Abysmal Links
The Abysmal
Abysmal Links
Annual Daylight and the I-Ching
Tao Te Ching 1
Two-by-two
The I Ching or Book of Changes
I-Ching Hexagrams – the King Wen Sequence
I-Ching Hexagram 1 – the Creative
I-Ching Hexagram 2 – the Receptive
I-Ching Hexagram 3 – Difficulty at the Beginning
I-Ching Hexagram 4 – Youthful Folly
I-Ching Hexagram 5 – Waiting [Nourishment]
I-Ching Hexagram 6 – Conflict
I-Ching Hexagram 7 – the Army
I-Ching Hexagram 8 – Holding Together [Union]
I-Ching Hexagram 9 – The Taming Power of Small
I-Ching Hexagram 10 – Treading [Conduct]
I-Ching Hexagram 11 – Peace
I-Ching Hexagram 12 – Standstill [Stagnation]
I-Ching Hexagram 13 – Fellowship with Men
I-Ching Hexagram 14 – Possession in Great Measure
I-Ching Hexagram 15 – Modesty
I-Ching Hexagram 16 – Enthusiasm
I-Ching Hexagram 17 – Following
I-Ching Hexagram 18 – Work on What has been Spoiled [Decay]
I-Ching Hexagram 19 – Approach
I-Ching Hexagram 20 – Contemplation [View]
I-Ching Hexagram 21 – Biting Through
I-Ching Hexagram 22 – Grace
I-Ching Hexagram 23 – Splitting Apart
I-Ching Hexagram 24 – Return [The Turning Point]
I-Ching Hexagram 25 – Innocence [The Unexpected]
I-Ching Hexagram 26 – The Taming Power of Great
I-Ching Hexagram 27 – The Corners of the Mouth [Providing Nourishment]
I-Ching Hexagram 28 – Preponderance of the Great
I-Ching Hexagram 29 – The Abysmal
I-Ching Hexagram 30 – The Clinging, Fire
I-Ching Hexagram 31 – Influence [Wooing]
I-Ching Hexagram 32 – Duration
I-Ching Hexagram 33 – Retreat
I-Ching Hexagram 34 – The Power of the Great
I-Ching Hexagram 35 – Progress
I-Ching Hexagram 36 – Darkening of the Light
I-Ching Hexagram 37 – The Family [The Clan]
I-Ching Hexagram 38 – Opposition
I-Ching Hexagram 39 – Obstruction
I-Ching Hexagram 40 – Deliverance
I-Ching Hexagram 41 – Decrease
I-Ching Hexagram 42 – Increase
I-Ching Hexagram 43 – Break-through [Resoluteness]
I-Ching Hexagram 44 – Coming to Meet
I-Ching Hexagram 45 – Gathering Together [Massing]
I-Ching Hexagram 46 – Pushing Upwards
I-Ching Hexagram 47 – Oppression [Exhaustion]
I-Ching Hexagram 48 – The Well
I-Ching Hexagram 49 – Revolution
I-Ching Hexagram 50 – The Caldron
I-Ching Hexagram 51 – The Arousing [Shock, Thunder]
I-Ching Hexagram 52 – Keeping Still, Mountain
I-Ching Hexagram 53 – Development [Gradual Progress]
I-Ching Hexagram 54 – The Marrying Maiden
I-Ching Hexagram 55 – Abundance [Fullness]
I-Ching Hexagram 56 – The Wanderer
I-Ching Hexagram 57 – The Gentle [Penetrating, Wind]
I-Ching Hexagram 58 – The Joyous, Lake
I-Ching Hexagram 59 – Dispersion [Dissolution]
I-Ching Hexagram 60 – Limitation
I-Ching Hexagram 61 – Inner Truth
I-Ching Hexagram 62 – Preponderance of the Small
I-Ching Hexagram 63 – After Completion
I-Ching Hexagram 64 – Before Completion
thank you.
I was shocked to discover my post was not at the top of the [posts, thus seemingly not contemporary.
Thus I am repeating the post I left.
