The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

Alan Watts

The I Ching: The Book of Changes is an ancient Chinese divination system that involves 64 distinct hexagrams or archetypes which are created from the yin and yang, or feminine and masculine, dual possibility of each of the six lines that comprise each hexagram. Yin and Yang (feminine and masculine) represent the duality of the oneness of the Universe, and the interaction and mutuality of yin and yang gives meaning and information to all experiences and existence. Life is ever-changing. The interpretations of the sixty-four hexagrams describe the energy of human life divided into sixty-four types of situations, relationships or dilemmas. Each hexagram can be analyzed in a number of ways. The hexagrams is comprised of two trigrams, one upper and one lower. Each of the eight trigrams represents one of the eight fundamental elements: sky (Heaven), earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain, and lake.

Each line of a hexagram is generally determined by a toss of three coins (heads and tails combinations) which add to create one of four options, yin line (unchanging), yin line (changing into yang line), yang line (unchanging) or yang line (changing into yin line).  The six lines are built from the bottom up, lines one through six. 

If there are changing lines in the throw, this represents the information needed for the individual to progress, or possible warnings, and the hexagram that results after the advice is followed or warnings heeded is the likely outcome of the reading.

I have studied the I Ching daily for over eight years, and use the wisdom and insight to understand myself better and contemplate the occurrences and life transitions.  It is not unusual for me to cast some coins for information on an upcoming event, or to gain further insight on a relationship or occurence in the past.  Recently I have added study into Human Design as well as Gene Keys to gain even further insight into my own astrology and DNA as it relates to the I Ching and the evolution of my own life.

The morning of the day my family, friends, and I were scheduled to convene for the Rogue River raft trip, I cast a reading for the 3 day raft trip.  By the time I did the reading, I was already feeling nauseous and filled with trepidation, in complete contrast to the several weeks prior where I felt much excited anticipation at seeing my dear friends and family, and the reading fully supported these new uneasy feeling.

The hexagram that was revealed that morning before the journey commenced, was hexagram 36 (Darkening of the Light), with three changing lines (numbers 2, 3, and 4) to number 54 (The Marrying Maiden). 

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 Copyright Darkening of the Light 2020