116
I-CHING ECLIPTIC The Real-Time Tuner by DON EVN ODM © by ROBERT DON SPRINGER ´11
I-CHING ECLIPTIC The Real-Time Tuner
by
DON EVN ODM
© by ROBERT DON SPRINGER ´11
I dedicate this book to the memory of Landis Green, my mentor, who showed me the way to the I-CHING ECLIPTIC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Parts of the New Ecliptic Chart
The Body
The "Plus" coordinates
"Ancient" History and the Horizontal Axis
Biological Evolution and the Vertical Axis
The I-CHING Connection
The Four Daye-Nite Journeys
Houses versus Signs
The Crux (Crisis) Coordinates
The Rule of Opposites
How the Arena Signs Relate to Our Bodies
The Planets in the New Chart
A Radical Proposal
New Names for the Signs
Advantages of the New Ecliptic Chart
CHAPTER II Scanning a Journey
Two Ways to Scan a Journey
How to Scan a Journey
Why Scan a Journey?
The Seventy-Two Arena Tones
Body Scanning a Twelve-Hour Journey
The Four U.S. Time Zones
Zone 08 West (California)
A
Zone 01 East (Western Europe)
The Time Zones of Brazil
The I-CHING Lines (Changing and Unchanging)
How to Build a Hexagram (Two Methods)
Reading the Changes
When to Build a Hexagram
Numbering a Hexagram
Nuclear Trigrams
Right and Wrong Lines
Conclusion
CHAPTER III
Two Personal Examples (A Moon Scan plus a Body Scan)
PART ONE....Moon Scanning (EVE Quadrant)
PART TWO...The Half-Way Point
A. Preparing to Scan
B. End of the Scan
C. Scanning the AFT Quadrant with the Body
D. Scanning with the Moon
In Retrospect
CHAPTER IV
Complete Journeys and Aspects
Away from "Home" and Back
New Meanings for the Aspects
The Primacy of the Day Cycle
The Meanings of the Squares
The Grand Square
B
Rename the Tropics
Mixing the Opposites
The Ecliptic Makes the Signs
"Homes" in Transit
The Trines (Count Five)
The Sextiles (Count Three)
Counts Two and Six
The Crux Aspects
Aspect Summary
Our 24-Hour Lab
What, Exactly, Is a Sign?
Relationships of the I-CHING "Places"
Conclusion
CHAPTER V
The Role of "Astrology" in Biology
PART ONE....Relating Biology to the Signs
Opposite Polarities Unite
The Morning-Evening Polarity
MOS (Aries) Opposite FES (Libra)
Morning Opposite Evening
An Eight-Sign Zodiac?
Naming the Plus-Axis Spokes
Naming the Crux-Axis Spokes
Naming the Quadrants
Why "Personal" and "Social" Quadrants?
Fascinating I-CHING Details
PART TWO....Relating the Planets to Biology
C
How the Planets Behave in the New Day-Nite Chart
As on Earth, So in Heaven?
Movement, Energy, Matter, and Form
Planetary Patterns
Aware Will: The Sun?
Comparing Mercury and Venus
The "Bullseye"
Mercury, the Maker of Possibility Maps
Mercury in the Morning Sky
Mercury in the Afternoon Sky
Mercury Summary
Venus, the Possibility Scout
Venus in the Morning Sky
Venus in the Afternoon Sky
Venus as Emotion
The Role of Venus in Sympathy, Empathy, and "Chempathy".
"Love"
The Venus-Mars Connection
Functions of Mars
Mars as Groomer
The External Planets
CHAPTER VI Games
Introduction
Two Types of Games
PART ONE Time-Tuner Games
Why Play Them?
The Moon-Scan Game
Our 365-Day Lab (T-SN to B-SN)
D
Other Yearly Solar-Aspect Games
Calendar of Sun-sign changes (with "Places")
Naming the Aspects
Table of Aspect Dates
Meanings of the Aspects
When Do You "Feel" an Aspect?
Other Birth-Chart Games
Body-Scan Tuner Games
The Beeper Watch
Further Refinements in Scanning (The Planets)
Daily Sun Tone
How Best to Scan a Journey
The Backward Journey
An Isolated Place
The Log
The Larger View: "Check Points"
The Outward Journey
Important Points (Events Along the Way)
The Other Two Journeys
Your Choice
Other "Returns"
Comparisons
Transit Charts for Social Events
PART TWO ..Space Bubble Games
Rooms
Panning VS. Scanning
Panning Left and Panning Right
Outdoor Panning and Indoor Panning
Panning People
The Powers Around Us
The Powers Within Us
Drawing
Out Mother, the Tree
How to Approach a Tree
E
How to Approach and Artifact
Bubble Sectors and the Movable Horizon
The High Horizon and the Frame
Sector Awareness
The Sound-Surround Game
Hopscotch
APPENDIX
Technical Procedures
Moon Messages
The Plastic Time-Surf Tuner (for Xerox Copies)
How to Construct the Plastic Tuner
The Idea of the "Echo Chart"
Converting T-Degrees to A-Degrees
Sun Messages
Annual Sun Tables
How Long in One "Place"?
Venus: A Morning and an Evening "Star"
Venus "Returns"
Graphs for Equator Sign Changes
Calculations
The Tropical-Zone Birth Chart
The Twelve Equator Graphs
F
INTRODUCTION (And Clarifications)
INTRODUCTION
A Personal Plea
The I CHING ECLIPTIC TUNER is a “clean machine”. I ask you please not to take
anything away from it and please not to add anything to it. It may look like “astrology”,
but I don’t want to call it “astrology”... especially “astrology” as defined by traditions of
western culture since the Greek Ptolemy in the second century A.D. Therefore I humbly
request that all librarians and bookshop owners file this work NOT with the "astrology"
books, but with the "I-CHING" books.
Yes, it has twelve signs and has the Sun, the Moon, and the eight planets as parts of
its construction and operation, but these parts are defined in new ways which often
disagree with what traditional western astrology (TWA) has presented as “true”.
Therefore it will be wise of you to forget what you already know about astrology and
start “fresh” with this new system because:
1. The twelve signs take their meanings from the twelve “calendar hexagrams” of
the I-CHING.
2. The ten “planets” take their meanings not from Roman gods and goddesses, but
from functions related to “Neo-Darwinism” and microbiology. The assumption here is
that when life developed on Earth, the planets “stirred the soup” and therefore
influenced (and still influence) every single cell.
Those of you who are familiar with traditional western astrology (TWA) will
probably be shocked at my refusal to include such matters as the four elements (fire,
earth, air and water), planetary rulership of signs, and the use of the ascendant to
establish the sequence of “houses”. Also I use a totally new system of defining aspects
(such as squares, trines, and sextiles), a system which rejects the traditional concept of
“orbs” and relies entirely on the structural relationships between the six lines of the I-
CHING hexagrams.
But perhaps even more shocking than these matters will be my conviction that the
twelve signs are not to be found in the heavenly star patterns, which seem to outline the
forms of zoo animals (zodiac). No. Because the Earth’s poles are constantly leaning at
an angle of 23.5 degrees, the twelve signs are actually made by the Sun’s “noon point”
at the edge of the ecliptic as it marks them off on the profile of the Earth’s tropic zones.
This ECLIPTIC “noon point” marks-off six “tropical” signs moving north and six
“tropical” signs moving south. Thus the old familiar name: “Tropical Astrology”.
However, in this book I feel compelled to abandon the use of the old misleading word:
ASTR-OLOGY (because ASTER means “star”) and will use instead the new word
ECLIPT-OLOGY for reasons which will become clear as you read further
Let’s Be Discreet
The term “discreet” is very important to the idea of a “clean machine”. This term
has to do with defining and maintaining “borders” and “terminal points” in a strict,
unequivocal fashion.
Traditional astrology uses the term “cusp” when it refers to a border line between
two signs or two “houses”. For example, if a person is born when the Sun is at 30°
Aries, traditional astrology says that person is born “on the cusp of” Aries and Taurus.
Then it declares that the person should “blend” the qualities of both signs! This practice
of blending across borders or mixing of territories is not “discreet”.
A person cannot be born in two signs any more than a ball tossed into the air can be
moving both up and down at the same time. Indeed, what we call a “sign” in astrology
or in the new TUNER is the rise (up) and fall (down) of a wave (a “sine” wave). This
wave cannot be both falling and rising at the same time. The person has to decide which
sign truly fits his nature: Aries or Taurus. He can’t be both. The borders between the
signs are “discreet” (clean).
Similarly, there is another practice in traditional astrology which is not discreet or
clean: the practice of saying that a planet becomes “stationary” (stops) when its
apparent direction of travel changes from “direct” to “retrograde” or vice-versa. It notes
these stations with the letter “s” as in: s-r (stationary retro) and s-d (stationary direct). I
reject the idea that the apparent motion of a planet ever stops. Its direction of travel
changes immediately from direct to retro or from retro to direct without stopping and
should be noted in the following manner which eliminates the “s” term:
d - r (changing from direct to retro)
r - d (changing from retro to direct)
Conclusion
Therefore, if at this point in your reading, you have decided that I must be either
crazy or misled and certainly “wrong”, do not bother to read further. All I can say in my
defense or justification is that I have devoted over thirty-five years developing this new
system and have convinced myself that my “clean machine” will serve you well, but
only if you DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM IT and DO NOT ADD
ANYTHING TO IT.
Thank you,
R. Don Springer
21 OCT. ´10
Definition of ECLIPTIC:
An invisible table top on which some planets course around a star (like our Sun).
What is an ECLIPSE? Most people when they hear the word “ECLIPSE”, think “SHADOW”. An
“eclipse” of the Moon means that the Earth is throwing a shadow on the Moon. An
“eclipse” of the Sun means that the Moon is throwing a shadow on the Earth. We also
use the word “poetically” as in: “His performance in school was ‘eclipsed’ by that of his
brother”. This means that as a student, he “stood in his brother’s shadow”.
But what most people don’t know is that the word “eclipse” comes from the word
“ECLIPTIC” which is the name of the invisible flat plane on which the planets move
around the Sun (the “race track”). The “ECLIPTIC LINE” begins in the center of the
Sun, runs thru the center of the Earth, and extends out to Neptune. The only times we
can have “an eclipse” is when the Moon is ON THIS LINE (see diagram on next page).
CHAPTER I Parts of the New Ecliptic Chart
1-1.The Body
The new chart features a North Star (Polaris) view [1] of the Earth with the north
pole in the center and the figure of a person standing on one of Earth’s longitudes. This
figure I call “body” (BD). See figure 1 below.
FIG. 1: Body (BD) facing south
You are now looking at the back of the body (BD) as it faces south toward the
equator (and toward the north surface of the ecliptic).
I show no ascendant in the new chart. If you want one, you may estimate it to be
roughly 90° from BD, in the direction of Earth’s turning (counter clockwise). [2]
1-2.The “Plus” Coordinates (+)
The new chart is constructed on two major lines, which form a “plus” (+) sign. At
the top of the vertical line is the Sun (SN), which NEVER MOVES. See figure 2 below.
1 - 1
FIG. 2: North Star view
This non-moving Sun defines “noon” on whatever Earth’s longitude it shines. This
is not “clock noon”; it is “real local time noon” (RLT-NOON) and stands as “home
base” for all time calculations in our new chart.
At the bottom of the vertical line is “real local time Midnite” (RLT-MIDN). The
middle of the vertical line runs through the center of the Earth drawing (the north pole).
The horizontal arrow shows the direction of Earth’s curved travel around the Sun
(also counter-clockwise). The arrow point shows the future ahead. The feather shows
the past behind. Noon is on the “inside” of the solar system. Midnite is on the “outside”.
1 - 2
1-3. “Ancient” History and the Horizontal
Axis
The people of the “ancient” world thought they were worshipping the Sun. But
actually it wasn’t the Sun they were worshipping; it was the horizon!
Every half-day they saw the eastern horizon “give birth” to a new Sun which
twelve hours later “died” on the western horizon.
