The Tao in the Tarot
Page 17
Line 2 of Hex. 19 reads:
All approach – good fortune! Nothing is unfavourable.
Note from Blofeld:
All approach can be taken to mean that all things desirable are converging upon us.
Line 4 of Hex. 19 reads:
A perfect approach – no error!
In Hexagram 51, Arousing Thunder (Strength) lines 3 and 4 are moving to create Hexagram 36, Darkening of the Light, Injury (The Hermit).
Line 3 of Hex. 51 reads:
Thunderous impetuosity – to emulate it at this time will not give rise to harm.
Note from Blofeld:
The Superior Man usually acts calmly and carefully, but there are times when impetuosity serves a good purpose or, at the very least, does no particular harm.
As the first step of the psychological path, or the second octave, one needs some impetuosity to start the undertaking.
Line 4 of Hex.51 reads:
After the thunderstorm, the paths are muddy.
The commentary on this says it implies muddled thinking, but I would interpret it more literally in this context as a warning that this road out of the Material Sequence and into the Psychological Sequence will be one that is difficult and hard to tread.
In Hexagram 51, Arousing Thunder (Strength) a moving line 3 alone (without a moving line 4 – see previous paragraph) creates Hexagram 55, Abundance (The Wheel of Fortune)
Line 3 of Hex. 51 reads (as above):
Thunderous impetuosity – to emulate it at this time will not give rise to harm.
As before, one needs some ‘bottle’ to start out on the psychological path, or the second octave.
Hexagram 52, Stilling (Justice) is the opposite of the hexagram for the previous combination card, Hexagram 51, Arousing Thunder (Strength). It would also develop from Hexagram 55, Abundance (The Wheel of Fortune) if lines 1, 4 & 6 are moving lines.
Line 1 of Hex. 55 reads:
On meeting a prince of equal rank, though (he accepts hospitality for) ten days, he is not at fault – progress is made in winning respect!
This implies a need for finding or associating with people of our own worth.
Line 4 of Hex. 55 reads:
So great is the obstruction that the midday sun appears to him as a tiny star. Meeting a prince of equal rank – good fortune!
He must appreciate that he really is up to the task ahead for only then will equal-minded people help him.
Line 6 of Hex. 55 reads:
There is abundance in his dwelling and a wall around his house; yet, peering through the gate, he sees no one …
There is a need for turning away from the abundant riches described in Hex. 55; a requirement for the moderation needed to develop the balance and equanimity of Hexagram 52, Stilling (Justice/Balance).
Hexagram 52, Stilling (Justice) can equally be reached from Hexagram 36, Darkening of the Light, Injury (The Hermit) where lines 1 and 6 are moving:
Line 1 of Hex. 36 reads:
Failure of the light during his progress through the sky caused him to lower his wings. When busy with affairs, the Superior Man may go without food for three days on end, so intent is he on reaching his goal; but his lord will have something to say about this.
Here we have the ascetic who is overdoing it and needs to return to a more normal way of life.
Line 6 of Hex. 36 reads:
Nothing to lighten the darkness! Having once climbed to heaven, he later descended to earth.
Again, everything that could be taken from the situation has been achieved and it is time to move on from the extremes of asceticism. His own small light is going down – he needs to move on.
In Hexagram 52, Stilling (Justice/Balance) lines 1, 4, 5 & 6 are all moving lines if it is to move on to Hexagram 49, Revolution, Moulting (The Hanged Man).
Line 1 of Hex. 52 reads:
Stilling the toes – no error. Unwavering persistence in a righteous course brings advantage.
Line 4 of Hex. 52 reads:
Stilling the body – no error. COMMENTARY Stilling the body means stilling the whole self.
Line 5 of Hex. 52 reads:
Stilling the jaws. Since his words are well ordered, he ceases to have (cause for) regret.
Line 6 of Hex. 52 reads:
The highest form of stillness – good fortune! COMMENTARY He achieves this in order to win greater benefit in the end.
