Alex Chiu's Online I-Ching © 2001 Registered with the US Copyright Office.
Alex Chiu's Online I-Ching © 2001 Registered
with the US Copyright Office.
Chapter 1
The Five Elements
Water, wood, fire, soil, & metal
1) The producing cycle:
WATER ====> WOOD ====> FIRE ====> SOIL ====> METAL ====> WATER
Water produces wood. Wood produces fire. Fire produces soil. Soil produces metal. And metal produces water. Water can allow a tree to grow. Wood allows the fire to burn. Fire burns an entire forest into the soil, and the burnt trees become new soil. Metal or iron grows out of soil. When metal melts, it becomes liquid (water).Here's an example: My friend Bob threw the I-Ching coins asking if he can win some money in Las Vegas. He got the hexagram [Rot].
| Year | Month | Date | Hour | Empty Dates |
| fire | soil |
In later chapters, we will teach you how to read this graph. So don't worry for now! Just keep reading!
| Rot | |||||||||
| Hiders | |||||||||
| B | wood | Opponent | 6th line | ||||||
| P | water | 5th line | |||||||
| Money | G | soil | 4th line | ||||||
| R | metal | Self | 3rd line | ||||||
| P | water | 2nd line | |||||||
| Money | G | soil | 1st line | ||||||
The 3rd line is the self line. Since Bob is the one who threw the coins, the 3rd line represents Bob. The 2 money stars in this hexagram are soil. The month is fire. Fire produces soil (money). There is no wood element moving killing the soil money star. Money (soil) produces the self line (metal). Money will come to Bob. So I told Bob that he will definitely win some money in Vegas. I told Bob to hop on the bus immediately and head straight to Vegas. I told him to be there before the soil days end.
Result: He won about $200. It wasn't much, but at least he didn't lose.
2) The killing cycle:
WATER ====> FIRE ====> METAL ====> WOOD ====> SOIL ====> WATER
Water kills fire. Fire kills metal. Metal kills wood. Wood kills the soil. And soil kills water. Water can pour out the fire. Fire can melt metal. Metal can be made into an ax to chop wood. Wood, which is a tree, will loosen the soil. Soil can bury water.
Here's an example: A man threw coins asking about his brother's wife's disease. Will his brother's wife live? He got [Strip] and [Quen].
| Year | Month | Date | Hour | Empty Dates |
| soil | fire |
| Strip | Quen | ||||||||
| - | Wife | wood | moved ---> | metal | -- | ||||
| -- | water | ||||||||
| -- | soil | ||||||||
| -- | Wife | wood | |||||||
| -- | fire | ||||||||
| -- | soil | ||||||||
The wife is represented by the wife star. The wife star on the top line moves and becomes metal. Wood turns into metal, and metal bounces back to kill the wood. That's not a good sign. The month (soil) and the date (fire) do not benefit the wife star (wood). The wife star has no cure. Her life will be in danger in a metal day, which is exactly 3 days later.
Result: The wife died in the day of the metal, which was 3 days later.
The 5 Elements
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If you would like to write your own I-Ching book after you have mastered I-Ching, please ask the author for permission to use all of our element symbols, date symbols, calendar indications, charts, and the names of the hexagrams. We encourage an unification of English I-Ching symbols so more people can learn about I-Ching.