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Yi, the Circle of Hexagrams and Map Triangulation: An Experiment in Method (Part 1 of 2)

peters

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Dear Kevin (and other readers),

The following is a kind of addendum/continuation of my recent posting, “How to Best Approach Yi re: Broad, Multidimensional Questions?” Having reached a quandary and apparent impasse there, I was very recently perusing a newly acquired copy of The I Ching and Its Associations by Diana ffarington Hook, a woman who would make any shortlist of ‘people with the most unusual middle names’. In this regard, I discovered that Ch.4 of that work is entirely dedicated to object location and geomancy, subjects rarely covered in any detail elsewhere. In searching for other resources, I found Ch.7-8 of W.A. Sherrill & Wen-Kuang Chu’s An Anthology of I Ching to be dedicated to geomancy and directionology, while it is possible that these topics are also treated in Bent Nielsen’s A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology, although it is a very difficult book to navigate. Sherrill & Chu’s treatment of directionology in ch.8 of the aforementioned presents a Japanese method that is highly technical and complicated and in which the authors appear to simply be conveying the method, with little sense of practical experience or confidence in it. As they say in summary:

However, before using it for an important decision, we would suggest that the reader experiments first to obtain answers to less important questions, so that he can decide for himself whether the results are valid or not. If they are, then he can add this procedure as another tool for making his life more meaningful and more successful. This same principle applies in general to all the material presented in this anthology. (p.217)

In contrast Hook’s book presents a method of directionology (pp.55-60) that is considerably more straightforward. It would appear to be derived from Feng Shui, particularly the use of the lou pan or geomantic compass board. However, it is quite possible to apply the method in the absence of this particular tool. The basic method relies on two points: first, an association of the hexagrams with the cardinal and intermediate directions; second, the technique of map triangulation (this latter having nothing to do with the I Ching per se). Regarding the first point, Shao Yung’s pre-heaven sequence of the hexagrams, when set out in a circle, align with the cardinal directions – with South as ‘up’ in the Chinese manner – such that Hx.1 is South, Hx.2 is North, Hx.13 is East and Hx.7 is West and the remaining hexagrams are intermediate between these. Although the following isn’t from Hook’s book, it shows the layout: https://archive.shine.cn/sunday/now-and-then/Bagua-and-the-sequence-of-64-hexagrams/shdaily.shtml.

Now, each hexagram ‘occupies’ 1/64th of the complete 360° of a circle, which one may think of as a narrow angular wedge of 5-5/8°. In principle, if one consults Yi, a hexagram is produced, which then corresponds to an angle in a plane through the Shao Yung pre-heaven circular sequence. If two angles are determined from two different positions in that plane, then the lines may be plotted and the intersection of the angles corresponds to a third position in the plane – that is triangulation. Now, we don’t have lines, but narrow angular wedges extending from each position of origin, so the overlap is not a point but a small bounded area. The process may be repeated within that area to determine a more precise bounded area, and repeated again within the subsequent area to whatever degree of precision is required. Now, the method can go wrong if the lines don’t intersect, which can happen quite readily, given that the direction determined from each originating position can fall anywhere in 360°.

Let’s make this more concrete. I want to determine a position where something is located. I inquire of Yi, “assuming I am located at point A, in what direction is what I am interested in located, assuming I am applying the described method?” and then “assuming I am located at point B, in what direction is what I am interested in located, assuming I am applying the described method?” Now, points A and B have to be chosen intelligently – ideally, they should fall on either end of the area of interest to suitably bound the spatial possibilities for triangulation. I then take a map, mark point A and draw a narrow wedge with bounding lines 5-5/8° apart in the appropriate direction from it, mark point B and draw a similar narrow wedge in the appropriate direction from it and determine the intersecting area. I then obtain a smaller, more detailed map covering the intersection area, determine two new points, C and D, consult Yi for the directions from these points, and draw points, directional wedges and the intersecting area of this new map to determine an even smaller area. Repeat as necessary.

