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Interpreting hexagrams

Comments on whole hexagrams, individual lines and so on

Last chance to see?

Looking up the ‘Pace of Yu’ on Google, I found a link to a fascinating-looking paper on ‘The transformations of Yu the Great in Daoist myth and ritual’. But the paper itself wasn’t available – only the html version Google had generated of it. So I suggest saving a copy… Read more »Last chance to see?

An idea about Hexagram 22

Hexagram 21 is Biting Through; Hexagram 22 is Beauty – only I tend to think of it these days more as Making Beautiful. (In much the same way, Hexagram 13 seems to be more to do with ‘creating harmony between people’ than just finding it already there, a fait accompli.)… Read more »An idea about Hexagram 22

New information on Hexagram 46

The ‘sheng’ sacrifice at Qi Shan Harmen’s back! And as always, his research provides information you really have to consider in readings. This time he’s exploring sheng, Hexagram 46. The core divinatory meaning of sheng is (I think) to put in the effort to climb step by step towards a… Read more »New information on Hexagram 46

I Ching Community: Rude awakenings

I Ching Community Discussion Forum: Rude awakenings Very interesting thoughts from Auriel on the lines that lead towards Hexagram 23, Stripping Away.

Another thought on Hexagram 14

The name of Hexagram 14 is Great Possession, and the character for ‘possessing’ also means ‘offering’ – suggesting that the two ideas are not so far apart as they might seem.

Interpreting this one, I’m often reminded of Molière’s play, The Miser. (Or was this in Plautus’s original, The Pot of Gold?) The miser has kept a pot of gold buried in his garden for years, sneaking off to gloat over it when no-one’s looking. Of course one day someone is looking, and the hoard is stolen, and he bewails his fate. Some witty character offers the consolation that he still has a dank hole in the ground to gaze down, so what has he really lost?