Also every half year they saw the noonday Sun climb for six months to a high point
above the horizon where it “stopped” climbing (at the summer sol-“stice”) and then
began its half-year descent toward a low point above the horizon (at the winter sol-
“stice”) where it again "stopped" before repeating its six-months climb. "Stice" means
"stop".
Traditional western astrologers continue to preserve this “horizon worship” by
clinging to an outmoded chart form. This chart form focuses attention on the eastern
horizon (the ascendant) and ignores the fact that it moves. They freeze its position on
the left side of the chart and move the Sun instead. Then, no matter where the Sun is
placed in the chart, the traditional astrologer calls the ascendant the place of the “rising
sign” and gives it the dubious honor of being the starting point (zero) for the line-up of
the twelve “mundane houses”. Finally, he equates this potential Sunrise-point zero to
the first day of spring, zero Aries! Figure 3 explains how this obsolete chart form is
designed to work.
1 - 3
FIG 3: Explanation of Traditional Chart
1 - 4
Of course, we know now that the horizon moves and the Sun STANDS STILL. And
our new view from Polaris teaches us that when a person sees the Sun “rising”, it means
that his body ( BD ) on his local longitude is on the front of what R.Buckminster
Fuller calls “Spaceship Earth” (where the arrow point is). And when a person sees the
Sun “setting”, it means that his body ( BD ) on his local longitude is in the back of
“Spaceship Earth” (where the feather is). See figure 4 below.
FIG. 4: Explaining “birth” of the Sun and “death” of the Sun
It’s time to abandon the errors of “horizon worship” and to examine the greater
truths of the vertical axis experience. The vertical axis runs through the center of the
Earth from RLT NOON to RLT MIDNITE. This line divides the twenty-four-hour day
into two twelve-hour “daye-nite seasons”: the yinning season and the yanging season.
The yinning season carries the body away from RLT NOON towards RLT MIDNITE, a
steady decrease of solar power. The yanging season carries the body away from RLT
MIDNITE to RLT NOON, a steady increase of solar power. See figure 5.
1 - 5
FIG. 5: The Vertical “two Season” Day
1-4. Biological Evolution and the Vertical
Axis
Neo-Darwinism and microbiology teach us two shocking truths: 1. The largest
biomass on Earth is still bacteria, and 2. Less than one tenth of 1% of all the life forms
(species) that have ever appeared on Earth now survive and reproduce. (Extinction is
the name of the game).
Perhaps a third shocking truth is that the earliest atmosphere of Earth (what we call
AIR) had no animal-life supporting OXYGEN in it until the bacteria produced it as a
waste product of their process of survival and reproduction. Oxygen then made it
possible for animal-life forms to develop. They learned to “burn” other life forms in a
process called “digestion” which is ultimately the process of combustion or oxidation.
1 - 6
Furthermore, bacteria are so small as to have no interest or appreciation of what the
larger life forms (both plant and animal) sense to be “gravity”. But they do have a sense
of (a feeling for) the VERTICAL AXIS, which they determine by tuning to Earth's
magnetic field.
Certainly plants that depend on the Sun’s FIRE for their energy [3] respect these
two directions. The first impulses of a seed in the ground are to reach “up” for heat,
light, and gas and “down” for water, security, and building ingredients which we call
EARTH. (So much for FIRE, EARTH, AIR, and WATER, the so-called “ELEMENTS”
of traditional western astrology.)
One of the most obvious differences between plant life and animal life (other than
the “combustion cannibalism” of animal life) is that plants are MOTILE (capable of
moving “in place”) while animals are MOBILE (capable of moving from one place to
another). Trees, though they distribute their seeds widely by means of wind and water,
do not “pick up their roots and run”. Animals do, and they carry their seeds along with
them.
This new mobility in animal life eventually produced a corresponding “mental”
tendency to construct internal “trace memory patterns” of trails, tracks, routes and
sequences which mimic the functions of nature’s wind and water courses and currents.
The human animal’s need to “get around” has certainly produced an elaborate array of
transportation and communication devices which originally depended on currents of
wind and water but which now bore through mountains, press through underground and
underwater masses, and orbit the globe in the form of satellites.
1 - 7
We have all these new devices thanks to our ability to “re-combust” earlier life
forms (fossil fuels) and thanks to skills learned by humanoid animals living as tarsiers
and apes in the tops of those vertically supreme beings called “TREES”.
Throughout the mental history of mankind there has been a tendency to forget the
vertical thrust of life in favor of the horizontal thrust. We have come to admire, even
worship, any animal or mechanical device which has forward-thrusting power either for
pulling heavy loads or for pushing through resistances: the ox, the horse, the battering
ram, the bulldozer and “horsepower” engines. For the Romans forward expansion of
power meant roads for their loads of aggressive power going out and for their enriching
goods and taxes coming in. The horizon was the frontier, something to be pushed
against and expanded (exploited).
In our new space age of vertical-thrusting rocket power we are no longer compelled
to honor or to worship the horizon. Our new view of Earth from “out there” gives us a
totally different frame of reference. It gives us a new chart form.
1-5.The I-CHING Connection
Our new emphasis on the vertical axis permits us to divide the Daye-Nite
experience into twelve equal parts, which I call “arena signs” (A-SIGNS) rather than
“houses”. It also permits us to establish a NEW ZERO at RLT NOON rather than at the
“rising sign point”.
1 - 8
The I-CHING is a Chinese system of binary logic and philosophy which arranges
YANG lines (solid and strong) and YIN lines (broken and weak) into
six-line constructions called “hexagrams”. Actually a hexagram is composed of two
three-line “trigrams”, a “lower” and an “upper”. Hexagram #1 shows both lower and
upper trigrams to be made of all yang lines as in figure 6.
FIG. 6: This Hexagram is “all YANG”
Note that the lines number from the bottom up. Hexagram #2 shows both lower and
upper trigrams to be made of all yin lines as in figure 7.
FIG.7: This Hexagram is “all YIN”
The complete I-CHING system contains 64 hexagrams, but there are twelve of
these which are called “calendar hexagrams” and relate in time and in meaning to the
twelve astrological signs of traditional western astrology.[4]
To start with, hexagram #1 relates to the sign Gemini (GEM), which in our arena-
sign chart occupies the two-hour-wide sector of body (BD ) travel building up to full
power at RLT NOON.
1 - 9
Oppositely, hexagram #2 relates to the two-hour-wide sector leading down to the
point of least power at RLT MIDNITE. Figure 8 shows the positions of these two-hour-
wide arena hexagrams.
FIG.8: The Two Primary Hexagrams of the Arena Signs
1 - 10
Next we add two more arena hexagrams to complete the four corner-stones of the
chart. See figure 9.
FIG. 9: The Four Cornerstone Hexagrams
To understand the special functions of these hexagrams, we need to examine the
qualities of the trigrams which build them. Both trigrams of H 01 climb while both
trigrams of H 02 settle.
In H12 (VIR) the upper primary trigram climbs while the lower primary trigram
settles. They move away from each other. The result is FISSION, a separation of forces.
In H11 (PIS) the upper primary trigram settles while the lower primary trigram climbs.
They move toward each other. The result is FUSION, a unification of forces.
By adding the remaining eight hexagrams, we can see the logic of the two-season
day as the YIN lines ( ) increase on the left side (from RLT NOON to RLT
MIDNITE) and the YANG lines ( ) increase on the right side (from RLT
MIDNITE to RLT NOON). See figure 10:
1 - 11
1 - 12
1-6. The Four “Daye-Nite Body” Journeys [NOTE: Daye = 12 hours “inside”, Nite = 12 hours “outside”]
There are, of course, 24 hours in a diurnal day (Daye plus Nite). But it’s possible to
think of four different 12-hour body journeys! These journeys, of course, overlap in
each quadrant. See figure 11 below.
FIG. 11: Explaining the four Daye-Nite Journeys
The outward journey begins at RLT NOON and ends at RLT MIDN. The forward
journey begins at RLT 6 PM (the feather) and ends at RLT 6 AM (the arrow point). The
inward journey begins at RLT MIDN and ends at RLT NOON. And the backward
journey begins at RLT 6 am (the arrow point) and ends at RLT 6 PM (the feather).
I believe that the child in the crib (and perhaps even in the womb) has an innate
feeling for and understanding of these four overlapping journeys. Certainly these
circadian rhythms are “comprehended” before there is an understanding of the year
cycle or even the lunar cycle.
1 - 13
1-7. Houses versus Signs
We are accustomed to thinking of the twelve signs in reference to the year cycle
with its four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. This, of course, means three
signs for each season. Western astrologers have assumed that when they equate the first
“house” with Aries, second “house” with Taurus, and third “house” with Gemini, they
have taken these three spring signs from the year and applied their meanings to one of
the day quadrants (MRN). In other words: the year meanings came first, and the day
meanings came second. I believe it’s the other way around: the day meanings came first
and were later applied to the year.
No one in traditional astrology doubts that there is an equation between the
“houses” (which I call Day-Nite arena signs) and the year signs. And the I Ching “Book
of Changes” (Wilhelm/Baynes, 1969: 270) specifically equates the MRN quadrant with
spring, the AFT quadrant with summer, the EVE quadrant with autumn, and the DWN
quadrant with winter.
My argument that the arena meanings came first is based on examining how the
meanings of the four overlapping body journeys work. The backward journey during the
twelve daylight hours reaches into the “past”. It is during these twelve hours that most
"upward reaching" plants and animals compete for a “place in the Sun”. The keyword
for this backward journey is COMPETITION. The forward journey during the twelve
Nite-time hours reaches towards the “future”. It is a dangerous journey best not taken
alone. The keyword for this forward journey is COOPERATION. See figure 12 below.
1 - 14
FIG. 12: The Meaning of the Daye Side and the Nite Side
The twelve-hour, outward journey from RLT NOON to RLT MIDN I call
RISKING. Its opposite inward journey I call SECURING. See figure 13.
FIG. 13: The Meaning of the Front Side (Yanging) and the Back Side (Yinning)
1 - 15
Because the four journeys overlap in each quadrant, we must combine the
meanings of the keywords in each quadrant. Figure 14 shows the terms I have chosen
for these quadrant “combinations”: NATIVITY, IDENTITY, EQUALITY and
SOCIETY.
FIG. 14: Assigning Meaning of the Four Daye-Nite Quadrants
1-8. The Crux (Crisis) Coordinates
The plus coordinates (the vertical line and the horizontal line) create the four
quadrants or “seasons of the day”. The crux coordinates, which form the letter “X”,
divide each quadrant in half at the 45° point and so divide the Daye-Nite arena into
eight parts. These eight parts also have names which derive from the combination of
keywords or terms. See figure 15 below:
1 - 16
FIG. 15: Assigning Meanings to the Crux-Coordinate divisions of the Daye-Nite Arena
into eight parts
Perhaps the most important fact about the crux coordinates is that each of its 45°
points marks a place where the direction of one overlapping journey is mixed equally
with the direction of another. For example, in the AFT quadrant at the 45° point, we find
the backward direction of travel mixed equally with the outward direction. See figure 16
below:
1 - 17
FIG. 16: Explaining the “Start”, “Mix” and “Finish” signs of the Afternoon
(AFT) Quadrant
Of course, each quadrant has three signs (three hexagrams). Traditional western
astrology calls these three signs cardinal, fixed and mutable. I call them START, MIX,
and FINISH signs. In the AFT quad the START sign is CAN, the FINISH sign is VIR,
and the MIX sign is LEO. Each MIX sign has a crux line running through its center.
This crux line divides the hexagram into two trigrams (lower and upper) with meanings
that read radically different from each other. The keyword for the MIX sign LEO is
RETREAT. This means retreat from the excessive CAN BONDING so as to form an
independent ego-center IDENTITY. When we examine the meanings of the six lines of
the LEO hexagram, we can see that the three lines of the lower trigram have trouble
retreating from the excessive BONDING and enforced conditioning of the early family
1 - 18
nest and the social “schooling” (CAN); whereas, the three lines of the upper trigram
find themselves “at liberty” to choose their own path toward the VIR goal of “self
direction” and the development of efficient specialized skills which gives them a unique
place of service in the RANKS or hierarchy of society. This crux point between trigrams
is also a point of “CRISIS”. See figure 17 below.