I noticed in some of the posts, that some people felt let down by The Oracle, and others by the apparently Patriarchal interpretation, which is derived from feudal China. The I Ching has a purity beyond the merely Patriarchal local historical zeitgeist of that period, and is in fact more ancient, but often, interpretation can be difficult through the archaic framing language. However, the King Wen interpretation still retains far more of the purity than more modern reworkings.
Having been an interpreter of the I Ching for some time, I have found I have a gift for translating it’s seemingly arcane or confusing messages, bith to myself and others. So I thought I would offer my services if anybody needs help in making sense of what the I Ching gave them.
You are welcome to email me at mysteryproductsltd@gmail.com and hopefully I will be able to shed some golden light upon the knowledge The oracle has imparted.
Wonder-full. I am curious to know why there are 64, in total. If I double the numbers starting with one, then we have 1,2,4,8,16,32,64, seven digits, corresponding to our septenary system, but that is all I can surmise. Do you have a theory you can share? In any event, I am very impressed with your work. Thank you.
not 7, but 8. start with 0.
It seems this thread is old. Not as old as The Oracle though. To understand the reason why 64 would be the completion of the system would be helped by understanding the original yarrow stalk system that each of the hexagrams is formed by. It is actually an original binary system (64 bit?).
There are works in computing, mathematics and mysticism that have commented on these relationships.
If all communication comes down to a “Yes” or a “No”, it makes sense that every development on from that is a combination of yesses and nos.
the other correspondent is correct that 8 is a key number in this system, but actually, starting with a line and a broken line, the system then arranges thwm into sets of three, called “trigrams”. Every possible comination of a set of three using broken and unbroken lines is covered by the trigrams. Each hexaagraam adds the development of the “hexagrams”, each hexagram being one of every possible pairing of two trigrams. 64 is the maximum amount possible of pairings of the maximum amount of possible combinations of sets of three using broken and unbroken lines.
This also has connections with the mathematical patterns observed in the D.N.A. code.
Each line has 2 options – either firm/yielding (also known as unbroken/broken or light/dark)
So 1 line = 2 possibilities. The origins of the I-Ching was as an oracle, so 1 line probably began as meaning either “yes/no.” Later a second line was added, giving 4 possibilities, then a third giving 8. These 8 trigrams are the basis of the I Ching. One trigram was placed above the other, creating 64 combinations.
So, the progression wasn’t 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 but rather 2, 4, 8, 64.
The I Ching is about the change from one hexagram to another, moreso than the hexagrams themselves. So really, we’re looking at 64 x 64 = 4096 possible states of change (including the 64 cases where the hexagram doesn’t change).
That’s my take on it anyway. Hope that isn’t too far off the mark, and is of some help.
Recently started to take I Ching seriously, but at first not seriously enough to take it at its word (concerning an important question). So I re-threw the coins & it insisted it was right the first time–gave me the same hexagram. I was wondering what the exact odds were of this happening. I use a simplified technique, with two coins: two heads or two tails = an unbroken line; heads AND tails = broken. Does your input re “64 x 64 = 4096 possible states of change” indicate 4,096 to 1? Or is it less than that? (I’m bad at math.)
In Jim DeKorne’s The Cracking Tower, he quotes from C. G. Jung’s correspondence to the effect that Jung and an associate apparently had the same experience when, as beginners, they “tempted” the I Ching in this way.
As far as i know
It was going like this.
There where to options voor old seers yes or no.
Then heaven and earth thats four, human animal makes six and then another one wich i cant remember.
For a total of 8 answers or …… (only know the dutch word) and 8 times 8 is 64 so 64 hexagrams
thank you Michael – where did you learn this? do you have a book title to share???
Love your site. Been a regular visitor for 6 months now. Hexagram descriptions are wonderful.
glad you’ve found it useful.
the Hexagram descriptions are from the Wilhelm/Baynes translation.
I’m surprised no one mentioned this yet, so..
It’s binary system.
Exactly the same thing as digital technology used in computers and everything electronic, but in 6 bits grouping (instead of multiples of 4) which is uncommon in digital applications.
000 001, 000 010, 000 011, 000 100… etc.
2^6 = 64 possible values.
2 hexagrams will be 2^12 = 4096 possible values.
