GPROSPECT S.

IChing & the SysteIlls of the West

Chester Anderson

1975

Chester Valentine John Anderson was a friend of mine. He, a far better
friend to me than I to him, I am afraid. He and I both left Mendocino
around the same time, He for the Russian River area, I for parts much,
much farther west.
Ironically I found out about his being sick, ultimately leaving
California, and then his death in an old Mendocino Beacon laying about
my folk's house. Antonia was saying there would be a memorial service
for him. This was some time after the date and I was stricken.
When it came time to upload items on to SCRIBD I immediately
thought of this PROSPECTUS, of Chester's that I had been carrying
around, 10 these 35 years, a give back to them and an immortalization of
Chester, as it were. Little did I know, Chester was already immortalized
on the WEB. Wikipedia says he was born August 11,1932 and left us on
April 11, 1991. It lists the books he wrote and the other literary
accomplishments of his. Let me tell you, Wikipedia has nothing on me
babe. The Diggers web site at www.diggers.org has a connection to the
communication company archives that, according to Joan Didion in
Slouching towards Bethlehem, was Chester's "peculiar hold on the
District derives from his possession of a mimeograph machine, on which
he prints communiques signed "the communication company.'"
It is ironic that the World Wide Web and Scribd came along to late.
CVJ would have loved it. It would have been his perfect media. To nlY
Knowledge he never completed the book that this document was a
prospectus for. It is not listed among his papers at the Bancroft Library;
it may have just been one of those things that feel between the floor
boards of life. It should be noted that the address given here doesn't go
anywhere now, Chet not being in a place to answer letters. The Church
of The One was Chester and the Mendocino Lithographer's was the print
shop He worked at to pay the bills.
Chester was something of a well versed student of the I Ching. In
the time I was in touch with him I collected all manner of charts with
Hexagrams on them, very few of which I ever understood. He had this
way of having you tell him things that you didn't let a lot of other people
know, one of mine was that I "Walked the I Ching"; that is practiced }\.~
(Ba Gua or Pa Kua). I think he felt I should have a better understanding
of what I was doing and kept giving me the material so I would go find
these things out. As you can see in the lithograph done by Chuck
Stevenson, Chester has placed one on it also. The picture belo\v was
part of a series a whole bunch of us who did theater, knew Chuck, and
weren't part of the main stream society ended up doing. I think Jean

Spetrino was responsible for the whole project, but it has been so long
ago I can't remember. We all got naked and Chuck took pictures to use
or not use in his art. There was supposed to be some slide show held at
the Mendocino Art Center. I don't know if it ever happened, as stated
above, I left town.

,.. ~....

ll

In Charles Marchant Stevenson's multiple portrait IIChesterAnderson

the artist refers to Renaissance allegorical painting in which the figure of
Truth is presented naked, Truth having nothing to hide. Stevenson is the
illustrator of Chester Anderson's cinematic novel of Greenwich Village
in 1964, IIFoxand Hare: the story of a Friday evening II(Entwhistle Books,
1980).
The inscription is in Chester Anderson's hand:
IIInall things, great and small, I am the Beauty of the Divine
Manifestation. II
Pencil signed by Chester Anderson
An original Lithograph of this may be had From Zacha's Bay Window
Gallery, Mendocino, CA

'PROSPECTUS

I Ching & the System.s of the West

---Chester Anderson

THE

CHURCH

MENDOCINO
Fort

OF THE

ONE

LITHOGRAPHERS
Bragg, California

1975

In 1966, Antonia Lamb introduced

me to the I Ching.

Long may she live in happiness.

"

PROSPECTUS: I Ching & the Systems of the West

by Chester Anderson
Published at the Vernal Equinox, 1975

Copyright @ 1975 by Chester Anderson

All rights reserved.

Published for The Church of the One

by Mendocino Lithographers
100 N. Franklin Street
Fort Bragg, California 95437

~
"...
'iI '

.t(la.
~

. tv

Righteousness a function of form

discovered not proved.
]. S. Bach
March 16, 1968
The flow of energy through a system
acts to organize that system.
R. Buckminster

Fuller

ONE

The eight trigrams of the I Ching come to us in two traditional

Primal Arrangement

(or 'Before-the-World

Inner World Arrangement

Sequence'),

arrangements:

The

much the older of the two; and The

(Bollingen I Ching, 3rd cd., pp. 262-279). Like every other duality

in the Changes, these two arrangements

ceptive. In their circular structure
and the Powers of Earth.

are, respectively,

Yang and Yin, Creative and Re-

they are the primary mandalas of the Powers of Heaven

Tht. P..l-.-l A"~"je.-s_"t" 0,.

