This astrology deals with life and its events on a principal level, so that e.g. "K'uei" - the time of estrangement and/or separation - will mean different things to different people depending on their actual circumstances at that time. In one case some years ago, the outcome of this critical sign, occurring as a year forecast, was the death of the woman's husband in a car accident. In another the same omen corresponded to a divorce that took place during the year.

In 2008 a fall K'uei forecast for a politician in this author's native Sweden translated into a marked loss in popularity due to muddle headed thinking and a generally reactive attitude. The theme of estrangement may obviously work from both perspectives as when one person sets him-/herself apart from others! (This example brings up the classic problem of agency in dealing with these hexagrams used for forecasts: through whom will the prediction fulfill itself, or in what way will the theme manifest?)

Simplified, the year prognosis may be said to break down into one individual forecast for each of the four quarters as well as into daily symbols. Personally, I've never managed to keep up a continuous study of the daily forecasts; so suggestive are these symbols that I rather get out and start living the day than spending half of it deciphering the probable outcome of what then remains! But the quarterly forecasts may indeed shed valuable light on the general trend of our affairs.

Here is how you go about it:

You start partaking of objective time at birth. If born, say, in December, this will be your astrological year 1 (the method uses 1 as its basis, not 0). But this also means you will only partake of the initial year omen for a few weeks, or even days. Already at the winter Solstice in late December, this solar based system moves forward and you enter upon what from your perspective is your astrological year 2, although still newly born! Your initial SUB-CYCLE is therefore a bit shorter than the following ones.

On the other hand, if you are born, say, December 29th, your first forecast will constitute almost the full calendar year since the astrological year stretches from one winter Solstice to the next. (It is perhaps more convenient to think of the year in the standard western manner: from one January 1st to the next January 1st.)

These sub-cycles are developed out of all six lines in the birth symbol and after you have lived through all that you similarly progress through all six lines in the symbol describing the fully developed nature, or "the later hexagram." In both cases the hexagram starts off with the "controlling line" noted on the results page when calculating a birth symbol and the subsequent one for one's mature years.

When a sub-cycle is "controlled" by a line of Yin polarity, its value is 6 years. For a Yang line the length of time is 9 years. This is another of those stated rules with no surviving explanation. Students of I Ching will of course recognize these numbers from the oracle system. Due to the newly born's entrance into Time, the first sub-cycle will, as noted, be somewhat shorter than 6 or 9 years.

You move through the sub-cycles in the same fashion as a hexagram is though to represent organic growth: from bottom up. If born to the top line, this will be your first sub-cycle in life after which you return to the bottom line for the second cycle. For the ensuing cycles you work your way up, until you have "consumed" all six lines. When that happens, you are deemed to have reached your mature nature and the same procedure repeats itself.

Unfolding each of the individual 6 or 9 "year hexagrams" for an entire sub-cycle is very easy, but the rules for a Yin and a Yang line differ:

For a Yin line you change its polarity (turn it into a whole Yang line) for the first year of this six year cycle and let it remain the "controlling" line. The new hexagram and especially its controlling Yang line is the year forecast (when may then be broken down into four quarterly hexagrams, the initial figure in this case ruling only over winter).

For the second year in the sub-cycle you change the polarity of the line above the ruling line for the first year. If already at the top, go to the bottom and perform the change. Then move one position up and change the line's polarity in the same manner for the remaining years in this cycle.

For a Yang line the polarity of the year decides how to proceed. Even-numbered years (2008, 2010) are Yang (positive polarization) and odd-numbered years (2009, 2011) are Yin (negative polarization). The year you assess in this manner is NOT that in which the December winter Solstice falls, but the one following within a few days and for which you want to establish the year omen.

For an even-numbered Yang year, the controlling whole line does not change for the first year of the sub-cycle, but becomes the controlling line for that year. (Here I quote Sherrill/Chu almost verbatim.) For the second year, the counterpart of this line in the other trigram changes from Yin to Yang or vice versa, and becomes the controlling line for that year.

The baseline, lower trigram, has as its counterpart the line in the fourth position, counted from below, that is, the bottom line in the upper trigram. Line two in a hexagram, central in the lower trigram, correlates with line 5, central in the upper or outer trigram. Line 3, topmost in the inner/lower trigram, correlates with the topmost line in the upper or outer trigram.

(Strictly speaking, two positions only enjoy "correlation" when their inhabiting lines are of different polarity. All this belong to the basic rules of the I Ching proper, and if not familiar with them, you will not benefit from proceeding with this astrological method right now. A good working knowledge of I Ching is needed to even begin assessing the "quality" or "nature" of the symbol being produced as a year hexagram.)

For the third year in a nine year Yang cycle, the controlling line moves back to its initial position and its polarity is changed. From year 4 and onwards the controlling line moves upward (and very possibly restarts again at the bottom if the hexagram's top has been reached). This is done in the same way as described for the six year sub-cycle developing out of a Yin line in the birth hexagram or later hexagram.

For an odd-numbered Yin year, the controlling whole line softens and changes into a broken Yin for the first year of the sub-cycle. After that, just follow the procedure laid out above for the even-numbered years.

At this point a graphic recap is in order! Below is seen hexagram 12, and in this case it has the bottommost line as its controlling birth line. Seen unfolded is the initial Yin six year sub-cycle based on that very birth line. The individual was born in October, meaning the first astrological year - here: 1959 - only lasted for about two months. Beginning on his first winter Solstice (December 1959) the individual embarked on his first full astrological year, here labeled 1960.

Also shown in the image is the developed fourth sub-cycle based on a Yang line and therefore lasting nine years. Note that this Yang sub-cycle starts in an odd-numbered year (Yin), meaning the Yang line out of which this cycle develops softens and becomes a Yin for the first year.

Breaking down the year hexagram into four quarters. Just leave the hexagram as it is for winter, the first quarter. For the spring quarter, turn it on its head (the controlling line follows it around so that what may have been a controlling top line during winter now becomes a controlling bottom line during spring).

For the summer quarter: again use the winter hexagram, but now change every Yang into a Yin and vice versa. Controlling line remains where it is. For the fourth fall/autumn quarter: turn the summer hexagram on its head (and the controlling line follows it).

The Astrology of I Ching by Chu & Sherrill presents a more complicated and utterly useless elaboration of this basic schema where the authors distribute roughly a fortnight belonging to the Earth element immediately after each of the four seasons. In traditional Chinese astrology Earth is allocated to the Dog Days during the summer, and here is one instance where I am pretty sure the translators simply made things up in splashing out the "Earth days"- a few here and a few there! In fact, early in the book there is an inconspicuous mention of changes done to the original system since the original Chinese manuscript is lacking in detail...

I have subjectively experienced a "loosening up" as a season expires just before the next solstice is due, but the method presented in the aforementioned book is simply so ugly and crude I prefer not to repeat it here. You will have enough work trying to ascertain the meaning of the four main quarterly symbols. For my part, I have still not decided on whether the "main entrance" - the year hexagram - still in some way hovers over the entire year, although technically only lording over the winter.

Have fun!

 

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