Working with the I Ching

1. Imagine yourself on a little wooden boat, floating on a calm blue sea or seated in a peaceful place by a lake, or on top of a mountain. 2. Recognize that help is available from the Cosmos for every need and that it is given to those who are modest and sincere. 3. Say no to any ego element in yourself that is active in the situation and see the Helper of Transformation strengthening your true self. Use any image that works to remove from you whatever is false. Load onto the wagon whatever is bothering you at the moment and let it go. Turn over to this wagon and its driver: Self-images that arise, including being the rescuer Your intellect, its criticisms and analyses Negative & positive emotions that interfere with the centering process Fear that you might do something that will make you guilty Ideas about how to meditate Self-blame, guilt & blame of others. The idea of there being a culprit (yourself, others or anything, including the ego) All ambition & the image of striving upward toward perfection The idea that freeing your true self is hard work, spiritual or ascetic Seeing your body in any kind of degraded way. 4. Imagine your inner space encircling you or as a room that is very clean and bright. Take possession of it as yours, not anyone elses. Remain quietly there allowing the Sage to enter. 5. Consider, reflect on, and then formulate your question. Write it down paying careful attention to the wording. Not a yes or no question at this point. What will be the effect? What would happen if? What should be my attitude toward X? What is happening hereplease give me an image of the situation? How can I best achieve X? 6. Create the lines of the Primary Figure, recording them from bottom to top. 7. If there are transforming lines, generate the Relating Figure and then look up the hexagram numbers & names. The more changing lines, the more changeable the situation. If there are no changing lines, it is a more stable situation. 8. Read the Judgment, then any of the changing lines. 9. Extract the Nuclear hexagram (the hexagram of Hidden Possibilities), the heart of the matter.

I Ching Worksheet
The Primary Figure
{ { { { { { } } Exit /Limiit Outer Center 6{ 5 { 4 { 3 { 2 { 1 { } } } } } } Inner World Trigram Outer World Trigram

The Relating Figure

{ { { { { { } } } } } }

} Transition/ Threshold } Transition/Threshold } Inner Center } Entrance/Limit

Hidden Possibility (Nuclear hexagram) Number ___________ Name _____________

Number ___________ Name _____________

transforms to

Number _________ Name____________

Dynamics of the Pair Rotational Pair (Hua) Inspiration Manifestation

Symmetrical Pair (Bian) Inspiration

Manifestation

WORKING DEFINITIONS
CHINESE WORDS FOR CHANGE: Hua Gradual change; slow, over time, manifestation and evolution signified by a passage from
one state to another; normal to the life process; slow growth and manifestation of yin and yang

Bian the root word comes from name or command; a quantum change; sudden, radical shift of
state; a spiritual transformation, conversion; unexpected, not normal, but extraordinary; the conversion of yin and yang.

FATE and DESTINY: Fate Adversities created when a person violates the Cosmic Harmonics; an automatic
reaction of the Cosmos. Fate is that part of the Cosmic Harmonics that ensures the continuation of harmony. Its purposes include: (1) compensation for damages done to the Cosmic Whole; (2) bringing the person back from ones head to ones senses; (3) making one aware of mistaken ideas and beliefs, and (4) reducing us to an attitude of humility and openness that help us shake loose the hold of the ego. The severity of Fate corresponds to the degree needed to wake us up; depending on the degree of our rigidity, strength of attachment to our mistaken ideas and beliefs and our arrogance. Fate ends when it fulfills its purposes. The end can be reached in different ways: (1) by bringing one to the state of burnout (exhaustion of a deluded enthusiasm) in which one sees how mistaken ideas have led to a dead-end; (2) when one has of ones own accord sought its causes and rid the self of them; or (3) when the fate has run its full course of time. In this case, the person may not have corrected the viewpoint, but the fate has run out its time (like a prison sentence).

Destiny The true purpose of an individuals life in a body, to bring to maturation his true self.
When one is in harmony with the Cosmos, he or she receives all the help one needs from the invisible world to express ones uniqueness and to develop ones Cosmic gifts -- ones abilities and talents. Through fulfilling our destiny, we also contribute to the evolution of the Cosmic Consciousness.