Abacus is the same system as well.
well said Marc. Thank you for pointing that out. The I Ching is a binary system, whereby there are a total of 4096 different “changes” from one hexagram to another (or in 64 cases, the hexagram remains the same)
Binary system – interesting! 4096 reduces to One, all is one and one is all.
it’s all good.
I’ll check out your blog, and likely link to it. feel free to link to this one if you like.
I haven’t been maintaining it like I should.
too many non-virtual responsibilities of late.
ttfn
Fantastic! There is someone here after all!
Thanks Abysmal; I will link to your blog now that I have your permission and I do hope you enjoy what you find on mine… And I do hope you’ll leave comments and/or ask questions.
I thought maybe you’d given up the blog and gone away, so I’m glad you’re still here. I look forward to getting to know you a bit better.
Astyages
Important, very important, to note that King Wen version (Wilhelm’s version of I ching) is NOT representative of the binary system. Fu Xi is that system. Please not that king wen, for some bizarre reason, took the original fuxi and changed it. So that it doesn’t make any sense, which it doesn’t. The original is logical, easy to memorize and understand. It is only with the onset of patriarchal structures and concomitant needs for obfuscation to retain power that this whole system has become very confused and complicated.
Nature, which the original philosophy is founded on, is really, really simple. All you have to do is get your noses out of the books (artificial left-brained constructs of reality) and GO SPEND TIME OBSERVING NATURE.
actually, I believe the King Wen arrangement has to do with the pairing of the hexagrams according to a system of intervals – it actually does make sense, but you have to delve deeper to find it.
observe nature too. the left brain and right brain work together, right.
Actually the representations are binary, but the groupings of three (bits) can be regarded as Octal (base8, 0 to 7 represented using binary), which is also used in digital technology but less common:
000 = 0
001 = 1
010 = 2
011 = 3
100 = 4
101 = 5
110 = 6
111 = 7
It may be interesting to also note that all these has some relations to music as well.
(Western) scales has 7 notes, with the 8th being the 1st repeated an octave higher. Basic chord structures, which are called traids, consists of 3 notes are also constructed based on major and/or minor intervals, just like 0s and 1s, ying and yang.
Bigger, complex chords are formed by “stacking” triads.. 3 on 3 which also resembles I-Ching’s upper on lower.
Either way, it may make more sense to treat it as an Octal system instead of pure binary, groups of 6 makes no sense.
Together with the fibonacci sequence, this system is the most commonly seen pattern in the world; or at least fibonacci being related to nature and I-ching/Octal being related to humans.
Now I wonder if these two have any connections…
P.S. sorry for the long post.. these just pops up in my mind.
Has anyone ever turned the I Ching Hexagrams into music notes and composed a song? This is very interesting.
not that I know of – but I did read something about reconfiguring our music scale using the I-Ching to replace the western one developed by Bach.
One more thing:
The line changes from one hexagram to another is also similar to music cadences, tension-suspension/resolution. These harmonic/rhythmic movements are what makes music as it is; just like the hexagram changes is what I-Ching is all about.
Change is good. Change = movement/flow, yet another related concept: feng shui.
thanks for the comments Marc.
change is inevitable – it’s the nature of nature. I’ve mostly been looking at the I Ching in terms of Dark-Light as relating to the change of seasons (at least outside of the Equator), but interesting to note the other patterns inherent in the system.
Also, a university in Japan just calculated Pi to about 1.5 trillion digits… fun with numbers.
I notice one of your reference books is Etienne Klein’s “Chronos” which I am now reading. Remarkable book. And this is a remarkable site.
thanks Katie – it’s been a while since I read “Chronos” – I wish my French was good enough to have read it untranslated, but whacha gonna do?
glad you like the site – it’s come a long way since June 2006.
Wow! Just found your site. Thank you for all of this
it has been my pleasure
The number of hexagrams came about through a long period of time, not just overnight. It is well explained I think in the book itself.
First there were only two possible answers: yes and no. That was two single lines:
______ for yes
and
__ __ for no.
Then someone whose name I can’t remember, made that into trigrams according to 8 elements recognized in Chinese philosophy: earth, water, fire, wind, mountain, heaven, valley, thunder.
That gave 8 possible answers.
