Symbolism, Terminology and Practices
I-Ching - The Book of Changes
The I-Ching evolved from Chinese shamanism practiced 4000 years ago. As an oracle, it provides a blueprint of the Universe. Eight trigrams form the ‘Pa Kua’ (Heavenly Arrangement) an eight sided figure showing opposing pairs of forces and the cardinal directions, each with a name and symbol. Trigrams all have attributes that reflect the natural world, human social order, colours, animal totems and body parts. The Tai Chi symbol of Yin (dark, feminine, negative) and Yang (light, masculine, positive) is usually in the centre. All possible paired combinations result in 64 six lined diagrams or ‘hexagrams’ formed with broken lines for Yin and solid lines for Yang, read from the bottom upwards.
North = Li/Fire
NE = K’un/Earth
East = Tui/Lake
SE = Ch’ien/Heaven
South = K’an/Water
SW = Ken/Mountain
West = Chen/Thunder
NW = Sun/Wind