The Twelve Waxing and Waning Hexagrams

Xiāoxī is not news

The word xiāoxī 消息 has nothing to do with its modern meaning, “news”. Xiāo is waning, xī is waxing; together they mean one force receding as the other grows. The Tuan commentary says: “The jūnzǐ honours waning and waxing, fullness and emptiness, for this is the movement of heaven.”

The most immediate experience of the ancients was day and night, warmth and cold. Yang lines stand for day and light, yin lines for night and darkness. The sun and moon produce the seasons, and in an agricultural society one ploughs in spring, weeds in summer, harvests in autumn and stores in winter. Only by following the seasons can one survive. The twelve xiāoxī hexagrams draw that cycle in lines.

What makes a hexagram a xiāoxī hexagram? Lines of one kind run together unbroken from the bottom, without interleaving with the other kind. Yang lines increasing one at a time from the bottom give six hexagrams; yin lines increasing one at a time give six more. Twelve in all, one for each month of the year. They are the baseline for every other hexagram: all the rest are what you get once yin and yang interleave, and most of the derivations described in the Tuan can be traced back to one of these twelve.

Yang waxing: from the winter solstice to early summer

The months below follow the Chinese lunar calendar.

Eleventh month, Return (Earth over Thunder): one yang below, five yin above. The winter solstice falls in this month, the coldest time, the longest night, and yet a yang line has come back at the very bottom. The Tuan says “in Return we see the heart of heaven and earth”, and the judgment says “in seven days comes the return”: renewal keeps its own rhythm.

Twelfth month, Approach, Lín 臨 (Earth over Lake): two yang below. Two joined yang lines already form a force, approaching and growing. Yet the judgment also warns, “in the eighth month there will be misfortune.” Even at the start of strength, the eventual decline is in view.

First month, Peace (Earth over Heaven): three yang below, three yin above. This is the New Year greeting “three yang open into Peace”. Heaven sits beneath earth: heaven's breath descends, earth's rises, upper and lower meet, and the state is at peace.

Second month, Great Strength, Dàzhuàng 大壯 (Thunder over Heaven): four yang below. Yang is mighty; this hexagram looks formidable.

Third month, Breakthrough (Lake over Heaven): five yang below, one yin above. Yang is about to cast out the last yin; it is the final month of spring.

Fourth month, Qian (Heaven doubled): all six lines yang. Early summer at full blaze, yang at its height.

Yin waxing: from the summer solstice to early winter

Fifth month, Coming to Meet (Heaven over Wind): one yin below, five yang above. The summer solstice falls here, at the height of heat, and a cold yin force appears at the bottom; it will draw other yin lines up after it, one by one. The first line says “tie it to a metal brake”: hold it fast at the very start.

Sixth month, Retreat, Dùn 遯 (Heaven over Mountain): two yin below. Two joined yin lines are already strong. The name is taken from yang's point of view: the yang lines above see which way things are going and withdraw.

Seventh month, Obstruction (Heaven over Earth): three yin below, three yang above, the exact opposite of Peace in the first month. Heaven is above and earth below, each moving in its own direction; upper and lower do not meet, so everything is blocked.

Eighth month, Contemplation, Guān 觀 (Wind over Earth): four yin below; yang keeps only the top two lines and watches from on high.

Ninth month, Stripping (Mountain over Earth): five yin below, one yang above. Yin is about to strip yang away entirely. The top line says “the great fruit is not eaten”: like the last apple left on an autumn branch, it holds the seed inside.

Tenth month, Kun (Earth doubled): all six lines yin, early winter, everything stored away. If summer is Qian, winter of course is Kun. Then in the eleventh month Return brings a single yang back at the bottom, and the cycle begins again.

Notice that Retreat, Stripping and Return are all named from yang's side: yang withdrawing, yang being stripped, yang coming back. As the old saying goes, the Yi makes its plans for the jūnzǐ.

Things reverse at the extreme; read the trend

The twelve hexagrams draw “things reverse at the extreme” (wù jí bì fǎn 物極必反) with perfect clarity. Qian's six yang reach the peak, and the next step is Coming to Meet, with one yin born below. Kun's six yin reach the peak, and the next step is Return, with one yang coming back below. At the height of strength, decline has already begun; at the depth of decline, new life has already sprouted. In casting, nine is “old yang” and six “old yin”, and both change for the same reason: nine is like midsummer, six like deep winter, and at the extreme they must turn.

There is a rule of thumb: in the xiāoxī hexagrams, read the trend. Normally you look for the ruling line first. With these twelve, hold off and first ask which way the tide is running. In Coming to Meet, by the rule that the scarce is precious, the single yin among five yang is the ruler. But as a seasonal hexagram it is a rising force that will pull other yin lines up after it, and that matters more than its title. In Retreat the two yin lines below are joined, and two of one mind can cut through metal; the yang lines above, seeing this, should withdraw willingly.

So when you draw one of these hexagrams, be alert. The larger trend is shifting; yang is growing or yin is growing. See the situation clearly and act wisely. Riding the trend, do not be proud; going against it, do not panic. One yang is born at the winter solstice, one yin at the summer solstice. In the best of times think of what follows, and in the worst of times remember that something follows too.