There are only two hexagrams of both great harmony and great purity. They graphically form a cross, possibly the most important Emblem of the I Ching! Furthermore, „Unresolved issues“ someone of the readers might be able to solve.
The 64 hexagrams of the I Ching are assigned to the 64 solar periods of 2 2 / 3 years. Two solar cycles in the Old China are a month, 24 solar periods a year. The atomic numbers of the hexagrams are grouped into the following three sets of numbers:
a) the natural numbers that are evenly divisible by three.
b) the natural numbers that are evenly divisible by two, but not divisible by three – These numbers are all even and thus .- Female,
c) the other natural numbers, which are predominantly prime. They
are all odd, and so masculine.
The number of group c) begins with the 1, according to Chinese Mythology is 1 the number of Heaven.
The number of group b) begins with the 2, according to ancient Chinese believe is 2 the number of earth. These hexagrams are all female. The number of group a) begins with the 3, according to ancient Chinese believe is 3 the number of human beings. The members of this group of numbers are both even and odd, therefore both female and male.
The 64 hexagram of the I-Ching form 32 hexagram-pairs. A hexagram with an odd atomic number is united with the hexagram of the following even atomic number to a pair. In light of this pairing from the above three hexagram-groups according to the sequence of natural numbers, three groups of hexagram-pairs with specific characteristics are derived. These characteristics regard the distribution of yin and yang, the distribution of the 8 trigrams (each hexagram consists of two trigrams), are related to mainly positive or negative omen, as well as to the distribution of the hexagram-pairs on the seasons. In the first group hexagrams of heaven combine with the heaxagrams of earth. The hexagrams of this group are associated with the beginnings of seasons. They are mostly of positive omen. In the second group the hexagrams of the human male combine with the rest of the hexagrams of the earth. The hexagram-pairs of this group are associated with the equinoxes and solstices. In the third group hexagrams of heaven combine with the hexagrams of the human female. The hexagrams-pairs of this group are to the ends of the four seasons. They are mostly of negative omen. (See also the chapter in which the assignments listed here are described in more detail!)
The hexagram pairs of harmony and purity of the hexagram pairs
There are also hexagram-pairs of harmony and hexagram-pairs of purity. Hexagram pairs of harmony are those in which one of the two lines on each of the six places of the two hexagrams is yin and the other is yang. The two hexagrams belong also to the same pair-group. If the atomic numbers of the two hexagrams directly follow each other they are a hexagram pairs of great harmony.
Example of two hexagram pairs of Harmony:
Hexagram pairs of purity are those whose partners mirror each other in the vertical. The two partners then will contain two identical trigrams, but the order is reversed. The upper trigram is transformed into the lower and the lower into the upper trigram. If the atomic numbers of the two hexagrams directly follow each other, they are a hexagram pair of great purity.
Example of a hexagram pair of Purity:
Certain hexagram pairs of harmony resp. purity graphically form important emblems, such as a cross, the plan for a center of power or holiness, „The Threefold Temple of Heaven“ and other emblems that will still be discussed.
The Cross in the I Ching
There are only two hexagram pairs of both great harmony and great purity. The one pair (11/12) represents the connection between heaven and earth, which can be either positive or negative, the other pair (63/64), it is the completion to the rule of intellect over instinct. The graphical representation of these two pairs of hexagrams in the circle of the „original heaven“ is a cross, an emblem of great power and holiness.
The atomic numbers of the hexagram pairs of harmony
The eight hexagram pairs of great harmony are:
11/12; 17/18, 27/28, 53/54, 61/62, 63/64, 1 / 2, 29/30.
The remaining six hexagram pairs of harmony are:
5 / 35, 6 / 36, 7 / 13, 8 / 14, 51/57, 52/58.
Figure with the connection lines between the two partners of these last hexagram-pairs of Harmony across the seasons.
The Connection lines – an unresolved issue!
The connections are between male / male or female / female partners. The connections go from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice, the end of spring to the end of summer, from the beginning of summer to the beginning of autumn and from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox. The distance is always six solar cycles. The connection is three times between equal annual circles and once between the first and the second annual circle.
The atomic numbers of the hexagram pairs of purity
The six hexagram pairs of great purity are:
5 / 6, 7 / 8, 11/12, 13/14, 35/36, 63/64.
The remaining eight hexagram pairs of purity are:
3 / 40, 4 / 39, 47/60, 48/59, 49/38, 50/37, 53/18, 54/17.
All connections are between male / female partners. The connections go from the end of winter to the end of summer, from the beginning of spring to the beginning of autumn, from the spring equinox to the autumn equinox and the end of spring to the end of autumn.
The connection is always between different annual circles. The distance is four times 11 and four times 13 solar periods.
Since the winter is represented in the hexagram pairs of harmony and purity only once with a hexagram pair of the end of winter, the hexagram pairs are possibly thought to harmonise and purify the harvest in agriculture. A good harvest in ancient China was of great importance.
Purity is something that has primarily to do with heaven. The hexagram pairs of purity therefore may have something to do with precipitation and sunshine.
Why the purity partners are not to be found in the neighboring season, as the harmony partners but further away, was the author not able to find out, nor why the harmony partners farther away are of the same sex, while the purity partners are all pairs of different sex. The differences should be related to the conditions for a good harvest in connection with the different ideas about harmony and purity. The hexagram pairs of great harmony and great purity herein are of course not involved, since the atomic numbers of the two partners immediately follow each other and consequently one of the partners is male and the other is female.