Summary
1. In the Book of Changes it is said: “He is blessed by heaven. Good fortune. Nothing that does not further.”
The Master said: To bless means to help. Heaven helps the man who is devoted; men help the man who is true. He who walks in truth and is devoted in his thinking, and furthermore reveres the worthy, is blessed by heaven. He has good fortune, and there is nothing that would not further.
“He is blessed by heaven.
He is born under a lucky star, at an auspicious moment.
The planetary aspects are favourable.
The zodiac positions are positive.
From this, heaven creates a good outcome.
The gods are with him.
He will be blessed by heaven.
Good fortune.
The heavens have aligned positively.
There is much to be gained by action at this time.
Good fortune.
Nothing that does not further.”
The aspects and the heavenly situations of the zodiac signs are so positive, that anything done now will succeed.
Action will further or improve one’s circumstances.
This is about as good a forecast as one can get.
Blessed by heaven. Good fortune. Nothing that does not further.
The Master said: To bless means to help.
The gods and the lights in the heavens will help one who aligns and acts accordingly to their guidance.
Heaven helps the man who is devoted;
If one is devoted to the gods and the ways of heaven, one will benefit from listening to and taking guidance from the horoscope or changes.
The devoted man is receptive. He is open to and will receive help from the creative heaven.
men help the man who is true.
If one talks too much and is not honest people will avoid him or her.
This is an example of too much yang.
Too much activity. Too much talking.
Not enough silence and truth.
If one is silent and true, other will assist him or her.
This is an example of the power of receptivity and togetherness, and the prerequisite for divine and positive relationships.
He who walks in truth and is devoted in his thinking,
One who walks with few words can be true.
One who is devoted in one’s thinking will be sincere and will listen to the ways of the gods and of heaven.
and furthermore reveres the worthy,
The gods and heavenly beings are worthy, as are those who follow their stars and take guidance from the gods.
is blessed by heaven. He has good fortune, and there is nothing that would not further.
Such a one will be blessed by heaven and the gods.
Such a one will gain from the use of the horoscope and its divine understanding.
He will succeed in every action and at every turn of events.
Wise men follow the stars!
2. The Master said: Writing cannot express words completely. Words cannot express thoughts completely.
Are we then unable to see the thoughts of the holy sages?
The Master said: The holy sages set up the images in order to express their thoughts completely; they devised the hexagrams in order to express the true and the false completely. Then they appended judgements and so could express their words completely.
(They created change and continuity, to show the advantage completely; they urged on, they set in motion, to set forth the spirit completely.)
The Master said: Writing cannot express words completely. Words cannot express thoughts completely.
This was probably written by the students of Confucius after 500 BC.
It was certainly in a period after writing was established and the I Ching was written down (Duke of Chou 1200BC)
Are we then unable to see the thoughts of the holy sages?
This introduces a concept of seeing thoughts which is something different than writing words.
It implies seeing images and observing things.
One picture is worth a thousand words and this puts a special perspective on the pictographs of the Chinese language. They reveal as pictures, more than words can express.
There is a different understanding implied here, an experiential one based on observation.
There are many different languages in China but they all use the same pictographs.
The people cannot talk to each other, but they can see and observe
what the other is presenting.
They can still understand each other.
The reference to seeing thoughts refers to a process of observation.
It is conceivable that the source of the Chinese pictographs lies in the symbols of the trigrams and their combinations.
The pictures are placed above and below each other to make complex images, like the trigrams in the hexagrams.
The understanding comes from the interrelationship of the images and the changes implied.
Experience comes first.
Observation follows.
Then images are used to reveal the observations.
Images are the traps of meaning.
The words developed to express verbally what was seen.
Words are the trails to images.
Then language developed to further associate and link words together.
The primary images observed were the heavenly lights, the moving lights (images suspended in the heavens), and the lines of the earth.
From the interrelationship of these primary images understanding came (standing under the heavens, observing and contemplating).
The signs of the zodiac in the heavens moved through the houses.
The divisions of the year affected the divisions of the day.
The moving lights wandered in between the two (moon phases).