FIG. 17: “Fortune Cookie” Messages for the Six “Places” or “Lines” in Hexagram H33
(LEO) “Retreat”
1-9. The Rule of Opposites
I believe that the best way to fully understand the meanings of the quadrants,
eighths, and signs (with their six lines) is to compare them with their opposites. For this
reason, let’s next examine the meanings found in the dawning (DWN) quadrant with,
for now, a special emphasis on the MIX sign AQU. At the center of this sign (the 45°
point) we find the forward direction equally mixed with the inward direction. Again we
can see that the crux point dividing the lower and upper trigrams is also a point of crisis.
See figure 18 below:
1 - 19
S TAR T( IN WARD)
F IN I S H( FO RWARD)
45º
ET HOSCAP
AQUPI
S
P LE DG
ING
P ROMOTI NG
UNIFY ING
SOC I ET Y
S O C I A L COOP ER
ATIO
N
TR U S T ING
REF O
RM
ING
S OC
IET
Y
S OC I ETY
FIG. 18: Explaining the “Start”, “Mix” and “Finish” Signs of the Dawning Quadrant
In AQU the society is searching for new talent among the masses. It wants not only
PLEDGES of TRUST (CAP) in its fundamental, established, secure foundations; it also
wants to PROMOTE (AQU) improvements toward an ideal matrix or seedbed (PIS) for
future new life. We see the three lines of the lower trigram giving advice to those
members of the society (the masses) who seek PROMOTION. And we see the three
lines of the upper trigram giving advice to the leaders of the society (the bosses) who
are searching for new talent needed to REFORM the society. See figure 19 below.
FIG. 19: “Fortune Cookie” Messages for the Six “Places” or “Lines” in Hexagrams H19
(AQU) “Approach”
1 - 20
My very brief and cursory analysis of the AFT and DWN quadrants with emphasis
on the opposite MIX signs LEO and AQU has served only to explain the importance of
the crux (crisis) coordinates in giving meanings to the sequence of the twelve day-nite
arena signs. Figure 20 shows the complete arena of philosophical keywords, terms,
names, and meanings, which will be thoroughly analyzed and explained later.
FIG. 20: The Complete divisions of the Daye-Nite Arena into halves, quarters,
eights and twelfths
1 - 21
1-10. How the Arena Signs Relate to Our
Bodies
Traditional western astrologers relate the twelve signs to different parts of the body.
Unfortunately, they assume that ARI belongs to the head and that PIS belongs to the
feet, so that when the circle is closed, they give us a picture of a man standing on his
own head as is shown in figure 21.
FIG. 21: The Impossible, traditional division of the body into twelve signs
They try to justify this contortionist’s position by referring to the orouboros, a
Gnostic symbol of a snake swallowing its own tail. What this symbol truly means is
difficult to say. It seems to suggest that a living organism can sustain life by feeding on
itself. This, of course, is not Nature’s way, no matter what theories of self-sacrifice the
Gnostics may have entertained. Research suggests that this symbol was originally two
snakes, one white and one black (to represent Daye and Nite?). Neo-Darwinism might
1 - 22
better make one snake green and the other red to represent the “sacrificial” feeding and
fertilizing relationship between the green (chlorophyll) plant world and the red
(hemoglobin) animal world. But let’s forget the snakes entirely and keep the idea of two
forms of energy-flow operating in the body. Let’s have YANGING energy going up the
front of the body and YINNING energy going down the back of the body as shown in
figure 22 below:
FIG. 22: A more sensible division of the body into the twelve signs
1 - 23
1-11. The Planets in the New Chart
We are nearing the end of our search for meaning in the various sectors and signs of
the Day-Nite arena. There remains but one more source of meaning: the planets. Before
trying to define the specific meaning of each planet (in chapter V), let’s see how they
move about in our new chart system. For this we must first introduce the “tropical”
year-sign (T-SIGN) ring to which they are “attached”. See figure 23 below:
FIG. 23: Introducing the tropical-signs ring (year signs), surrounding the arena signs
1 - 24
The Sun stands still at the top of the arena chart. The year-sign ring with its T-
SIGNS (T=tropic) "ticks" clockwise about one degree per day so that it makes a
complete circling of the arena in one year. This apparent clockwise movement of the
year-signs is, of course, actually the Earth’s rate of counter-clockwise travel around the
Sun, but let’s continue to refer to this one-degree-per-day movement of the T-SIGNS as
“Sun Travel” rate.
[NOTE NEW TERMS: ADVANCE & REVERSE:]
The planets with their varying "ADVANCE" rates of transit are attached to the
year-sign (T-SIGN) ring and so (as they mostly transit slower than the “Sun rate”)
appear to "REVERSE" around the arena during the year. The only exception to this
general rule is the Moon (MN), which always "ADVANCES" around the arena, making
a complete circling every twenty-eight days. [5]
We find the positions of the planets for each day published in the "tropic" sign
ephemeris tables. These positions are usually for Greenwich (England) “mean time”
midnite (but sometimes are published for noon). See figure 24.
FIG. 24: The heading of a typical Ephemeris Table for the tropical signs
1 - 25
Here we show the positions of the planets in the T-SIGNS for the first two days of
the month. These two days always show us which sign the planet is in and whether it is
going retrograde in a T-SIGN (r) or is going direct. The underlined numbers below the
two days show the daily rate of travel (DRT) for each planet. These numbers, of course,
are obtained by subtracting one day’s position from the other. The Moon is always the
fastest, and Pluto is usually the slowest. However, we can see that in the days now
considered Pluto is moving faster than Uranus and Neptune, and Jupiter and Saturn
seem to be moving backwards not only through the A-SIGNS, but in the T-SIGNS as
well. This apparent movement backwards through the T-SIGNS is called “retrograde”
(r) and should not be confused with the term "REVERSE" which refers only to its
clockwise movement through the A-SIGNS.
Now let’s examine the behavior of the planets on the daye side arena for the period
of one week only. Figures 25a, b, c, d, e, f, g & h below show first the ephemeris
listings for seven days, then a half-chart for each 24 hr. day. Note that in each chart the
numbers in the T-SIGN ring are “rounded-up” to the nearest whole degree. Also note
the use of new terms “near side”, “far side”, and “beyond” to describe the positions of
MY, VN, and PL in relation to the Sun (SN).
FIG. 25a: Note the planet for Friday 20 (Nov 1998)
1 - 26
FIG.25b: How these degrees appear in the outside “tropical” ring (Year Signs) on Friday
20 (Nov. 1998): SN 28 SCO. MN 09 SAG. MY & VN direct, my MY has slowed-down to
09” per day, ready to turn retrograde. This less-than-one-degree (1-) Daily Rate of Travel
(DTR) makes MY appear to “reverse” in A-CAN even though it is not yet moving retrograde
in T-SAG.
FIG. 25c: Positions for Saturday 21: SN 29 SCO. MN 18 SAG. VN direct, “far side” of
SN, but MY turns from direct to retrograde. Note that the MN is conjunct (C1) MY at 18° T-
SAG.
1 - 27
FIG. 25d: Positions for Sunday 22: SN 30° SCO. MN 01° CAP. VN, because it (like the
MN) is moving faster than SN, is also “advancing” in the arena signs.
FIG. 25e: Position for Monday 23: SN 01° SAG. MN 13 CAP. All planets except MN &
VN appear to “reverse” in the arena sings because they move slower than one degree per day
rate in the T-Sign.
1 - 28
FIG. 25f: Position for Tuesday 24: SN 02 SAG. MN 26 CAP. MY begins to pick-up some
speed in its retro orbit around the SN (on side “near” earth). VN continues direct on “far”
side of SN. PL is “beyond”.
FIG. 25g: Position for Wednesday 25: SN 03° SAG. MN 09° AQU. The “outer” planets:
MR, UR, NP & PL continue to “reverse” in arena signs because of their slower-than-the-Sun´s
rate of travel.
1 - 29
FIG. 25h: Position for Thursday 26: SN 04° SAG. MN 22° AQU (nearing its first-
quarter phase). MY is five days away from a “near-side” conjunction with the SN. PL is four
days away from a “beyond” conjunction with the SN.
The inner planets MY and VN have limited orbits. MY never gets a complete A-
SIGN away from the Sun on either side, and VN barely crosses into P4 A-LEO on the
left side (at 47°) and P3 A-TAU on the right side. Both travel direct and "ADVANCE"
on the “far side” of the Sun, and both travel retro and "REVERSE" on the “near side” of
the Sun. Neither ever appears on the Nite side of the chart, but either one can appear
before Sunrise as a “morning star” or after Sunset as an “evening star”. (See a complete
explanation of this in Chapter V).
The outer planets: MS, JP, ST, UR, NP & PL, never move faster than the one
degree daily rate of travel (DRT) of the Sun. Therefore they always appear to
"REVERSE" in the A-SIGNS (arena). Note the formal practice of putting them
“beyond” the T-SIGN ring when they are within the shaded 45° + area of the Sun on
either side. See figure 26 below:
1 - 30
FIG. 26: Adding the planets to the Nite-side of the chart
This chart was made for the time of the new moon (NW MN) at 27 PIS, Wed. 17
Mar. ´99, Arnhem, Nederland´s clock time: 07:48 PM (RLT: 07:12 EVE). Even though
the circular planet symbols are placed in the arena signs and “beyond”, the numbers
with their dots remind us that the planets are “attached” to the Tropical sign-ring. Note
1 - 31
that on the day that MS goes from direct to retro (d-r) it is opposite the 47º, ultimate
“reverse” point of VN in the day sky! For this reason I have indicated areas of varied
shading to establish what I call “Daye-fans” and “Nite-fans” which are actually opposite
each other in degrees (and perhaps in meanings as well).
These outer planets while on the Daye-side of the chart always travel direct (in the
T-SIGNS). But when they are seen on the Nite-side, they appear to travel retrograde (in
the T-SIGNS). This means they seem to move even faster in "REVERSE" order in the
Nite A-SIGNS (arena), especially MS which can travel 22' retro per day. MS appears to
travel retro (for eleven weeks) in the Nite-sky every two years. All the other outer
planets appear to travel retro (for longer periods of time) in the Nite-sky every year.
1-12. A Radical Proposal
Recently when I tried to explain to a lady that the astrological signs were no longer
"out there" IN the stars but were now being made by the Sun's ecliptic noon point ON
the surface of the tropic zones, she became very angry. "Why do the signs still have the
same names then? Why didn't they call them something else when they found out the
Sun was making the signs ON the tropics?"
My immediate answer was, "You might as well ask why we still say "Sunrise" and
"Sunset" when we know the Sun doesn't move."
But later I began to realize that her anger was justified. We have known for over
two thousand years that the twelve signs come from the "tropic" seasons and not from
the zodiac "out there". Why do we persist in the ancient error? Why not give our
"tropical" signs new names? Who would dare attempt such a "radical proposal"? I
would, and I did.
1 - 32
1-13. New Names for the Signs
I have come to realize that the time is ripe for this change of names. Because the
twelve "calendar" hexagrams give new meanings to the A-SIGNS ("houses"), we have
the opportunity to abandon the old sign names, even though as we can see from close
comparison of the I-CHING meanings with the traditional western astrology (TWA)
meanings for the twelve signs that they are amazingly alike in concept. Also I believe
we need to rid ourselves of the zoological metaphors inherent in the old names. The
new names must be purified so as not to have mystifying "poetic" connotations but to
reveal a crystal clear logic of their own.
The Chinese names of the twelve calendar hexagram signs will not serve to replace
those of TWA. They are just as "poetic" but less emblematic than the western names.
Therefore at this point it seems important to prevent both controversy and confusion by
avoiding both western and Chinese naming systems as much as possible and by creating
twelve new names for these hexagrams as follows:
1 - 33
There is an internal logic in this naming system which, unlike either the Chinese or
the traditional-western-astrology systems, automatically tells you three important things
about each sign, as follows:
1. The first letter in each name is a consonant in alphabetical order: B, C, D, F, G,
H, J, K, L, M, N, P. This makes it easy to remember which sign follows which (BAS,
CAX, DAF).
