I Ching Basics

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The Voices of the Lines II

When we work with Change, the Transforming (bian) or Calling (yao) Lines often form the central and most active part of our reading. Each hexagram has specific word-omens “attached” to each of its Lines that “call out” to us when empowered by the consultation process. These Line readings locate precise points where “change” is at work, transforming a situation. One of the most common problems encountered by users of Yijing is the problem of conflicting line readings and the confusion they produce. By its nature, any hexagram will contain a variety of different word-omens attached to its lines, but what can we do when radically conflicting omens are given as the response to a specific question?

One major source of this confusion lies in the ideas we have inherited about the nature or meaning of the different Line Positions, coupled with a moralistic description of the yin and yang energy that occupies them. It has its root in a Han Dynasty Confucian re-interpretation of the structure of a hexagram based on “correctness,” “correspondence” and a moralistic yin-yang line analysis that effectively silenced the many voices and interconnections of the earlier tradition (yaoci).  To my mind this is a kind of curse, perhaps the greatest obstacle we encounter in an attempt to understand the workings of Change.

A first step in re-claiming these old voices is to look deeper into how the Line Positions themselves create meaning, how they “charge” an omen. Rather than seeing them from the perspective of a homogenizing moral philosophy, we might see each Line Position as a characteristic resonance, stance and set of interconnections, like sounding boxes or wind harps, masks or metaphors. As the stuff of change or yi flows through each of these “six empty places” it is given a characteristic voice. The important thing to realize here is that even though a hexagram may describe or embody a particular “image field” they do not speak with a single voice or have a single meaning any more than we do.

The Line Positions are part of a complex mythic interpretive practice created by the overall Matrix of Change that includes Crossline Omens and the projective nature of the Primary Pairs or Engines of Change (1:2, 27:28, 29:30, and 61:62). The Matrix seems to provide each Line Position with a Generating Source in the Primal Pair 1:2 Dragon and Dark Animal Goddess, a Projected Field of activity in one of the other Primary Pairs and a Zone of Radical Transformation where the Drive of the Position acts on a Screen Memory of painful past experiences that color our awareness (gui, ghosts) to release awareness or bright spirit (shen).

Here is a description of these Line Positions and their Voices based on the complex interactions of the Matrix. If we look at the mythic images the Matrix provides we can develop a feeling for the different Voices can help make sense of an otherwise very confusing reading and connect with the deep Dynamic of Change as it operates in the particular position to transform our soul or imagination.

Line 1

Line Position 1 is the Voice of Beginnings. It speaks of the first entrance of energy into the psyche and the first stirrings of a process of manifestation. This is a receiving position that takes in energy and information from other Pairs. It is linked with Line Position 6 Culmination in a dialogue of beginnings and endings that fully manifests as the Pair 27:28 Tiger’s Mouth and the Great Transition, the process through which we emerge as a true individual.

Line 1 Dynamic: The source of creative energy is dormant now, immersed in the primal waters, while the forms of manifestation take shape. You are challenged to go back and eliminate emotional corruption, for the returning spirit is working through a screen of painful memories of past encounters charged with sexual energy and need for recognition, carefully preparing the emergence of the new. Make the sacrifice and have no fear for the Way to the Source is open.

 

Line 2

Line Position 2 is the Voice of the Inner World Center. It speaks of how things affect and motivate the center of inner life and awareness. This is an empowering position linked with Line Position 5 Outer World Center in a dialogue about the relation of our private and public life that fully manifests as the Pair 29:30 the Ghost River and the Bright Omens that form the Inner Axis of Change.

Line 2 Dynamic: Creative energy is appearing in the inner center now. The field of realization is straight, square and great. You are challenged to go back and work with the Ghost River of the past to release the Radiance of the Source. You have a mandate. The energy is centered and correct. Work through the screen of painful memories of your past failures to live up to the images of your Ancestors and the  ideals they represent. Let the distress you feel return you to the Way. There is no need to repeat past mistakes.

 

Line 3

Line Position 3 is the Voice of what is Approaching the Threshold. It speaks of the motivation behind your need to express yourself and take action, the crossover between the inner foundation (zhen) we have established and the outer distress (hui) we must face. This is a dangerous liminal position linked with Line Position 4 Arrival as an initiation site, a process that fully manifests as the Pair 61:62 The Opened Heart and the Flying Bird that connects our inner and outer lives and passes what we have learned to a new generation.

