I wanted to explain some detail about the Rave I’Ching and how to use it.

First of all you can get the Rave I’Ching from www.humandesignamerica.com or other National Organizations.

For those of you who don’t know, the Rave I’Ching is a book that gives a brief description of the Hexagram (Gate) and a description of each of the 6 lines for each Gate. You will also see the names of the Incarnation Crosses. This book was written by Ra Uru Hu.

Looking at a specific detail of a chart is tricky because the whole is the sum of it’s parts and if you pull just a part and look at that without the whole it won’t make much sense. So, keep in mind the type, strategy, authority, definition, such as centers/channels/gates when you look at a line. Always step back and look at the bigger picture.

What you will find as you begin to study charts is a thing called “genetic continuity”. The pieces seem to have continuity and a theme that relates back to the type/strategy/authority/profile/cross. It always does. You begin to see a theme for the life. You begin to see the paradox in the life and the complexities.

What I have noticed for myself is that it takes time to understand lines. Some of them read like riddles or poetry. Don’t look too closely at them because you can get easily confused. Just as the I’Ching (Chinese Book of Changes) can take a lifetime to understand, the lines take time and they make much more sense if read and digested in context with the entire chart. It’s best to start with your own chart and meditate on your own lines over time, or at least this is what has worked for me.

So, if you have your I’ Ching, go to page 11 and we will use this as an example. On this page you will see the “chop” for the Hexagram 11 = Peace. The gate of Ideas. You will see a description of the gate: “A Harmonic condition in the individual or society that permits assessment before renewed action.” This statement is a description of the Hexagram (gate).

Then below this are the lines and their descriptions. There are two sets of descriptions. One sounds positive and one sounds negative. It is the “this” and the “that” of the line. Or the light and the dark. We all get to experience the light and the dark. When we are following our strategy and authority we get to experience more of the light. When we are acting from the “not-self” we get to experience more of the dark. You will recognize yourself in each of these areas when you read your own lines.

There is a name for each of the six lines as well. Sometimes the name of the line says it all and you don’t have to read the lines at all.

The 1st line description for every Hexagram will give you the foundational understanding of the Hexagram.

You will see, in some cases, such as the page we are referring to, a one sentence line introduction in blue. This is not the case for all lines, only some. So, when there is a description in blue it means that this is what you are learning. If there is no blue description then it is just a given. So, some lines are a learning process and some lines are simply just as they are, a characteristic of you.

OK – now it gets even more complex:

You will see in the book that there are planet glyphs associated with the lines listed next to them.

Because the planets are in a particular position in the sky at the moment of birth they will activate the Hexagram and a line within that hexagram when you are born.

Sometimes if certain planets activate certain lines they “fix” that line either in detriment or exaltation and this is noted by the up pointed pyramid or the down pointed pyramid you will see on your chart, and on page 11 in the book (and on all the pages in the book).

So, for example, if you look at page 11, line 4 you will see that the moon exalts this line and the sun puts it into detriment. Meaning, if you have your moon in your chart in the 11th Hexagram, line 4, then this position is exalted. This means that most of the time you experience the more positive description of the characteristics of this line in this Hexagram. It does not mean that you never experience the negative side of this line but the positive side is emphasized in your design.

And, if you have the Sun in your design in this Hexagram and line then you will experience the more negative influence of this line. It will be more challenging. Ra would say that our detriments are the most interesting place in our charts as they will challenge and teach you.

Keep in mind though when we speak of positive and negative I’m only speaking of this and that and there is no judgment of good or bad. I have a couple of detriments in my design and I know they are perfect for me in context with my overall design. So it is important not to see this as bad.

The influences of the negative aspects of the lines via not-self are far far worse an experience than the permanent fix’s we have in our designs!

If you see a “star” shaped symbol it means that there are planets that fix the line in both exaltation AND detriment. This means that there is a special emphasis on this aspect of your design. Keep an awareness of it as you move through your life and see where it reveals itself to you.

Ok – so this basically explains the I’ching and how to use it.

To complicate things, if you have a planet in the ‘harmonic’ gate that fixes the gate on the other side of the channel, it will put that gate in exaltation or detriment too. So taking our example above if you have channel 11.56 in your design and the sun is in either 11 or 56 it will fix line 4 in detriment for gate 11.

This next piece is very fascinating:

Composite charts and transits can temporarily put our lines in exaltations or detriments too. So for example, if I had Hexagram 11, line 4 and someone’s Sun was either in Hexagram 11 or 56 (56 is the other end of the channel) then that would put my line 4 in detriment for the duration of the transit or the duration of the relationship.

I hope this was clear and helpful.

Lynda Bunnell
www.ihdschool.com