h Phoenix Qi: March 2008

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Yarrow Stalk Method of Generating an I Ching (Yijing) Hexagram

Begin with 50 stalks/sticks. Set one stalk off to the side in an upright (vertical) position. This is symbolic of the connection between Earth and Sky. Set a second stalk across the first one in a horizontal position, forming an equal-armed cross. This is symbolic of Man between Earth and Sky.

1 Take the remaining 48 stalks and divide them into two roughly equal piles in front of you, one on the left, the other on the right.















2 Take one stalk from the pile on the right side and hold it between the small finger and ring finger of your left hand (you may use your right hand for holding stalks if you are left-handed).

3 From the pile on the left side, count off the stalks in groups of four, setting these aside, until you have 4 or fewer stalks remaining. Hold this group of four or fewer between the ring finger and the middle finger of your hand.















4 Turn to the pile of stalks on the right, and count off until you have four or fewer left. Hold this group of four or fewer between the middle and index finger of your hand.

5 How many stalks are you holding in your hand? Counting in this way can have only two results: you will be holding a total of 4 or 8 stalks between the fingers of your hand. If you have a value other than four or eight, you've made a mistake and need to recount.















6 Set aside this batch of four or eight stalks. You will come back to them soon.














Pick up your pile of discarded stalks and repeat steps 1 through 6 two more times. You will have three small piles of either 4 or 8 stalks each.



























Give the numeric value 3 to piles of four stalks.

Give the numeric value 2 to piles of eight stalks.

Add together the values for the piles of stalks (you will notice that even totals generate a Yin line, odd totals generate a Yang line):


If you have a value of six (2+2+2, or three piles of eight stalks), draw a Changing Yin (broken) line. - -c


If you have a value of seven (2+2+3, or two piles of eight stalks, one pile of four stalks), draw a Yang (unbroken) line. ---


If you have a value of eight (2+3+3, or one pile of eight stalks, two piles of four stalks), draw a Yin (broken) line. - -


If you have a value of nine (3+3+3, or three piles of four stalks), draw a Changing Yang (unbroken) line. ---c


This completes the first line (the bottom line) of your hexagram.


Beginning at number 1 above, repeat all the above steps until you have completed six lines. (At that time, you may gather together all fifty stalks and return them to their container.)


When finished, you will have a figure that looks something like this:

Line 6 - - Yin line

Line 5 --- Yang line

Line 4 ---c Yang line Changing to Yin

Line 3 --- Yang line

Line 2 --- Yang line

Line 1 - -c Yin line Changing to Yang

Look up your hexagram in your favorite book; read the advice section that discusses the hexagram as a whole and the section(s) that correspond to any changing lines. If you have changing lines, redraw the figure with the lines changed (Yin to Yang or Yang to Yin), and look up the second hexagram. Read the advice section, but not the changing line sections. In the above example, you would read the advice for hexagram 28 and lines 1 and 4, and hexagram 5.

Line 6 - - to - -

Line 5 --- to ---

Line 4 ---c to - -

Line 3 --- to ---

Line 2 --- to ---

Line 1 - -c to ---

Hexagram 28 to 5

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Planetary Hours and Days





















Many people are familiar with the fact that the days of the week are named after the Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic gods and goddesses: Sunday for Sunna, Monday for the Moon, Tuesday for Tiw, Wednesday for Woden, Thursday for Thor, Friday for Frigg or Freya, and Saturday for the Roman god Saturn.

However, how those days were chosen in the order we have today may be somewhat of a mystery. The article below will, no doubt, clear up a good part of that mystery!

Planetary Hours and Days by Christopher Warnock, Esq.

The planetary hours use the Chaldean order to divide time. Each planetary hour of the planetary day is ruled by a different planet. The planet that rules the first hour of the day is also the ruler of the whole day and gives the day its name. Thus the first hour of Sunday is ruled by the Sun, the first hour of Monday is ruled by the Moon and so on.

Planetary Hours of the Day

Hour

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

2

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

3

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

4

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

5

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

6

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

7

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

8

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

9

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

10

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

11

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

12

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Planetary Hours of the Night

Hours

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

2

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

3

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

4

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

5

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

6

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

7

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

8

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

9

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

10

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

11

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

Mercury

Jupiter

12

Mercury

Jupiter

Venus

Saturn

Sun

Moon

Mars

However, the planetary hours are not the same as the sixty minute hours beginning at midnight that we use for normal timekeeping. The planetary days are divided into twenty four planetary hours with the first hour of the day beginning at sunrise and the last hour of the day ending at sunrise of the next planetary day. The period that extends from sunrise to sunset (daylight) is divided into twelve hours and the period extending from sunset to sunrise of the next day (nighttime) is also divided into twelve hours giving the twenty four hours of the planetary day.

Accordingly, as the duration of daylight and darkness varies except at the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes, on a particular planetary day the length of the hours of the day will differ from the length of the hours of the night. Thus another name for the planetary hours, says William Lilly, the renowned English astrologer, is the unequal hours. Christian Astrology, [London, 1647] page 482.

The Planetary Hours and the Names and Sequence of the Days of the Week

As Lilly notes there are seven days of the week and seven planets and each planet rules or is lord of, one day: Sunday, the Sun; Monday, the Moon; Tuesday, Mars; Wednesday, Mercury; Thursday, Jupiter; Friday, Venus; and Saturday, Saturn. William Lilly, Christian Astrology, p. 482. The origin of the names of the days are explicitly planetary in medieval Latin: dies dominici (Sunday, the lord's day), die Lune, die Martis, die Mercuri, die Jovis, die Veneris, die Saturni. In English the Teutonic equivalents of the Greek and Latin gods have been used for some of the names of the days, i.e. Tuesday is Tiw's day, the Teutonic god of war; Wednesday is Wotan's day; Thursday is Thor's day; Friday is Frigg's day.

As we can see the sequence and names of the days of the week are not in the Chaldean order, but nevertheless the sequence and names of the days of the week are closely connected to the Chaldean order. Two processes interact to produce the sequence of the days of the week: (1) the fact that the planetary hours follow the Chaldean order and; (2) the fact that the planet that rules the first hour of each day rules the whole day and gives the day its name.

Figure One [at the top of this article] is the standard diagram of the planets arranged in a circle in the Chaldean order. Starting with the Sun and then following the order of the days of the week and their planetary rulers, i.e. Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, produces a seven pointed star, the heptagram of the week.