Line 3 Dynamic: You face adversity day and night, striving for mastery, while a containing beauty secretly surrounds you. You are challenged to work through a screen of painful memories of your failures to live up to the demands society has placed upon you and your own need for power you can never really achieve. If you can let go of your misplaced ambitions and toil on humbly you will bring everything you desire to completion. 

 

Generating Source
1.3 (inversion)	2.3
Noble One completes day, using Force, Force. At night alarms and adversity, hungry souls and angry ghosts.	Jade talisman held in mouth. Containing beauty that empowers. If you follow the King’s service, the time of no accomplishment comes to end.
Projected Field
61.3                                                       62.3
Opened Heart. Connecting to Center. “We have taken the enemy.” Sometimes we drum, sometimes we stop. Sometimes we weep, sometimes we sing.	Small Traverses. Flying Bird. You can not Exceed defending yourself against this. If you carry on, you may be killed. Trap! Way closing.
Memory Screen/Drive
10.3                      (Inversion              15.3
Zones of Radical Transformation
Someone squints and can see. Someone limps and can Tread. Someone Treads on Tiger's tail. It mauls them, like a Soldier acting as Great Leader.	Grey Rat working. The Realizing Person, toiling, toiling through Humbling, brings what he desires to completion. Way opens.

 

Line 4

Line Position 4 is the Voice of what is Arriving, After the Crossing of the Threshold. The traditional line of the Minister, it speaks of how the future can be prepared. This is a dangerous liminal position linked with Line Position 3 Approaching the Threshold as an initiation site, a process that fully manifests as the Pair 61:62 The Opened Heart and the Flying Bird that connects our inner and outer lives and passes what we have learned to a new generation.

Line 4 Dynamic: The unnamed creative spirit is playing in the primal abyss while everything in the outer world is held in the fertile chaos of infinite possibilities. Let go of what you usually depend on and meet the new spirit. You are challenged to work through a screen of memories of discord, fear and bad blood between friends, families, clans and compatriots to call in all the projected parts of your soul. Have no doubts. This will open the mind of the great symbols and gather what belongs together like a hair clasp gathers the hair.

 

Generating Source
1.4 (inversion)	2.4
“Someone” is playing in Primal Abyss.	Bundled in the bag. Without fault, without praise.
Projected Field
61.4                                                      62.4
Opened Heart. Connecting to Center. “Changes are coming”: the Moon is Almost Full.               The horse's yoke-mate disappears. This is not a mistake.	Small Traverses. Flying Bird. You do not pass by, you meet it. Let the adversity that is going be a necessary warning. Do not use it in a long-term Trial.
Memory Screen/Drive
9.4                   (Inversion)                 16.4
Zones of Radical Transformation
Gathering the Ghosts. Procession to the altar. A connection to the spirits will carry you through. Bad blood leaves and apprehension departs.	Hesitating Elephant. Do not doubt! This source Provides For Great acquisitions. You join friends together like a string of cowries, as a hair clasp gathers the hair.

 

Line 5

Line 5 is the Voice of the Outer World Center. The traditional line of the King, it speaks of your relation to structures of power and influence. This is an empowering position linked with Line Position 2 Inner World Center in a dialogue about the relation of your private and public life that fully manifests as the Pair 29:30 the Ghost River and the Bright Omens that form the Inner Axis of Change.

Line 5 Dynamic: Creative energy appears in the Heavens above while hidden process at the center of things open the Way to the Source. You are challenged to go back and work with the Ghost River of the past to release the Bright Omens it contains. Let your tears flow freely. Work through the screen of painful memories of all the times you sought to overpower others with the magnificence of your ideas and purposes. If you let go of your compulsive need to be the leader of the group, your true virtue will shine and attract those who belong with you. The Earth Spirit is already appeased.

 

Line 6

Line 6 is the Voice of the Culminations. The traditional line of the Sage, it offers both accumulated wisdom and warning. This is a projecting position that sends energy and information to other Pairs. It is linked with Line Position 1 Beginnings in a dialogue of beginnings and endings that fully manifests in the Pair 27:28 Tiger’s Mouth and the Great Transition, the process through which we emerge as a true individual.

