Earth inside The easiest way to get to grips with the first two hexagrams, for me, is always to think how much they’re not each other. Qian, the creative force of heaven: nothing but solid lines, like the paths of sun, moon and stars across the sky. It moves without… Read more »Earth inside (part 1)
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
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
‘Where to go?’ was Lilian’s reading for this episode of the podcast; Yi answered with Hexagram 47, Confining, changing at lines 2 and 4 to 8, Seeking Union – changing to – which is a lovely example of Yi answering the person even when I couldn’t quite see how it… Read more »Where to go?
Hexagram 8… …is called bi 比, which means… You can see the core idea in the old Chinese character: two human figures walking together, one following the other, their outlines matching. (One dictionary even says these are not human figures, but spoons – spooning!) In the context of the Sequence… Read more »Hexagram 8 as relating hexagram
A listener’s reading for this episode of the I Ching with Clarity podcast: Vidia asked, ‘How can I move forward and be of service?’ Yi answered with Hexagram 8, Seeking Union, with no changing lines – a beautifully simple answer that gave us the opportunity for a deep dive into… Read more »Seeking union and belonging
Introducing the 缶 fou jar Here’s another character that occurs just three times in the Yijing: fou 缶. This is a vessel for holding liquids, something like an amphora, with a narrow neck and large body. It’s originally a pottery jar – that’s the first meaning of the character –… Read more »Three pots
