Connecting the I Ching to the Golden Dawn
I found a way to connect the hexagrams of the I Ching with the Golden Dawn tradition and western mysticism in general through astrology.
There is a relationship made by the Chinese between the 12 Sovereign Hexagrams (bigua) and the zodiac.
The bigua is a sequence of hexagrams related to the movements of waxing and waning of the moon.
Qián (䷀), for instance, represents the full moon, and also to the zodiac sign of the Snake, Gemini and the start of the summer.
There are also other “lesser” hexagrams related to the decans. 1 Gemini, for instance, is xiǎo chù (䷈), which is ruled by Jupiter and, in the I Ching, actually means “Small Accumulation”, which can be explained as a jovial influence diminished by its position in the chart (detriment).
Moreover, since the grade signs of the Golden Dawn have an astrological layer to them, there can be another level of interpretation when they are related to the hexagrams. The ‘Mourning Isis’, for example, represents the summer solstice, which is gòu (䷫), the young feminine energy (yin) emerging from the old masculine lines (yang). The image of Isis mourning after the death of Osiris is evident in this hexagram. The I Ching reads “Coming to Meet”, a symbol of union in which the feminine principle moves towards the masculine, as the goddess looking for her husband’s body.
Warning: what follows is experimental and not necessarily correct.
The lines of the hexagrams have meanings relative to their positions as well. In the case of the ‘Mourning Isis’, the first line (‘the cause beyond the individual’ and also the ruler) is yin, but the sixth line (‘the spirit of the figure’) is yang, which means that in the microcosmic core there is a passive force acting, but its reflection into the macrocosm is active. Also, the second line (‘the inner part of the individual’) is the next to change, what relates quite nicely to the next sign being ‘Apophis and Typhon’, the destructive principle turned into a force of renovation of the Self.
They could also be integrated into magic, especially due to the possibility of changing lines. For instance, the hexagram related to the West, guān (䷓), with a moving fifth line represents inward contemplation, what can be used as a preparation for meditation and pathworking.
There are many other conclusions that can be drawn from the connection between the I Ching and the Western Esoteric Tradition, these are only a few of them to illustrate the idea. I hope others find these ideas useful.