Although 4 of the 6 lines are moving this is hardly surprising in a hexagram denoting stillness – otherwise we would not be going anywhere! Each of these moving lines is beneficial and moves us easily on to Hexagram 49, Revolution, Moulting (The Hanged Man).
In Hexagram 52, Stilling (Justice) line 2 (only) is moving to create Hexagram 18, Decay (Death).
Line 2 of Hex. 52 reads:
Stilling the calves [of the legs]. His heart is sad because he is unable to save his followers.
From Wilhelm’s translation and comments we get the idea that a leg cannot move independently from the body; similarly a subordinate has to follow his leader. Hence, in this instance we must move towards our death whether we like it or not. We must follow our Tao. The line indicates extreme restlessness, but it is correctly placed. It also indicates partings.
We should note that it is at this point that Hexagram 25, Wu Wang, The Unexpected aspect of the Fool as Joker could be inserted because it is made up of the Nuclear Trigrams of Hexagram 18, Decay (Death) and Hexagram 49, Revolution, Moulting (The Hanged Man). However, if we try to find suitable moving lines in either of these hexagrams (lines 3 & 6 in Hex. 49, and/or lines 1,2,3,4 & 5 in Hex. 18) to move us into Hexagram 25, it does not work at all. The lines of Hex. 49 imply a danger of too much haste, and one has the impression of the Joker being waved in front of you, but someone saying, “It won’t do you any good at this moment in time. You don’t have enough cards in your hand”! We must continue around the circle.
Hexagram 57, Gentle Penetration (Temperance) is made up of the lower trigram sun in Hexagram 18, Decay, doubled. Or it would be created if line 5 of Hexagram 18 is a moving line.
Line 5 of Hex. 18 reads:
Assuming responsibility for the mistakes of our fathers will win us praise. COMMENTARY Because to take them upon ourselves is a virtue.
In Richard Wilhelm’s translation he comments:
This line is central, in the place of honour, and yielding, hence very well fitted for rectifying mistakes of the past with forbearance, yet energetically.1
Hexagram 57, Gentle Penetration (Temperance) is also reached from Hexagram 49, Revolution, Moulting (The Hanged Man) with moving lines 1, 2, 4 & 6 as follows:
Line 1 of Hex. 49 reads:
For strength use yellow oxhide. COMMENTARY (Such aids to strength are necessary … )
Line 2 of Hex. 49 reads:
On the day the revolution is completed, to advance brings good fortune and is free from error. COMMENTARY This line presages great blessings.
Line 4 of Hex. 49 reads:
Regret vanishes and confidence is established. A change of government brings good fortune.
Line 6 of Hex. 49 reads:
The Superior Man brings about the change like a leopard and lesser men promptly switch their allegiance. To advance now brings misfortune. Righteous persistence brings good fortune to those who remain where they are. COMMENTARY The Superior Man brings about the change ‘like a leopard’ means that he does so in a manner that is exceedingly graceful…
Taken all in all again we should not be surprised to find so many moving lines in a hexagram entitled ‘Revolution,’ and so close to the middle of our journey.
In Hexagram 57, Gentle Penetration (Temperance) lines 2, 3 & 4 are moving to create Hexagram 12, Stagnation, Obstruction (The Devil/Lucifer).
Line 2 in Hex. 57 reads:
Crawling below the bed. He employs the services of a disorderly rabble of diviners and wizards – good fortune and no error!
Line 3 in Hex. 57 reads:
Repeated submission �
� shame!
Line 4 in Hex. 57 reads:
Regret vanishes! Three kinds (of game) are caught in the field. COMMENTARY The second sentence augurs concrete results.
Hardly surprisingly, these lines which lead us to the Devil would seem to be leading us down the wrong path, yet lines 2 and 4 augur well. It is a path we have to follow whether we like it or not. Somehow we have to find our way through and we will discover it is a very important route.
