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Online Workshop ‘The Power of the Hexagrams’: start September 2020

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(Click on the picture to hear the text in a video)

The Yijing, the Chinese Book of Changes, is a book of divination that is used by thousands of people all over the world. For more than twenty-five hundred years it is offering advice to those who have doubts and struggle with uncertainties in their lives. But many users of the book find it difficult to interpret the answers that the book gives them. This online workshop wants to help you with that. If you agree with one or more of the following statements, then this workshop is for you:

  • I always find it difficult to interpret the answers from the Yijing
  • I only use the text of the Yijing, and would like to do more with the hexagrams
  • I don’t know how to practically apply the trigrams
  • I know that every line in a hexagram has a general meaning, and I would like to use these in a reading
  • I have been using the Yijing for years, but I still feel like a beginner
  • I want to know more about the Chinese philosophy behind the Yijing
  • I want to pick Harmen’s brain on the Yijing
  • I want to have more confidence in my own interpretations
  • I want to integrate the Yijing into my own profession

If one or more of these statements apply to you then you will benefit from this online workshop. In eight lessons you will learn the power of the hexagrams, how to read them, and make them useful and meaningful for every question that you address to the Book of Changes. Continue reading →

Workshop San Diego March 2020: Heaven and Humankind Are One: Learn the Magic of the Yijing to Enhance Your Life

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Heaven and Humankind Are One: Using the I Ching to Enhance Your Practice and Personal Life

“If you wish to be a great doctor you should be well-versed in I Ching.”
–Sun Simiao (581-682)

Welcome to the I Ching, the 2,500 year-old tome used throughout Chinese history as a diagnostic tool to uncover the roots of and potential treatment approach to a person’s medical or personal concern. In this 4-day course, we will discuss the essentials of the I Ching and its 64 hexagrams so that you can apply the wisdom of this tome to help guide your life.

The first two days of the course will cover the practice of the I Ching as a tool for gaining objective insights in any situation by analyzing the hexagrams. The next two days will focus on the application of the hexagrams for medical diagnosis and treatment. At the end of the course, you will know how to use the hexagrams of the I Ching as objective advisors in your personal life as well as in your medical practice.

The full program for this workshop can be found here: https://theacademyofacupuncture.com/course-descriptions/powerhouse-acupuncture-workshop/

Registration: https://theacademyofacupuncture.com/event/i-ching-2020/

The 900-800BC hexagram 50 dagger-axe

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In 2005 Dong Shan 董珊 from the University of Beijing came across a dagger-axe that was held in a private collection.
 
The axe, dated around 900-800 BC, contains an inscription:
 
一六一一一六，曰：鼑（鼎）止（趾）眞（顚）；鼑（鼎）黃耳，奠止（趾）。五六一一五八，X。
 
‘一六一一一六’ and 五六一一五八 are ‘numerical hexagrams’ that both convert to hexagram 50 ䷱. The text that follows it contains the name of hexagram 50 as well as phrases that are reminiscent of the line texts of hexagram 50.
 
Although the provenance of the axe is unknown Dong Shan does not think it is a fake, considering the patina and other features on the axe. This find would be the earliest object that directly links the numerical hexagrams to the Zhouyi, and it also contains the earliest text sample of it.
 
Dong Shan’s original article about the axe, published in 2011, can be read here http://www.gwz.fudan.edu.cn/Web/Show/2207. Pictures of the axe can be found at the end of the article.
 
Adam Schwartz writes in detail about the axe in his article ‘Between Numbers and Images: the Many Meanings of Trigram Li 離 in the Early Yijing’, published in the Bulletin of the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology, Vol. 5, p. 47-84 (http://jas.hkbu.edu.hk/site/YCY/upload/mw_data/file/mw_data_2058_5b4411571ef04.pdf)