2. Next, note that the second letter is a vowel. For the first three signs that vowel is
A. For the second three signs it is E, and so forth in the traditional vowel order: A E I O
(no need for the last vowel U). These vowels group the signs according to seasons:
AFT-SUM, EVE-AUT, DWN-WNT, and MRN-SPR.
3. Finally, you will see that the last letters of these names repeat the sequence S X
F (BAS, CAX, DAF, FES, GEX, HEF, etc) These three letters simply remind us that the
12 signs have three different functions in each quadrant of the circle, as follows:
Note: See earlier discussion about how START, MIX, and FINAL replace CARDINAL,
FIXED, and MUTABLE.
Of course, we cannot expect the people who make astrological ephemerides to
adopt these names for our convenience; therefore, it will be necessary at this point to list
these new names along with their traditional western astrological equivalents, as
follows:
1 - 34
I know that these new names are going to cause at least some amusement and at
most some surprise when people ask, "What sign are you?" I suppose the best way to
answer that question (if you are a Taurus) would be to start by saying, "Well, in the
ancient I-CHING system I'm a NOX, which is no bull, no OX, no animal of any kind,
and the key-word for my sign is CLAIMING which means INPUT.”
Then, of course, the person will think you are referring to the Chinese "year of the
dog, pig, dragon, etc.” system which is another animal-emblem and has nothing to do
with the 12 signs of either traditional western astrology or of the I-CHING.
To conclude, I hope that these new names will help you to avoid a lot of superficial
chatter based on the imagined qualities of various zoo and farm creatures. And please
DO NOT call this new I-CHING-based system “Chinese Astrology”.
1 - 35
1-14. Advantages of the New Ecliptic Chart
Compared with the traditional western astrology (TWA) astro-chart, the new
ecliptic chart gives a view of the Sun-Earth-body relationship which is free from the
Earth-bound horizon. For the northern hemisphere this view is from the north polar star.
From this point we get a realistic view of the way the Earth orbits the Sun during the
year and the way it rotates on its axis during the day. We can now see how this daily
rotation carries the body through the four “day seasons” (AFT, EVE, DWN, MRN).
Further, when we shift our focus from the horizontal to the vertical axis of the plus
coordinates, we can apply the logic of the 12 I-CHING hexagrams to the 12 “Daye-Nite
signs” which in TWA would be called an “equal house system”. This I-CHING logic
shows two major “seasons of the day”: one yinning (from noon to midnite) and one
yanging (from midnite to noon). From these two “Daye-Nite seasons” we can see how
the 12 calendar hexagrams fall into place to create the four “seasons of the day” (AFT,
EVE, DWN, MRN) and give meanings to the 12 signs.
Because of our new polar view, we can now see that a person´s body makes four
kinds of journeys during the 24-hour day: OUTWARD, FORWARD, INWARD, and
BACKWARD. And it is from these four journeys that we get the idea of signs which
START, MIX, and FINISH the direction of each journey (signs which in TWA are called
cardinal, fixed, and mutable).
As we relate the “Daye-Nite seasons” to the four journey directions, we begin to
feel different concepts emerging for each half, quarter, eighth, and finally each twelfth
of the body´s daily rotation experience. Each time of the 24-hour day has its own
“philosophical meaning”. The KEYWORDS for these sectors begin to reveal a basic
logic which will eventually bring us a different message for each of the six lines in each
of the 12 hexagrams. My ultimate goal in this new system is to show how the twelve
signs relate to the human body.
1 - 36
The final advantage is that when we leave the Daye-Nite arena, we create an outer
year-sign ring which, with its one-degree-per-day backward “ticking” motion, shows the
position of the Sun from one day to the next. With this ring we show that the Sun does
not move in our new chart (Copernicus and Galileo were right). We also know that the
twelve signs shown in this outer ring are called “tropical” year signs and have the letter
T as a prefix to distinguish them from the “arena” Daye-Nite signs which have the letter
A as a prefix.
Traditional western astrology (TWA) would call these the “signs of the zodiac”
and maybe use the letter Z as a prefix. But the use of the term “zodiac” (which means
zoo or animals) is misleading. Unfortunately most people believe that astrology is still
based on the old star-pattern (constellation) figures “out there” in the sky around us. But
NO, this has not been true for over two thousand years. The twelve signs are actually
created by the Sun´s “tracing” of the four seasons across the equator back and forth
between the north and south tropic lines. That´s why today´s Astrology is correctly
called TROPICAL ASTROLOGY.[6] And that is why I choose the prefix T for the year-
sign ring rather than the prefix Z.
I feel sure that this new chart form takes a great deal of the traditional “mystery”
out of humanity´s earlier attempts to “map” the relationships of one´s own body to the
larger “bodies” circulating on the ECLIPTIC of our solar system. Finally, it is easy to
see for ourselves just where each “body” is at any given time of day, of night, or of the
year.
1 - 37
Notes – Chapter I
[1]. This view is for residents of the northern hemisphere. Residents of the
southern hemisphere will use a “south-star” view with the south pole in the center.
[2]. The “south-star” view turns clockwise.
[3] There are some plants and animals that depend on volcanic FIRE for energy.
[4] The proper assignment of these hexagrams to the astrological signs is made
possible only by ignoring an error made by the German scholar Richard Wilhelm. He
gives the wrong dates in assigning the “calendar hexagrams” to the year. You will find a
correction of this error in the English translation of Wilhelm’s work “The Book of
Changes” by Richard Baynes. See his footnote on page 3 (3rd edition, 1969) under the
explanation of hexagram one, “The Creative”.
[5] "ADVANCE" and "REVERSE" refer to the apparent movement of a planet
through the A-SIGNS.. "DIRECT" and "RETRO" refer to the apparent movement of a
planet through the T-SIGN ring of dots and degree numbers.
[6] The old system based on star patterns is called SIDERAL ASTROLOGY
("sidus" means star) and no longer "matches" with the seasons.
1 - 38
CHAPTER II Scanning a Journey
2-1. Two Ways to Scan a Journey
There are two ways to scan one of the four possible journeys:
FIG 27: The two ways of scanning a journey.
2-2. How to Scan a Journey Scanning a journey means tracking real local time (RLT) while being alone and
observant of both outside and inside events at specific times. It’s a good idea to take
notes or “keep a diary” of your journey as you scan it.
2 - 1
2-3. Why Scan a Journey?
I scan journeys so as to escape cultural programs and agendas. Scanning gives me
the freedom to examine my actions, motives, and desires. It also helps me to set new
goals for my life. I can then make creative cosmic agendas which are good for my
“natural” self.
Our lives are full of programs and agendas. Not many of them are “natural” or
cosmic. Most of them are cultural. Many of them we have wrongly accepted as
“natural”, and we wouldn’t think of questioning their importance in (power over) our
lives. We may even be “unaware” that we are constantly scanning “un-natural”, cultural
agendas, just as a fish is “unaware” that he swims in an artificial aquarium.
The most powerful enforcers of cultural agendas are the calendar and the clock.
The strongest examples of these are the invention of the seven-day week and the
invention of zone standard time (ZST).
Our automatic and “unaware” acceptance of the week days and of the “legal” clock
time renders us unable to tune-in to “natural” cosmic events such as:
I suppose the original week-day system chose seven days because that number
somewhat “fits” the lunar idea of the four phases in the 28-day cycle. But this idea
doesn’t “fit” exactly because none of the Moon phases (NW MN, FQ MN, FL MN, LQ
MN) can be depended-on to occur regularly on a specific day of the week throughout
the year.
2 - 2
Not only do thirteen lunations have to be squeezed into a twelve-month year, the
Moon’s daily rate of travel (DRT) varies from slow (10°) to fast (15°).
At least our body (BD ) attached to its Earth longitude travels at a reasonably
steady daily rate (180° in twelve hours). The only problem we have with scanning a
BODY JOURNEY is converting zone standard time (ZST) into the real time of our
local longitude (RLT).
Zone standard time (ZST) is rather new to the world. Railroads in Canada and the
U.S. began using it in 1883. The countries of the world voted to use it in 1884. It proved
to be a benefit to commerce and travel, but I believe it was a detriment to the bio-
spiritual basis of our daily lives.
Before ZST each town had its own time as told by a sundial. Sometimes this
sundial was located on the vertical, south-facing wall of the local church. Time then was
more natural and true than legal clock time is today.
I believe that babies are born sensitive first of all to real local time and a few
months later become sensitive to the moon cycles with their four phases. Gradually the
growing child ignores these earlier sensitivities in favor of the cultural calendars,
clocks, and agendas as learned in the family (tribal) setting. Eventually what the child
thinks he knows of the year’s natural cycle is, of course, heavily mixed with cultural
rituals, usually based on local religious festivals and political anniversaries. Even the
days of the week bear the names of classical gods and goddesses, and one of the seven
days is often considered to be if not “holy”, at least a special day of rest or re-creation.
It is my wish to avoid mixing cultural matters with cosmic cycles. And I strongly
object to assigning a planet to each day of the week. Such a practice is clearly a case of
cultural matters making cosmic matters meaningless. The planets have absolutely
nothing to do with the days of the week.
2 - 3
2-4. The Seventy-Two Arena Tones
It is possible to devote one’s entire life to a study of the I CHING. The original
book as presented to the west by Helmut Wilhelm (Eng. Translation by C.F. Baynes) is
divided into three parts. The first part explains in sequence the general meaning of each
of the 64 hexagrams (with a “Judgment” and an “Image”) and then explains the specific
meaning of each line or place.
The middle part of the book is called “The Great Treatise” and is an explanation of
the theory, philosophy, and “logic” of the entire system.
The last part is again a sequential explanation of the 64 hexagrams (“Judgments”,
“Images”, and lines) but has as its title “The Commentaries”. These commentaries are
said to be those of the Confucian scholars who later in history went into greater depth
with their explanation of each line and with their analysis of how the trigrams
contribute to the meanings.
It is worth noting that the ancient society that produced the original meanings was
feudal, agrarian, and sexist. Therefore it is often difficult to see how a certain message
can apply to the democratic, urban, and “sexually equal” societies of today. Eventually
we may be able to re-discover the basic natural messages beneath the old cultural
interpretations which now somewhat obscure them.
For the convenience of the reader I have simplified both the general meanings and
the line meanings of the twelve “calendar hexagrams” (Figures 28 A, B, C, D). First
comes a keyword for each sign, then a brief summary of the I-CHING meaning. And
finally there is a very brief one-or-two-sentence message for each of the seventy-two
lines or places. These I call “fortune cookies”. If you find them too brief or too cryptic,
2 - 4
you might want to refer to the original text and come-up-with your own short statement
of meaning. My definitions of these seventy-two lines are still subject to future
improvements. Note that the numbers of the lines or places (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6) now
read from top to bottom rather than from bottom to top. This more convenient
arrangement automatically puts the “lower” trigrams on top and the “upper” trigrams on
the bottom. We will examine the functions of these trigrams more fully later.
Introducing (in the next four pages)
The 72 “Fortune Cookies”
2 - 5
2 - 6
2 - 7
2 - 8
2 - 9
2-5. Body Scanning a Twelve-Hour Journey
A twelve-hour journey occupies half of the Earth's Daye-Nite cycle. This means
each journey has thirty-six steps or arena tones, each lasting twenty minutes [1]. We can
scan these steps or tones properly only by disregarding zone standard time (ZST) and by
using instead the real local time (RLT) of our body’s location. This is easy to calculate
when you know that the “center spine” of each time zone is a multiple of 15°. It is on
each of these time “meridians” that the clocks are set for the entire zone east and west
of the “center spine”. If you live west of your time zone meridian, your body is behind
the legal clock time. If you live east of your time zone meridian, your body is ahead of
legal clock time. To find your body’s real local time (RLT) you must either subtract or
add four minutes of time for each degree of longitude behind or ahead of the time zone
meridian (TZM). See figures 29 A, B, C, D.
