I have been corresponding with James Hewes since he bought my font of the Chinese “glyphs” for the hexagrams. James has been doing research on ancient Chinese literature  and the origins of the I Ching. He is also creating interpretations of these characters/glyphs in the medium of clay. When I got that pressing urge to use real paint again I was inspired by seeing Jim’s clay I Ching characters.

Jim  wrote to tell me that I am using the wrong word and should not be calling the Chinese Characters “glyphs.” He always has something interesting and relevant to say regarding the I Ching so will include here a quote from his reasoning on this subject.

I think it is correct to call the Chinese writing as  “characters.”  When they speak of the ancient form the term “character” is still used rather than hieroglyph. Even the ancient bronze inscriptions are referred to as “characters.” I’ve never read anything that has referred to the characters as hieroglyphs except for one comparing the inscriptions on the shells to hieroglyphs. They seem much more abstract or primitively symbolic than say the hieroglyphs of Egypt.  Using glyph to me is like calling them dingbats. It’s really not correct.  When it comes to Chinese the meaning of the word is very important. Translation, interpretation or just mumbo jumbo. Too broad or loosely used and words meanings change character.

The way the Chinese classify their writing evolves this way.  First there was the “shell and bone” style writing on the tortoise shells and oracle bones. Then there was the “Bell and Pot” style writing for the characters cast on the bronzes. (14th to the 3rd century B.C.) Then the “Stone Drum” style of writing the character around the 8th century BC. probably the style in which Confucius wrote around 500 BC and much more sophisticated than mere hieroglyphs or dingbats. During the Waring states period 400 BC they used what is called a Greater and Lesser Chuan style of writing.  Some hundred of bamboo tablets with writing on them have been discovered from that period. It was close to the “Stone Drum” style.  Next came the Lesser Chuan or “Seal Style of 221 BC which Ch’in- Shih-Huang-Te (the First Emperor) made the official style in his attempt to unify the writing of China. The various artistic forms of writing today began with him and evolved since the unification of writing, though there was some beautiful script styles along the way too.

James Hewes

Just to back up my reason (even if incorrect in this case) for using the word glyph, I include here the dictionary meaning of the word.

glyph  (ɡlɪf)
— n
1.     a carved channel or groove, esp a vertical one as used on a Doric frieze
2.     rare  another word for hieroglyphic
3.     any computer-generated character regarded in terms of its shape and bit pattern

Since the I Ching is a lot older than computer-generated characters I defer to Jim’s correction.

Related posts:

1. I Ching Font – Hexagram Chinese Name
2. Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon
3. I Ching Record Book

Click on the image to go to the full post in the hexagram page.

Related posts:

1. I Ching Record Book
2. I Ching Confession

Dragons are know to be: artistic, decisive, dignified, direct, eccentric, fiery, generous, intellectual, loyal, magnanimous, noble, passionate, pioneering, proud, self-assured, stately, strong, vigorous.

And may be: arrogant, brash, demanding, dogmatic, imperious, impetuous, intolerant, tactless, tyrannical, violent.

Related posts:

1. New Year of the OX, New Moon in Aquarius
2. I Ching, Hexagram 2, Chinese Character Painting
3. I Ching Font – Hexagram Chinese Name

I constantly complain to myself about how long it has been taking me to complete work called, I Ching Meditations.

The reason it is taking me so long is because not only is this a huge task to make seven images and words for sixty-four hexagrams, I have started from the beginning several times as my medium changed over the years. I began this work before there was such a thing as a personal computer and Internet. My original I Ching inspired images were drawings, etching and paintings. I am also frequently side tracked with what I feel are other seductive tasks such as, The SketchBook Project sponsored by The Brooklyn Art Library.

My confession is that I have a new addition to my I Ching obsession.

All my illustrations that are seen here for I Ching Meditations were created on a computer with digital programs. I love making images using computer technology and my mantra is that the Internet is the greatest invention since the discovery of fire. Creating in this way is fun and rewarding and a very different experience from using any tactile medium. Every once in a while I am over come with a fit of wanting to use real paint. The feeling is physical, sort of like when I am very thirsty and need a drink of water.

