The Rhythm Archetypes

The I Ching is an ancient Chinese book of divination, in which 64 pairs of trigrams are shown with various interpretations. Otherwise known as the Book of Changes, this archaic and enigmatic text is the culmination of Chinese thought regarding the nature of reality. The fountainhead of Taoist and Confucian thought, it is a philosophical system of primal insights into the workings and destiny of the Universe. Philosophically it describes the Tao or Universe as a single, flowing, rhythmic being, and all things in it in constant cyclical change. The eternal Tao continuously gives birth to the one universal energy, which expresses itself as two polar but co-creative aspects--yin and yang.
 

The sages of ancient China revealed the most profound secret of the Universe--that yin and yang pulsate within all things and in unison, they are the moving force of Nature and all its manifestations. All things contain varying degrees of yin and yang. The white vibration of yang is light, active, masculine, creative, expansive, and corresponds to Heaven or spirit. The black vibration of yin is dark, passive, feminine, nurturing, intuitive, and corresponds to Earth or matter. The power of yin as a calm, receptive, female energy is the key to bringing balance to the world's excessively yang state--in other words, aggressive, male, extroverted, loud, superficial, materialistic, ego-driven culture.
 

By contemplating Nature, the wise sages perceived all of the rhythms and energy patterns that arise from the interaction of yin and yang. By observing patterns of events arising in the natural world, the social world and the inner world of the psyche, they deciphered Nature's rhythmic code. They then coded these rhythmic patterns into a "book of life." The I Ching's 64 hexagrams represent a code or program of the operating principle of life itself. Each six-lined symbol is the visual representation of a rhythm archetype. The rhythm archetypes are the "sonic seeds" of all that exists.
 

The entire Universe is created through vibration and can be influenced through vibration. T'an Ch'iao, a Taoist adept of the tenth century, expressed this potential when he wrote, "When energy moves, sound is emitted; when sound comes forth, energy vibrates. When energy vibrates, influences are activated and things change. Therefore it is possible thereby to command wind and clouds, produce frost and hail, cause phoenixes to sing, get bears to dance, make friends with spiritual luminescences."
 

The Hexagram Rhythms
 

Moreover, each six-lined symbol depicts a particular drum pattern, which renders the essence of each hexagram into sound. A solid yang line _____ represents one whole beat, while a broken yin line __  __ represents two half beats or a heartbeat. For example, the rhythmic pattern of Hexagram 58, "The Joyous," resembles the opening beats of the familiar processional "The Wedding March." This simple drum pattern is depicted below. Remember, hexagrams are read from bottom to top.

             Line 6        __  __        drum—drum         in white
             Line 5        _____              drum               dressed
             Line 4        _____              drum                   all
             Line 3        __  __        drum—drum        the bride
             Line 2        _____              drum                comes
             Line 1        _____              drum                 Here

Drumming is an innovative way to engage with an I Ching reading. It is a type of focus meditation, requiring total concentration. Drum meditation is a way to access the archetypal wisdom contained in each hexagram. As a form of meditation, drumming activates perceptions that can be attained by no other means. By drumming the hexagrams, one can achieve a level of intuitive understanding beyond linguistic interpretations. Archetypal knowledge is symbolic and non-linear. It does not lend itself readily to logical or verbal expression. It is wisdom that can only be experienced intuitively. The process is an effective meditative technique for self-exploration.