Magic as a Human Tool

In my latest video, I look at forms of esoteric or magical systems, like the I Ching, as a form of human tool or technology (by technology I do not mean a 'machine', I mean some kind of technique, system, or method used in the accomplishment of human objectives; for example, mathematics is a type of technology).

Check it out:

If you're interested in more of this kind of contemplation, please get in touch with me about joining the Yi Fa Society!

Understanding Incipiencies

Sometimes great change, disaster or windfall, appears to happen suddenly.

This is an illusion of perception.

The moment where change seems to be happening with great speed is in fact long after the seeds of that change were planted.

The sage can look back and see many conditions, little developments, without which that great change could never have taken place.

All change actually starts with a series of smaller incipient events; often these will not even resemble or seem to have anything to do with the great change they can lead to.

Thus, the skilled practitioner can learn how to observe these earlier conditions, and make great changes eventually happen (or prevent them) with very little effort.

This is the power that a profound study of the I Ching grants: to be able to see the process of time, and how to change things before they happen.

I Ching Commentary - Hexagram #10 "Stepping"

Here is the youtube video for the newest in my commentaries on the I Ching, on the subject of the 10th Hexagram, "Stepping".

Members of the Yi Fa Society get access to additional I Ching video and text commentaries that go into more depth on the symbolism and divination uses of the I Ching's Hexagrams. If you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society, please get in touch.

The I Ching Teaches us That Reality is a "Doing"

The I Ching's cosmology suggests a reality that isn't a structure of 'things'. It is not a universe of things 'being', it is always a universe of things 'doing', of the interaction of elements.

In the West people tend to imagine that Reality is a noun, rather than a verb. That may be because of the self-referencing perspective; if something is a static object, rather than a moving process, it is easier to define, and to control.



Something static can be more easily controlled. You put a solid cube in one corner of the room, it will stay there. It won't move on its own at least. You can turn it on one side, it'll stay on that side.
On the other hand, it takes a lot of work (energy) to break that cube, or burn it, to make it move or to shape it into something other than a cube.

Static things are easy to control, hard to manipulate.

On the other hand, if you understand reality as a "doing", a constant interplay of the 8 elements that make up the world of 10000 things, then it is much EASIER to manipulate.

Creating change is much less difficult than the illusion of solidity makes it look.
But it is much HARDER to control, than our notion of a static reality leads us to think.
You can alter the course of the river, but you can't just force it into a fixed route forever, make it stop flowing forever, or much less make it change the direction of its flow.

An Explanation of The Generation of Changing Lines

In the system of the yarrow method of I Ching casting, when you have two small piles of yarrow and one large pile, that is a Yin line (the Yin being the 'small' piles), and when you have two large piles and one small pile, that is a Yang line (the Yang being the 'large' piles).

So some students of the I Ching have expressed confusion as why three small (yin) piles would be a Yang changing into Yin, or conversely three large (yang) piles would be a Yin changing into Yang.

 

Imagine the image of the Taiji:
































It is Yin and Yang, intermingling. Within the yin there is a centerpoint of yang; and within the yang a centerpoint of yin.

So at the very core of Yin is the most yin of anything possible; it is so overflowing with yin, that it takes on the nature of Yang.
Likewise at the very core of Yang is the most yang of anything possible; it is so overflowing with yang that it takes on the nature of Yin.

The former is in fact Yang that is inevitably transforming into Yin, that is the only direction it can go.
Likewise, the latter is Yin that is inevitably transforming into Yang.

So this is why in the casting, when you have three small (yin) piles, it is manifested as a Yang that is becoming a Yin.
And when you have three large (yang) piles, it is manifested as a Yin that is becoming a Yang.

That is the reason.
And the reason is reflected in the probabilities of the casting method, because these forces are not equal in nature; in nature Yin is more stable, so it is less common for Yin (the stable but weak) to become Yang (volatile but strong), than for Yang (strong, but volatile) to weaken into the more stable Yin.




"Weak but stable" are the valleys of space-time, "strong but unstable" are the peaks.

Tips on Interpreting the I Ching

The standard method of interpreting an I Ching casting is to cast the hexagram, read the main description of the hexagram you get, read the changing lines, and then read the resultant hexagram.  Many I Ching students put little thought into the matter beyond that.

But if you want to consider ways of reaching deeper understanding of the I Ching, there are more ways to work on it. 