Recently I suddenly felt that nagging urge to use the hands-on medium of paint again. There wasn’t any particular image I wanted to paint. I just wanted to “play” and enjoy the experience. I thought of the book Henry Miller wrote after he left Paris and was living in California, called, “To Paint is to Love Again.”  That’s a good way to describe it.

In order not to get side-tracked from my work on I Ching Meditations I decided to paint something simple and fairly small while staying connected to the I Ching. I began by using the Chinese glyph for hexagram one, as the basic starting point for an abstract design. I enjoyed the process so much I am compelled to complete all sixty-four glyph paintings and will gradually scan and post them here. The originals are each nine by twelve inches, painted with acrylics. I have had to make two promises to myself for this paint series. I limit the time I spend each day working on these paintings and do it as a treat, like having desert. I often work on them while I watch my two favorite television shows, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, combining two pleasures at once. The second promise to myself is that I will not start over on any painting until I finish all sixty-four.

The act of making these glyph paintings may be like taking vitamins to keep my system in good health. They become a meditation themselves as I focus on shapes of the Chinese calligraphy that signifies the meaning of the hexagrams. I think of them like the manuscript illuminations from those early days of books when works were hand painted with elaborate initials.

I begin here with the glyph painting for hexagram one, The Creative.

I recently posted the image and line one for Hexagram 14 in a Page. The rest of the lines and hexagrams to follow there.

Related posts:

1. I Ching, Hexagram 2, Chinese Character Painting
2. I Ching Prescriptions: Choosing Change
3. I Ching Record Book

From her book, Tao of Chaos Patterns, Chapter 13, Section 5  (ebook)

This TOE suggests that the deep-level structure of primal space, time, matter, and energy is fractal. A source code turns this primal foursome into a pair of polarized pairs: space and time become the universal carrier pair, and matter and energy become the universal contents pair.

Space and time stay dependable in their task of containerizing matter and energy. These containerized contents continually flux in their specific details. Old configurations of matter and energy decay in the container of space and time, but then morph into emerging new events.

Mind itself, above and below the Planck level, helps shape the thrust of this process. Information crosses the central threshold of the Planck level. This threshold separates the two conjoined twins of a double bubble universe. Each twin bubble has its own dependable 4D space/time container that holds its matter/energy contents with evolving specific details.

The conjoined twins also interrelate constantly across the Planck level. They carry on a continual conversation at the Planck level. To do so, they use a fractal code based on vertical and horizontal period 3 windows. A shorthand version of this code exists in the I Ching’s trigrams and hexagrams, which are holographically resonant to reality itself.

Our universe consists of both twins together, It is holographically resonant and exhibits chaotic flow in a complex, non-repeating pattern. This means that you may be able to predict the general fractal carrier form of a chaos pattern—but not its specific contents. A minor event in one place can have huge, seemingly unrelated consequences elsewhere.

A modern weather forecast is rather like a message from the ancient I Ching oracle. Both the weather forecast and the I Ching message speak more about the fractal carrier form of a qualitative dynamic rather than the quantitative load of its specific details. The ancient Chinese enshrined this “butterfly effect” in the saying, “I wave my left hand, and the whole world moves.”

Likewise, the ancient Chinese believed that consulting the I Ching oracle helps you foresee and weather the emotions of life better. It won’t predict the quantitative details of an emotional hail storm or tornado or drought or rainbow that’s upcoming, only its general qualitative dynamic for your life.

In both cases, a forecast on either physical or emotional weather, you’re provided with a basic outline of the dynamic in its fractal form, but the unique details must be filled by living through it as you make your free will choices. The advantage here is that at least you now have a heads-up.

Perhaps you scoff, thinking, “How can consulting some old oracle possibly give me a true answer?”

Well, consider this possibility: a hexagram answer embodies the principle of co-chaos patterning generated between domains. It succinctly describes the dynamic of an event occurring in mattergy over space and time, yet it still lets you fill in the specific details with your own free will. It even describes this dynamic using both a verbal analogy and a mathematical shorthand.