In Hexagram 57, Gentle Penetration (Temperance) moving lines 4 & 5 create Hexagram 50, A Sacrificial Vessel/Cauldron (The Tower).
Line 4 in Hex. 57 reads (as before):
Regret vanishes! Three kinds (of game) are caught in the field. COMMENTARY The second sentence augurs concrete results.
Line 5 in Hex. 57 reads:
Persistence in a righteous course brings reward; regret vanishes, and everything is favourable! A poor beginning, but a good end!
To arrive at Hexagram 58, Tui The Joyous (The Star) lines 1, 3, 5 & 6 (all of which are auspicious) in Hexagram 50, A Sacrificial Vessel/Cauldron (The Tower) would need to be moving. It could also be reached from Hexagram 12, Stagnation, Obstruction (The Devil/Lucifer) with lines 1, 2 & 6 moving, all of which are also fairly auspicious.
Line 6 of Hex. 12 reads:
Stagnation (obstruction) has now been overcome and is followed by great joy! [‘Great Joy’ (two conjoined tui trigrams) make up the hexagram to which we are moving so it is very appropriate]. COMMENTARY In the end it MUST be overcome. How could it endure for ever?
Blofeld’s note:
The process of change is continuous. This is the last line, which is held to have emerged from the evil symbolized by the hexagram as a whole.
The main text shows us there is really no need to find a connection between the previous hexagram(s) and Tui for the Star because the Star appears out of nowhere, unexpectedly and unexplained. Also, if we look back to The Hierophant, which stands in the same relative position on the circle in the outward journey, we are reminded that Hex. 11, Peace, did not occur by changing lines but by unchanged trigrams from the previous two hexagrams: Hex. 7, The Army (Empress) and Hex. 14, Great Possessions (Emperor). Here, for Hexagram 58, The Joyous (The Star), we do not find an identical situation, but the trigram Tui is found as the upper nuclear trigram in Hexagram 30, Brilliant Beauty (The Sun) which follows it, and in Hexagram 50, A Sacrificial Vessel/Cauldron which precedes it, and as the lower nuclear trigram in Hexagram 57, Stilling for the previous combination card (Temperance), as well as in Hexagram 18, Decay (Death). Prior to that, it is the upper trigram in Hexagram 49, Revolution, Moulting. So all I can say is that there is a lot of Tui (Joy) about!
In Hexagram 58, The Joyous (The Star) lines 1,2, 4 and 5 are moving to create Hexagram 29, The Abyss (The Moon).
Line 1 in Hex. 58 reads:
Harmonious joy – good fortune! COMMENTARY This indicates our being able to act without being troubled by doubts.
Line 2 in Hex 58 reads
Confident joy - good fortune and absence of regret! COMMENTARY This implies exerting our will with complete confidence.
Line 4 in Hex. 58 reads:
Calculating (future) joys, he is restless and suffers from various small ills, yet he is happy. COMMENTARY There will be happiness (in spite of all this foolish anxiety) because blessings will be received.
Line 5 in Hex. 58 reads:
Faith in what is disintegrating leads to trouble. COMMENTARY However, this line is suited to its position (hence the trouble will hardly amount to much).
Hexagram 30, Flaming Beauty (The Sun) is the opposite of Hexagram 29, The Abyss (The Moon), so all the lines in Hex. 29 would have to be moving to change it to Hex. 30. Surprisingly, we find that Hexagram 30 will develop quite naturally from Hexagram 12, Stagnation, Obstruction (The Devil/Lucifer) with lines 2, 4 and 6 moving.
Line 2 of Hex. 12 reads:
Because they (know how to) please the authorities, fortune now favours the mean, but the Superior Man prefers to contend with (the causes) of stagnation (in the realm).
Note from Blofeld:
He cares for the welfare of others more than for being in favour.
Line 4 of Hex. 12 reads:
Whatever is done in response to a command from on high cannot be a wrong. His companions are also made illustrious and blessed.