This represented the primal images observed as they related to each other going through the changes and transformations.
The understanding of life came through observing these primary cycles.
This was the source of wisdom that made the holy sages wise!
The wise men, priests, shamans and healers were astrologers.
The lines and trigram images were used to represent the primal images and their cycles of change.
They recorded and measured the observed changes in the light and the dark, in heaven and on earth (in the primary cycles).
They were the creation of a picture mandala that revealed changes in the light and the dark.
They were simpler images that could be used as symbols of the original images or archetypes.
The trigrams came to be known as the changes which included all things.
They were a simplification of the images in the heavens and on earth, a simplification of the zodiac.
It was up to the wise one who had observed the original primal images and their cycles, to make the association of the trigrams and lines to the corresponding changes in the light and the dark.
When the era of mathematical reasoning and justification began around 1200 BC, the astrological foundations of the changes became obscured and minimized.
They were replaced by numerological considerations and the dogma or illusion of numbers.
The changes became a spectre or shadow of what they were originally.
They became a source of random coincidence and intuitive insight as opposed to the original common sense of natural observation.
In revering the implications of heavenly observation the wise ones came to a state of silent wonder.
Thoughts cannot express silence and wonder completely!
The Master said: The holy sages set up the images in order to express their thoughts completely;
In the observation of the heavenly and earthly primal images all knowledge and wisdom was included.
If one were to base their thoughts on these images they could express everything completely.
Such is the way of the heavens and the way of astrology.
The wise ones aligned their thoughts to the images and changes and could therefore express whatever they knew or observed and the subsequent implications.
This could also be saying that the holy sages or wise ones created the trigrams and light and dark images (lines) to express the astrological implications of the heavenly lights on earth (primal images).
The changes in the light and the dark represent the essential foundation of understanding of the effects of the zodiac (year), the houses (day) and the moon phases (month).
they devised the hexagrams in order to express the true and the false completely.
The true and the false are the yang and the yin, or the solid and the broken lines.
The sixty-four hexagrams represent every possible combination of solid and broken lines in a six line totem.
That the hexagrams were devised to express the true and the false completely is a misleading statement.
They were originally devised to express the cycles and fluctuations of light and dark in nature.
Mathematical associations came later.
This represents mathematical idealization and justification of the hexagrams as representing every expression of truth and falsehood.
This is similar to the wonder of the magical square adding up to the same number when added in any direction.
Thus it is an example of mathematical abstraction, projection, and reasoning detached from the natural cycles of nature.
The trigrams were doubled to make sixty-four figures of six places.
The six places contained a solid or a broken line.
The six places represented odd or even numbers.
The solid line represented odd numbers.
The broken line represented even numbers.
If a solid line was in an odd place, it was considered true and proper.
If a broken line was in a even place, it was considered true and proper.
If a solid line was in an even place, it was considered untrue and improper.
If a broken line was in an odd place, it was considered untrue and improper.
Thus the true and the false were expressed completely.
Such is the way of mathematical deduction.
Associations to the changes became abstracted or diverted from the original observations of the primary celestial images on earth and the subsequent implications (seasons, days, moon cycles).
Then they appended judgements and so could express their words completely.
This seems to give credibility to the words of the sages who knew the true and the false completely.
But it probably refers to the judgements of the wise ones who observed the primary images of heaven and earth and expressed what they understood.
This in a way seems to justify and affirm the mathematical conclusions of the hexagrams and lines.
Appending judgements to express their words was valid if the words were based on primary observations and mental pictures.
But if detached from the seasons, moon phases, and hours of the day, their words would be mere mathematical associations and speculation.
These would then be based on randomness rather than the well organized nature of life and creation (primary images).
They created change and continuity, to show the advantage completely; they urged on, they set in motion, to set forth the spirit completely.
This is a naïve and somewhat absurd inference.
It implies that those who knew the numbers of the hexagrams and their lines , created everything and allowed the spirit to set forth.
Again this is a mathematical fantasy or derivative.
In the old or original way with its primary images of the heavens and earth, spirit was, in silence, all inclusive and interpenetrating.