Fig. 29A: The four US time zones. The dotted lines above are the center spines of the four U.S. standard
time zones. Let´s call them “time-zone meridians” (TZM).
2 - 10
Zone standard time makes the legal (commercial) clock a liar! Every 15 deg. of
longitude marks the “center spine” of a new time zone. For the western zones (W) each
degree of longitude higher than the time zone meridian number is four minutes behind
the standard-legal (commercial) clock. Each degree lower is four minutes ahead.
Fig. 29B: Time zone meridian (TZM) 120 deg. W. is the “center spine” of zone eight
west (Z 08 W) "Pacific". It runs through Tahoe and reaches RLT NOON about ten minutes
ahead of San Francisco. People in S.F. have their RLT NOON at 12:10 PM by standard time
and at 01:10 PM by daylight savings time (ZST +1). RLT NOON anywhere on Earth is
always at zero degrees A-CAN in our new arena chart.
2 - 11
Fig.29C In western Europe the real local times (RLT) are behind the 15 deg.
East time zone meridian (TZM). In the eastern zones each degree of longitude lower
than the TZM number is four minutes behind the standard clock. Each degree higher
is ahead four minutes. Arnhem, NL (above) is 36 min. behind zone standard time
(ZST). In summer it is 36 min. plus one hour behind the legal (commercial) clock
(ZST +1).
2 - 12
FIG. 29d: Notice that in Manaus, Brazil (exactly on TZM 60ºW) the Legal Zone Time is
the same as the RLT. Four other cities are grouped around TZM 45ºW with the RLT of
Brasilia 12 min. behind; São Paulo 8 min. behind; Salvador 24 min. ahead; and Rio 4 min.
ahead of Zone 3 line.
2 - 13
2-6. The I-CHING Lines
(changing & unchanging)
The sub-title of the I CHING is “The Book of Changes”. People who use it as an
oracle depend on it to advise them about a present situation in their lives and then to tell
them how this present situation will “change” into a future situation. This “changing”
function is based on the idea of “changing lines” which sometimes appear when a
person “builds” a hexagram. There are only four kinds of lines possible as shown in
figure 30.
FIG. 30: The four kinds of lines in the I-CHING system.
2 - 14
2-7. How to Build a Hexagram
(Two methods)
Coin Method
This is a handy, but limited, method of building a hexagram. It means tossing three
small coins (pennies, nickels, or dimes) together six times in order to build the six lines
of a hexagram from the bottom up, as shown in figure 31a.
FIG.. 31a: Heads and Tails Logic. Two alike cancel each other out: read the
third. Three alike changes the line to its opposite, as in FIG. 31b below [2]
FIG. 31b: How the first hexagram transforms into the second hexagram.
2 - 15
Tiles in a Bag Method
This method is more refined than the coin method and provides mathematical
probabilities which are closer to the original odds presented in the ancient (and tedious)
“yarrow stick” method [3]. In a bag are 16 tiles or buttons marked as shown in figure
32.
FIG. 32: Using the sixteen tiles or buttons.
You build the hexagram by pulling (unseen) a tile or button from the bag, recording
it, then putting it back and shaking the bag before pulling another.
2-8. Reading the Changes AA ppeerrssoonn nneevveerr nneeeeddss ttoo rreeaadd tthhee iinnddiivviidduuaall lliinnee mmeessssaaggeess ffoorr tthhee sseeccoonndd hheexxaaggrraamm
((tthhee ““cchhaannggee””)).. RReeaaddiinngg oonnllyy tthhee ““JJuuddggeemmeenntt”” aanndd tthhee ““IImmaaggee”” iiss aaddvviisseedd..
Also a person should read the “Judgement” and the “Image” of the first (the
“build”) hexagram and just some of the changing lines as explained in figure 33.
FIG. 33: How the lines should be read.
2 - 16
2-9.When to Build a Hexagram
People with a long-time familiarity with the I- CHING “Book of Changes” suggest
that a person should not consult the oracle “too often”. Generally, I do not consult it
more than four times in 28 days. I make it a habit to build a hexagram at the exact time
of every moon phase:
New Moon NW MN
First Quarter FQ MN
Full Moon FL MN
Last Quarter LQ MN
I have come to feel that I get very good guidance (encouragements and warnings)
from the hexagrams. They provide a valuable service to my spiritual, social, and
creative professional life. Sometimes I ask (and write down) a specific question, but
mostly I just assume it will “tell” me what I need to know, how well (or not) I’m
spending my energies, and if I have any “blind spots” I need to examine. Never should a
person ask it a question which can be answered yes or no. For that, a mere toss of a coin
will suffice.
2 - 17
2-10. Numbering a Hexagram
Inside the back cover of the I-CHING book is a grid for identifying a hexagram by
number. This grid shows how the eight trigrams combine in upper and lower PRIMARY
positions to make the 64 possible hexagrams as shown in figure 34.
FIG. 34: Table for identifying the hexagram by number.
The three-letter codes above each trigram are abbreviations for verbs which I use to
describe the kinds of movements performed by the trigrams. The original Chinese
names were nouns. See the explanation of these terms in the figure 35 schematic.
2 - 18
FIG.35: Meanings of the Eight Trigrams.
2 - 19
2-11. Nuclear Trigrams Not only are hexagrams composed of upper and lower PRIMARY trigrams. They
also contain upper and lower NUCLEAR trigrams which overlap in the center of the
hexagram as shown in figure 36.
FIG. 36: Explaining the nuclear trigrams.
This means that each hexagram is actually composed of four trigrams. You should
be aware of this when you scan a hexagram. The sequence of trigrams scanned in H11
[LIF (PIS)] is: CLIMB, GATHER, NUDGE, SETTLE as shown in figure 37.
FIG. 37: Naming the four trigrams found in one hexagram.
2 - 20
Part three of “The Book of Changes” (the “Commentaries”) explains in great detail
how these four trigrams contribute to the meanings of the individual lines. It is not
necessary to go into these details now. It's enough to know that each hexagram has four
trigrams at its core and that lines one and six are usually less involved than lines two,
three, four, and five.
Note that our “fortune cookie” list of meanings, (figures 28 A, B, C, D) includes the
verb abbreviations for all four hexagrams found in each “Calendar Hexagram”. Note
also that the trigrams PLUNGE and FLARE are not used in the construction of the
twelve “Calendar Hexagrams” and yet are essential to the construction of the remaining
fifty-two hexagrams (12 + 52 = 64). Figure 38 shows the sequence of the six trigrams as
they appear in the twelve arena signs.
2 - 21
FIG: 38: The progression of trigrams (primary and nuclear) around the Daye-Nite arena.
The two trigrams CLIMB and SETTLE each appear sixteen times. The remaining
2 - 22
four trigrams appear only four times each. The sequence on the yinning side [from BAS
(Can) through HEF (Sag)] is SPREAD, HALT, SETTLE. The sequence on the yanging
side [from JIS (Cap) through POF (Gem)] is NUDGE, GATHER, CLIMB.
Each journey of 36 steps or tones has its own unique YIN/YANG “line count” as
follows:
OUTWARDS (RISKING) 21 YIN 15 YANG
FORWARDS (COOPERATION) 27 YIN 9 YANG
INWARDS (SECURING) 21 YANG 15 YIN
BACKWARDS (COMPETITION) 27 YANG 9 YIN
Both the “sequence” of trigrams and the “line count” totals influence the distinct
meaning of each journey.
22--1122.. RRiigghhtt aanndd WWrroonngg LLiinneess
Further shades of meaning are derived from the idea of LINES which are either
“correct” or “incorrect” for their PLACES. Odd numbered PLACES (P1, P3, P5) are
said to be the “correct” (natural) PLACES for YANG lines; even numbered PLACES
(P2, P4, P6) are said to be the “correct” (natural) PLACES for YIN lines. See figure 39.
2 - 23
FIG. 39: Explaining right and wrong lines.
Note that figure 38 gives the total right and wrong lines for each quadrant. When
we combine two quadrants into a journey, we get an important summary of how many
yin places and how many yang places are right or wrong in that journey, as shown in
figure 40.
FIG. 40: Right and wrong lines found in each of the four journeys.
2 - 24
Also note that each of the 72 “fortune cookie” messages tells whether the LINE (L)
is right or wrong for the PLACE (P), as shown in figure 41.
FIG. 41: Notations of right and wrong lines to be found in the four tables of “fortune
cookie” messages (Figures 28A, B, C & D)
2 - 25
2-13. Conclusion
Starting in the ninth century C.E. the Roman Catholic church prescribed “canonical
hours”, specific times of the day to recite particular prayers or to read certain psalms.
These were written in books called “breviaries”. In some of the Buddhist monasteries
the various hours of the day were marked by the burning of incense with different
odors. These religious practices were observed according to real local (pre-standard)
Sun times and perhaps served a similar function to that of our body scanning of the
double-hour arena signs. The advantage of our I-CHING system is that we now can see
a logical reason to have these different “tones”, “odors”, or messages for the various
parts of the day. And with it we can recommend a new “breviary” which prescribes a
specific meditational message for every 20-minute sector of the 24-hour day!
2 - 26
Chapter II Footnotes 1. While living in Brazil, I discovered that there was a popular “folk” saying that
every 20 minutes an “angel” comes with a new message. Someone suggested
that this concept may have some connection with the numbering system used in
the Mayan calendar. I wonder if this is true. Certainly there could not have been
a systematic way of dividing the Day-Nite hours into 20-minute portions of real
local time until after the invention of accurate “clocks”.
2. There is a tradition in using the coin method which says that "heads" is
yang ( ) and "tails" is yin ( ). I see no reason why a person using this
method cannot decide for himself to call "heads" yin ( = an open mouth )
and call " tails" yang ( = a long rat tail ). It shouldn't matter so long as the
person makes a clear decision about this and then sticks firmly to it.
Followers of Rupert Sheldrake's concept of "morphogenic fields" would
disagree with my "I decide" attitude. Sheldrake argues that there is an invisible
but powerful communal pool of "habitual responses" which dictates the behavior
of not only living organisms but even crystals! This means that it's easier and
more successful for an individual to behave the way most other individuals
behave. For example, it's easier for a novice to learn the traditional (yet
awkward) arrangement of letters on a typewriter keyboard than to learn a new
arrangement of letters which should "logically" make typing easier and faster for
the human hands. Another example: It's easier for a non-Japanese person to
memorize a traditional Japanese poem which already has been memorized by
thousands of Japanese school children than it is to memorize a new Japanese
poem unknown to those children.
If you believe in the innate biological power of repeatedly practiced
traditions, then you probably would feel better calling "heads" yang ( )
2 - 27
and "tails" yin ( ). People who know me won't be surprised at my "I
decide" attitude which tells me it's OK to call "heads" yin ( = open
mouth) and "tails" yang ( = a long rat tail) so long as I'm firmly
consistent in my decision.
3. The “yarrow stick” method is described on page 311 of the Wilhelm/Baynes
text.
2 - 28
CHAPTER III
Two Personal Examples
(A Moon Scan plus a Body Scan)
3-1.Two Personal Examples
(A Moon Scan and a Body Scan)
I wish now to share with my reader two of my own scans: a FORWARD
(COOPERATION) Moon scan and an OUTWARD (RISKING) body scan. See figure 42 below.
PART I
First Half of MN Scan (EVE QUAD)
The FORWARD Moon journey began with the FQ MN, Thursday 22 April ’99 at
09:02 PM. Although it’s my usual practice to build a hexagram at the exact time of a
Moon phase, I was unable at the time of this phase to do so because I was standing “off
3 - 1
stage” in preparation to perform at a birthday celebration. The celebrant (let’s call her
Angela) was just turning thirty. She had asked me (recently retired from theatrical
pursuits) to do a comedy song and dance duo with her which contrasted my advanced
age with hers. I sang:
“You are thirty, going on 40.
I am 70, going on 80.”