Then someone else, who spent most of his life in a jail due to his being very smart and advanced, combined those trigrams into hexagrams. 8 trigrams times 8 = 64 combinations.
That is how the Book of changes came to have 64 hexagrams.
Hi, it’s like this:
The complexity of the Yijing symbols unfolds at an exponential rate (logarithm 2). Log 2 is used because 2 refers to the duality (liangyi) within unity. If the exponents are spheres, their exponential sequence forms a pyramid, which reflects Confucian hierarchy, and a quantitative existence.
2^0 → 2^1 → 2^2 → 2^3 → 2^6
Algebraically: (a = yang; b = yin):
2 = (a + b)
1) taiyi: (a + b)^0 = 1; Universal Creative: Great Absolute (taiyi), point.
2) liangyi: (a + b)^1 = a + b; Two Forms (liangyi: yin-yang), line.
3) sixiang: (a + b)^2 = a^2 + ab + ba + b^2; Four Symbols: Digrams; Five Elements (sixiang; wuxing), plane: xy grid.
4) bagua: (a + b)^3 = (a^2 + ab + b^a + b^2) + (a + b) = (a^3 + 3a^2b + 3ab^2 + b^3) = a^3 + a^2b + a^2b + a^2b + ab^2 + ab^2 + ab^2 + b^3; ; Eight Trigrams (bagua), cube or sphere: xyz grid.
5) 64 hexagrams: (a + b)^6 = a^6 + 6a^5b + 15a^4b^2 + 20a^3b^3 + 15a^2b^4 + 6ab^5 + b^6; Sixty-four Hexagrams, Space and Time.
thanks for the breakdown – always appreciate more input into this
Yes this site is incredible
glad you like it.
Wonderful web site !
I’ve used the Zhou Yi for many years when a tough move needed to be made, nothing mystical here just a great tool for reaching deeper into my mind and seeing a fuller pictur of whats happining around me and the options available.
The calender side of your site is also quite wonderful, so many people only see the calendar as a means to keep track of upcoming personal events without seeing how it works to keep us in tune with the movement of the universe.
Tanks once again
gassho
larry
thanks Larry,
glad you’re finding the site helpful.
I agree – the I Ching, as with many other such oracular systems, are more a psychological tool than a mystical one.
ta
Dear Sir,
I enjoy consulting your “abyssmal i-ching”. However, it contains some minor typing errors. I would be willing to look through and point them out to you, unless somebody else hasn´t done it before.
Please let me know.
Yours sincerely
Sabine Thiel
thank you Sabine – some readers point out typos (I typed the whole thing out in a couple of weeks, so was pretty exhausted by the end of it, and not careful about typos).
if you would like to let me know about any mistakes, please send them to
theabysmal AT gmail DOT com
(replace AT with @ and replace DOT with .)
Dear Abysmal,
it is unexplicable to me, how the I Ching comes up with a wise and surprizing answer to a question I merely thought of. The answers surpass the knowledge I had of the matter by far.
they are a means of you to reflect on your own question – I think that the answers ultimately come from within – this is simply a means of focusing one’s attention.
I’m glad this is of help to you
I find that difficult to believe. It would mean that any one of the (arbitrarily selected) 64 hexagrams would give me equal insight. In this case you wouldn´t have to throw coins.
Perhaps the question and answer are a case of synchron happenings. The answers seem as reliable as a law of Newton.
believe what you like, I don’t have any ultimate answers.
I think that the brain is an organ that (among other things) forms meaning out of patterns. The I Ching has been elegantly designed based on a binary pattern of lines. The meaning is ours.
It’s a similar process to opening the Bible to a random page (not that I believe that anything random is possible) and scanning it for wisdom.
Same with the Tarot.
Same with other such systems.
The most significant thing about a coincidence is how it makes us react. There are countless things that happen at the same time, but we dismiss most of them as insignificant. What makes the others so special?
Dear Pusslement,
Perhaps you should ask one question and then turn over the 64 hexagrams, one at a time, ponder the answer given, and I expect you will soon discover that you do not receive equal insight, unless, of course, you filter out that which does not support the answer you seek, and your beliefs.
However, I do concur with “TheAbysmal”, there are no coincidences – it just “appears” that way initially. Bon Chance (Good Luck) “equally” is not what it seems.