The heavenly lights (zodiac and moving lights) shine on or influence the dark material earth (houses) which responds accordingly and life is born and maintained.
By observing these primary images one came to understand life or the manifestations of spirit.
It was not assumed that the holy sages created it, but that they learned from it and became holy and wise.
3. The Creative and the Receptive are the real secrets of the Changes. Inasmuch as the Creative and the Receptive present themselves as complete, the changes between them are also posited. If the Creative and the Receptive were destroyed, there would be nothing by which the changes could be perceived. If there were no more changes to be seen, the effects of the Creative and the Receptive would also gradually cease.
The Creative and the Receptive are the real secrets of the Changes.
The creative and the receptive are the two extremes in any cycle.
In the year cycle or zodiac, the creative or greatest light is the longest day, the summer solstice, June 21, and the end of Gemini where daylight is predominant and increasing to its maximum.
For the moon cycle or month the greatest light is the full moon, or the opposition of the sun and moon when the light is predominant and increasing to its maximum.
In the day cycle or astrological houses the creative or greatest light is noon when the sun is at the MC or highest point above the earth when the light is predominant and increasing to its maximum.
In the year cycle or zodiac, the receptive or greatest darkness is the longest night, the winter solstice, Dec 22, and the end of Sagittarius where darkness is predominant and increasing to its maximum.
For the moon cycle or month the receptive or greatest darkness is the new moon, or the conjunction of the sun and moon when the darkness is predominant and increasing to its maximum.
In the day cycle or astrological houses the receptive or greatest darkness is midnight when the sun is at the IC or lowest point below the earth when the darkness is predominant and increasing to its maximum.
This is the secret of the astrological essence and correspondence of the changes.
Inasmuch as the Creative and the Receptive present themselves as complete, the changes between them are also posited.
This is the process of the changes and an affirmation of the proper sequence. The increasing light represents increasing creativity. For half of the cycle light increases from its minimum until it completes itself at its maximum.
Year Cycle
In the year or zodiac: from Dec. 22, the winter solstice, to the summer solstice at June 21. From the beginning of Capricorn to the end of Gemini daylight increases until it completes itself at the maximum (creativity).
Moon Cycle
In the moon cycle or month: from the new moon or conjunction to the full moon or opposition light increases until it completes itself at the maximum (creativity).
Day Cycle
In the day cycle:
From midnight or the IC to noon or the MC, from the beginning of house three (IC) to the end of house ten (MC) light increases until it completes itself at the maximum (creativity).
The other half of the cycle: Darkness increases from its minimum to its maximum. The increasing darkness represents increasing receptivity.
Year Cycle
In the year or zodiac: from June 21, the summer solstice, to the winter solstice at Dec. 22. From the beginning of Cancer to the end of Sagittarius darkness increases until it completes itself at the maximum (receptivity).
Moon Cycle
In the moon cycle or month: from the full moon or opposition to the new moon or conjunction darkness increases until it completes itself at the maximum (receptivity).
Day Cycle
In the day cycle: From noon or the MC to midnight or the IC, from the end of house ten (MC) to the beginning of house three (IC) darkness increases until it completes itself at the maximum (receptivity).
This is the pulse of life and the standard or essence of the changes.
The cycle of the year or the zodiac will be used as the example.
Here the bottom or first line of each hexagram is on the inside of the circle and the top or sixth line is on the outside of the circle.
The bottom or first line of thirty-two hexagrams is solid and on one half of the circle to represent the increasing light (winter and spring, Capricorn to Gemini).
In the moon cycle this is the waxing moon or increasing light.
In the day cycle these are the AM hours of increasing light.
The bottom or first line of thirty-two hexagrams is broken and on one half of the circle to represent the increasing darkness (summer and autumn, Cancer to Sagittarius)
In the moon cycle this is the waning moon or increasing darkness.
In the day cycle these are the PM hours of increasing darkness
The second line from the bottom is solid in thirty-two hexagrams to represent the half of the year when daylight is greater than darkness (spring and summer, Aries to Virgo)
In the moon cycle this represents the period from the waxing half moon to the full moon and continuing to the waning half moon, when more than half of the moon is light.