Forgetting the resultant hexagrams for a moment, any given hexagram by itself has two means of interpretation: looking at each line in isolation, or looking at the lines as a 'story' being told, representing a progress of the overall theme dealt with in the hexagram. And as you study them, they can be 'read' in order, from one to six; where generally one is what happens even before the very start, two the real start, three the big challenge, four the further challenge, five the epic climax, and six is the denouement or epilogue.

So, when you bring in resultant hexagrams to the analysis it makes sense that both of those would also be applicable.


In actual casting, changing lines signify a couple of things. The overall number of changing lines represents the 'mutability' of the whole situation. A hexagram with many changing lines has a much more powerful "current" of change than one that has only one or two; that's why if you have four or more changing lines the diviner is advised to consider some part of the RESULTANT hexagram to be the 'central point' (ie. the present) of the casting; because it is incredibly difficult for the force of change to be overcome at that point.
Which specific lines are changing represent the points in the hexagram that are significant as 'mutable', things you can change, things you can do something about.

So what does this say in terms of understanding the six lines as a 'story'?
That they are a story in theory, in the way that a novel or a fairy tale is a story, one that is archetypal, neat and tidy, and almost never 'like that in real life'.
In a casting, you have to see a different story, a much messier one, composed of only those lines that are Changing.  So you can think of the six lines as a whole as a kind of 'big story' that cover all kinds of things that CAN happen related to theme; but in real life incidences only some of those parts actually DO happen as the story of the real events related to the question that was asked.

In any case, there's no question that the changes are all about Time.
However, another way to look at these resultant hexagrams is to think of them as being about Choices, because all of Time is just a product of cause & effect; and in an actual casting, the Changing Lines represent those flexible branching-off points in time where it is possible for some kind of choice to be made that affects the course of the future.

If you're interested in further conversations, teachings and insights on the I Ching, please check out the Magician's I Ching Facebook Group!

And if you are interested in a structured system of study, please get in touch about joining the Yi Fa Society.

Video From Toronto Workshop

This is a video with some details and tips on Qi Breathing practice, presented to people who participated in the Toronto workshop:

If you are interested in more advanced teachings and working in a curriculum of spiritual development, please contact me about joining the Yi Fa Society.

The Yi Fa Cosmology

Some people have asked about the cosmology of the Yi Fa curriculum.

In fact, the cosmology of Yi Fa is directly drawn from the teachings of the I Ching.

There are more details of the cosmology in the teachings of levels 2 and 3 of the Yi Fa curriculum.
What follows is only an explanation in brief.


There is the whole, first off (you could call it the Taiji or the Tao if you like, the absolute sum of all that actually exists).

Then there are certain primal forces (Yin and Yang, the four fundamental forces of existence, the eight elements) which all have archetypal existence. Some of them may appear to have personalities but that's really our way of being able to comprehend them.

Then there's the manifested world, "the World of 10000 Things" as the Chinese poetically put it. It contains all of of those things I mentioned above WITHIN it. Those things are the building blocks of the manifested world, what you find when you look at reality on both the cosmic scale, and by going deep within.

So those elements and primal forces and positive and negative (yang and yin) all exist within us. They take shape to make each of us a unique expression of reality.

Human beings are unique (as far as we currently know) in that we are capable of conscious awareness of these forces. We have Will. Even if most of us never actually use it.

We can use this Will to become conscious operators of those forces, not just reactive operators the way other things in the world of 10000 things are. But that consciousness also creates in us an illusion of separateness from reality. We mistake being Unique for being Apart. And this illusion can be called the Persona.

Since it is an illusion, and we cannot ever actually be apart, it creates a conflict within us between the part of us that is Real and the part of us that is fabricated, the Individual and the Person.  In Chinese mysticism, these are two separate parts of the human soul, called the Hung and the Po.  The Hung is eternal, the Po is temporal and dissolves after death. The Hung is the Superior Individual, the Po is the Inferior Person.

Thus, the cosmology of the Yi Fa curriculum establishes the cause of our human alienation, and also shows the path toward resolving it, by manifesting the Superior Individual.

The Magician's I Ching Facebook Group Has Over 2100 members!

The Facebook group created in honor of The Magician's I Ching, but which is a general discussion group for all I Ching related subjects, has now reached just over 2100 members!