"' Be+D ..,

thL WDv)J

_e",'"

~e'l .

s...;n.,

8
1'1"''''-''''
/'1'

-"N.e

~ it-c

8olh'":'"...I Cl\l"'~ ~
1'<"5

s 2(6 -'Ii

s ...~ eJ:t, .

U:l.-7'J

~"'~ t. ~t""l.n-~

..
l:;".c

n.,lll""4" 1: Cl.I_"

r--~"~''i-l1,
U-Hi

!...
j ~c:..',,-.

:Jo~-"~1{11-7"c

./.1s~",k.<I'''

to{

'1

.3

5 7

go

J-

"

C\. ..S't"4 .~ ~

s.e<t"" .

C:ol:..l~ II> i-

",u

J.u't;.,s

A few years ago, when I was being taught the basic Magic Circle traditionally favored
by the members of a certain British Coven:

I realized that the outer and inner rings, representing the Forces of Light and the Forces of
Darkness, are exactly equivalent to the Primal and Inner World Arrangements, and that the
four Names in each of the two rings can be equated to the four 'polar' (east, south, west
and north) trigrams in each of the two Arrangements.

M-..;

iI.
;r.~

:: :

L."1

::::: Lv"'"

:...=

L",;f~,

: : 1;,,,;, bob

)J

:...:- A\~'t.,,"~
Chi"'ls<

,f- CI.L

TVk-ksl:liu-

i:c~,,'C,.,1 .

W .

In theory,

I reasoned, one should be able to construct

the two Arrangements

an effective magic circle from

of the trigrams, placing one inside the other concentrically,

which

would avoid the rather tricky business of invoking Divine and Infernal Names to assist in
one's own trivial affairs. This has proven experimentally

to be the case.

.5 0 vr;(,

--T!'-

...

S"V~
\~

C
,..

'"

~.1'~

--- --

UO!OjV

"1h~GV'~

civclL

The fact that in the western magic circle the east and west poles of the Inner World
Arrangement are transposed suggests that, like everything else in the Changes, the Yang and
Yin arrangements

of the trigrams themselves have Yang and Yin forms-the

normal and

transposed versions. (Thus do the Changes express Tetragrammaton.)

If the IWA is the Powers of Earth, then going one way-east,
Arrangement

is passive, and going the other way-west,

south, west, north-the

south, east, north-it's

active. (Or

vice versa. But I would imagine that in the western circle, both inner and outer rings are
active, since one only erects such a thing to act from within it. And I would expect the
normal, clockwise sequence of each Arrangement to be the ideal of what that Arrangement
is: active for the Primal Arrangement, passive for the Inner World Arrangement. But I could
easily be wrong.)
This all suggests that trigrammatic magic circles can be constructed and precisely tailored for any imaginable number of specific applications,

and this too has proved our in

practice. I've erected a number of such circles and tested them on friends, with broadly
consistent results. The friends (who knew nothing about what I was doing, or even about
the Changes) were invited to sit within the circles and meditate, or project, sense vibes, look
through the third eye-whatever

they found comfortable-and

which have pretty uniformly been appropriate

describe their experiences,

to the theoretical properties of the circles.

(A residual timidity has so far kept me from using these circles in any more active work
than healing &c.) You may experiment with these devices for yourself, if you wish.

---

-~)(f'r...".~:!t:vl'jY""".si.e.::::= +;-;:;-~

-:3

"[I"j
C

r:J i ,)'5
=-""ct ..

""-rl.t~\r
,I.- If.H"ZP "~l,..:vl<~

:HUI

\'"'u"" n,
N

... ..
-........

-.-.

:..:

P-

of-

~'

It follows
represent

from

forces

of nature-which

vincing

correspondences

course,

it follows

point

for point

all this that

that

the trigrams,
is just

what

can be established
the trigrams

correlation

between

like all the gods

the Ching itself says they

between

can be neatly
the system

gods and trigrams.

placed

of western

Changes can therefore

be elaborated.
Crowley, in 777, The Book of TllOth and elsewhere,
understanding

of the Changes

suffered

of the I Ching, and his attributions

from

are often

of all man's
do-and
And

that

from

con-

this, of

on the Tree of Life, and that a

occultism

undertook

being based

pantheons,

and the system

of the

to do just this, but his

solely on the Legge mistranslation

thus erroneous

or gimcrack:

C....,-,lc.ls

e,rr/kteiNS

('lw:._~

tl..c.T...." ..., ..."lktT .."c.