In the day cycle this represents the period from sunrise to sun set when the sun is above the horizon and shining brightly.
The second line from the bottom is broken in thirty-two hexagrams to represent the half of the year when darkness is greater than daylight (autumn and winter, Libra to Pisces)
In the moon cycle this represents the period from the waning half moon to the new moon and continuing to the waxing half moon, when more than half of the moon is dark.
In the day cycle this represents the period from sunset to sunrise when the sun is below the horizon and it is dark outside.
The third line alternates every eight hexagrams to reveal the light half and dark half of each season, or each quarter of the moon and day cycles.
The fourth line alternates every four hexagrams to reveal the light half and dark half of each half season, or each half quarter or eighth of the moon and day cycles.
The fifth line alternates every two hexagrams to reveal the light half and dark half of each sixteenth portion of the year, moon and day cycles.
The sixth line alternates every other hexagram to reveal the light half and dark half of each thirty-second portion of the year, moon and day cycles.
This completes the proper sequence of the hexagrams.
If the Creative and the Receptive were destroyed, there would be nothing by which the changes could be perceived.
If you take away the relationship of the light and the dark to the seasons or zodiac, to the moon cycle or aspects, and to the day cycle or houses, then there would be nothing to be observed, nothing by which the changes could be perceived.
This is a statement confirming the astrological nature of the changes. (It probably came from the oral descriptions and rules of Fu Hsi (Early Heaven Sequence) and was kept in the written version of the Duke of Chou (Later World Arrangement).
If there were no more changes to be seen, the effects of the Creative and the Receptive would also gradually cease.
If the sun and moon stopped shining, and the earth stopped rotating there would be no more changes to be seen and no more life either!
The year cycle or zodiac , the moon cycle or aspects, the day cycle or houses, are the essential nature of life and its changes. Without them nothing could be observed!
4. Therefore: What is above form is called Tao; what is within form is called tool.
That which transforms things and fits them together is called change; that which stimulates them and sets them in motion is called continuity. That which raises them up and sets them forth before all people on earth is called the field of action.
Therefore: What is above form is called Tao; what is within form is called tool.
Forms are on the earth.
Forms are physical and material.
Forms have substance. Forms are dark and receptive.
Forms are like the earth. They block or absorb the light.
They receive and are primarily affected by the light.
The receptive receives and is primarily affected by the creative.
What is within form is within or on the earth, within the darkness.
What is within form is called tool.
Because it is brought to life and is influenced by the heavenly light, it is called tool.
We are all tools of the creative in the great experience of life.
We are all part of mother earth.
The heavenly lights direct the affairs of nature and life.
They are above form.
They are above the earth.
They use people and things on the earth as their tools to create change and transformation.
Thus do the creative and the receptive relate to each other.
The creative is strong and forceful.
It sheds light and makes demands.
The receptive is yielding and receptive.
It does what the heavens tell it to do.
The creative heavenly lights are above form and they are called Tao.
The zodiac and the moving lights (sun, moon and planets) are called Tao because they are the essence of light. They create life and they give it life direction and continuity.
The seasons have their sequence and direction.
The phases of the moon have their sequence and direction.
The hours of the day respond and have their sequence and direction.
This statement clarifies the distinction between the heavenly lights (zodiac and moving lights) that create and cause change, and the receptive earth and its forms that respond to the directions, vitality and opportunity of the light.
Tao here is used as the order of the heavens and the heavenly lights as the source of meaning and direction in the world, as the essence of our lives.
Tao becomes a simple direct factor, the factor of life and destiny coming from the stars in the heavens and from the gods or moving lights.
In the era of mathematical speculation and contemplation Tao was implied to mean the unfathomable.
Like zero, it did not exist materially but seemingly represented the essence of all things.
The concept of Tao became abstracted.
Tao was obscure and it was a profound mystery …. unobservable and intangible.
While in its original meaning Tao was lucid and clearly observable.
Tao referred to the heavenly lights that create, guide and give direction to our lives.
Tao was the zodiac, the sun, moon and planets ….. the heavenly beings.
