The Great Vessel Blog

Pairs and Crossline Omens

I have just posted Pairs and Crossline Omens the fourth of our Yijing ‘Basics in Brief’ articles.

This article describes the way the King Wen sequence is based on pairs of hexagrams. These pairs are made up of an ‘Inspirational’ hexagram and a ‘Realization’ hexagram. Thus hexagrams 3,5,7,9 etc. have an inspirational aspect similar to hexagram 1 and their pairs 4,6,8,10 etc. have a quality of ‘realization’ similar in quality to hexagram 2.

The article explores the way in which the hexagrams of each pair exist in a tension which enables the energy of their lines to change back and forth between them, from Inspiration to Realization or manifestation and back again. It goes on to show how the three different types of pairs, and their different relationships, influences the quality of the exchange which takes place through the hexagrams' line positions.

Understanding the dynamics and exchanges which take place between a given pair sheds a lot of light on the meaning of each hexagram as a dynamic force.

The lines relate across two pairs, or four hexagrams. The fifth step returning to the first line where we started. This is the Crossline Omen as presented in the Total Yijing Program. They are the routes of the dynamic exchanges between the hexagrams. This article introduces Crossline Omens, which will be explored in another article to be posted in coming weeks.

The article can be found here.