Although it was a pleasant experience rehearsing and performing this bit of musical
comedy with her, I am no longer enthusiastic about this kind of theatre. She sang
several solos, and after the “program” part I caught a bus back to the home of my
Holland host (let’s call him Erik). He stayed at the party to help her (his long time “girl
friend”) clean up afterwards.
The bus trip “home” gave me time to reflect on the meaning of the FQ MN that had
just passed. At 03º T-CAX (Leo) the short P1 message is:
“Don´t let others tell you what role you should play.”
This “fortune cookie” definitely set the tone for the two-week FORWARD journey
to come. I was determined to make a break with expectations based on my past
conditioning and to dedicate my energies to a new and different kind of “performance”.
The first half of the FORWARD Moon journey takes place in the EVE QUAD. At
the time of the FQ MN, this is what the EVE quadrant looked like (figure 43 below):
3 - 2
Note how the transitting Moon (Tr-MN) moves through the days of the week. The
ephemeris tells us when the Moon enters a new T-SIGN, but it has no information about
its transit into a new A-SIGN. See figure 42 below:
By the end of the week (Friday, 30 April) the Moon will have reached the end of
the EVE quadrant where it becomes a FL MN as shown in figure 45 below:
3 - 3
When a person scans a quadrant, he must choose whether to think of that quadrant
as the first (beginning) half of one journey or the last (finishing) half of another. I chose
to consider this quadrant to be the first half of a journey FORWARD into the future
ahead (where the arrow point is). I felt encouraged to embrace the total Nite side where
COOPERATION means first taking personal “equality” risks (EVE QUAD) and then
making social decisions aimed at securing improvements in my “society” (DWN
QUAD).
My Holland host, Erik, even though he says he’s not a “typist”, is processing the
text of this book from my handwritten pages to a computer disc. He welcomed the
opportunity because he recently quit his job, so now he has the time and needs the
money. At the time of the FQ MN, he was almost halfway through Chapter I while I
was busy making illustrations (figures) for it.
3 - 4
The week after the birthday party was so stressful for him that he quit typing. By
Tuesday 27 April I had completed the illustrations and told him I was eager to start on
Chapter II. This broad hint didn’t send him back to the keyboard, so I began thinking
maybe I should find a professional to finish the job, even though having him do it here
“in house” makes proof-reading, correcting, and revising much more convenient.
This EVE quadrant invites us to examine the quality of our interpersonal
relationships. A-FES (Lib) asks if we are making clear and fair agreements with others.
Are we treating them as equals, or are we exploiting them? Justice begins in the market
place, and even matters of love and friendships are regulated by ideas of fair exchange.
Bargains are struck, and oral promises, like written contracts, should be kept. Otherwise
disappointments color our relationships. The scales of Libra should balance to benefit
all persons involved in an exchange. Therefore the transit of the Moon (Tr-MN) through
A-FES (Lib) makes a START toward "sharing".
The MIX-sign A-GEX (Sco) goes beyond arbitrated or bartered justice into ideas of
self-sacrifice (letting go of adamant claims, even giving more than we get). The accent
here is on what we make (produce) rather than on what we take (consume). NOX (Tau)
is CLAIMING while its opposite, GEX (Sco), is RELEASING. Sometimes the Moon in
GEX asks us to shed an old skin or mask (self-image) in favor of a new one.
The FINISH sign of the EVE QUAD, A-HEF (Sag), transports us into the wider
world of philosophy and universal tolerance. The rule here is PERMITTING. Hexagram
2 (the “Receptive”) is composed of all YIN lines. The Chinese use the image of the
mare (female horse) which roams the world widely and nurtures all creatures (“good or
evil”!) with her milk. The HEF (Sag) sense of “religion” is ecumenical, is larger than
patriarchal “holy” scriptures or established churches. Local parochialisms are dissolved
by travel across borders. The muscles of mobility (in a whale: the tail, in a person: the
3 - 5
back of the legs) make such travel possible. Both physical and mental horizons are
expanded by broad travel.
The backs of my legs have always been a central feature in my life because
Sagittarius is the Sun sign of my birth (26 Nov ’29). As a child, my favorite “sport” was
roller skating. When I reached college age in 1948, I became a serious student and
performer of dance. Even now in my seventieth year, I call myself a “dancer”, but my
Holland experience now emphasizes long walks and bike trips in nature. However, the
week of the Moon’s transit through the EVE QUAD was unusually full of dance
activities aimed at a future kind of performance more suitable for a person my age than
the “show biz” of my youth. My new “act” is ritualistic (spiritual) and takes place in a
limited area measuring only 2 x 2.50 meters. I dance with the signs and the planets. The
new chart form enables me to know their exact positions around me as I dance. Dancing
in this seemingly limited area is my way of travelling in “space”.
The first dance activity of the week was a Friday-night concert of four creative
works at the EDDC (European Dance Development Center), a school for serious young
artists. I found every work to be excellent and challenging.
The following nite was a bi-monthly “smoke free”, disco-type event promoted by a
friend of mine (call him Paul). Paul’s events, for me, are gymnastic workouts. I always
arrive early, sweat through several shirts, and put my body to various challenges before
the floor gets too crowded. Sometimes I push myself too hard and end-up nursing
stressed muscles and joints. The music makes me forget that healing takes longer at my
age, and this Saturday night event left me with a sore foot which now warns me to be
more cautious next time. I wouldn’t want these “workouts” to disable me from my long
nature walks or from my new “cosmic” dance act.
3 - 6
During Paul’s event I recommended that he see a repeat performance of the EDDC
concert with me the next day, Sunday afternoon. He did, and afterwards commissioned
one of the works to be performed at his next event. Also he expressed interest in my
new act. This, I felt, was part of my “future-focussed” Moon scan. Meanwhile the
chaotic qualities of the EVE QUAD (ending in the deep outer space of RLT MIDN)
began to manifest themselves in a series of inter-personal difficulties which I felt were
“broken promises”. Eric Berne, author of Games People Play, tells us that regardless of
our age, we must be aware that we are three people in one: the child, the parent, and the
adult.
Facing three incidents of “broken promises” in this inter-personal EVE QUAD was
difficult for the child in me, and the parent in me wanted to pass stern judgement on the
three people who disappointed me, but eventually the adult prevailed with an attitude of
understanding and acceptance. So what if my bicycle wasn’t repaired on time? So what
if a day trip to Nijmegen on the queen’s birthday was cancelled, and then a substitute
day trip to Naarden was cancelled. Eventually, my attitude became as follows:
“Fate must be clearing my personal agenda for something better than what I had
planned.”
As it turned out, this attitude was exactly right because when the queen’s birthday
arrived, on Friday 30 April, my calendar was open to an important twelve-hour
OUTWARD body scan on the day of the FL MN (the half-way mark in the two-week,
FORWARD Moon scan).
3 - 7
3-2. PART II
The Half-Way Point
(The Queen’s Birthday Body Scan)
A: Preparation for Body Scan (and for FL MN)
Of course, an OUTWARD body scan begins
at RLT NOON, but I choose to begin forty minutes
earlier so as to benefit from the very special
qualitiy of the P5 A-POF (Gem) 20-min. time slot
beginnng at RLT 11:20 MRN. This YANG line in
a YANG place is not only the ruling line of
hexagram 01, “The Creative” (keyword:
CHOOSING); it is also the most important line or
place in the whole circle of seventy-two! See
figure 46 at the right (Note that I call it “Day
Window”. It´s other name is “Window of Heaven”
My body, sitting in the Sun on a bench facing
south, knows that it has twenty minutes in which
to scan the tone of this A-PLACE. I have often
scanned this P5 POF (Gem) place and have found
it to be the clear window of the day or “day
window” for short. The “fortune cookie” message
for this place reads:
3 - 8
“Inspired by divine guidance, Earth prospers.”
This “Koninginnedag” (Queen's Birthday) is for the Dutch people a yearly, national
holiday, a tribal ritual in a cultural agenda. As an American I am not tuned to this
agenda. I am today tuned to a cosmic agenda: a twelve-hour OUTWARD BODY SCAN
with a FL MN occuring at RLT 03:19 AFT. The legal time of this FL MN event (ZST+1
set at 15º east) will read 04:55 PM.
This FL MN event in the cosmic agenda will occur with the Sun tone at 09º T-NOX
(Tau) 49' and the Moon tone exactly opposite at 09º T-GEX (Sco) 49'. This means the
SN tone (P2 T-NOX) message reads:
“Difficulties abound, but sound no alarm.”
And the FL MN tone (P2 T-GEX) reads:
“Choose survival over attachment.”
The Moon, as I write this sentence (RLT 11:52) is now scanning through the last
part of P2 GEX. See figure 46 above.
There are various “astrological calendars” which list the day-to-day aspects which
the Moon makes to other planets. My Jim Maynard Pocket Astrologer tells me that the
Tr-MN made a conjunction (was in the same sign and degree) with Tr-MS this
morning. Actually the listing of this event in Jim’s calendar was for Thu 29 April at
04:29 PM (zone 8 west). I bought this calendar to use in California, so now that I’m
3 - 9
living in Holland (zone 1 east), I must add nine hours to Jim’s time so as to calculate the
Arnhem time. This means that the event (Tr-MN Tr-MS r, 02º T-GEX) occurred here
at 01:29 am, Fri. 30 April. The RLT is one hour and thirty-six minutes behind the legal
clock, so that means: RLT 12:53 DWN.
I believe that this conjunction left the Tr-MN “charged” or “loaded” with a Mars
tone which still resonates with the P1 T-GEX message as follows:
“Don’t panic at the hint of a loss.”
Reading this message makes me laugh because for a week now I’ve been nursing a
nagging concern about a dental problem which last night made me vow to have a
sensitive crown looked at so as not to run the risk of losing it (“caution” yes; “panic”
no). This P1 T-GEX “don’t panic” message is especially meaningful to me because it
also occurs in my birth-chart as a P1 A-GEX placement of my B-UR in this very EVE
QUAD. See figure 47 below:
FIG. 47
The T-MOS (Ari)-message for this B-UR placement (P2 T-ARI) says:
"Use only the force required; your energy must be saved"
3 - 10
I’ll have more to say about this B-UR placement later in this chapter when today at
RLT 08:10 EVE my body scans it (Tr-BD B-UR). For now it’s enough to note that
the entire sign of MOS (Ari) (and every individual line of H34) warns against excessive
“pushing” of one’s own agenda. To have this special MOS message in the EVE
quadrant is to be warned against having a domineering, insistent attitude in inter-
personal relationships. This T-MOS (Ari)-message combined with the A-GEX (Sco)-
message about fearing a “loss” very well describes a problem I have had all my life in
RISKING COOPERATION with others.
B: Body Scanning End of A-GEM
(MRN QUAD) I’m wearing two watches. The one on my left wrist is set for RLT. The one on my
right gives me the legal time and also will “beep” every twenty minutes as my body
moves from one PLACE to another. It takes two hours for the body to scan an A-SIGN:
an even hour and an odd hour, each hour divided into three 20-minute sectors as shown
in figure 48 below:
3 - 11
After we leave the blessed, heavenly message of P5 A-POF (Gem) we go one step
higher into P6 A-POF (Gem). Here, as in most P6 positions, is a message with a
warning, but this is a very special warning because we find a strong yang line in a weak
yin place:
“Don’t fly too high. Remember your roots.”
It’s very informative to compare this line with its opposite line P6 A-HEF (Sag)
where a weak yin line in a strong yang place gives us the following message:
“The house will fall if the servant tries to rule.”
Somehow I’m reminded of an old song:
Rockabye, baby
In the tree tops.
When the wind blows,
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall.
Down will come baby,
Cradle and all.
As apes, our forebears lived in the tops of trees. Rule number one: don’t fall. Every
baby bird, or ape, or human is designed to leave the nest - eventually, but with cautious
assistance and discipline, to avoid a great fall (physical or social).