This TOE suggests that the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching resonate with the universal source code. That cryptic shorthand reflects the fractal dynamic that is embedded in the great hologram of reality. Each hexagram is a miniature model for this paradigm.

Each hexagram holds a pair of trigrams. Each trigram has three lines or “3 dimensions” that indicate a specific dynamic organizing its own domain, above or below, on a p-tree. A hidden bond or 4th dimension in each domain attracts the two trigrams to each other. Together they develop a co-chaos pattern that bonds the two trigrams across domains.

This is a miniature version of what happens to our double bubble universe with four dimensions in each domain, above and below the Planck level—plus 4 more tiny dimensions that create the attraction hidden right inside the Planck level.
What a gift from the master code! For more on this, see the third volume of this series, Double Bubble Universe.

Tapping into the I Ching gives you a way to get an insight on the fractal dynamics of our universe. It helps you perceive and adjust your own fit in it. Your I Ching answer is complex and nuanced. Understanding it encourages developing a subtle, associative mindset.

An I Ching answer is a far cry indeed from the mere flat, dogmatic, binary right or wrong, yes or no, that we have come to expect on a pop quiz and we currently demand in a law court. Learning to understand the I Ching is necessarily an experiential voyage into exploring your own life and psyche.

This exercise is pumping iron for the subtle body. It resides in the universal patterning and will reside there it long after your physical body is gone.

Katya Walter has a Ph.D. with an interdisciplinary emphasis from the University of Texas at Austin. She spent 5 years of post-doctoral study at the Jung Institute of Zurich, and a year of post-study in China. She taught in colleges and universities in the USA and abroad for sixteen years before focusing on writing and lecturing. She has presented numerous workshops on the I Ching, Chaos Theory, Synchronicity, and Dreams in the United States and Europe. Katya is author of the Touching God’s TOE series of books. She also authored an accompanying handbook called Dream Mail – designed for contemplating the deeper structure of dreams. It discusses the fractal messages that are carried in the symbolism of dreams and how to interpret dreams for daily life.

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The image I include is one from my book, I Ching Prescriptions, showing the “Pre-heaven” and the “Post-heaven” arrangement of the trigrams that Kartar Diamond discusses in the article.

Which Came First, Feng Shui or the I-Ching?

You may be familiar with the practice of Feng Shui and some of the symbolism associated with the eight Trigrams. Each “trigram” is associated with a part of the body, colors, an element, a family member, and a direction. These trigrams are each symbolized with three lines. The word “tri-gram” means “three lines.” The lines can be broken or solid and in a certain order to depict the unique trigram and direction.

For instance, the Qian Trigram is three solid lines stacked on top of each other and associated with the direction of Northwest (post-heaven sequence) and the father in the family structure. The Kun trigram is three broken lines, symbolic of the direction of Southwest (post-heaven sequence) and the image of a mother.

What the heck is “post-heaven sequence?” Some people reading this know what this means, but for the lay person let’s just say that there are two versions of the trigrams in relation to the directions associated with them. We have something called the “pre-heaven sequence” which is used for different types of insight in a Feng Shui analysis and it is the more “obscure” arrangement of the eight trigrams when a person studies these theories.

These same three-lined symbols are grouped in pairs to form “hexagrams.” And it is the 64 hexagrams of the I-Ching which are symbolic of profound and mystical advice that adherents seek when they turn to the I-Ching for inspiration. We can say that the I-Ching, (also spelled Yi Jing) is an ancient Oracle or Book of Divination closely related to the fundamentals of Feng Shui. There is even a ring on the Chinese Feng Shui compass that identifies the 64 hexagrams.

