I Ching hexagrams

What each line position means

Lines are counted from the bottom up, and each position carries a meaning of its own regardless of which hexagram it sits in. A changing line at position 5 reads very differently from one at position 3.

• First (bottom) — the beginning, still hidden and barely formed
• Second — the inner sphere: home, private life, what you are among your own
• Third — the transition point, and the most dangerous position in the figure
• Fourth — entering the outer sphere: proximity to authority, exposure
• Fifth — the ruling position, usually the most favorable
• Sixth (top) — past the peak: completion, or overreach

How hexagrams connect to each other

Three relationships are calculated from the lines rather than assigned by an author. The nuclear hexagram is built from lines 2-3-4 and 3-4-5 — the figure hidden inside, read as what is happening beneath the surface. The opposite flips every line. The inverse turns the figure upside down, traditionally read as the same situation from the other party's side.

Because they follow from the structure, the connections hold together on their own: hexagram 63, After Completion, has 64, Before Completion, as its nuclear, opposite and inverse all at once. Nobody arranged that — it falls out of the arithmetic.

Eight of the sixty-four are symmetrical and read the same upside down, so they have no distinct inverse.

How a hexagram is built

Each hexagram is six lines, read from the bottom up. The lower three form one trigram and the upper three form another — so every hexagram is a relationship between two of the eight.

Hexagram 11, Peace, is Earth above and Heaven below. That looks upside down until you notice the logic: heaven rises and earth sinks, so in this arrangement they move toward each other. Hexagram 12 reverses it, and the two drift apart — which is why it means Standstill.

Consulting it

The traditional method divides fifty yarrow stalks in a procedure taking several minutes per line. The three-coin method is faster: toss three coins six times, building the hexagram from the bottom line up.

Lines can be "changing", which turns one hexagram into a second and gives a reading of movement from one situation to another. That mechanism is what makes the I Ching a book about change rather than a set of static fortunes.