The Eight Trigrams (continued)
Qian, the Father trigram and Kun, the Mother trigram, are "Pure Trigrams" and give rise to the other six trigrams.
Li - Fire
The Li trigram represents the Sun; hence fire, heat and light. The Sun has a natural nuclear fusion plant within it and is why the central line is the active part of the trigram. Fusing atoms together, the sun only produces hydrogen and helium, with every other element, including carbon, the "stuff of life", coming from other stars.
On our planet, the sun rises in the east and why it appears in the east of the Pre Heaven sequence of trigrams. Since ancient times, the sun has been associated with the east, particularly at the time of the spring equinox. At this time, known as zero hour, the sun rises at precisely 90 degrees (due east) and because we know the exact time and position of this occurrence, the Sun is used as a kind of cosmic compass and allows us to find specific stars that have the greatest influence on us.
Kan - Water
The Kan trigram represents the moon and found in the west of our sequence. Its active part is also the centre and represents magnetism, which has its greatest effect on liquids within the Earth. On a full moon, all liquids rise and on a new moon the liquids fall to their lowest point. This magnetic pull creates our tidal systems, as well as affecting sap in trees and plants. In fact, the best time to remove unwanted plants is around a full moon when the sap has risen higher.
The remaining Trigrams form the intercardinal points of the Pre Heaven sequence of trigrams. Viewed as pairs, they show us important natural laws.
Xun and Zhen
Both represent the wood element and have the phenomena of wind and thunder associated with them. Wood represents the plant kingdom and through the process of photosynthesis, plants release oxygen and supply about 99% of all O2 in our atmosphere.
As the warm oxygen rises, it cools and forms clouds. Thunderclouds often form in areas with intense vegetation such as the tropics and middle latitudes and being up to 10Km in height, have huge temperature differentials between the bottom and the top. This temperature change causes the bottom to be negatively charged (yin) and the middle and top to be positively charged (yang) as shown in the Xun Trigram.The negative charge induces a positive charge on the ground directly below the cloud this is shown in the bottom line of Zhen.
When the electric field between the lower part of the cloud and the ground reaches a certain voltage, the air molecules ionised along a narrow path and air becomes a conductor. This allows a free flow of charge between the cloud and the ground. Lightning starts with a leading stroke as electrons flow from the cloud to the ground, leaving the cloud with a positive net charge. Right after the leading stroke along the built-up ionised path comes the main stroke from the ground to the cloud, neutralising the positive charges. This releases a huge amount of energy in the form of heat and light and is believed to have been the spark that created life on Earth.