Line 6 of Hex. 12 reads (as before):
Stagnation (obstruction) has now been overcome and is followed by great joy. COMMENTARY In the end it MUST be overcome. How could it endure for ever?
Note from Blofeld:
The process of change is continuous. This is the last line, which is held to have emerged from the evil symbolized by the hexagram as a whole.
Perhaps we should not be so surprised to find Hexagram 30, Flaming Beauty (The Sun) developing directly from Hexagram 12, Stagnation, Obstruction (The Devil/Lucifer) because if we look across the circle (Figure10 ) we see it is in the same situation (but in reverse as we are on the return cycle) as the Charioteer developing from the Emperor. Here the Sun lies parallel to the Emperor and the Devil lies parallel to the Charioteer. Also, there is a connection between the Devil as Lucifer, the light-carrier, and the Sun, the light-bringer. Lines 1, 2, 4 & 6 have all moved, guided en route by the Star. This is our Elite Traveller, our mythical Hero, following his guiding star along the Way towards his Holy Grail (see main text).
In Hexagram 30, Flaming Beauty (The Sun) a moving line 5 leads us to Hexagram 13, Universal Brotherhood (Judgement/Enlightened).
Line 5 in Hex. 30 reads:
His tears streamed forth as though to extinguish his piteous sighs – good fortune!
Taken in context, this moving line seems very appropriate as the tears of compassion shed by the goddess Kuan Yin who looks down on the sorrows of the world. (This is further expanded in the main text of Part 2).
In Hexagram 29, The Abyss (The Moon) moving lines 2, 4 & 5 lead us to Hexagram 16, Enthusiastic Repose (The World Dancer).
Line 2 in Hex. 29 reads:
Danger lurks within the abyss; only in small matters can he obtain what he desires. COMMENTARY Though he obtain these trifles, he remains within the abyss.
In Richard Wilhelm’s translation, he comments:
This line is strong and central and could therefore of its own nature accomplish something great. But it is still hemmed in by danger, hence there is nothing to be done. And its strength lies in the very fact that it does not seek the impossible but knows how to adapt itself to circumstances.2
Line 4 of Hex.29 reads:
A flagon of wine and a bamboo food basket – both … To the very end he remains free from blame.
In Richard Wilhelm’s translation he comments:
… The whole is conceived as a simple sacrifice … Despite its simplicity, the sacrifice is accepted, because the attitude is sincere. The fourth line is in the relationship of holding together with the upper ruler of the hexagram – hence the close relationships that can dispense with ceremonious outer form.3
Here again we are reminded of the close relationship between the moon and the sun. The sacrifice is given by the moon to the sun.
Line 5 of Hex. 29 reads:
The abyss is not filled to the brim; (the flowing water) maintains its level – no error!
Line 5 is the ruler of the hexagram and represents water that finds its own level (in a pool, for instance) then flows on. This is the Holy Grail, the pool of water still as a mirror, sitting in the heart of the Moon in which the Sun glimpses his own face.
Appendix 2
A Comparison between the Major Arcana cards of the Tarot with selected Hexagrams from the I Ching
It should be noted that the choice of hexagrams is entirely my own and has nothing to do with the individual numbering, which has been altered several times over the centuries within the I Ching. The order denoting the relationship to the Tarot cards depends on the harmonious moving lines which change one hexagram to another. A full explanation of my method
of working can be found in Appendix 1.
Appendix 3 lists the hexagrams and the names given to them by the translators and shows where in some cases (as in hexagram 25 for the Fool) I have felt it necessary to combine the two translations.
It will be noted, that some of the Tarot names are slightly altered or supplemented, the reason for which becomes obvious within the theme of the book.
Appendix 3
The names and descriptions of the I Ching Hexagrams used in the present work are taken from a study of the translations of John Blofeld and Richard Wilhelm. Blofeld’s translation has been used primarily, but where Wilhelm would seem to add something to the ideas, his translation has been incorporated. Hexagrams made from double trigrams are listed first.