self-restraint) or a security issue (the latter meaning major betrayal and anticipation of more wrong doing - it ties to the eight hexagrams grounded in wind)

Given more details on the dynamics it is possible to derive a meaning that can then be analysed in high detail using the "I Ching as a language" capabilities.

Thus we can derive a spectrum, described by analogies to ALL of the other hexagrams in the I Ching, describing the properties and methods of the situation and in doing so select which areas to work on for change or else let things alone to resolve themselves in their own time.

This dynamic extends interpretations from the limitations of few hexagrams to the whole I Ching being applicable to any moment and your consciousness being the final arbiter on what action, or not, to take.

Note that the above trigram associations emotionally cover issues of fear/grief and rejection/anticipation-of-wrong when seen in a negative light.

BTW the anti-hexagram focus will elicit some meaning but it covers properties of the hexagram representing the situation without change (IOW DONT perform the change gives the hexagram describing the situation. With the change we see the RESPONSES to that influence manifest in the derived hexagram where such have already occured in your mind or in those involved in the situation. -- see the EIC program covering this at the bottom of the homepage http://www.emotionaliching.com

Russell,

to refine the above comments. We can interpret a hexagram as being made up of waves - each line in a hexagram represents a particular frequency and we can sum these to give us a waveform of particular meaning.

For example, the hexagram 27 can be interpreted as made up of the qualities of hexagram 23 (representing the top yang line) and 24 (representing the bottom yang line).

If I focus on any no changing lines then I am focusing on a subset of the meanings available and as such I can derive meaning from such. E.g focus on line 1 as a non changing line and the focus is on properties associated with beginnings/re-beginnings etc where such is captured in the generic properties of hexagram 24/44 (the explicit element is the YANG line (all else held yin), the IMPLICIT element is the YIN line (all else held yang)).

Thus your anti-hexagram focus extracts parts from the whole to give information on those details and as such will give you value in meaning (but depth in meaning comes with using the I Ching capability of being a language and so all hexagrams apply in interpreting some particular)

See more in http://www.emotionaliching.com/myweb/WaveInterpret.html

Yep.

BTW the anti-hexagram focus will elicit some meaning but it covers properties of the hexagram representing the situation without change (IOW DONT perform the change gives the hexagram describing the situation.

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Yes, Chris, that’s how I see it. Or, what is being avoided by the indicated change.

E.g focus on line 1 as a non changing line and the focus is on properties associated with beginnings/re-beginnings etc where such is captured in the generic properties of hexagram 24/44 (the explicit element is the YANG line (all else held yin), the IMPLICIT element is the YIN line (all else held yang)).

Click to expand...

I would call this using the patterns of change, one line at a time.

By the way, what did your reviewing show about patterns of change? I find the yang pattern (24 for line 1 changing) tends to offer a good picture of what brings you into the reading; the yin suggests what might balance that as a way to lead you out.

Not utterly off-topic, as change patterns are another reason to think about complementary hexagrams.

Thanks for the example. 10 and 41 make equal sense to me there as complements, but I can see how not treading after tigers might be more immediately useful advice. You're opened and moved... rather than seeking to curb, enclose and diminish feelings. And be only, modestly yourself, rather than going after something more dramatic and with bigger teeth.

Hello, and thank you again. Line 1 changing was just something Chris was using as an example. The patterns of change here are 26, Great Taming, and 45, Gathering. The steps of change make more sense to me: 39, Difficulties, which is dead on, and 62, Small Overstepping, doing things a little at a time rather than just blowing up.