Dear Abysmal,
may I tell you of a happening my grandmother told me only once; she was not esoteric. She questioned the Bible by oppening it and putting her finger on an arbitrary point, with the following question on her mind: Will her son return alive from the Second World War? When she opened her eyes, she read the verse, where Jesus was hanging on the cross and other people were deviding his clothes up amongst them. My grandmother was then convinced, her son would not return. (He didn´t) All other verses would not have told her so plainly.
There must be a mechanism or a power that selects the most informative answer of all alternatives for you. I wonder what it is.
Hey Puzzlement,
my take is as follows: if your Grandmother was very familiar with the bible, and very very familiar with the particular copy of the bible she was using, then it is possible that she sought out the passage intentionally, but not necessarily consciously. I think that part of the mind/body can sense subtleties that our conscious selves don’t. Like the feel of the pages, or the chapters/verses whipping past as the pages fan by.
I’m not saying that this is the case. Just that it could be.
I find that whenever I use the tarot deck, that the card chooses me, instead of me choosing it. Typically, it either flies or falls out of the deck while I’m shuffling. I could attribute this to an external force (which I am unable to confirm or deny), but I think it’s just my own self sifting through the order of the cards.
Can’t say with any degree of certainty either way.
The thing I like about the I Ching is how it is a means of meditating on a change of state from one hexagram to another, more than just on an individual hexagram. This means that there are in fact 4096 (64×64) different combinations (which is occasionally an unchanging hexagram). Of those, I’m sure that any number of them would yield up something useful to meditate upon.
Maybe it’s the power of universal archetypes working on us.
when i read Tarot i generally shuffle until i get a gut feeling that “the time is right”.. it might take a few minutes or a few days. but every single time i find out that the exact right cards are found in the right positions… without fail. of course, i doubt this every single time too…. until i spend enough time decoding the answers… which can also take minutes or days.
the other advice i’d give is.. in a sense, the method doesnt matter. God, the Universe, or (insert higher power of choice) will speak to you in a language you’ll understand… it does not care about methods.. it transcends method.
well put
As it is written in polish version of Wilhelm’s I Cing, the best way to understand how I Cing works, is to compare it to an electrical network: this network penetrates all places, just like I Cing penetrates all possible situatians in Universe; electrical network has a potential to give a light, but doesn’t shine. In a moment, in which a contact is made between the asking person and a specific situation, a ‘current’ is generated, and a specific situation is illuminated.
nice analogy – thanks for the input.
This website is absolutely amazing. I’m writing a story and almost everything on here is part of the philosophy of that. A question I have; Can I get your permission to copy and paste for reference points? I have to add a lot of things and I’d like to make it easy on myself and have it all in one Word document. The main character in it will actually be based on Hexagram 29: The Abysmal. If I have any questions about interpretations I’ll definitely leave a comment.
I love this website… I’ve read just about everything on it. Keep up the great work. ;)
Interesting.
I use the Ching a little differently. I let my life circumstances generate Chapters and/or changing lines.
Let’s say I’ve got some change in my pocket, £6.50. Then I grab my I Ching book (Andy Baggott’s Teach Yourself translation – highly recommended!) and check which lines change from Chapter 6, Conflict to Chapter 50, The Cauldron. In this case lines 3 and 5 are both changing from Yang to Yin. So I read lines 3 and 5. And in doing so I connect myself with a broad idea contained and communicated, directly or indirectly, in the meaning of the changing lines, or the Chapters.
That’s what’s important to me – to contemplate the extent to which I’m aware of an idea in the Ching. And of course one thought leads to another.
I also use time to generate changing lines eg if it’s 12:13 that generates a different reading.
I suppose it would be fair to point out I’ve been using the Ching for over 10 years and sort of just have it in my soul now. I used to get the coins out very regularly, seeking, searching, requiring succor or certainty. But there’s only one thing certain. You will take Action, or you will not take action. Action always changes things, for better or worse. Perhaps thought is a process to action. The Ching can help our desicion making, but it can’t make you act!
Fascinating!