So if you haven't already joined the Magician's I Ching Facebook Group, please consider joining!  It's free, and filled with interesting conversation and material related to the I Ching and I Ching studies.  It's open to people coming from western or eastern traditions.  It's very welcoming to newcomers to the I Ching, and you can get questions answered or useful advice. But it also has many very learned and highly experienced advanced students of the I Ching, and if you are one of those people you'll find some excellent higher level discussion about some of the finer points of I Ching study.

While you're at it, please consider joining the Yi Fa Society.  Members of the Yi Fa Society also have a (secret) discussion group, and benefit from a complete and detailed training program for studying Yi Fa Qi Gong and the I Ching.   Members of the Yi Fa Society are taught additional Qi Gong and I Ching secrets that are not available anywhere public.

At higher levels of membership, the advanced exercises of Yi Fa Qi Gong are taught, and students are provided large numbers of instructional materials (whole books, like "Secret Techniques of the I Ching", "Universal Yi Fa", "The Yi Dao", and "the Great Book of Yi Fa", among others) on how to deepen their work with Qi Gong and I Ching for self-transformation and the work of enlightenment.

Members of the Yi Fa Society can work personally with me to keep up their practice, to resolve problems in their practice, and to develop discipline and structure in their spiritual path.   Members also have the opportunity to have monthly Skype meetings with me for the same purpose.

Yi Fa Society membership is not free, but basic membership is on a monthly donation basis set by each student.


If you are interested in joining the Magician's I Ching Facebook group, just click on the link and join, and start reading and sharing with us!

If you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society, please contact me, here or on Facebook.

The Great Work, Healing, and Growth

Is personal 'healing', physical or emotional, a part of the Great Work?

The Great Work has many levels at which it operates. 
In the Microcosmic, it has to do with growth, expanding consciousness, the achievement of the Superior Individual, and Enlightenment.
In the Macrocosmic, it has to do with the spiritual evolution of humanity. There's much more teaching on this subject in Levels 2 and 3 of the curriculum.

As to 'healing' think of it like this: imagine there's a complex knot tied in a string, and that knot is in a tiny box (say, 2 inches by 2 inches).  The perspective most people have on "healing" is like trying to untie that knot in that tiny little box, because the knot occupies almost all of the space in the box.

Growth is where you expand that box, so the space is now 2 feet by 2 feet; or 2 yards by 2 yards, or 2 miles by 2 miles. So now, that knot that seemed so huge occupies just a tiny little space in the box. At that point, if it was necessary, the knot would be much easier to untie; but you might find that the knot is now so small that it won't really need to be untied at all, it can just be there, as one tiny part of the large space.

Power and Success

To get power, you have to make room to receive it.
Power is something obtained when you are open to receiving, not when you are aggressive.
Only by being below can you give space for what is above to enter; if you try to make yourself tall it can't.

Power doesn't come from tension, tension has no power.
Power comes from a deep looseness, where energy isn't being all expended in tension.
That looseness allows flexibility, and can be in-tensified to create force when needed for a specific purpose.
A state of tension has no room to become more intense, has no reserves to apply force anywhere else.

To get power, you have to submit.
Then you can impose, and thus obtain success.

Video: The Power of the I Ching

Today's video takes a look at the underlying structure of the I Ching, and why it works.

If you are interested in more teachings and receiving information that goes deeper into the structure of the I Ching, the nature of space-time, and personal cultivation, please don't hesitate to contact me about joining the Yi Fa Society.

A Poem From Zhu Xi

It is easy to be young,
but to get to become old-school is hard.

Seeing Time
like one inch of light in the darkness,
impossible to ignore.

By the still pond,
unborn Spring grass dreams;
yet on the front steps
the sound of leaves
fall like rain,
announcing Autumn's coming.


-Zhu Xi (who called himself the "Tea Immortal")

New I Ching Video: Hexagram #9 - Small Nourisher

Here is the latest commentary video in the I Ching series. This one covers Hexagram #9 - the Small Nourisher.

Members of the Yi Fa Society get access to additional I Ching video and text commentaries that go into more depth on the symbolism and divination uses of the I Ching's Hexagrams. If you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society, please get in touch.

