The hexagram pairs of Great Harmony form the old pictogram „Residence of Mankind“! They summon harmony for the earth!
In the last blog hexagram pairs of harmony were defined. Hexagram pairs of harmony compensate the “imbalance of Yin and Yang”.
Yin and Yang are balanced in a hexagram pair when each of the six places of the two hexagrams is occupied by a Yin line and a by a Yang line. The two hexagrams that do this, commonly referred to as complementary. To be a hexagram pair of harmony the two hexagrams must also belong to the same pair group. The ordinal numbers of the two hexagrams can be further apart, but they can also follow one another directly. If the complementary hexagram with an even atomic number follows the hexagram of the preceding odd atomic number, then I call such a hexagram pair a hexagram pair of Great Harmony. Such a hexagram pair is not only a couple, because they are balancing yin and yang on each of its six places and they are belonging to the same pair group, but they also form a pair due to their ordinal numbers. An example for this is the hexagram pair 29/30.
The following table shows the eight hexagram pairs of Great Harmony. At the same time the table shows the solar periods, which are represented by these hexagram pairs:
|
Table The eight Hexagram Pairs of Great Harmony |
|
| Hex. 11) Peace | 11 End of Summer |
| 12) Stagnation | 12 End of Summer |
| 17) Following | 17 End of Autumn |
| 18) Work on What Has Been Spoiled | 18 End of Autumn |
| 27) Providing Nourishment | 3 Spring Equinox |
| 53) Development | 5 End of Spring |
| 54) The Marrying Maiden | 6 End of Spring |
| 61) Inner Truth | 13 Begin of Autumn |
| 62) Preponderance of the Small | 14 Begin of Autumn |
| 63) After Completion | 15 Autumn Equinox |
| 64) Before Completion | 16 Autumn Equnox |
| 1) The Creative | 1 Begin of Spring |
| 2) The Receptive | 2 Begin of Spring |
| 29) The Abysmal, Water, Moon | 5 End of Spring |
| 30) The Radiating, Fire, Sun | 6 End of Spring |
Hexagrams can be represented graphically by connecting the two trigrams, they consist of, by a straight line. If the first six hexagram pairs of great harmony in this way are graphically represented in the circle of the Early Heaven, one obtains the following diagram:
What is the meaning of this Diagram?
In the lexicon of Chinese Symbols by Wolfram Eberhard I read something like:
The earth is square in the old view of the Chinese and divided into rectangular fields, houses, city borders etc. The Chinese cities, where geologically possible, are built in the form of a square. While a circle is the symbol of the Heaven, the earth is symbolized by a cross and a square, independently of the pictogram for the earth in use today.
When I was looking in a dictionary of Chinese Pictograms for a square with a cross in it I found a square with a parallel to the sides adjusted cross as the pictogram for a field. 
In the oracle bone writing (BC 17 to about 11 cent.) the meaning of this pictogram, however, was comprehensive and more important. At that time this pictogram meant Residence of mankind. It seemed to me that the diagram that was build up by the hexagrams of great harmony was the emblem for Mother Earth? The pictogram seems to summon great harmony for the earth.
Two of the hexagram pairs are part of the pair group heaven / earth, two of the hexagram pairs part of the pair group man / earth and four hexagram pairs part of the pair group heaven / man. Since the latter hexagram pairs represent the ends of the seasons, they are more pronounced than the beginnings of seasons, and solstices and equinoxes.
Spring and autumn are present with all solar periods, the winter with no solar period and the summer with only two. The beginning of summer and the summer solstice are missing. The summer solstice was considered a less favorable time, as after the days are shortening.
Great Harmony is thus summoned to the earth, especially in spring when sown, and for the autumn when the fruit is harvested. This and the lack of winter probably means that the diagram is a conjuration of the harmonious growth and harvesting of grain and other crops to feed on the people. The emblem of Mother Earth is apparently part of the agri cult. The change in the meaning of the pictogram, supports this. In earlier time it meant the residence of man, now a field.
The two major hexagram pairs 1) heaven / heaven, 2) earth / earth and 29) water / water, 30) fire / fire are also Hexagram Pairs of Great Harmony. They are represented by circles around the trigrams from which they are composed.
There remains the question of the meaning of these four hexagrams with two identical trigrams heaven, earth, water (moon) and fire (sun). The circles at the ends of the cross, which represent these hexagrams, correspond to the points at which in the Forbidden City in Beijing the Temple and Altar of Heaven, the Temple and Altar of Earth, the Temple and Altar of the Sun (trigram fire) and the Temple and Altar of the Moon (trigram water) have or had their place. Maybe these four hexagrams represent these temples and altars?