Harmen's Dagboek

This is a message of a former student of mine. Anyone interested in his proposal should contact him directly.

Contemporary I Ching
Jan Enuma is forming a study group of I Ching adepts, who are interested in a present-day approach of the I Ching, which goes beyond restyling the language of the old Classic. René van Osten in Germany and Chris Lofting in Australia are examples of this approach. At the moment Jan is preparing a comment on Lofting’s book “The Emotional I Ching”.

Jan adds the following. The emotional element regards the nature of brain processing a particular hexagram. Both afore mentioned writers stress the Ordnung and Structure of the I Ching. There is no other change than according to these rules. And what to think of coincidence, synchronicity and resonance? What sort of world view fits this approach, and what are the differences with the Classic’s worldview? In Lofting’s book and his internet pages there are no references to “myths, legends or other 10th century BC perspectives, nor the use of random or miraculous methods of hexagram derivation”. No room for sinological, historical or exegetical deliberations. Lofting’s method is based on pre-language images, derived from human discernment along lines of differentiation and integration, much like yang and yin, but more abstract, less particular, but fitting the whole human race.

If the Classic is a template, it means other I Chings with particular backgrounds can be compared with it or with Lofting’s general domain model of differentiation/integration, as long as these models correlate with each other, meaning they are all based on 64 hexagrams. This promising possibility of comparison has been worked out for classification of psychological typology, but could also stretch out to sociology and political economy, and e.g. Spiral Dynamics.

Anyone who fancies a well prepared adventure into terra incognita, with according perseverance (Lofting’s translation of Heaven as an inner hexagram) should contact Jan: contemp.iching@live.nl.

In China a centuries old system is known to calculate life hexagrams from the Yijing. Using your birth date, time and place as a starting point it gives information about your character, your stronger en weaker points, and it provides insights in your path in life.

This system is known as Heluo Lishu 河洛理數, ’The Numbers and Principles of the He and Luo river documents’. Originating from the xiangshu 象數 branch of Yijing application it combines the hexagrams of the Yijing with the Stems and Branches of the Chinese calendar and the wuxing 五行 (Five Elements).The relationship between these parts shows the dynamics of someones personality and life path. The Heluo Lishu system was introduced by the authors Sherrill & Chu in their book The Astrology of I Ching, but this book contains serious mistakes and misconceptions that can lead to a wrong outcome.

This online course explains in eight lessons how you should calculate and interpret a life hexagram. There are more courses and also software programs about this subject, but they all use Sherrill & Chu’s book as base, which of course leads to certain consequences in the outcome. Because the original Heluo Lishu document forms the basis for this course the mistakes from The Astrology of I Ching are avoided. The original manuscript gives additional ways to interpret a life hexagram which are not mentioned by S&C, and by using a selected set of websites you can avoid some difficult calculations, making it easier to obtain a life hexagram.

We designed a special classroom on internet for this course. Through this virtual space the student acquire the lessons on a weekly basis, as well as assignments and tests to check the progress. There is a discussion forum to talk with the other students and ask questions to the teacher, and once a week there is the possibility to chat with the teacher.

The course contains the following eight lessons:

1. Background of the Heluo Lishu; what do you need for the calculations?
2. Calculation of the bazi 八字
3. Calculation of the xiantian 先天 hexagram, the yuantang 元堂 and the year periods (daxiang 大象)
4. Interpretation (1): trigrams and lines
5. Interpretation (2): wuxing, Stems and Branches, the houtian 後天 hexagram and how it relates to the xiantian hexagram
6. Year hexagram – calculation & interpretation
7. Month hexagram – calculation & interpretation
8. Case studies

Startdate: around March 15th 2010

Price: € 90,--

How do you apply for this course?
The starting date is not entirely decided, it is possible that the course will start one or two weeks later. Therefore it is best to sign up for the mailing list: send a (blank) mail to heluolishu-subscribe@itcn.nl, and we will let you know about the definitive starting date, how you can sign up and how you can send your payment for the course.

I hope I can welcome you as a student!