Health Issues and Qi Gong

Most schools of Qi Gong today sell themselves as being about health and healing. This is because mainly the people promoting those schools either have no real grounding in what Qi Gong is for, or are aware but felt obliged to keep the real purpose hidden.  In China, Qi Gong was very badly persecuted during most of the Communist period. It was only allowed to be revived in the time after the terrible persecutions of the Maoist Cultural Revolution, when the Chinese Government eased away from attacking traditional Chinese culture, and when the nation was facing a health-infrastructure crisis.
In fact, there was no such term as "Qi Gong" before the  modern age, this was a name created to unite concepts in traditional Chinese healing, cultivation practice, and internal martial arts. The government began to promote Qi Gong, not as a spiritual practice of cultivation, but as a system for improving health and wellness. So many opportunists who had little or no real understanding of cultivation set themselves up as "qi gong healers", while some of the genuine teachers began to teach again by hiding their more esoteric training behind the facade of "health and healing". In fact, this fit in nicely with the historical tradition of "secret schools", where serious Qi Gong masters would hide the nature of their teaching.





But regardless, Qi Gong was not meant to be about health, or healing. It was meant to be about cultivation for the purpose of eventual enlightenment.

So how useful is Qi Gong, for someone who is only interested in preserving their health or healing some kind of ailment?
Regarding health issues and Yi Fa Qi Gong; or health issues and Qi Gong in general, you have to consider the sources of various health problems.  They are caused by one of a selection of sources:

0. Accidents or short-term illness: a broken leg or a cold or upset stomach are not really caused by anything in most cases, except misfortune. These problems do not really need Qi Gong to heal.

1. Genetics: This is one of the most common causes of non-acute health problems. Recent medical studies have found that a great number of health issues are largely caused by genetic predisposition. This is a product of birth.  Qi Gong can't really do anything to prevent these problems. There's not really anything Qi Gong needs to do about these, in terms of prevention, and only limited amounts it can do in terms of treatment.

2. Environmental issues:  These are health issues caused by where you are, by elements of your environment.  This also includes things you might have a genetic predisposition toward, but would not be affected by it without being exposed to some environmental trigger.  These health problems can sometimes be resolved by changing your environment.  Doing Qi Gong without making changes in your environment won't be of any real help.

3. Lifestyle/choice issues: Some health problems are caused as a consequence of your lifestyle or behaviours, related to eating habits, sleeping habits, drinking, drugs, smoking, or other choices. Again, if you don't change your lifestyle, Qi Gong will not be of help here.

4. Stress or emotional issues: some health problems appear as consequences of mental stress or emotional tension manifesting in the body. The best resolution to these problems is through relaxation, meditation, and the expanding of your own consciousness until your attachments disentangle themselves. The exercises of Yi Fa Qi Gong are effective at dealing with these issues, if properly practiced.

So this is why I do not put very much emphasis on 'health' in Qi Gong practice. Anything related to health that can actually honestly be helped by Qi Gong can and will be helped by performing Yi Fa Qi Gong correctly, even though Yi Fa Qi Gong's primary goal is not health but Enlightenment.

None of the other sources of health problems can be significantly helped by any Qi Gong, even those forms of Qi Gong that allege to be about health.

Video: An Example of an I Ching Casting in Process

This is a video showing the performance of a casting, for reference purposes.

If you are interested in learning more about the I Ching and a whole system of spiritual cultivation, please contact me regarding the Yi Fa Society.

Undoing Emotional Attachments Through Yi Fa Qi Gong

Someone at one point asked about how to best handle 'negative' emotional issues that they feel attached to, using Qi Gong.  The following was my reply:

The technique would be very simple: when you begin the level 1 exercise, bring those feelings to mind; engage with those feelings as you do the practice.

Bring your active consciousness into your body, your movements, and your stillness, as usual.

So at this point you bring up the emotional energy trapped by the attachment, and then start to focus on a totally different use of energy: the practice.

"Energy" here really means intensity; the 'intensity' of your feelings tied up in your attachments is a kind of effort(energy).  Give them a different direction, and it can gradually untie the knot of that attachment by putting that same level of intensity into your practice.

Why "Plum Blossom" I Ching Numerology?

The macrocosmic changes of the I Ching, those that exist on a cosmic as opposed to a personal scale, can be deciphered through the use of Shao Yong's Plum Blossom Numerology.

 Generally, this particular name is attributed to a story that Shao Yong realized this system in a flash of insight while observing a Plum Blossom.

However, some people in the West might not realize the depth of symbolism the plum blossom has in Chinese culture.

In Chinese cultural art and poetry, the plum blossom is associated with moral fortitude, with perseverance, and with auspicious good fortune. 


It is, in fact, taken as a symbol for the Superior Individual. It has these qualities because of it's beauty and ability to endure even in harsh climates, and its self-reliance in needing very little care.