C. F. Russell and most other modern occultists who make reference to the Changes follow
Crowley's faulty attributions,
attributions

and their work suffers accordingly-be

advised. The correct

are here set forth for the first time.

....

/~

/~i-,,"k
k'v"

----

/---~l
Chv~"""-h

--

Ch',e"

--

[,(.(~\~,:)~il\
//

ih. cn..."'t

r 1~'4".,.."t "
tlw. T", I , , .
j
""'" "tI\. ,.

""Co

These Sephiroth/Trigram

correspondences are exact, in the sense that they satisfy both

the Chinese and the Hebrew requirements.

In the Changes, each trigram is given the same

attributes and properties as the Sephirah related to it. Where there are differences, the two
systems complement each other.
Furthermore,

the trigrams, as thus laid out upon the Tree, follow the order of the

Primal Arrangement.

Since I discovered this after Ipaking the Sephiroth/Trigram

ments, I consider it to be a highly validating coincidence. Starting &om the top/south

of the Primal Arrangement
Tiphareth, Geburah,
to Chokmah.

assignpole

and moving widdershins, the sequence is Chokmah, Chesed,

Binah -

twist - Netzach, Yesod, Hod, twisting thence back again

This suggests at the very least a moebius twist in the structure of the Tree (a similar
twist has long been known to occur in the sequence of the Major Arcana). It also suggests a
spheroid structure in three or more dimensions, with Kether at the center (which is everywhere) and Malkuth at the circumference
teresting to think about.

(which is nowhere to be found). All this is in-

Since we are considering a Yang and a Yin sequence of trigrams, each with a Yang and
a Yin subsequence of its own, it seems likely that there are actually four possible arrangements of the trigrams on the Tree, which would give us one sequence for each of the Four
Worlds of the Qabalah. But I haven't had the leisure to go into this yet, and it remains an
open hypothesis.

TWO
Chapter XI, paragraph 5 of The Great Treatise (I Ching, p. 318) says:
Therefore there is in the Changes the Great Primal Beginning.
This generates the two primary forces.
The two primary forces generate the four images.
The four images generate the eight trigrams.
This sets forth the basis of a cosmological system identical with that of the Qabalah,
the Tetragrammaton.

The same system is set forth in chapter 42 of the Tao Te Ching.

Tht:. GY~AZ:!,ri1114/ 'B fJ"7lnc.'''J

tho(. 2.

P...~'4~!YPoYUS

------- -- ---- --- - - --:::-=

-0R.-

s
TkL Cs~o(Cj1

,,~u,~CI'\C4"'je5

-oR&. +- ")

V1,rV.(~L:

(a. +- b)

2.

'1:1

:::

, . L-l-L ~

=- -

~ b .::: -

+ b'--

--~ -+ .J;,a.
-+ 3 a..b9-t- b
- ==;; =- ~ ~ == :- =
-- --

L{,

. -n;~,.,.,:

:r:~.:J-(j'

-CJ,~ 1=1J~,...
3

1J,~G{j~r: lv-<Jr-i4~$

The Great Primal Beginning is the Ain Soph Aur. The two primary forces arc The
Creative and The Receptive-Yang

and Yin per se-which

are Kether and Malkuth on the

Tree. The eight trigrams (which are the eight remaining Sephiroth) are the lines of force or
attraction or whatever between the two great poles of Yang and Yin.
The two primary forces evolve (I prefer this to 'generate') the four two-line images,
which correspond

to the four seasons, cardinal directions, and (most significantly) four

clements. Also, of course, the Four Worlds and every other fourness in the universe.
The two forces are simple Yang and Yin. Adding to each a Yang and/or a Yin produces
four combinations

of Yang and Yin: the four images/elements/&c. To each of these four

adding yet another Yang and/or Yin produces the eight trigrams. All very neat and mathematical: :2 (the forces), 2 squared (the images) and 2 cubed (the trigrams).
(It is interesting to note that whereas western occultism/metaphysics
of the Changes are firmly tetrapolar,
based on five-five

and the system

the system of Chinese metaphysics is just as firmly

directions, elements, tones, colors, virtues &c. This despite the fact that

the tetra polar Changes have for 5,000+ years been the basis of Chinese thought. It is easily
seen that the systems of western occultism and the I Ching are in most respects the same,
which suggests either that the two systems have a common source [about which it is futile
but enlightening to speculate],
other is a corruption.