Thank you,
Robert
I have a question… When reading the I-Ching, do you read from hexagram 1-64 in order, or would you read it the way it’s presented on the Abysmal calendar?
the I Ching is designed to work as an oracle. There are different methods, the traditional ones being a rather intricate ritual involving yarrow stalks, a simpler one involving coins, and there are a number of online ones that generate hexagrams randomly.
the idea is to determine a starting hexagram, which then changes to another hexagram (occasionally the hexagram doesn’t change). The idea is to look at the process of change between one hexagram and the other, with a particular focus on the lines that change.
Here’s an example:
1) keep your mind on the subject of your inquiry
2) using three coins (chinese coins or pennies), toss all three of them to determine each line. Repeat this six times.
Heads-Heads-Heads = solid/black line (Yang), changing
Tails-Tails-Tails = broken/white line (yin), changing
Heads-Heads-Tails = broken/white line (yin), unchanging
Tails-Tails-Heads = solid/black line (Yang), unchanging
so, the changing lines become the opposite in the second hexagram. the unchanging lines remain the same in the second hexagram.
here is an example of a six coin tosses:
HHH – changing Yang
HHT – yin
HHT – yin
TTH – Yang
TTH – Yang
TTH – Yang
so the initial hexagram is 26 the Taming Power of Great and which changes to hexagram 11 Peace (if I’m not mistaken). then you contemplate this change (particularly the reading for the sixth line which changes).
The I Ching hexagrams are also associated with the seasons, and many other aspects of time, among other things. It has been around for a long time, and has developed a lot more meaning that what is presented here.
theAbysmal calendar uses the hexagrams simply in terms of their light/dark associations, and the changes in amount of sunlight with the seasons, the phases of the moon, and so on. The illustration above (with black and white lines) is arranged to highlight this. The square inside the circle is a progression from six black lines to six white lines, using a binary progression.
I’m sure there are better informed opinions among those who peruse this page.
Howdee dare, threw 11 with 9 first 6 fourth. Anyway was looking for something like wilhelms explanations, lost me book many moons ago so am blown away by your greeet site. Many thanks. By de by is the second changing line of primary signifigance? CGJ sync proved once again. Adois amigo.
I have no idea.
Couldn’t resist being The Cauldron poster. I noticed in some of the posts, that some people felt let down by The Oracle, and others by the apparently Patriarchal interpretation, which is derived from feudal China. The I Ching has a purity beyond the merely Patriarchal local historical zeitgeist of that period, and is in fact more ancient, but often, interpretation can be difficult through the archaic framing language. However, the King Wen interpretation still retains far more of the purity than more modern reworkings.
Having been an interpreter of the I Ching for some time, I have found I have a gift for translating it’s seemingly arcane or confusing messages, bith to myself and otherss. So I thought I would offer my services if anybody needs help in making sense of what the I Ching gave them.
You are welcome to email me at mysteryproductsltd@gmail.com and hopefully I will be able to shed some golden light upon the knowledge The oracle has imparted.
Thank you for posting the Wilheim-enhanced interpretations for this obscure, wise oracle. As a more recent student of the mysteries of the I Ching, I found myself confused and sometimes frustrated with the imagery throughout the Wilheim interpretations and original text. You’ve really helped clarify this in the interpretations you’ve presented here. Thank you!
Hey TheAbysmal,
Just want to thank you for great texts and intepretations…are these available as a book to purchase? The internet is great, but sometimes the good old printing is easier to read…
Greatfully yours,
Liisa
Hey Liisa,
The text & interpretations aren’t mine. My original text is about calendars, and the I-Ching was a big help in developing theAbysmal calendar.
the interpretations are from “The I Ching or Book of Changes” here’s a link
The I Ching or Book of Changes: Amazon.ca: Hellmut Wilhelm, Cary F. Baynes: Books
Buy from Amazon
enjoy
Thank you so much. You may not know it but when I look up a gua by # on my cheap mobile phone your site is the 1st to come up w/the results I need so dependably that I put theabysmal in my search field. Did you set out to be such a lifesaver, or was it luck of the draw? This is an awesome site, and I would like it on facebook, if you got this site as an available option to like on facebook. Very high quality. Very well done. Been using this for months now. Priceless site; and free too.
glad you like it – the I Ching information isn’t mine, but I’m glad it’s useful for you.
theAbysmal Calendar is all mine (although free to use, as long as it isn’t for evil), and it is on Facebook.