The Plum Blossom was in fact associated with four qualities, which could be summarized as "yuan", "heng", "li" and "zhen"; the same four words which commence the I Ching, and which embody Virtue among spiritual cultivators.


In the plum blossom, these four words are associated with the four stages in the plum blossom's growth, and the cycle of the seasons:
Yuan: it is born in union with the new year.
Heng: when it blooms this marks the time of steady gain
Li: in its seeding time, there is harmonious bounty
Zhen: in its time of wilting it is the time of contemplation


Thus, the symbol of the Plum Blossom is not just a product of some coincidence, but an ideal image to represent the macrocosmic changes embodied by Shao Yong's numerological system.

At the same time, this sheds light on the significance of Yuan Heng Li Zhen in the larger context of the I Ching as well. As the first four words of the I Ching's text, and a summary of the entirety of the I Ching, the imagery associated with the plum blossom expresses how "Yuan Heng Li Zhen" is a depiction of the entire process of Time, from beginning to end.

On the Scope of the Great Work

On a personal level, the Great Work involves each individual's progress to manifesting the Superior Individual, and attaining to the level of the Sage (Enlightenment).

But on a greater scale, the Great Work involves the spiritual evolution of humanity as a whole.
In that greater scale, the work you do applying Virtue in the world is not meant to change the world at this present time, but to lay down currents of Change that will change the world over the course of cosmic Time. 

Presidencies, nations and whole civilizations will come and go while we perform the Great Work.
Things happening in the world now are the ripple-effect of things Initiates did 300 years ago.

The things we do with consciousness now will ripple forward to change the entire world 300 years from now.
The Great Work on this scale is done not for one's own gratification, because it is not anything any of us will live to see.





It is work to change the future.

The Magician's I Ching Facebook Group now has Over 2000 Members!

The Facebook group created in honor of The Magician's I Ching, but which is a general discussion group for all I Ching related subjects, has now reached just over 2000 members!

So if you haven't already joined the Magician's I Ching Facebook Group, please consider joining!  It's free, and filled with interesting conversation and material related to the I Ching and I Ching studies.  It's open to people coming from western or eastern traditions.  It's very welcoming to newcomers to the I Ching, and you can get questions answered or useful advice. But it also has many very learned and highly experienced advanced students of the I Ching, and if you are one of those people you'll find some excellent higher level discussion about some of the finer points of I Ching study.

While you're at it, please consider joining the Yi Fa Society.  Members of the Yi Fa Society also have a (secret) discussion group, and benefit from a complete and detailed training program for studying Yi Fa Qi Gong and the I Ching.   Members of the Yi Fa Society are taught additional Qi Gong and I Ching secrets that are not available anywhere public.

At higher levels of membership, the advanced exercises of Yi Fa Qi Gong are taught, and students are provided large numbers of instructional materials (whole books, like "Secret Techniques of the I Ching", "Universal Yi Fa", "The Yi Dao", and "the Great Book of Yi Fa", among others) on how to deepen their work with Qi Gong and I Ching for self-transformation and the work of enlightenment.

Members of the Yi Fa Society can work personally with me to keep up their practice, to resolve problems in their practice, and to develop discipline and structure in their spiritual path.   Members also have the opportunity to have monthly Skype meetings with me for the same purpose.

Yi Fa Society membership is not free, but basic membership is on a monthly donation basis set by each student.


If you are interested in joining the Magician's I Ching Facebook group, just click on the link and join, and start reading and sharing with us!

If you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society, please contact me, here or on Facebook.

What to Know Before You do an I Ching Casting

The I Ching can be used to for divination about literally any subject. It is said that it covers all possibilities within the "world of 10000 things" (the manifested reality in which we exist).   So it's not just for thinking about very profound or advanced 'spiritual' questions. It's also not just for thinking about very mundane and ordinary subjects (romance, relationships, family, money, business, etc).  It can be equally effective for any of these things!

And yet, some I Ching castings end up working 'better' for the caster than others.  Why is that?
First, of course, is the level of training and understanding one has in working with and interpreting the I Ching.  The more you study it, and the more you consider its form, its text, its whole system, the better you'll get at using it. That part is pretty obvious (even though for some reason, many people never bother to go beyond the most basic level of understanding with it, even if they use it a lot; I've met some people who have used the I Ching fairly regularly for years and never even actually read the whole text!).