This kind of approach has precedent, even apart from I Ching divination. Consider, for instance, the personal story of Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, author of Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind [www.youtube.com/watch?v=AClVSWvNsWw], involving her encounter with the remarkable efficacy of expert pendulum dowsing over a map. It’s worth watching the clip, but in brief:

In 1991, when her daughter’s rare, hand-carved harp was stolen, Lisby Mayer’s familiar world of science and rational thinking turned upside down. After the police failed to turn up any leads, a friend suggested she call a dowser—a man who specialized in finding lost objects. With nothing to lose—and almost as a joke—Dr. Mayer, a teacher at Berkley, California, agreed. The man she called, Harold McCoy, president of the national dowsing organisation, lived in Arkansas, 2500 kilometres away. He asked for a map of the city in which the harp was stolen, and quickly said that the harp was still in the city, and was at a particular house in a particular street. Unwilling to go directly to that house, Dr Mayer distributed leaflets in the neighbourhood, inviting the return of the harp, no questions asked. Within three days it was back in her hands. The experience turned her picture of reality upside-down. “This changes everything,” she said to herself. ... [http://whitecrowbooks.com/michaelcocks/entry/stolen_harp_recovered_using_dowsing/]

As an aside, Dr. Mayer quotes, in Ch.9 of the aforementioned book, from the dowser, Harold McCoy:

I’d once asked Harold to explain how dowsing worked. How did you hold the rod? Harold told me to let go of all rational explanations: “The rods just show you what your subconscious mind knows anyway,” he’d said. “Most people don’t know how to get their subconscious mind talkin’ to ‘em. It’s just intuition, that’s all…. Your subconscious mind knows dowsing’s in your body as much as in your brain and maybe that’s what’s good about the rods. You’re holding ‘em and feeling ‘em and that puts you real focused on your body. The rods let your body tell you what your subconscious mind knows. The rods free you up that way. They give you a way to stop your brain from stopping all the rest of you from knowing. But master dowsers, they’ve learned how to contact the knowing real directly. So for them the rods don’t matter anymore. They don’t need ‘em.”

The notion of the subconscious mind expressing through the body as an explanation of dowsing should perhaps open analogous considerations with respect to how I Ching divination works, as the ‘cut’ of randomization that determines a casting – with whatever method is employed, yarrow stalks, coins, marbles, …) [excepting computer-based casting] – is expressed through the diviner’s body as well.

This technique of ‘directional divination’ may have precedent, but as I have found it in only a single source, and this without examples, it would seem both a) wise and b) courteous to inquire of Yi regarding its application before trying it. In particular, the technique is a way of, as it were, putting Yi ‘on the spot’ (no pun intended) in requesting highly specified information, rather than the metaphoric, imagistic interpretation normally received. The specific goal relates to a desired change in career and the seeking out, from all the vast manifold possibilities, the best next position or livelihood. My basic notion was to employ directional divination to locationally identify a company or organization corresponding to the question’s intention.

So, I queried: “Please advise as to whether I may successfully employ the method of location determination detailed in the second portion of ch.4 of Diana ffarington Hook’s The I Ching and Its Associations – involving Shao Yung’s circular sequence of hexagrams associated with directions in Fig.10 and the use of map triangulation from two points of reference – to determine the place of my best next livelihood?” 9.1.4>44. The changing lines in particular are (tr. Hilary):

Line 1
‘Returning to your own path,
How could you be wrong?
Good fortune.’
Line 4
‘There is truth and confidence.
Blood departs, fear goes away.
No mistake.’

I interpret the casting as considering that perhaps that the relating Hx.44 points to my concerns regarding the proposed method and my ‘coupling’ it, but that primary Hx.9 and especially the changing lines, are, as it were, putting these concerns to rest. Both address the prior condition of concern and say, in essence, there is no need, this is the right path. The primary Hx.9, ‘Small Taming’, points to modest beginnings creating success. I think I have to consider this as both approval and encouragement with regard to the proposed method.

Now, Hook suggests first practicing with the method by using a lidded box with a button or flat bead that can be slid about randomly inside. The basic notion might be instantiated by laying graph/grid paper inside the box and also on the lid, selecting two edge/corner points on the lid as the points to triangulate from, and then casting twice for the direction from each point, determining the triangulated point of intersection, noting on the top graph paper and then lifting the lid to see if the bead or button is in the same horizontal location. She advises:

With practice you should find accuracy developing. Do not feel discouraged if you are not able to achieve much success immediately, it generally takes time when trying out any new method of contacting the Great Unconscious, before its symbols become clear enough to be correctly interpreted, understood and used. (p.59)

[NB: Due to character count posting limits, I’ve broken the present post into two parts.]

Continued in “Yi, the Circle of Hexagrams and Map Triangulation: An Experiment in Method (Part 2 of 2)
 
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