When I was first trying to decide if Feng Shui was really my destined professional calling, I threw the coins to do the simple calculations on the energy assigned to the timing of my question. The answer I got from the I-Ching? I got hexagram #55 which translates as “Feng.” It is the pairing of the two trigrams: Thunder above (Zhen Trigram) and Fire Below (Li trigram). It was more than ironic. This might be the equivalent of wondering what you should do with your life and randomly opening up a book to a Chapter Title that says “You Are Already Doing What You Are Meant to Do.”

You may assume the trigrams and the I-Ching are irrelevant to modern times, but early on in my studies of Chinese metaphysics, an acquaintance sent me a book on the trigrams in relation to DNA. We don’t know who or how many people originally figured out these mathematical correlations, but they surely happened over long periods of time and after meticulous observation of the cycles of nature. More theories about the trigrams are continuing to evolve in modern applications and interpretations.

Eight Trigram theory is quite practical and predictable and there are many applications that can be used to help people. For example, the Zhen trigram is associated with the direction of east and the eldest son. If a house is missing the east sector of the floor plan, it can make it harder for a couple living there to conceive a baby boy. If a family moves into a house with a missing east sector, the eldest son in the family may have some struggles or some thing wrong with his health. If the east sector of a house has something wrong with it or in ill-repair, like a crack in the foundation, this could also harm the eldest son in the family. The more you learn about the trigrams, the more you will see them as a mirror to our lives.

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If you have been viewing this blog for a while you know that I have been working for a long time on my graphic interpretation, I Ching Meditations.  This version is different from my Prescriptions which are direct and easy to use, just like taking a pill might be. During the process of creating  images for I Ching Meditations I experience each hexagram as a whole, with the 6 lines as one continual organic process.

Creating an image for each line of a hexagram is a slow and meditative process. I have to live with the hexagram during this process and came to feel that it is as if I had asked the I Ching a question and received all changing lines. I absorb the meaning of each line as it relates to the hexagram as a whole in a different way than when I ask a question and then read only the lines that changed. This process of working with the I Ching led me to the idea of choosing a situation for I Ching guidance rather than to only rely on the synchronistic method. I have read a number of I Ching articles on how to use the I Ching where the writer says to read only the lines that are changing for guidance. So I’m proposing a concept here with a different approach that goes against the traditional directions for consulting the I Ching. I use both methods.

Choose Your Changes

• When consulting the I Ching as a prescription, instead of asking a question in the traditional coin throwing approach, decide what issue in your life that you either want to deal with or are now involved in.
• Look at the list of the 64 Prescriptions. Decide what prescription you need.
• Look up the prescription distillation in the book and see how the advice applies to your life.
• Each I Ching prescription has seven parts to it; the general meaning at the top and the six phases written from the bottom up.

I have created a chart of all the hexagrams and their opposites that shows what a hexagram transforms to if all the lines change.

I have created a poster of the 2 charts which can be purchased at my Zazzle store .

Clicking  the Plus one icon blow will take you to a free download of a PDF of these 2 charts.

[gplus count="true" size="standard" redirect="http://adeleart.com/ChangingLines.pdf" ]

Related posts:

1. Changing I Ching Meditations Blog Format
2. I Ching Prescriptions: Choosing Change
3. Prescription for Splitting Apart

Related posts:

1. Prescription for Hexagram 58, The Joyous
2. Prescription for Splitting Apart

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1. Prescription for Splitting Apart
2. Prescription for Grace, Hexagram 22
3. I Ching Prescriptions: Choosing Change

Thomas asked if the I Ching could deal with a broken heart which is an emotional “ailment.” I immediately thought of hexagram 23, Splitting Apart, because that is when I have experienced a broken heart. Because the I Ching is always a subjective experience, depending on the person seeking the guidance, I then realized that one may experience a broken heart from events in situations other than Splitting Apart.

I will post here the Prescription for Splitting Apart in a jpg format so the reader gets an idea of how the Prescriptions look in their “pill” form. If anyone experienced a broken heart from another situation, let me know and I will check to see if the Prescription makes sense and post it. This is interesting research.

Related posts:

1. Prescription for Hexagram 58, The Joyous
2. Prescription for Grace, Hexagram 22
3. I Ching With All Changing Lines