The hexagrams of the I Ching form symbolic images of the equinoxes and solstices.
The author has assigned the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching to the 24 solar periods (See weblog from Oct 17 to Nov 06, 2010!)Thus the 64 hexagrams represent two years and eight months. The hexagram with an odd atomic number is the partner of the following hexagram with an even atomic number. These pairs of hexagrams represent the equinoxes, solstices and the beginnings and ends of the four seasons.
A hexagram can be represented graphically. Further down this is done for the hexagrams of the equinoxes, solstices, early spring and early winter. A hexagram is made up of two trigrams. These two trigrams are in the circle of the Early Heaven connected by a straight line. This line is a picture of the hexagram. On the straight line, representing a hexagram, the atomic number of the hexagram is attached in the vicinity of the trigram, which has its place at the bottom of the hexagram. A hexagram, consisting of two identical trigrams, is represented by a circle around the corresponding trigram. Drawing the images of the hexagrams for the equinoxes, solstices, early spring and early winter results in the following emblems:
The graphical representations of the hexagrams of the equinoxes and solstices show the following: The equinoxes are preferably represented by horizontal lines, because then day and night are of equal length and are balanced. Of the six possible horizontal lines four belong to the equinoxes. At the solar periods of the summer solstice the lines preferably extend upward in the direction of the trigram heaven and back. They thus represent the peak of the annual solar cycle, the sun reaches at the summer solstice. Afterwards the path of the sun is going down again. At the solar periods of the winter solstice the lines preferably extend downward toward the trigram earth and back again. Thus they represent the lowest level of the sun at winter solstice. Afterwards the path of the sun is going up again. To the summer solstice Yang dominates with 26 (continuous) lines. Yin has only 10 (broken) lines. For the winter solstice Yin dominates with 14 lines. Then Yang has only 10 lines. Early spring, like the summer solstice, has many Yang-lines (22), Yin has few lines (14). In the emblem of early spring one line runs up to the trigram heaven and one line back, forming an open triangle, as well as in the emblem of the summer solstice. In the emblem of early winter one line runs down to the trigram earth and one line back, forming an open triangle, as well as in the emblem of the winter solstice. Between early spring and early winter are laying nine months, between summer solstice and winter solstice only six. The months between early spring and early winter, the vegetation period, is thus emphasized. The vegetation period was in old China, an agricultural country, of great importance. In the emblem of early spring two lines run from the top to the trigram fire at the left; to the winter solstice two lines run from the bottom to the trigram fire, symmetrically to the two lines above. The trigram fire represents inter alia the fire of the sun. The coming together of these four lines should probably say, that without the return of the sun to the winter solstice, there would be no spring-time.
Each of the 64 hexagrams of the I-Ching consists of two trigrams, of which there are 8. The 8 trigrams represent inter alia Elements of nature processes. In a figurative sense, they mean a lot of other things.Trigram Heaven for example is the Creative, Dynamic and Strong, trigram Earth the Receptive, Adaptive and Yielding.