TheAbysmal,
I’m glad there is someone else out there that plays with these puzzles. I don’t feel so bad now. :)
I’d love to ask you some more questions and share some information. I’ve been working on Tree of Life/Tarot to I Ching correlations for awhile now. I’ve also started to work with western music theory, assigning scale degrees to hexagrams and the hebrew alphabet. Would love to compare notes more in depth – please feel free to email me.
Also, you have an absolutely wonderful site!!! :D
if you want me to email you, you’d have to provide an email address =)
you can reach me at theabysmal AT gmail DOT com
I just started playing trumpet, so I see how the math of music works with all this other stuff. The Hebrew alphabet-Kabbalah (Tree of Life)-Tarot-Astrology have had ties for a long time. Mixing that up with the I Ching is much more recent.
There was a lot of interest in this stuff (and calendar reform) in the 1920s (in and about). The Great Depression and WW II put an end to all that (among other things, no doubt).
I have been using the oracle since 1991 so know u present wb. u would make ur site even more useful to us cheap phone www leaches w/the following 2 items: 1)a pg w/just a hexagram lookup table. 2)king wen sequence presented w/yang yao as a 1 and yins as a 0. thanks oodles again for the great site!
you give me too much credit – how do I do what with the who now?
I’ll see if I can twiddle with the thingies and make something akin to what you’re saying. I think. I hope. We’ll see… having a busy week.
I just cast Hexagram 63 changing to Hexagram 29 while focusing on a new romantic relationship in my life. Any thoughts about this particular casting???
I thought only about the person and myself in the context of our relationship instead of asking a yes-or-no question (I have found that asking yes-or-no questions makes very little sense in the context of the I Ching). I am relatively new to the I Ching, but when I discovered it I felt a strong connection to it and an immediate adeptness at using it. I encountered it about six months ago and did a lot of initial reading and cast for several pertinent questions (one of which dealt with the last relationship I was in, and the answer was spot-on). I hadn’t cast the oracle since, feeling that there were no pertinent questions to ask; any questions that I had did not seem appropriate and/or they were questions that I wanted to tackle myself without any outside influence (although I suppose the I Ching, if interpreted well, is really not so external!). Part of the reason for my hiatus was also the fact that the last time I cast it I received an eerily appropriate response; I suppose it kind of scared me a bit.
Anyway, back to my recent casting, obviously the relationship is a good and balanced match, but there is serious danger to beware, and my input is of the utmost importance. I mean, this casting seems quite powerful and significant (Right off the bat I tossed 3 heads, then 3 tails, then 3 heads; seems extreme). Any other thoughts? I have enjoyed reading the comments and threads on this site, and there very often seems to be some great knowledge imparted. Thanks for your time, reading such a long and rambling post!
Can you link the hexagrams at the top to the numbers they represent, its hard to know which is for which?
Good work though great site!
easier said than done unfortunately – at least for me – as soon as I figure out how to do it, I’ll link them up, or write the number under it or something.
glad you like the site.
I am trying to understand which hexagram represents the year following my 24th birthday. I turn 24 on November 5th, 2011 but am confused whether the year that follows should be represented by the 24th or 25th hexagram.
Could someone help me understand this?
Thank you for making these available online. I have owned and loved the book for years but like to make notes with the wilhelm interpretation text when I throw, and this has saved me lots of typing!
my pleasure – please forgive all the typos. It was a long month when I typed all these in. Also, it’s only the short readings, the long ones are still worth buying the book for (as you know).
glad it’s been helpful.
please also take a look at the calendar pages. It’s the main reason for this site, and my interest in the I Ching.
The descriptions of the Hexagrams in this blog are identical to those of the website http://deoxy.org/iching/. Are you the same authors? I was looking for different interpretations (easier to understand) and I found two websites/blogs with the same interpretatons.
nope – not the same – although that deoxy site is crazy dense with information.
These were taken from the Wilhelm book – should be a link at the top of the page – there are 2 readings for each hexagram in the book – these are the short ones.