iVillage

At the heart of the history of both feng-shui and the Yi-Ching is the legend of the Ho-Tu, the proverbial river map that is said to have appeared ages ago. As the story goes, the Ho-Tu diagram was carried on the back of a dragon-horse that arose out of the Huan-Ho (the Yellow River). On the flank or side of this creature was a plate with an inscription indicating the order of the eight trigrams and directions, one trigram for each of the basic compass directions. This arrangement of trigrams has come to be known as the Former Heaven sequence or arrangement of the trigrams, sometimes called the Early Heaven sequence or the Ho-Tu diagram.

As mentioned, the Former Heaven sequence assigns a single trigram (and number) to each of the eight primary directions. The number “5” is assigned to the center, which represents where one resides. This in itself is fascinating, but even more interesting is the fact that the arrangement of the eight trigrams is such as to indicate how these trigrams change, producing and endless cycle of yin and yang.

The trigram Qian (three solid or yang) lines represents the father and the direction south. The trigram Kun (three broken lines) represents the mother and the direction north. The six other trigrams fill in the sequence, each changing one line to become the next phase in the cycle. The arrangement is remarkable and offers an endless cycle of phases—changes. In fact, it is said of this Former Heaven sequence that it is perfect in itself, a template of what life should and could be on Earth, but not as it is today.