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Connecting hexagrams

Speculations on relations between hexagrams: the Sequence, patterns of trigrams, nuclear hexagrams, etc

two cats cuddled together

Friends and allies

Confusion… Hexagram 8’s called bi, Seeking Union or Belonging (or Union, Alliance, Grouping, Joining, Holding Together, Closeness…)And Hexagram 13 is tong ren, People in Harmony (or Fellowship, Cooperation, Community, Union of Men…) According to the dictionary, we have one hexagram name that means (amongst other things) ‘to share with, join, coincide with,… Read more »Friends and allies

shelduck in flight, reflected in a lake

Pairs and perspectives

Hexagrams – you probably know this – come in pairs: 1 with 2, 3 with 4, and so on, through to 63 with 64. Sometimes it’s obvious why a pair of hexagrams belong together, sometimes less so. It only really sank in for me recently why Hexagram 43, Deciding, would… Read more »Pairs and perspectives

cats facing off

Differences

When I was preparing for our latest Well Gathering on the subject of Hexagram 6, I posted the above image to Facebook and invited people to guess the hexagram. The first guess posted was Hexagram 38 – which is completely understandable, but it got me thinking… The muddle Both hexagrams… Read more »Differences

Yu the Great

Gradually nearing the high plateau

Hexagram 53, Gradual Progress, has two lines about the high plateau: ‘The wild geese gradually progress to the high plateau.The husband marches out and does not return,The wife is pregnant, but does not raise the child.Pitfall.Fruitful to resist robbers.’ Hexagram 53, line 3 ‘Wild geese gradually progress to the high… Read more »Gradually nearing the high plateau

butterfly chrysalis hanging from a twig

Rejecting the standard

There are two lines in Hexagram 27, Nourishment, that refer to ‘rejecting the standard’: ‘Unbalanced nourishment.Rejecting the standard, looking to the hill-top for nourishment.Setting out to bring order – pitfall.’ Hexagram 27, line 2 ‘Rejecting the standard,Dwelling here with constancy: good fortune.Cannot cross the great river.’ Hexagram 27, line 5… Read more »Rejecting the standard