or that one of the two systems is the original of which the

[For aesthetic reasons, I prefer to think the Ching came first, but

t~ere's no telling for sure.] This is also lots of fun to think about.)
Anyhow, within the confines of the eight trigrams, the system of the Changes presents
a four-dimensional working scale model/outline
extraordinarily

sophisticated

of the endless evolution of the cosmos, an

and even scientific construct. This system was already com-

plete and perfect at the time of the earliest recorded reference to the Changes, circa 2305
B.C. (I refer you to Helmut Wilhelm, Change, page 48:

Scholars have in fact extended the mathematical order underlying the individual hexagram and, applying it to the system as a whole, have obtained a
perfect numerical representation satisfying to the imagination of a mind
trained in mathematics. A graphic representation of this system cannot but
be inadequate, because three dimensions do not suffice. That is to say, if a
single line is delineable in one dimension, and the double line requires a
plane, and for the trigram a solid body is necessary, then naturally when it
comes to representing the complex of a hexagram, one cannot do without
the help of a fourth dimension, which is indeed imaginable to the mathernatical mind but cannot be represented

concretely.

Which is really pretty clever for 2305 B.C.)

(The similarities between the system of the Changes and certain concepts of contemporary physics, chemistry, game and information

theory &c are, in a general sense, fairly

obvious, and should be incorporated herein by reference, but they are too elaborate, and 1
too ill-prepared, to be gone into here in any detail. Write your own science-fiction.)

The prevailing academic theory is that the trigrams evolved in a fairly straightforward
way from the old tortoise-shell oracles, beginning from a simple Yang/yes and Yin/no and
gradually adding lines for greater specificity. However, I've seen no evidence presented in
support

of this idea, and the sophistication

against it. (Another counterargument

of the system so early as 2305 B.C. argues

is that no one before myself seems to have had any

clear idea what the system actually is.) The academic theory is further weakened for me by
the fact that already in 2305 B.C. the names of the trigrams (in some unknown and even
then forgotten language, not Chinese) had become untranslatable, and the meanings thereof
dependent on oral tradition, according to Helmut Wilhelm.
This suggests (at least to me) that the trigrams reached China already fully developed
from somewhere else, but God knows where. The indications of scientific and technical
advancement inherent in the system (I admit 1 may be simply reading these into it from my
own bias) lead me into frankly fantasy/science-fictional
A.

speculation:

that the system is the sole identifiable surviving artifact of some advanced culture
that rose, flourished and fell without any other trace long enough before recorded
history to have been utterly forgotten,

lost to human memory, whose fall was

such that it left no other relics for archeology to find-this

is the Atlantean

Hypothesis;
B.

or that the system was accidentally or even deliberately left behind, circa 2305
B.C., by representatives

of some non-terrestrial,

space-hopping

culture-the

Galactic Litterbug or Flying Saucer Hypothesis;

C.

or that, just as Chinese tradition has it, God (Fu Hsi) came down from His mountain and presented the system, fully formed, to mankind to aid us in our evolution upward toward re-union with Him-the

Divine Intervention Hypothesis.

1 give credence to none of these hypotheses, but take great pleasure in all of them.

THREE
In an ancient Chinese calendar system, "The Breaths of the Year," the twelve months
are symbolized by twelve hexagrams depicting the ebb and flow of the two primary forces
in the course of the year. (This is what Dr. Wilhelm is talking about when he mentions that
such and such a hexagram is associated with such and such a month.) Along with these
twelve, four hexagrams (which are the polar trigrams of the Inner World Arrangement
doubled) are used to symbolize the four seasons.

$I

'-

f
.l

..$.

~H::

-IU't

~''l'\,
l ",l l \t)"
"

Y
~.

F
J?2~(1S ..A >:2,.lI,

i"'f'fiqtl

lrJ

--.-~
=:
..... -..- _.-- -....
)\jl

'b"'C

"''''l thna )'j.J..

'1,

-;:!

,..

'I :n: ~
~
~

"'IU~
~ ~~
Itt ~~

These four core hexagrams are of two kinds, naturally. The Creative and the Receptive
are closed, in the sense that they evolve no further. Before Completion and After Completion, on the other hand, evolve ceaselessly each into the other, Yang becoming Yin becoming Yang becoming Yin forevermore. The picture this presents is of the Creative and the
Receptive as positive and negative poles around which Before and After Completion whirl,
somewhat like a dynamo.
The possible implications

of all this are delightfully staggering, but it's enough for

here/now to point out that once again we have a structure of four 'seasonal' hexagrams
and twelve 'monthly'

hexagrams, and once again therefore the possibility of astrological

correlations.
It is noteworthy

that in this system the four central hexagrams perfectly reflect the

four elemental/seasonal

images discussed above, demonstrating

more clearly than is usual

in occult lore the actual workings of the elements. The correlations and correspondences
between the twelve 'monthly'

hexagrams of the Nuclear Evolution system and those of

the Breaths of the Year are likewise interesting.