That which transforms things and fits them together is called change;
All of nature acts and reproduces according to the seasons of the year or the zodiac and heavenly lights.
that which stimulates them and sets them in motion is called continuity.
The effects of the seasons are the changes, in the day and night and the moon phases, on the earth, and on the things on earth, or forms.
The seasons, the zodiac and the moving lights stimulate events in the affairs of life.
They continuously complete their cycles in a proper reliable sequence and order.
These cycles repeat continually over time on earth.
Seeds are planted, grow, give their fruits at harvest time, then produce more seeds and die in the winter darkness.
Animals and humans are born, grow, give forth their seed, reproduce, live a number of cycles (years, months and days) and then die.
This process is nature and it is set in motion and stimulated by the heavenly lights.
That which raises them up and sets them forth before all people on earth is called the field of action.)
It is the rotation of the earth that allows the sun to rise, culminate, set, and rise again.
The field of action is anything that can happen on earth in a day cycle.
The twelve astrological houses represent twelve fields of activity.
These twelve fields taken together include the spectrum of human experience on earth.
The heavenly lights, as they move through each house stimulate the affairs of that house and create activity.
What zodiac signs are in which houses?
What is in the houses above the horizon?
What is in the houses below the horizon?
What is at the midheaven and most elevated?
What is at the IC and most below or hidden?
This statement defines the nature and function of astrology in the affairs of men and women on earth.
5. Therefore, with respect to the Images: The holy sages were able to survey all the confused diversities under heaven. They observed forms and phenomena, and made representations of things and their attributes. These were called the Images. The holy sages were able to survey all the movements under heaven. They contemplated the way in which these movements met and became interrelated, to take their course according to eternal laws. Then they appended judgements, to distinguish between the good fortune and misfortune indicated. These were called the Judgments.
Therefore, with respect to the Images:
By honouring and using the heavenly lights as a revered guide or standard
The holy sages were able to survey all the confused diversities under heaven.
Looking through the lens of the zodiac and moving lights the wise ones observed all of the seemingly confused movements and changes on earth.
They were able to witness the effects of the heavenly lights on earth and in the houses.
They observed forms
These are the shapes on the earth.
and phenomena,
These are the lights in the heavens….. the moon phases, the seasons, the sun in the zodiac signs.
and made representations of things and their attributes.
They determined which things related to which zodiac signs and to which of the moving lights (sun, moon, and planets).
And thereby they could see which attributes of each heavenly factor was affecting the various worldly forms and situations.
They understood from their observations how worldly circumstances were affected by heavenly lights,
They understood how astrology, or the gods, influenced the affairs of the world and of nature.
These were called the Images.
This has a double meaning here.
1. The trigrams were created to represent the influence of what is above to what is below in the affairs of man.
2. In the written interpretation of each hexagram there is a section called the Images.
In this section worldly circumstances and the corresponding heavenly attributes and associations are explained or presented.
The holy sages were able to survey all the movements under heaven.
The holy sages observed nature and life on earth as it went through the daily, monthly and yearly changes.
They observed the moving lights as they moved through the zodiac signs and how they influenced the houses or worldly experiences.
They contemplated the way in which these movements met and became interrelated, to take their course according to eternal laws.
They contemplated the way the moving lights (sun, moon, planets) moved through the celestial images (zodiac signs) and how they related to each other (moon phases are the relationship of the moon to the sun.) This would include the interrelationships of the planets as well or of the aspects between the moving lights.
The movements of the sun, moon and planets in their orbits and relative speeds are the eternal laws!
They are the laws of the changes in the light and the dark in the cycles of the day (earth), Month (moon) and year (sun).
These heavenly cycles are the eternal laws by which each day, each month and each season is conditioned or determined.
Then they appended judgements, to distinguish between the good fortune and misfortune indicated.
The wise ones explained the increasing light and the decreasing light in each day, month and year (seasons).
They explained or taught about the gains or losses that occur accordingly.
From this they could reveal the good fortune and misfortune indicated in the heavens and on the earth.
We gain through increasing light.
We lose through increasing darkness.
These were called the Judgements.
