eight trigrams—Heaven, Earth, Thunder, Wind, Water, Fire, Mountain, Lake
“I view the I Ching as Chinese Qabalah. But instead of being based on the mathematical dynamics of 4 and 10 and 22 like the Qabalah, the I Ching comes at things from a simpler and more elegant direction by dissecting the mechanics of duality itself: by observing simply that something either is or isn’t—on or off—positive or negative—light or dark—male or female. Furthermore, anything we can call a “something” is in a constant process of changing into something else. This heads-or-tails reality is graphically expressed in the I Ching with breathtaking elegance as simply being either an unbroken line ——— or a broken line — — . Just as Qabalah venerates the Supernal Triad as its mysterious foundation, the I Ching groups these two lines into stacks of three whose various combinations produce eight unique trigrams whose images represent eight fundamental principles of existence. Their titles in English can be translated: Sun, Moon, Male, Female, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth”
- The Tarot Architect: How to Become the Master Builder of Your Spiritual Temple Lon Milo DuQuette
The 64
- Ch’ien (The Creative) - Pure yang, heaven’s force, boundless potential, and creative power unleashed.
- K’un (The Receptive) - Pure yin, earth’s embrace, yielding, devotion, and the womb of manifestation.
- Chun (Difficulty at the Beginning) - Initial struggle, chaos giving birth to order, perseverance through obstacles.
- Meng (Youthful Folly) - Innocence, learning through error, the novice seeking guidance.
- Hsu (Waiting) - Patience, stillness, awaiting the right moment with inner strength.
- Sung (Conflict) - Tension, opposition, seeking resolution through clarity and compromise.
- Shih (The Army) - Discipline, collective effort, leadership in times of challenge.
- Pi (Holding Together) - Union, harmony, loyalty binding the many into one.
- Hsiao Ch’u (The Taming Power of the Small) - Gentle restraint, subtle influence, small steps yielding great change.
- Lu (Treading) - Caution, walking the path with grace amidst danger.
- T’ai (Peace) - Harmony, the flow of heaven and earth in union, prosperity born of balance.
- P’i (Standstill) - Stagnation, disharmony, the need to realign with the flow.
- T’ung Jen (Fellowship) - Community, shared purpose, unity in diversity.
- Ta Yu (Possession in Great Measure) - Abundance, mastery, wealth of spirit and substance.
- Ch’ien (Modesty) - Humility, simplicity, strength veiled in gentleness.
- Yu (Enthusiasm) - Joy, inspiration, the rhythm of collective celebration.
- Sui (Following) - Adaptation, flowing with the current, trust in the natural order.
- Ku (Work on What Has Been Spoiled) - Repair, renewal, confronting decay to restore vitality.
- Lin (Approach) - Advancement, nearing a goal, the rise of influence.
- Kuan (Contemplation) - Observation, insight, seeing the sacred in the stillness.
- Shih Ho (Biting Through) - Justice, piercing illusion, decisive action against resistance.
- Pi (Grace) - Beauty, adornment, the outer reflecting inner harmony.
- Po (Splitting Apart) - Collapse, shedding the old, surrender to inevitable change.
- Fu (Return) - Renewal, the turning point, light reborn from darkness.
- Wu Wang (Innocence) - Spontaneity, purity, acting without ulterior motive.
- Ta Ch’u (The Taming Power of the Great) - Containment, storing energy, wisdom in restraint.
- I (Nourishment) - Sustenance, nurturing self and others, the jaws of life.
- Ta Kuo (Preponderance of the Great) - Excess, imbalance, the need to lighten the load.
- K’an (The Abysmal) - Danger, the watery depths, courage in the face of peril.
- Li (The Clinging) - Fire, clarity, clinging to truth, illumination through attachment.
- Hsien (Influence) - Attraction, mutual resonance, the spark of connection.
- Heng (Duration) - Perseverance, constancy, enduring through time.
- Tun (Retreat) - Withdrawal, strategic retreat, preserving strength.
- Ta Chuang (The Power of the Great) - Strength, vigor, the ascent of righteous force.
- Chin (Progress) - Advancement, steady growth, the sun rising over the earth.
- Ming I (Darkening of the Light) - Concealment, inner light hidden, wisdom in adversity.
- Chia Jen (The Family) - Kinship, roles within the whole, the hearth of stability.
- K’uei (Opposition) - Polarity, divergence, finding unity through difference.
- Chien (Obstruction) - Hindrance, turning inward, overcoming through reflection.
- Hsieh (Deliverance) - Release, liberation, the storm breaking to clear the air.
- Sun (Decrease) - Reduction, sacrifice, lessening to gain purity.
- I (Increase) - Growth, expansion, the wind of blessings rising.
- Kuai (Breakthrough) - Resolution, decisive clarity, speaking truth boldly.
- Kou (Coming to Meet) - Encounter, subtle danger, the feminine rising unexpectedly.
- Ts’ui (Gathering Together) - Assembly, unity, the lake reflecting the collective will.
- Sheng (Pushing Upward) - Ascent, effort, growth from humble roots.
- K’un (Oppression) - Exhaustion, confinement, resilience in hardship.
- Ching (The Well) - Sustenance, the source, drawing wisdom from the depths.
- Ko (Revolution) - Transformation, molting, the fire of radical change.
- Ting (The Cauldron) - Alchemy, refinement, the vessel of spiritual nourishment.
- Chen (The Arousing) - Thunder, shock, awakening through sudden force.
- Ken (Keeping Still) - Mountain, stillness, the peace of inner stability.
- Chien (Development) - Gradual progress, the tree growing over time.
- Kuei Mei (The Marrying Maiden) - Subordination, delicate balance, yielding with purpose.
- Feng (Abundance) - Fullness, peak prosperity, the thunder and fire of success.
- Lu (The Wanderer) - Journey, transience, the stranger finding home in flux.
- Sun (The Gentle) - Wind, penetration, subtle persistence wearing through stone.
- Tui (The Joyous) - Lake, delight, the mirror of inner gladness.
- Huan (Dispersion) - Dissolution, scattering, the wind over water uniting the separated.
- Chieh (Limitation) - Measure, restraint, the art of boundaries.
- Chung Fu (Inner Truth) - Sincerity, the wind over the lake, truth at the core.
- Hsiao Kuo (Preponderance of the Small) - Caution, smallness, success through modest acts.
- Chi Chi (After Completion) - Order, fulfillment, vigilance at the peak.
- Wei Chi (Before Completion) - Transition, the edge of change, potential yet unformed.