Trigrams: Their Meaning, Purpose and Application

Eight combinations also make up the Bagua map which shows how to achieve perfect balance in your home. Basically, they represent chi energy movements, changes in nature as well as yourself. They also show all possible nature and human situations.

Once you understand these eight combinations, you will know how to adjust your home to enhance your well-being and you will know in general how to enhance good chi and reduce the impact of negative chi.

How trigrams are formed

As you can see, yang (male) is represented by a solid line and yin (female) by a broken line. They produce two offspring each. You can see that the bottom of each offspring represents the parent line. Each of the four offspring produce a unique combination called bigram. Each of the bigrams produce two trigrams. Notice that the bottom two lines are the same as their parents' lines. The top line of each offspring makes all eight combinations different.

What lines in trigrams represent

Look at the eight combinations (at the bottom of the picture above). The bottom line of each combination represents earth, middle – people and upper – heaven. The different line in a combination determines the gender of the trigram.

So this combination

...is male, because a different line is a solid line.

The meaning of each combination

Name: Qian Palace: Heaven Family role: Father, husband, owner, king, president Direction: Northwest Element: Metal Color: Gold, white, silver Body Part: Head, lungs Loushu Number: 6

Name: Zhen Palace: Thunder Family role: Oldest son Direction: East Element: Wood Color: Green Body Part: Feet Loushu Number: 3

Name: Kan Palace: Water Family role: Middle son, middle-aged man Direction: North Element: Water Color: Black, blue Body Part: Blood, ears, kidneys Loushu Number: 1

Name: Gen Palace: Mountain Family role: Youngest son, child Direction: Northeast Element: Earth Color: Yellow, brown Body Part: Hands, fingers Loushu Number: 8

Name: Kun Palace: Earth Family role: Mother, wife, old woman, grandmother Direction: Southwest Element: Earth Color: Brown, yellow Body Part: Stomach, abdomen Loushu Number: 2

Name: Xun Palace: Wind Family role: Oldest daughter Direction: Southeast Element: Wood Color: Green Body Part: Lower back, thighs, buttocks Loushu Number: 4

Name: Li Palace: Fire Family role: Middle daughter, middle-aged woman Direction: South Element: Fire Color: Red, burnt orange, pink, purple Body Part: Heart Loushu Number: 9

Name: Dui Palace: Lake Family role: Youngest daughter, youngest girl Direction: West Element: Metal Color: Gold, white, silver Body Part: Teeth, tongue, chest, mouth Loushu Number: 7

What's your combination?

To find out your or other person's trigram, you only need a year of birth and a gender.

Here is how to calculate your trigram if you are male:

1.Add the digits in your year of birth.

(for example, if you were born in 1984, then this is how you should calculate:

1+9+8+4=22)

2.Add the digits of the number you got until you get a single digit number

(in this case we would add 2+2=4)

3.Subtract this number from 11.

(in this case, 11-4=7)

In this case, the name of your combination is Dui. Check the yellow boxes above to find the matching combination number to the one you've got.

If you got 5 as your combination number, your combination is number 2.

Here is how to calculate your trigram if you are female:

1.Add the digits in your year of birth.

(for example, if you were born in 1984, then this is how you should calculate:

1+9+8+4=22)

2.Add the digits of the number you got until you get a single digit number

(in this case we would add 2+2=4)

3.Add 4 to the number you got

(in this case 4+4=8)

In this case, the name of your combination is Gen. Check the yellow boxes above to find the matching combination number to the one you've got.

If you got 5 as your combination number, your combination is number 8.

Go back to the Five Elements from the Trigrams page.

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