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Hexagram Groups

Frankelmick

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Hello everyone,

I?d like to go through something I've recently discovered about the I Ching. I?m sure that I?m not the first one to have noticed this but I don?t think I?ve seen it in any books.

If you were to take any hexagram, you can transform it by taking the top line and placing it at the bottom, shifting all the other lines up by one. For example, Hx 7. Take the top Yin line and place it at the bottom. All the other lines of Hx 7 move up one, transforming Hx 7 into Hx 15. The Yang line 2 of Hx 7 has become line 3 of Hx 15.

Let?s call this type of transformation a ?click?. Six clicks round and you?re back where you started. Let?s call the six hexagrams formed by these six clicks a group or ?family?.

When I started working through the hexagrams in King Wen?s sequence, very interesting patterns started to emerge. Patterns of lines and patterns of meanings.

Firstly, hexagrams 1 and 2 cannot be transformed in this way. However many times you click them, they stay exactly the same. They are completely self-contained.

Clicking round Hx 3 takes us on this journey:

3, 4, 36, 40, 39, 35

Three pairs that all have something to do with beginnings and endings, problems and solutions.

Hx 4 is part of the Hx 3 ?family?, so next is Hx 5:

5, 50, 49, 6, 37, 38

Again three pairs, but this time they are all to do with conflict and stability, sameness and difference.

The thread of the Hx 7 family doesn?t seem as clear to me:

7, 15, 16, 8, 23, 24

The cycle of the single Yang line seems to bloom with Hx 16 and Hx 8 before fading and re-emerging again.

The Hx 9 family is all about relationships:

9, 14, 43, 44, 13, 10

Three more pairs, to do with seeking and finding harmony with others.

Numerically, I found the next group the most interesting:

11, 32, 31, 12, 42, 41

Three pairs, each pair being the first and second in its group of 10. Wilhelm describes Hx 41 and 42 as being transformations of Hx 11 and 12 but I hadn?t thought of 31 and 32 in this way before. But I can see now that both Hx 31 and 32 also have Heaven within Earth in their own way.

Now we reach Hx 17 and something different happens:

17, 59, 22, 54, 48, 56

This family doesn?t contain any pairs. But it does have the thread of meaning of movement and rest.

Also, the Hx 17 group is complemented by the Hx 18 group:

18, 55, 47, 53, 21, 60

So the Hx 18 family is the twin half of the Hx 17 family. The thread of meaning doesn?t seem that clear to me, maybe it?s to so with sorting out (or not sorting out) situations? Hx 18 is active and Hx 21 is radical. Hx 53 is gentle and Hx 60 is limiting. Hx 47 is mostly about not being able to sort out a situation, not immediately anyway, and Hx 55? Maybe that?s the result of successfully sorting out the situation?

With Hx 19 the family has a different pattern again:

19, 46, 62, 45, 20, 27

2 pairs and 2 odd. But the 2 odd ones are Hx 27 and Hx 62 which stay the same when inverted! This family of 2 Yang lines feels gently positive to me. Something about people working together in the right way without forcing the issue.

The Hx 25 family has the same pattern as the Hx 19 family:

25, 61, 26, 34, 28, 33

2 pairs and 2 odd. Hx 28 and Hx 61 both staying the same when inverted.

But the family of 2 Yin lines is more dramatic with its advance and retreat, and its struggle to balance the 4 over-powering Yang lines.

All that?s left are the doubled Hexagrams formed by Hx 29:

29, 52, 51

Water, Mountain, Thunder. The 3 dramatic sons. Danger, Stopping, Movement. Yang.

And 3 more formed by Hx 30:

30, 58, 57

Fire, Lake, Wind. The 3 subtle daughters. Clarity, Joy, Gentleness. Yin

What now emerges is that once we?ve reached Hx 30 or the end of the Upper Canon, we?ve seen every Hexagram in the Lower Canon? almost:

63, 64

Hx 63 and 64 are the only family of just 2 Hexagrams. They are almost as self-contained as Hx 1 and Hx 2. They just click round each other. Satisfied then hungry.

So then, apart from Hx 63 and 64, the Upper Canon contains the Lower Canon.

Well, thanks for reading, I hope it made sense. I?ve rambled on long enough but if you?ve stayed with it, I?d like to hear what you think. Is this just the result of my being ill and having too much time on my hands?

Why do Hx 17 and 18 form the only families of 6 not to contain the next in sequence? Or any pairs at all for that matter?

Any thoughts?

Best wishes,

Mick
http://www.north-node.com/
 
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dharma

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Hello Mick,

You seem to have come upon a very curious pattern. The thinking mind of the dream interpreter at work here, perhaps.
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This is what happens when we get up real close to something --we begin to see that the orderliness of things goes much deeper than we even imagined that it would.

Thanks for sharing your insights. Though I can't think of a practical way that these groupings could assist me in I Ching interpretation, at least not yet, it contains a deeper meaning and significance that adds to my overall perspective on life.

Dharma
 

Frankelmick

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Dharma,

Thank you. I'm pleased you got something out of my insight.

Your comments are extraordinary! (I love this forum).

The idea in fact came to me in a dream. In my dream, a hexagram wasn't just flat and 2-dimensional, it was like a bus ticket that could be folded back on itself so that the original top line became the bottom line of a new Hexagram.

