The Book of Structures

Fire Octet

The ROOTS of the category of Fire in the universal IC is in a generic sense of expansive bounding, to push out a boundary. The fire association reflects a focus on converting difference to sameness ('ash' within the boundary) and use of that boundary to reflect outwards as compared to water that is focused inwards (contain/protect).

36 - uncompromising (unconditional covering up of 'the light' - no likemindedness actualised)
22 - fascading, gloss-over (conditional covering - use of a facade to distract)

63 - completing, correct ordering (unconditional)
37 - rigid structuring (conditional order)

55 - abounding, diversity (unconditional - many things to pick from)
30 - guiding, direction-setting (particular, conditional "ideology")

49 - revealing, revolution (unconditional expression of ideology)
13 - associating, likeminded (conditional expression through 'likemindedness')

ALL of these can be interpreted negatively or positively - e.g. 36 is treated by Wilhelm with a negative aire but there is also a cooperative, positive aire in that the actions reflect the the intentional covering of 'light' and so reflecting one's idealist nature - the light is not extinguished, just well hidden until it needs to be brought out (35). This position is one of POTENTIALS that are then ACTUALISED in the exaggeration of 36 in this octet in its actualisation in 13.

36 pairs with its 'opposite' in hex 06 where there is a sense of compromise at work. In this octet it pairs with 22 to reflect a generic focus in the pair on covering-up. (a common theme in earth/mountain topped hexagrams - e.g. the uniformity of 07,04 the 'levelling-out' and discernement focus of 15/52, the harmonising/staying-firm of 11/26 etc etc).

In the above pairs of the fire octet, the first hexagram is unconditional in its manner, the second is conditional. Thus, since this octet reflects in a microcosm the macrocosm so the 'opposites' dynamics of the macro apply. Thus we have pairs of hexagrams reflecting the unconditional/conditional expressions of the five lines each hexagram shares with the other:

36, 22 (e.g. cover-up; unconditional vs conditional)
63, 37
55, 30
49, 13

As well as the mapping of POTENTIALS/ACTUALS, or more so the seeming 'balanced' as compared to their exaggerated format:

36 - 13 (potential likeminded vs actual)
22 - 49 (passive distortion by a facade vs revelation, unmasking)
63 - 55 (ompletion vs excessiveness of completions)
37 - 30 ('family' dynamics vs hard-core promotion of ideology)

All have a sense of dealing with issues of guidance/direction-setting as a 'fundamental' element.

The skeletal forms (27-ness) of all of these hexagrams are found in the
octet of mountain. Thus 36 has its skeletal form described by analogy to hexagram 52 - Stopping, Blocking, Discerning (quality control). hex 22 has its skeletal form described by analogy to hexagram 15 - level things out, keep words close to facts (and so in a facade the 'outside' balances the 'inside' - beauty can hide darkness, facading can distract attention from looking 'in'; also includes concept of glossing-over something to hide/protect)

The PAIRS themselves form into quartets of meaning ((36,22),(63,37) Vs (55,30),(49,13)) and so on. (e.g. more pairs such as 55,30 vs 49,13 - meaning in meaning in meaning - all due to the method of derivation)

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Copyright © 2005 C. J. Lofting