The 64 hexagrams and their development

The 64 hexagrams of the I Ching are said to have been developed by Duke Wen around 1,200 BC , who was intensively involved with the trigrams of Fu His. He is considered the originator of the short judgments-  oracular sayings for each hexagram in the "Book of Changes." His son, the Duke of Zhou , is regarded as the author of explaining the various meanings of the mutable hexagram lines.

Various authors wrote further interpretations and accompanying commentaries over time. Among them were well-known philosophers such as Lao Tse and Confucius . The latter wrote a series of texts with his students and summarised them under "Ten Wings."  All commentaries start from the exact names of the individual hexagrams but may differ in their interpretation.

A hexagram consists of two trigrams each. Its meaning derives from the tension between the two trigrams and their different tendencies of movement. The signs always read from bottom to top. Line 1 is at the bottom, line 6 at the top.

In addition, each individual line has a special meaning depending on its position in the hexagram . For example, the lower line symbolizes our present situation, and the upper line shows where the path is leading. In addition, some lines are closely connected. For example, lines 1 and 4 stand for the earth (both are the lower lines of the respective trigram), lines 2 and 5 stand for the human being (these are the middle lines of the respective trigrams), and lines 3 and 6 symbolize the sky (upper lines of the respective trigrams). It is also important that each line be transformed, i.e., can transform into the other line. For example, a Yin line can become a Yang line and vice versa. If there are one or more transformable lines in a personal hexagram, then additional meanings apply, which can be read in the"Book of Transformations ."

The 64 hexagrams