The Big Pattern

(Bagua map of Han Boering)

GROWTH or IDEAL - WIND		MANIFESTATION - FIRE		SURROUNDINGS - EARTH
START - THUNDER		FIELD - EARTH		JUDGMENT - LAKE
RESULT - MOUNTAIN		DEPTH - WATER		CREATIVITY - HEAVEN
GROWTH or IDEAL - WIND How it comes about in your mind, how your intuition shows the way. The larger context. Mental and social aspirations, explorations, resonance and exchange. Spiritual value		MANIFESTATION - FIRE It becomes conscious, visible, tangible. How will it affect your situation or vv. How can you use your intelligence. Will it bring acknowledgment or power. Your mission in the world.		SURROUNDINGS - EARTH The interaction with your surroundings. Restrictions or help. Mutual influences and shared resources. Projections, emotions and passions. Hidden potentials. The degree of fertility for the growth of what you seek.
START - THUNDER Searching for and finding a possibility. Germs and first proceeds. Bringing in what you are yourself. How will it affect your health. Do you have or does it bring you resources of energy. Discover your real goal.		FIELD - EARTH The terrain you sow in, the stuff your situation or you are made of. The base or center, the point of departure. The overview of this time, the essence of your quest(-ion). The summary of the whole cycle.		JUDGMENT - LAKE Judge what you do or cause. See what others do or fail to do. Cooperate or delegate. Taking distance for an overview, exchanging, listening and talking, cooperation. Harvest and store the values.
RESULT - MOUNTAIN Personal profits, what is in it for the future. What can you invest in it and will you gain. How will it develop your individuality, your talents, knowledge, self-cultivation		DEPTH - WATER What can your inner self gain or add. How much wisdom is in you or will you find. How will this connect your feelings with past, present, people. What will you undergo. What is the psychological foundation you can bring in, or extract from it. What is your direction in life.		CREATIVITY - HEAVEN Your own contribution, what can you or want you to do, how will you make it look and how will it express you. How does it fit in the time. Will heaven assist you, or people with spirit. Self esteem and responsibility.

This lay-out of cards has been created by Han Boering. I hope his set of cards will some day be translated into English, it is by far the best set of I-Ching cards I have ever seen.

Formulate your question. This method is especially suitable for a complex or long-range question, like 'what will be the best course of action in this coming year', or 'how can I handle this big and complicated situation'. Draw 9 hexagram-cards, or use coins, yarrow, a computer program or any other method to obtain them. Lay them out in a square in the sequence at the top of this page: the first one you drew at bottom center, second one top right and so on. For every realm of your life or your situation there is a guideline now.

Apart from this, there are many connections between the cards.

The Stations

Han Boering, handleiding bij
Spel der Veranderingen