Line 6 Dynamic: Creative energy is returning to the yin. Do not seek dominance. The Dragons are mating in the wilderness outside of your awareness and their blood flows down like the rains to fertilize your heart-mind. You are challenged to work through a screen of memories of the times when you failed to openly stand by what you knew was right. If you give way and return with the retreating energy you will be nourished at the source. If you step out into the dangerous waters rising all around you, you will be swept away. There is a ripe fruit not eaten that you must carry away. Take the chance. Do not just change your face.

 

Reading Between the Lines

Here is a radical example. When asking about a major professional change, a risky move at a crisis point in her life that involved a change of status, income, ambitions and goals, an Inquirer received the Answer 24.1.6 > 23.

On the surface the two omens, the First Line and the Sixth Line, are diametrically opposed to each other. The first is one of the great images of a Return of and to the spirit:

The second is one of the great images of total disaster, the return of a fatal delusion:

If these omens are read through the single voice of moral prediction they can only be seen as a complete and quite frightening deadlock or dilemma, a catastrophic fault that can paralyze the inquirer. However, if they are read as “a dialogue of beginnings and ends” at the very limits of personal awareness we can hear them differently. The two contradictory omens become a dialogue between a Voice of the Beginnings that affirms the enterprise as a “Return to the Way that should not be kept at a distance” for it will eliminate the “cause for sorrow” and a far-seeing Sage Voice describing a fatal delusion that must be stripped away in order that the Return might succeed.

Further information from the Reading Matrix would then show us that this dialogue is a Zone of Radical Transformation where the inquirer must “pass through the Tiger’s Mouth (27) to connect with the realizing power of Earth (1) and the Dark Animal Goddess.” The Tiger’s Mouth (27), the great initiation site where the corruption of the past is eaten away, also appears as the Inner Operator in the reading, with the Great Transition (28) when one emerges as a true individual as the Outer Operator, the possibility to be realized. This brings the Relating Figure 23 Stripping the Corpse into stark relief. It points at the absolute necessity to strip away the compulsive delusions of control and power the Sage Voice is speaking of in the top line.

This way of reading focused the Inquirer on her own inner corruption, her hidden collusion with the very organization she was seeking to escape. It involved her in an exploration of a series of traumatic experiences indicated by the Karmic Nodes, insisting that she focus on this inner work rather than imposing a premature direction on things (23), a direction that could only lead to disaster. 

We focused on the deep line dynamics and the Crosslines or hidden pathways, letting them speak directly and exploring their connections to her personal experience. Here are the Beginnings:

Line 1 Dynamic: The source of creative energy is dormant now, immersed in the primal waters, while the forms of manifestation take shape. You are challenged to go back and eliminate emotional corruption, for the returning spirit is working through a screen of painful memories of past encounters charged with sexual energy and need for recognition, carefully preparing the emergence of the new. Make the sacrifice and have no fear for the Way to the Source is open.

 

Realization Beginning (23.6 [2.6 : 2.1] 24.1): You have stripped away the outmoded and found the new. Now take in the fruits of your actions. Move on, carry it all away with you. Do not go back to your old ways. The Dragons grapple and mate in the wilderness and their blood flows down as the fertilizing rains. The marriage time draws near. Be open and provide what is needed. This is a transformation when you pass through the Tiger’s Mouth (27) and connect with the realizing power of Earth (1) and the Dark Animal Goddess.

And here is the Culmination and way to Realization:

Line 6 Dynamic: Creative energy is returning to the yin. Do not seek dominance. The Dragons are mating in the wilderness outside of your awareness and their blood flows down like the rains to fertilize your heart-mind. You are challenged to work through a screen of memories of the times when you failed to openly stand by what you knew was right. If you give way and return with the retreating energy you will be nourished at the source. If you step out into the dangerous waters rising all around you, you will be swept away. There is a ripe fruit not eaten that you must carry away. Take the chance. Do not just change your face.

 

Culmination and Communication (23.1 [27.1 : 27.6] 24.6): You must confront basic questions of support and intimacy, the place where you feel at home. Take a stand for change, for it is not working now. If you simply ignore the message, the Way will close. You must decisively confront and overcome the seductive delusions of wealth, power and fear. Strip away the old and you will be nourished at the source. Be open and provide what is needed. This is a transformation when you can pass through the Tiger’s Mouth (27) and connect with the realizing power of Earth (1) and the Dark Animal Goddess.

Now, this is indeed a deep and complex divination but by truly listening to these voices of Change and doing considerable inner work to “fix” the challenging omen and the way of realization they offered the Inquirer was led to a happier and more fulfilling life rather than exchanging one prison for another.