3 - 12
C: Body Scan of AFT QUAD
(START of OUTWARD Journey)
1. Scanning P1 A-BAS (Can):
My watch “beeps” again to announce the the arrival of RLT NOON. I pass
immediately from MRN to AFT, and I note with the aid of a compass that the Sun is
directly south of me. Automatically I think of the Moon on the opposite side of the earth
(over the Pacific Ocean) as it approaches the RLT MIDN, FL MN point. Figure 49
below shows how the I- Ching "fortune cookie" messages fit the six RLT watch or clock
sectors of A-BAS (Can).
Note that the first step of the OUTWARDS journey (P1 A-BAS) carries a “weak-
line-in-a-strong-place” warning:
"Limit the selfish child (within and without)."
3 - 13
The entire hexagram (H44) comments on the need for early discipline in the home
“nest”, and P1 declares a need to apply the brakes when a wagon starts its downhill
momentum. We are leaving the bright noon, center pinnacle of power (inside the solar
system) and starting a risky plunge into the infinite chaos of dark space (on the outside)
with its bottomless pit called RLT MIDN.
The OUTWARD-coursing, “behind” side of Earth is the RISKING, YINNING side.
Only fifteen of the 36 lines are yang, and only six of them are in the “right place” (12
are “wrong”) while twenty-one of the 36 lines are yin, and nine of them are in the “right
place” (9 are “wrong”).
Comment: A Matter of Focus (Choice)
I believe that what a person considers to be his “reality” is composed primarily of
what he chooses to focus his attention on. For example, if you are in the habit of
reading the newspaper every morning, your “reality” is colored by the headlines of the
day (as interpreted by the dominant forces in your society). If you are engaged in a
professional or educational program, your “reality” is determined by your focus on the
requirements of such pursuits. Or: if you are the mother of small children, your
“reality” is largely a matter of meeting their daily needs.
A similar situation exists when you choose to scan a quadrant. First of all,
you can choose to focus your attention on its START (of a journey) function or
on its FINISH (of a journey) function. Another choice you have is to focus
attention on the A-SIGNS in the quadrant, or also to focus some attention on the
T-SIGNS.
3 - 14
A further choice exists as regards the transitting planets you might encounter in the
quadrant. You can choose to favor their A-SIGN messages over the T-SIGN messages (or
vice-versa), or you can choose to forge for yourself a kind of “blended” or even
"contradictory" combination of the two messages!
A further choice exists for you if you know the details of your birth chart. You can
then choose to focus your attention not only on the planets which are currently in transit
through the quadrant (Tr-MN, Tr-MC, Tr-VN, etc.) but also on the planets which were in
transit through the quadant at the "frozen moment" of your birth (B-MN, B-MC, B-VN,
etc).
I don't believe it's wise to think of any of these components of a quadrant (A-SIGN,
T-SIGN, Tr-PLANET, or B-PLANET) as having power over lives. I think it is better to
think of them as cosmic resources to draw from in constructing an improved view of our
lives (a new “reality”).
I have already said that I’m choosing to consider today’s scan of the AFT QUAD to
be the START half of the OUTWARD journey. Below I show the reader that I have a
choice of focusing attention on the planets in today’s Tr-CHART (Figure 50) or on the
planets in my B-CHART (Figure 51). I’m choosing to emphasize the Tr-CHART with its
placement of Tr-VN in P3 A-CAX (Leo) and with the point of arrival of my body in P4
A-CAX at the exact time of the FL MN (RLT 03:19 AFT).
If I had chosen to think of the AFT QUAD as the last half of the BACKWARD
journey, I probably would have chosen to focus attention on the planets in my B-
CHART (B-MS in P1 A-BAS (Can) and B-ST in P6 A-BAS). Birth planets in the AFT
QUAD are especially important when you are reaching back into your unconscious
3 - 15
childhood history for clues about the formation of your early IDENTITY. But today my
self-assigned task is to consciously alter my self image (AFT QUAD IDENTITY) so as
to re-define my inter-personal relationships (EVE QUAD: EQUALITY) here in
Holland.
FIG. 50: Transit Chart. Fig. 51: Birth Chart
And what a beautiful day for this task! The sky is blue, the Sun is warm, and almost
everybody is downtown celebrating. For the first time ever, I’m sitting on this bench
located on a south-facing grassy hillside. But the most interesting fact about this bench
is that it is inside a small (8 x 12 meters) kiddie playground surrounded by a metal fence
with a gate. The swings, slide, teeter board, and balance-beam stand unused. This giant
“play pen” is all mine...my new “nest” for my new quest in Arnhem. I’m a child again
in search of a new IDENTITY.
3 - 16
2. Finishing the AFT QUAD Body Scan Of course, every time my watch beeps, I read the message for the next A-BAS
(Can) PLACE and for the T-SIGN PLACE in the year ring surrounding the arena. This I
do with a meditational or reflective attitude. These messages for A-BAS, and
surrounding signs are as follows in figure 52:
FIG. 52: “Fortune Cookie” messages
As I reach P3 A-BAS ("Conflicts vanish and compliance comes."), an elderly lady
passes by my enclosure and comments in Dutch that I have chosen the perfect place to
be on this glorious day. I agree with her and add that I'm the only "child" making use of
the park today.
When my watch beeps again for P4 A-BAS (Can) I read the message:
"Being patient with a child will bring you dividends."
I see a little boy across the street fall down and skin his knees. He cries to his father
who, instead of showing "tolerant guidance...", scolds the boy and makes him not only
hurt but angry and resentful. I reflect on the I-Ching message and think of the traditional
3 - 17
Chinese attitude toward children:
"If you take good care of your children when they are young, they will grow
up to take care of you when you are old." ("...pays dividends.")
Perhaps this is the meaning of the P4 A-BAS (Can) message about taking care of
"the lowly". I can't help but wonder if this little boy when he grows up, will have any
sympathy or willingness to care for this insensitive father in his old age.
However, the major events in this AFT QUAD will occur later when my body scans
A-CAX (Leo). First there will be the conjunction of my body with Venus (Tr-BD Tr-
VN) in P3 A-CAX at RLT 02:47 AFT. The message for P3 CAX is:
"Habitual attachments can hinder retreat."
I'm very much familiar with this A-PLACE and its I-Ching message because the
friend (call him Wim) who disappointed me about today's trip to Nijmegen has his birth
sun in P3 CAX (Leo). As long as I've known him (seven years now) he has had serious
trouble "retreating" (the keyword for CAX) from past conditioning, "old friends" who
influence him negatively, and compulsive rituals of co-dependency. Yet he constantly
talks about pulling-away-from these influences and declaring his independance
(liberty).
Venus in its orbit around the Sun reaches P3 A-CAX (Leo) about two and a half
months (15 April - end July) before it turns retrograde (in the T-SIGNS). Its apparent
direct speed gets slower and slower, but before it gets slower than the Sun's one-degree-
per-day rate, it just barely manages to cross the dotted CRUX LINE into P4 A-CAX
(Leo) (upper trigram) where RETREAT becomes possible and the liberating message is:
3 - 18
"Honest and open retreat surprises others."
This "crossing over into freedom" won't occur this year until around June 1. And
even so, it will stay in P4 A-CAX for only three weeks before it gets slower than the
Sun rate and drifts back across the dotted CRUX LINE into P3 A-CAX again before
actually going retro in the T-SIGN DAF (Vir) 30 July.
I think it's significant to note that Wim's reason for cancelling our planned trip to
Nijmegen today came from an "old friend's" saying to him:
"What? You aren't going to observe the traditions and stick close to home so as
to contact your old friends? After all, that's what our Queen's Birthday is all
about!"
For Wim these traditions are too powerful to ignore, and I firmly believe it's
because of his B-SN placement in P3 T-CAX (Leo). Perhaps when Tr-VN makes its
three-week transit in P4 A-CAX, he will find his "lion's courage" to break away a bit to
freedom.
When my body scans today's Tr-VN position in P3 A-CAX, I am no longer in my
hillside play-pen. I am back home inside after taking a brief afternoon nap (a "siesta"
retreat). At the exact time of this VN scan Erik (who didn't come home last nite) shows
up with Angela and indicates that they too have succumed to the call of tradition by
shopping the Queen's Day free-from-taxes-or-licenses flea market. He says he looked
for me in my breakfast spot around noon so as to make our trip to Nijmegen!
Apparently he had forgotten that we had "agreed" to get started no later than 10:15 am. I
comment briefly that in his absence I have opted to follow a "body scan" today and that
3 - 19
a very important FL MN event will occur soon at 04:24 PM (RLT 02:48 AFT). I excuse
myself and prepare to "build" an I-Ching hexagram for the exact time of the event.
The result of this "build" (using the tiles-in-a-bag method) is hexagram 29
"Plunging In", with no changing lines! This absence of changing lines makes the basic
messages of the "Judgement" and the "Image" very important and powerful, and I'm
pleased to note that I'm encouraged to "go with the flow like water in a ravine",
adjusting to obstacles in my path as I "carry on the business of teaching".
After this FL MN event I return to my child's pen on the south-facing grassy
hillside where I attempt to see Venus even though the Sun has not yet reached the
western horizon. See figure 53 below.
FIG. 53: Note positions of VN & SN
No amount of shading with my hand and dark glasses permits this, but I am
surprised to notice some very faint occasional glints of reflected sunlight on the wings
of a soundless circling glider in the very spot where Venus should be (43° left of the
declining Sun). I'm sure I'm the only person in Arnhem who sees this event (only
because I was looking for Venus in that spot). I find this an amusing "coincidence". It
makes me wonder if the glider is perhaps circling back and forth over the dotted CRUX
LINE between the traditional constraints of P3 A-CAX (Leo) and the "surprising"
3 - 20
liberty of P4 A-CAX. I often get "amusing" incidents like this when using the I-CHING
system.
Later as my body leaves P6 A-CAX and enters P1 A-DAF (Vir), I find myself in a
new environment, a snack bar where I'm eating French fries and doing some detailed
mathematical calculations on Sun and Moon rates of travel. Eventually, I decide to
make my way to the center of town where the celebrating is taking place. On the way I
check to see if Wim is perchance at home. He is! And, instead of re-connecting with old
friends, he is watching Queen's Day celebrations on TV. I soon get a good sample of
how these traditions are working in the major cities of Holland. After forty minutes of
this I excuse myself and continue my drift towards the center of town. My watch
continues to beep every twenty minutes so I can "meditate" on the I-Ching messages.
In-between these meditations I sample various cultural "packages" of celebrants,
mostly high on drugs or alcohol or both. Several groups of musicians are performing;
my favorite is a "family" of African drummers. I drink one short beer as I squeeze
through the crowded streets. Along the way a young lady stops me long enough to spray
my mustache and beard with a small can of fluorescent orange paint. Orange is a
Holland "victory" color. I thank her, but wonder if it will wash-out when I get home.
My final destination is a small lake just outside the "centrum". Here also are many
groups of revelers. Three intoxicated young men across a path from me try to engage
my attention, but I decline and eventually end my AFT QUAD BODY SCAN by
observing one of my "touch" rituals with a favorite old tree growing near the bank of
the small lake. Maintaining a loving contact, I encircle it, moving counter-clockwise
while gazing up into its magnificent branches. Such trees play a big part in my ritual
dance preparations, so I'm very much pleased to re-affirm my connection with one as
my body scans P6 A-DAF (Vir) whose terminal message is as follows:
"It´s from your expert service your place is established."
3 - 21
3. Body scan of the EVE QUAD
I'm going to skim-through the events of this quadrant in a rapid fashion.On my way
back home from my late AFT QUAD sampling of Queen's Day festivities I make a brief
return to the home of Wim so as to show him my orange beard. He pleads with me to
join him later for the after-sunset fireworks display along the Rhine, but I tell him I have
a strong aversion to being pressed on all sides by a crowd of intoxicated celebrants.