But whatever your level of training and understanding with the I Ching, there is also the fact that sometimes you will do castings that will seem to 'work' really well, providing you clear understanding of the question you are asking, and at other times, it will seem like the answer you get doesn't 'work' for you at all (in the sense that you aren't able to get a clear answer, or that what you get in the casting doesn't seem to be right).

Here are things you need to keep in mind when you are considering doing an I Ching casting about a question:

1. What is the level of Necessity for the casting? Is this something that you do not have a clear idea about without casting for it? Is there a strong emotional sense of intensity to seek out the answer?

2. Do you have the sense that there is something you may be missing, that you hope the I Ching could clarify?

3. How likely are you to interpret the casting objectively?

4. How open will you be to proceeding with the advice the I Ching may present to you?


None of these are points that should necessarily be taken as reasons not to do a casting. But they should give you an idea of whether you're really at the right spot to do the casting or not, and sometimes they may lead you to change your attitude about the casting you are about to perform, before you engage in it. 

The more intense the necessity is for a casting, the more likely that it will be fruitful.

The more clear you are about what it is you are needing from the casting, the more accurate the casting is likely to be.

The more you prepare yourself to be objective in your analysis of the casting, the more likely that you will not mislead yourself in your interpretation.

And the more serious you are about following through with the advice given by the I Ching, the more likely that the casting will provide concrete, direct and meaningful advice.

Why Do People Naturally Cultivate Virtue?

(The following is an excerpt from a letter to a Yi Fa Society student)

The answer to the question "why do humans decide to cultivate Virtue naturally" is because Virtue is a part of nature, it's part of the fundamental structure of reality.

However, another thing I think you need to somewhat distance yourself from is the idea that Virtue is tied into our ideas of "good".
There's a lot of things a given culture (including ours) will think of as "good" which is not a part of Virtue in the sense of "De", of nature.

And it can be better to understand Virtue, if you are able, as a natural substance, which as such is actually "neutral" in comparison to our ideas of morality.
This is an inherent understanding of Eastern philosophy, and especially in both the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching.

Because it is natural, people do try inherently to cultivate Virtue; but because people are so often distanced from what is Real and what is Natural, it is often very difficult for them to go far.
In particular, a lot of people will only take partial measures to generate Virtue; some will try to work on Virtue only in their minds and ways of thinking, others will try to do so only in terms of acts, and most will fail to engage in the cultivation of their Consciousness (not even realizing that this is essential to understand and develop Virtue; they think they already "know" what Virtue is, so it's not necessary to actually expand their consciousness as a prerequisite to becoming Virtuous!).

On the other hand, some spiritual practitioners will think that meditation and spiritual exercises alone, without the actual application of Virtue in their lives, is enough. Like that thinking happy thoughts, or trying to calm the mind, is itself Virtue.
That's not the case either.

There's much further elaboration on these issues in the Yi Fa Curriculum at Level 2 and especially Level 3.

On the Importance of the Standing Posture at the end of Qi Gong Practice

In the final standing posture there is nothing to do.
No distractions, no bells and whistles.
No tricks, no way to play make-believe.
Just stillness and breathing.
You are confronted with yourself.

How to Understand "Relaxation" in Yi Fa Qi Gong

This is a very useful video to understand some of what I mean with regards to 'relaxing' into Qi Gong practice. Although it's obviously being presented from the point of view of martial arts, it's coming from a tradition that makes some use of Qi Extension, and thus it relates to some of what we talk about in the Yi Fa Qi Gong practice.

 

Note that I'm not saying you need to do these stretches in particular (you could if you want to, but they're geared toward martial arts practice), I'm saying pay attention to what he's talking about just what 'relaxation' means.

 

People tend to tense up their muscles, while in Qi Gong the point is to keep the musculature relaxed while still holding an internal firmness. So I've found it's very important to remind people to relax while they practice; holding tension in the musculature makes it very ineffective for Qi circulation. But at the same time, this doesn't mean to be all floppy; the POSTURE is firm, the musculature is relaxed (and the breathing is relaxed as well).
There is a parallel in this when it comes to one's consciousness during the practice; you do not want to be mentally tense while you practice. You DO want to be in the Active Consciousness, but this means being very present in a very relaxed way!

 

Also note what he's talking about "mind" and "putting the mind into the body". When he says "mind" he's talking about what in Yi Fa Qi Gong we call "active consciousness". When you are really present in the active consciousness, your body is not tense, your mind is not tense, but you are fully connected in the body and so without any great effort other than that attention you are able to be in good control of your posture and movements.