The section in each of the written interpretations of the hexagrams where these teachings or explanations are found is called the Judgements.
6. The exhaustive presentation of the confused diversities under heaven depends upon the hexagrams. The stimulation of all movements under heaven depends upon the Judgments.
The exhaustive presentation of the confused diversities under heaven depends upon the hexagrams.
The expression of all the astrological factors in the heavens and their effects on worldly circumstances is presented in the hexagrams.
The cycle of sixty-four hexagrams measures and explains the zodiac, measures and explains the phases of the moon and moving lights, measures and explains the hours of the day or houses.
They can measure all cycles, and therefore all phenomena, and all the diverse experiences in life.
They give an interpretation of the implications of the increasing light and darkness and the subsequent gain and loss, good fortune and misfortune.
The stimulation of all movements under heaven depends upon the Judgements.
In the judgements the wise ones explained the human implications of all the movements under heaven.
They knew the horoscope or astrology and could therefore explain the significance of all movements under heaven.
Because they were astrologers they could divine what was happening.
They were wise and therefore they should be listened to and their advice, written down in the hexagrams, should be respected and followed.
7. The transformation of things and the fitting together of them depend upon the changes. Stimulation of them and setting them in motion depend upon continuity. The spirituality and clarity depend upon the right man. Silent fulfillment, confidence that needs no words, depend upon virtuous conduct.
The transformation of things
The way things change through the seasons like seeds to plants, to vegetables and fruit, to harvest and back to seeds. like the colour of leaves on a tree over the year or like tides during a moon cycle, or like the hot and cold, wet and dry changes in a day with all of its changing opportunities.
and the fitting together of them
This refers to the mating or reproductive cycles of all things.
How plants, animals, and humans are fertilized and reproduce.
This could also refer to the fitting of the moving lights into the zodiac signs and into the astrological houses in one drawing of the horoscope and how the hexagrams or changes include all these astrological factors.
depend upon the changes.
Nothing happens randomly.
Everything happens within the laws and cycles of change.
All life is influenced by the changes in the heavenly lights.
Stimulation of them and setting them in motion depend upon continuity.
Continuity is the sequence of change within each complete cycle and the ongoing repetition of each cycle.
The sixty-four hexagrams (zodiac, moving lights and houses) represent the complete cycle.
Each hexagram is one specific phase of a cycle.
It is stimulated by the very moment one is in.
Each moment is in a unique part of the day, in a special phase of the moon, in a specific season or zodiac sign of the year, and in one specific hexagram of the sixty-four hexagrams.
Using the numerological randomness of counting yarrow stalks to determine a hexagram, it was explained as setting in motion the effects and implications of the hexagram. It was implied that hexagrams made everything happen by synchronicity.
This was the belief system that was propagated in the era of mathematical deduction and randomness. It essentially obscured the original lucidity of the changes with their astrological implications and validity.
The spirituality and clarity depend upon the right man.
Only one who knew the great secret of the astrological nature of the changes could understand and clarify the spiritual or heavenly implications.
In the mathematical era of yarrow stalk divination, the right man was considered one who could divine the hexagram of the moment.
This was one who could count the stalks and read the interpretation.
Silent fulfillment,
This is the goal or victory of life… to be fulfilled, content with one’s circumstances and silent. How to find peace in life.
confidence that needs no words,
How can one become absolutely confident in their actions, without having to explain or talk?
If you have to talk it is a sign of weakness and insecurity.
The wonder of the meaningful universe is experienced in silence!
depend upon virtuous conduct.
Virtuous conduct implies respecting the heavens and the gods, revering their presence and living accordingly,
Being receptive as the earth, receiving heavenly light and giving birth to life, living according to your own destiny as determined in the stars or in the horoscope.
If one was insensitive to the higher ways, one would make mistakes, and fall victim to the resulting circumstances.
If one studied the changes, or followed the guidance of one’s horoscope one could act aligned to the implications of the heavens and its guiding lights.
The way of the superior man is to follow and emulate the way of the creative heavenly light, and to elevate his nature to the level of the gods (planets), and even assist the gods themselves!