When I arrive home, Erik and Angela are also preparing to join the fireworks
crowd. I tell them to be sure to look south after the Sun sets so as to see not only the FL
MN but Venus bright and white in the west and Mars bright and orange in the east, a
rather rare appearance of this inner (VN) and outer (MS) planet combination in the
same panorama. See figure 54 below:
FIG. 54: Looking south after dark
3 - 22
After they leave I continue to meditate on the A-FES (Lib) messages. The only
surprising event occurs at RLT 08:08 EVE as my body scans P1 A-GEX (Sco). A little,
portable radio which was my companion in a recent two-and-a-half-month trip through
Spain turns itself on, plays for eight minutes, and then turns itself off! I cannot explain
why this happens except to recall that I dropped my radio once during my Spanish
sojourn. But the remarkable thing about this quirk is that it occurs at the exact time of
my body's conjunction with the placement of my B-UR. Refer back to figure 47.
Why would the dropping of this radio in Spain (where the real local times are
different from those in Holland) later result in an automatic switch-on and switch-off at
the exact Arnhem time of my P1 A-GEX (Sco) BODY SCAN of my B-UR placement?
Traditional astrologers are fond of associating Uranus with odd electrical occurrences.
Indeed, many of them have commented that the discovery of Uranus by Herschel in
1871 was somehow connected with the then new discovery and early applications of
electricity by Pieter van Musschenbroek in Holland and Benjamin Franklin in America.
[1]
Could the quirky radio be signalling that the planet Uranus has something to tell to
me? It gave me two messages when I was born: one for its T-sign placement P2 T-MOS
(Ari): "Use only the force required." and another for its A-sign placement (P1 A-GEX
(Sco): "Don't panic at the hint of a loss.". Today's Tr-MS is in P1 T-GEX (Sco) as we
have already noted.
But where is transitting Uranus today? It so happens that Tr-UR is in P2 A-MOS
(Ari) "echoing" my B-UR T-sign message: P2 T-MOS (Ari): " Use only the force
required." See figure 47 above.
3 - 23
I feel that once again the I CHING is "amusing" me, but I begin to fathom a more
serious "purpose" beneath the surface "joke" as I look at the P4 T-KIX (Aqu) message
(the current T-SIGN placement of Tr-UR):
"Choose helpers by talent, not superficial alliance."
I reflect that indeed I'm casting-about for a small cadre of assistants to help me
finish this (my new book) and to help me launch my new time-surf dance act. The major
concern of this search at this time is my doubts about Erik's commitment. Since he quit
his job, his major focus has shifted to Angela, and his frequent, unscheduled absences
from the house make communications between us difficult. The "child" in me has begun
to see Angela as someone in competition with me for Erik's attention. This archetypical
"family-nest" scenario has another "amusing" synchronistic manifestation which I
discover the following morning when I am again reminded of my concern about my
teeth ("Don't panic at the hint of a loss."). When I go into the bathroom to brush my
teeth, I discover that my tube of very special desensitizing, fluoride toothpaste is
missing. It later turns-out that Angela has spent the nite with Erik and has mistaken my
toothpaste for hers (the exact same brand!) and has departed early with it.
It's difficult for me to quiet my "child's" rage at this and to graduate through the
judgemental "parent" so as to reach my "adult", reasonable self again. In fact this
rational, clarification process takes two or three days (even after I have accepted the loss
of the toothpaste and have replaced it with a new tube).
I'm not going to continue a detailed description of the final portions of the EVE
QUAD BODY SCAN except to say that before closure of the process I return to my
grassy, south-facing hillside so as to get a nice after-sunset view of the FL MN, Venus,
3 - 24
and Mars display accompanied by the sounds (but not the sights) of the fireworks
display. This is enough of a "show" for a person who today has opted for a cosmic
rather than a cultural connection. [2]
But before I retire (somewhat early at RLT 10:00 EVE) I hastily draw-up a chart for
the final LQ MN event which one week from tonite will mark the completion of the
FORWARD MOON SCAN which began a week ago. Imagine my surprise when I
discover that the end of this FORWARD MOON JOURNEY INTO THE "FUTURE"
finds the LQ MN at 18° T-KIX (Aqu). This is P4 which contains Tr-UR! The message:
"Choose helpers by talent, not superficial alliance."
Apparently, my search for able assistants will continue to be the focus of my
attention throughout the weeks (perhaps years) to follow. Will Erik, in spite of his recent
major focus on Angela "come-through" for me?
My pre-set alarm wakes me just in time to make a formal "ceremonial" closure of
the twelve-hour OUTWARD BODY SCAN at RLT MIDN. I make a wish, eat a banana
and immediately fall back to sleep. It has been a fruitful journey.
D: Moon Scan of DWN QUAD
(finish of FWD JOURNEY) Cultural matters reign supreme in the dawning quadrant. This DWN QUAD is both
the end of the FORWARD JOURNEY and the start of the INWARD JOURNEY. It
starts at the pit of outer-space chaos (RLT MIDN) and ends at the forward-into-the-
future arrow point which is pushing ahead (in its circular yearly journey around the
3 - 25
Sun). It's the six-hour dark before "sunrise". Yang energy increases as this quad is
scanned either by our body (BD ) or by the Moon (Tr-MN). It's the seven-day change
from FL MN to LQ MN. There are 6 yang lines and 12 yin lines. Four of the yang
places are "correct" (5 "incorrect") and 7 of the yin places are "correct" (2 "incorrect").
This quadrant, of course, is divided into three signs: START JIS (Cap), MIX KIX
(Aqu), and FINISH LIF (Pis). See figure 55 below:
FIG. 55 The task of the DWN QUAD in Neo-Darwinism terms is to construct a secure (safe
at "nite"), tribal, cooperative matrix or "seed bed" for the successful propulsion of new
life forms into the future and into their individual, prosperous "Place in the Sun". I like
to stress the function of this quadrant and the subsequent MRN QUAD in terms of
plant-life forms. The DWN QUAD represents the "root systems" of the society.
Forward-thrusting, cooperative institutions and firmly "grounded" corporations make
viable "green wombs" possible.
The eight-fold division of the arena places the dotted CRUX LINE at 15° A-KIX
(Aqu). The first eighth sector is TRUSTING society; the last eighth sector is
REFORMING society. Individual people “invest” their energies and tax money into the
3 - 26
group efforts and are in turn “invested” with corporate power. It all starts with the
PLEDGING of allegiance to the group in A-JIS (Cap), develops into improvements by
PROMOTING talented newcomers (and new ideas) via the ethical (equal opportunity)
standards of A-KIX (Aqu). These improvements result in the miracle of "the peaceful
unification (fusion) of heaven and earth" in A-LIF (Pis). This is the center of our body's
water system (especially in the female) and the ultimate oceanic well-spring of all life
on Earth. What started with the "sure footing" JIS (Cap) foundations becomes corporate
investment in "sure births" LIF (Pis) "seed beds". These births need not be actual flesh
and blood entities; they can also be "children of our creative efforts" engendered with
the support of a society of others. In this sense my children are this book and my new
"Time Surf Dance Act".
Again, as in the case of scanning the AFT QUAD or the EVE QUAD, I'm faced
with choosing whether to put my focus on A-SIGNS or on T-SIGNS, on birth planets or
on transitting planets. These choices are illustrated in the two chart quadrants of figure
56 below:
FIG.56
3 - 27
The DWN-QUAD-MN-SCAN week starts with a warm but slow Saturday. Again
my promised bicycle-repair is not ready, and there is still no chance to communicate
with Erik, except to tell him about my missing toothpaste. Sunday morning finds my T-
MN in my B-SIGN, HEF (Sag). I install some slatted window blinds and see a movie in
the local art-film house. The Tr-MN conjunction takes place at 05:31 am (legal time)
Monday morning. I get busy with a trip to the laundromat, call my daughter in
California, finally get my bike out of the repair shop and put it in Wim's shed, and start
writing Chapter IV. It's a good "take-care-of-business" day.
My resolution of the "Erik-as-able-assistant" question doesn't start until the Tr-MN
reaches P6 T-HEF (Sag) when I decide to write a note to Erik asking him please to
finish typing Chapter I as soon as possible. Thinking him to be out of the house, I go
downstairs to put the note on his work table, but I'm surprised to find him and Angela
just arriving. I make my "visit" very short and depart feeling like an intruder, but hoping
for his eventual cooperation with me in fostering the birth of this book. In the meantime
I'm busy writing Chapter IV. For this task I'm encouraged by the memory of my Queen's
Day FL MN I Ching, H 29 "Plunging In" which told me that I can overcome obstacles
by "behaving correctly", and that sincerity and confidence will allow me to "plunge
into a new course of action". I am exhorted to "keep going forward like water flowing
toward its goal in a restrictive ravine":
"Walk in lasting virtue and carry on the business of teaching."
(Be consistent and keep repeating your message.)
By Wed. 04 May the Tr-MN is in T-JIS (Cap), conjunct my B-PL. I rent some
time in a dance studio where I begin to work on my dance act. Angela again appears at
the house with Erik. She thanks me for my recent birthday gift and comments on my
early departure from her party after our song and dance duo. There's no mention of my
3 - 28
missing toothpaste, so I know that Erik has not yet told her of her mistake. Erik says
that again we must cancel our rescheduled trip to Naarden tomorrow (Thursday)
because "It's going to rain all day".
This cancellation proves to be a blessing because after a nite of nagging tooth pain
I'm able to get a same-day appointment with my dentist who solves my problem
immediately. Meanwhile, Erik puts his rainy Thursday to good use by devoting several
hours towards finishing the typing of Chapter I so that by Friday 01 May I have several
pages to proof-read and return to him for improvements. By the 06:08 PM conjunction
of Tr-MN with Tr-NP I'm feeling very positive about the P1 T-KIX (Aqu) message:
"Give and take assistance. Be correct."
And by Saturday 08 May I'm beginning to see that, indeed, Erik and I are
cooperating fully in delivering the first chapter into the course of the future. In fact there
comes a miraculous, successful birth as he comes up to my room with two completely
corrected copies of the entire Chapter I, just five minutes before the event of the LQ MN
at 07:29 PM, the end of the two-week FORWARD MN SCAN! I "build" an I-Ching
hexagram (using the tiles-in-a-bag method) which results in the advice shown below in
figure 57:
FIG. 57
3 - 29
I am totally delighted with these hexagrams, especially with the "change" (H16)
which has been my favorite for the last six years here in Arnhem. It's called
"Enthusiasm", but my own title for it is "Religious Theatre" because it describes the role
of ritual, ceremonial dance, music, and pantomime (drama) in bringing together the
spirits of the people and reminding them of their ancestral roots. Confucius placed great
value on these ceremonial "performances", and it has long been my deeply felt goal to
graduate from "show biz" into just such ritual theatre as described in this hexagram.
This H16 becomes an important sign-post for the road ahead in the next two
months as I continue, not only to improve my working relationship with Erik (and get
my toothpaste back), but to find several other able assistants who help me put together a
performance of my "Time Surf Dance Act" as a wedding-party celebration ceremony in
the largest room of the Velp art museum. These new assistants include a sensitive dance
instructor, a creative composer, and my own talented son who arrives from California in
time (the day before his birthday) to rehearse and to play the role of the Sun (with
powerful flashlight) during the ceremony.
True, there were many obstacles along the way (the usual misunderstandings that
result when creative new ideas lock horns with established cultural customs), but
continuing perseverance and quiet resolve eventually result in success. "Flow like water
in a cautious ravine."
3-3. In Retrospect
I consider the FORWARD MN SCAN combined with the Queen's Day OUTWARD
BODY SCAN to have been the "open sesame" of my entry into a bright new future as
"father" of two healthy brain children: this book and the "Time Surf Dance Act".
3 - 30
Notes to Chapter III
[1] Franklin's kite experiment and his invention of the lightning rod came thirty years
before the discovery of Uranus, but other remarkable discoveries and inventions
were being made simultaneously (James Watt's double-acting rotary steam engine
and the first artificial insemination of an animal) in 1780. This year also marked
the end of the American revolution.
[2] The current location of Tr-MS at 02° T-GEX (Sco) puts it at about RLT 11:32
which, when added to 1 hr. 36 min. (SZT + 1 correction) makes the legal clock
time 01:08 am (Mon. 01 May). My body had earlier decided to sleep through this
event. But apparently the P1 GEX (Sco) "Don't panic…" message operated
without requiring my wakeful attention.
3 - 31