 

Why the Yi Fa, and not a Western System?

Someone recently asked me why am I focusing on the Yi Fa Curriculum; as I clearly know a lot about western magick, why didn't I make a better modern form of a western magical system instead?

There are a couple of reasons why.

In the first place, the magick/occult community is full of people who have ideas, assumptions and fantasies about what magick is and what it's for.

Second, it has been tread over many times, and with many people making false assumptions.

By creating a magical system (the Yi Fa Curriculum) that does not look like what people's assumptions tell them 'magick' looks like, it means only people who are capable of having the right priorities and thinking beyond their own projections will be drawn to it.

Nevertheless, the work of the Yi Fa Curriculum will be highly complementary to the studies and practices of anyone seriously pursuing western esoteric systems.

If you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society, please feel free to contact me.

New I Ching Video: Hexagram #8 - Union

Here is the latest commentary video in the I Ching series. This one covers Hexagram #8 - Union.

Members of the Yi Fa Society get access to additional I Ching video and text commentaries that go into more depth on the symbolism and divination uses of the I Ching's Hexagrams. If you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society, please get in touch.

The Importance of Sincerity in I Ching Practice

Sincerity is essential to effective practice. 

The I Ching is interesting in how it has various ways to make it harder for you to lie to yourself, but it is not fool-proof in that regard, since someone who really wants to get a result that just tells him what he wants to hear will find ways to 'cheat' to do it.

In the Magician's I Ching Facebook Group,  there had been a discussion on the question about whether a casting could ever be wrong.
It was argued that it could not.

I would definitely agree: an I Ching casting, if performed correctly, will not be wrong.
Technical error or imperfect methods can make it less accurate.

But that aside, the problem is in two things: the question before the casting, and the interpretation after the casting.

If you are asking the wrong question, or asking a question in an imperfect way, the I Ching's result could be wrong (de facto, rather than de jure; it will be the right answer to the wrong question in the first place).

If you ask the right question but lack either the ability or the will to interpret it correctly, then we will be unable to make use of the (correct) answer.

Five Phases and Eight Elements

There's frequently some confusion in those who study Chinese mysticism/magick, in that there are eight trigrams in the I Ching, but in the greater system of esoteric teaching there is also something that is often defined as the "five elements". The initial and superficial similarity between this and the five classical elements of western esotericism (earth, air, water, fire and spirit) cause a lot of confusion.

Regarding the "5 elements": the problem that has caused this confusion relates to the use of the term 'elements'. Because what we usually call in English the 'five Chinese elements' are NOT in fact 'elements' in the sense of the five elements in western occultism!


The '5 Chinese elements' are actually five 'phases' in the cycle of generation to putrefaction.


The equivalent of the five elements of western occultism (earth, air, water, fire and spirit) are the Eight Trigrams.  The eight trigrams are divided in two parts: the four terrestrial trigrams correspond to the elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire; while the four celestial trigrams correspond to Spirit (you could say "spirit of earth", "spirit of air", "spirit of water" and "spirit of fire").

Then, the 5 chinese elements (the 'wuxing': wood, fire, earth, metal and water), which were most likely first developed in the alchemical teachings of the School of Yin and Yang (around 500 years after the Zhouyi text, the core of the I Ching, was written), correspond to the western 'alchemical elements' (Salt, Sulfur, Mercury). And likewise to the 3 gunas in Indian mysticism.

There are five of these, rather than three, because in the Wuxing system you have three process states (Wood, Earth, and Metal), and two transitory states (Fire and Water).  The process states represent Generation, Plateau, and Decline, while the transitory states represent the moment of peak Flowering and the moment of fullest Barrenness (that is to say, the peak-state and the nadir-state). 

Thus, while the Five Phases look similar to the Five Western Elements, it is in fact representing a totally different esoteric concept, much closer to that of the "alchemical elements" of western occultism.  And it is the Eight Trigrams which are the equivalent of the elements of western occultism.




So you see similar concepts, presented in different ways. Like different languages to describe similar concepts.

This is because the thing being studied is real; it is based on the study of reality, the natural universe, and the universal human condition. So the findings will be the same. But the expression will be different because of differences of distance, history and culture. 

This is discussed a bit further in teachings of Levels 2 and up of the Yi Fa Society.