I-Ching

The I-Ching is an ancient Chinese divination system. Early legends cite that the trigrams were discovered by a farmer on the shell of a turtle, and that in seeing them, he suddenly could predict everything that would happen in the future.

Chinese Emperors would have the classic reading form of three coins tossed daily, and then hear reports from around the kingdom, detailing what had happened. These reports were then recorded with the hexagram that was revealed in the coin toss, and kept in massive manuals that eventually became many of the I-Ching parables found in “The Book of Changes” today.

The I-Ching is based on simple energetic principles, and the dynamics between Yin and Yang. When fully understood, these dynamics reveal everything about our experiences in time, how they change, and what they mean. In the following information, you will find some new ways of using and interpreting the hexagrams in a way that is immediately applicable to your life now, instead of stories about the lives and cultures of people who lived thousands of years in the past. It is my hope that you begin to discover the nature of these energetic permutations through your own experiences, as I have.

So how do you reconcile two cultures with 5 different Elements?

You have the Druid, Wiccan, Earth Religions:
Fire – Air – Earth – Water – Spirit

And you have Chinese Philosophy:
Fire – Metal – Earth – Water – Wood

1. Identify the differences:
Air – Spirit – Metal – Wood

2. Look at the root symbolism:

Air – Intentionality, focus through breath, air goes forth and moves the water, trees…
Spirit – Encompassing energy, living force, containing all elements and transcends…
Metal – Will, forged from fire and water, metal slices through to carry the mind forth…
Wood – Life, growth, the organic element interweaving through the others…

3. Look at the similarities:
Air – Fire & Water make Air, Intentionality, Wind of the Mind (breath)
Metal – Fire & Water forge Metal, Will is intentional, Sword of Mind
Spirit – Life force that unifes elements…
Wood – Life force that makes air, drinks water, eats earth, and gives to fire…

4. Note the differences:
In the Druid’s 5 Element model, Spirit is transcendent of the other Elements…
In the Chinese 5 Element model, Wood is equal to all other Elements…
Druids are referring to actual Physical elemental forms: solid, liquid, gaseous, etc…
Chinese are referring to vibrations of Energy, qualities of Chi (Life-Force)…

5. Reconcile:
If the Chinese are saying that these 5 Elements are qualities of a Chi or Life-Force energy, than the Chi is “transcendent” to the 5 Elements, just like Spirit is transcendent to the 4 Physical Elements in the Druid model. This means that if you look at each of these systems side by side, the Druid model is a 4 Element + 1 Transcendent model of Physical experience, whereas the Chinese model is a 5 Element + 1 Transcendent model of Emotional or Energetic experience.

6. Conclusion:
Druids – 5 System describing Physical experience
Chinese – 6 System describing Subtle, Emotional, or Energetic experience

7. Further Development:
Recognizing the Chinese system with a Spirit (Chi) element allows a clear translation into understanding the full 8 Element Pakua Chinese system. As two of the 8 Elements are Infinite (Heaven – Infinite Yang, Earth – Infinite Yin), the 6 System can now display the actual permutations and interactions between these two Infinite Polarities.

8. Final Model:
(completed after drawing above, Mountain & Earth switched…also the Will, Love, Mind are referring to each of the transcendent Trinities…final model below…for further translation of Wood to Lake, and Spirit to Thunder, just ask!)

Druid 5
Fire – Air – Earth – Water – Spirit
Chinese 6
Fire – Metal – Earth – Water – Wood – Spirit
Chinese 8
Fire – Wind – Mountain – Water – Lake – Thunder – (Heaven) – (Earth)

This is the largest version I’ve seen, and I found it in an interesting passage researching the Mathematical connections between Hesiod’s “Theogony” and the I-Ching. There is no direct reference to the Sphere as an image, as far as I can tell, but it is included at the bottom of the passage.

However, through my own studies of the I-Ching, and internal revelation concerning its sacred patterns, I have divined some information regarding this image. I’m also providing some corrections here, directly from the author of the image, Lothar Teikemeier.

Most notable initially is the pattern of Hexagrams and “Hexagram-Sets” in each Vertical Circle:
From the Top Down:

1 Hexagram – Heaven (Above)
6 Hexagrams (Top Circle)
12 Hexagrams (Upper Circle)
3 Hexagrams (Inner Upper Circle)

The center of the Upper Circle is a Trinity that is included on this circle level, making 15 total on this layer. These are Hexagrams 15, 29, and 52.

This makes a total of 22 Hexagrams in the Upper Field.

12 Hexagrams – 6 Pairs (Outer Center Circle)
6 Hexagrams (Inner Center Circle)
2 Hexagrams – Fire over Water & Water over Fire (Core)

This makes a total of 20 Hexagrams in the Equatorial Core.

3 Hexagrams (Inner Lower Circle)
12 Hexagrams (Lower Circle)
6 Hexagrams (Bottom Circle)
1 Hexagram – Earth (Below)

Thats 22 in the Upper Sphere, 22 in the Lower Sphere, and 20 in the Core or Equator, forming the 64 Hexagram Set of the I-Ching. If those numbers don’t mean anything to you, here’s the same Top Down Pattern, linking Chakric Vibrations:

Star Seed 1(Above)
Sacral 6(Top Circle)
Heart 12(Upper Circle)
Throat 15 (Upper Circle with Outer and Inner Together)

22 Crown Total (see 21 Vibrational Matrix for Crown Chakra plus Heaven 1)

Heart 12 (Outer Center Circle)
Sacral 6 (Inner Center Circle)
Heart or Core Star 2 (2xHex=12)(Core)

20 Crown Total (see 20 Solar Seals of the 13 Moon Calendar and Mayan Tzolkin)

Heart 12 (Lower Circle)
Sacral 6 (Bottom Circle)
Earth Star 1 (Below)

22 Crown Total (see 21 Vibrational Matrix for Crown Chakra plus Earth 1)

Now if you are still not familiar with these references, I recommend studying some Flower of Life and Seed of Life information, and also look into the nature of I-Ching as a model of Space-Time “permutation.”

Lothar also says, “For reasons of the analogy between Sepher Yetzirah and I-Ching it’s necessary to insist, that there are 22 above, 22 below and 20 (= 10 pairs) in the middle. But naturally … it might well be, that another system-maker on the world took another reading in consideration of the same mathematical conditions.”

Also see this page for another construction method for the Spherical form of the I-Ching.

Enjoy!