I woke up early with that idea and wrote out all the groups straight away.
So your link to dream interpretation is wonderful
happy.gif


I agree, I'm not sure if there's any practical use for the groups but a couple of things did jump out for me.

Firstly, apart from 63 & 64, the Upper Canon "contains" the Lower Canon.

And secondly, there's something different about Hx 17 & 18 but I've no idea what.

Best wishes,

Mick
 
C

chris

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Mick,

(1) work with the binary sequences.
(2) there are 64 line position states in a hexagram, not 6.
(3) the horizontal binary sequence - the one you get when applying yin and yang recursively - reflects hexagrams in scalar forms - as expressions of energy.
(4) the vertical binary sequence - the one you get by working through EACH hexagram, changing all line positions (all 64) as a binary sequence -adds direction to hexagrams and so we move from scalars to vectors.
(5) the source of the King Wen sequence is the same as the binary in format - see http://pages.prodigy.net/lofting/cracked.html

Chris.
 

Frankelmick

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Chris,

I remember reading your cracked.html article before - it's excellent.

I still have to get to grips with the article you posted recently about the vertical and horizontal binary sequences.

Thanks,

Mick
 
D

dharma

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Hi Mick,

Perhaps you can deliberately incubate a dream regarding the difference between Hx 17 & 18 and see what comes up --I'd be especially interested in the results.
happy.gif


Dharma
 

nks

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When I look at the 17 and 18 sequences, I see a double helix. (as you comment, each is the twin half of the other - 6 pairs are there, they are just across from each other in the other sequence). I see the "twist" in the fact that both the 17 and the 18 sequence have three first-in-the-pair and three second-in-the-pair.

And wasn't the double helix (as structure of DNA) "discovered" in a dream?
 
D

dharma

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Mick,

Nks has done a spectacular job of bringing your patterns and sequencings to a full circle. He's created a lovely picture and I, for one, am greatly inspired by it. I find the connection breath-taking!

Nks, you have a natural ability to get in step with others. A special skill of tuning into the music that is directing the 'dancers' and I'm guessing that this is the answer to your earlier question,

"How can I build confidence to overcome indecision and the fear of exercising my own power?"

Dance when the music moves you, but more importantly, recognize that in dance, *who* is leading is subjective and actually less relevant than the natural fluid motions and steps that bring about harmonious conclusions.

Dharma
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nks

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Thanks for the compliment Dharma. There's a line in a Grateful Dead song, "If you get confused -- listen to the music play!"
 

Frankelmick

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Nks and Dharma,

Thank you. Great stuff!

You've got me thinking about the 17 & 18 groups again in the light of your spiral comments.

Funnily enough, I received a book, written by a dream interpreter, on the I Ching and DNA a couple of weeks ago but I haven't read it yet.

In fact it's not 3 first-in-pairs and 3 seconds it's like this (sorry about the lame graphics, dots mean 18 group comes first-in-pair)

17=>18
22....21
48....47
54....53
56....55
59=>60

Nice pattern though, isn't it? Taken in sequence 17, 18, 21, 22, 47 etc. the meanings seem to take you on quite a journey.

Thinking about hx 17 and hx 18, they are each other's upside down version and also each other's Yin/Yang opposite. I can only think of hx 11 and hx 12 that are also like this?

As we said earlier, I don't know if these groups have any meaning or practical use.

Best wishes,

Mick
 
D

dharma

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Hi Mick,

The answer perhaps lies in the book still waiting to be read. You know...the one written by the dream interpreter on I Ching and DNA...Me thinks someone's got some reading to do...
wink.gif


Dharma
 

Frankelmick

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Dharma,

The author's name is Katya Walter and your posting inspired me to e-mail her to try to get her thoughts about the Hexagram Group patterns.

I'm currently reading Katya's extraordinary book on dream interpretation, "Dream Mail" and I'll let you know how I get on with her DNA book.

Thank you,

Mick
 

Frankelmick

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Dharma and everyone,

Yesterday I noticed that Hx 63 & 64 are also each other's upside-down version and Yin-Yang opposite.

Same goes for Hx 11 & 12 and 17 & 18.

Bye for now,

Mick
 

Frankelmick

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It struck me this morning that for a hexagram to have its upside version to be the same as its Yin/Yang opposite, line 1 has to be the opposite of line 6, line 2 has to be the opposite of line 5 and line 3 has to be the opposite of line 4.

This gives 4 pairs:

11, 12

17, 18

53, 54

63, 64

As ever, not sure if this has any significance or is of any practical use but I thought I'd pass it on.

Best wishes,

Mick
 
C

chris

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Mick,

the rotation process is a common theme in the I Ching. Take the traditional binary sequence and rotate it and you get the INTERNAL sequence for hexagram 01 line changes. and so on.

There is all sorts of material here for analysis - see for example the extended commentary in http://pages.prodigy.net/lofting/lofting/000000.html

Join my ichingplus list ( http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/ichingplus ) and go through the recent archives where I have posted a lot of material on these patterns.

We are dealing with a matrix of qualities we use as a species to derive meaning. We particularise the matrix by creating specific perspectives - the I Ching is one of them.


Chris.
http://pages.prodigy.net/lofting
 

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