Blame Cosmic Blame- incurred when a person has betrayed or compromised his true nature.
No blame can be saying that a person is in harmony with the Cosmos, or that a person is incorrectly blaming himself due to judging himself by the standards of the collective ego. Cosmic Blame is not permanent, but can bwe extinguished at any time the person recognizes and rids himself of the mistaken idea that has caused the blame.

Success a standard term referring to the positive result achieved through cooperating with the
Helpers of the invisible world.

Misfortune a standard term indicating the result of a persons acting from the ideas or beliefs of
the collective ego. Misfortune can, but does not necessarily, indicate a fate.

Good Fortune a standard term pointing to Cosmic blessings and gifts that are given to a person
because he or she has a correct view toward possessions. These possessions can be insights, help to achieve his tasks, or possessions in the most literal sense. Good fortune as an augury in a line means that harmony will be achieved through following the counsel given.

Feelings neither negative nor positive but simply express the inner truth of a person at a given
moment. Every true feeling draws a complementary feeling (a Helper), the result of which is felt as harmony.

Emotions ego-emotions (whether positive or negative) created by the egos distorted view of

reality, or true feelings that the ego has appropriated to itself, in order to steal their energy. When, for example, the ego steals a persons true feelings of love, it turns them into an instrument of power over the beloved. Pity comes from denying the existence of the Helpers, and is an acceptance of suffering as the natural condition of life. Suffering is ego-induced; pity is a projection that prevents a person from calling the Helpers to aid another, or from saying the inner No to the others ego which would strengthen the suffering persons true self.

LINES
Trigram Line Position: 1. Base Line Earth 2. Horizontal Plane Human 3. Upper Line Heavenly Dimension Hexagram Line Positions: 1. About to come into being 2. Beginning

3. Expanding- conclusion of first trigram 4. Approaching maximum potential; transition or solution 5. Peaking, culminating energy; line of power 6. Passing its peak and turning toward its opposite condition. 1. Lines 1 & 2 represent earth; lines 3 & 4, human, lines 5 & 6, heaven. 2. Lines 2 & 5 are generally the most favorable, usually line 5 more favorable than line 2. 3. Lines 2, 3, 4, and 5 represent the principal action of the hexagram mostly. 4. Ruler of the hexagram is usually line 5 or else a single Yang or Yin line among 5 lines of the opposite polarity. There are a few exceptions to this. 5. Lines 1 & 6 are often outside the main action of the hexagram; line 1 reflects considerations before the activity commences; line 6 represents a decline after the peak of activity. Often these lines are unfavorable. 6. The order of favorability is: 5, 2, 4, 1, 3, then 6. 7. Correspondences: 1 & 4; 2 & 5; 3 & 6. 8. In a trigram, the top line represent heaven; the middle, human, the bottom, earth. Link changing hexagrams w/ Then But While Becoming

Thunder - Chen

Wind - Sun

Arousing - The Rouser; Energy coming from below; the introduction of a new principle; inspiration; springtime energy; big movement or change; aha! Eldest son

The Gentle, Penetrating Power - Lady of the Fates - brings things to maturity; memory of what Cosmic Harmony feels like; consciousness of inner Truth Eldest daughter

Fire - Li

Earth - Kun

Clarity Radiance -Bright Omens- intuitive mind- Clings together w/ what it illuminates; power of awareness; forming images based on Inner Truth; the middle daughter

Field - Nature The Dark Animal GoddessPower to nourish and shape; yielding, suppleness, flexibility; all feeling consciousnesses expressed in nature and their relationships; the mother

Lake - Tui

Heaven Chien

Open- Playful The Joyous Dancer; reflective consciousness of clear water, the vapors arising from water that nourish and enrich; brings stimulation, sexual encounters, freedom; the youngest daughter

Force the Cosmos; The Dragon; creativity, perseverance, strength, moving forward; the total consciousness of all consciousnesses and their relationships; the father

Water - Kan

Mountain

Be Careful -The Pit The Ghost River or Ghost Dancer; spirit of rushing water; flowing that doesnt stop, leads through danger of dissolving, falling, streaming, risking, deceptive in its strength; the middle son

Grounded Bound The Sacrificer related to the earth through stability,; keeping still; feeling consciousness of earth (minerals); leads through perceiving and fixing limits; articulates destiny; youngest son