(\'\i.H"')I

!t

_______ -

;1..i

1
..
~,.J.,_

:...:,A. a... f:.

"t

.-....
_

CVI!f" .

- -z::
.. - .- t"

....
..

7"''2~:: .: "'~J..

il,,,,,

C"s"",lc

T.~r'rkU4,..""

12"~74{2 ~
L.or

~--g)

.~
~~f/''''~.''''1

'Two 1 C"i"'j Cc..I~.Jtc"5

C~('-'tl

The other 48 hexagrams are distributed among these twelve and four in a manner we
won't go into here, so as to provide a calendar of 360 lines. From the old writings on the
subject, it is clear that these 360 lines do not represent 360 days, as some scholars would
have it, but the 360 degrees of the sun's apparent passage around the earth in the circle of
the year. This is a fairly advanced notion for its time (circa 300 B.C.), especially since the
Chinese were otherwise subdividing the circle into something like 365 "degrees," and suggests that the twelve monthly hexagrams can be correlated somehow with the signs of the
Zodiac, but so far I've not been able to establish such a correlation

firm and inevitable

enough to satisfy me. This is therefore one of my major projects.

(In this connection,

it is worth noting that the system of twelve Houses is a relatively

modern development in astrology, according to Cyril Fagin, and that in the original system
there were but eight houses. Correlations between these and the eight trigrams, especially
in the Inner World Arrangement, may well be possible.)

FOUR

Each hexagram is actually composed of four trigrams (yay Tetragrammaton!).

Lines

1-2-3 and 4-5-6 are the outer trigrams, and lines 2-3-4 and 3-4-5 are the nuclear trigrams. In
the Book of Changes, all four trigrams are involved in determining the meaning not only of
each hexagram as a whole, but especially of each line within each hexagram. The internal
evidence suggests that this mode of explication is at least as old as the texts (for they are
based on it), and is perhaps of a piece with the rest of the system.
From each hexagram, then, you can extract the nuclear trigrams and combine them in
what I call a nuclear hexagram. (In divination, this nuclear hexagram generally depicts the
querent's question or area of concern.)
I call this process of extracting nuclear hexagrams Nuclear Evolution,

and when, out of

curiosity, I applied the process systematically to all 64 hexagrams, I discovered that 48

hexagrams all evolve into the same 12 nuclear hexagrams, and that these 12 in turn evolve
into four 'core' hexagrams. (Actually, I suppose, the 12 evolve out of the four, and the 48
out of the 12, but I necessarily worked it out the other way around, and that's how I think
of it.)
50

14

34

--

Lf):I:111 ~IIIIII

II: II I

56

30

55

62

33

13

49

31

43-

':':I:II:~
0'

32

I I

~II:II:~
- - I'IIII~ :I:II:~
I: II 10\
~II:III~
44

I I

:;;11:11:/

:;:::II:~

/I::II:~

11111/ ~
:::111 J;IIIIII-~IIIIII-~III'II
~I::III II I I I ,

11'111.
1
"'~ 111'110' '1'1 10' 1IIIIIUl 1'1 IUl
7 1'11.-1 I 1"'-11' I. :::111;::;

<--/

1'1 ~

~I::II:/

~1::IIIt:

Lf)'IIIII~
'0 I11III
"'III I 0111111
NIIII'
III I """II , I
N /

IIIII~
/' 1 11111' .
"1 1'1. '11110'
II I 1'0 1111'
11.
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;IIIUl

. 111

II

~I::I::

I' II

/_t~~
[t

6[

/~,~~ ~::I:I~
[9

65

09

Once again let me emphasize: (a) that the Nuclear Evolution system is wholly organic
and integral to the hexagrams themselves, not an arrangement arbitrarily devised and imposed upon them; and (b) that so far as I can tell, despite the 5,000+ years of intensive
study the I Ching has enjoyed, this system remained undiscovered until it unexpectedly
burst upon me like an Adeptus Minor initiation

in March of 1968. (This, however seren-

dipitous, may well be my sole or major contribution

to want to brag a bit, and sign my work.)

to the Art, and I'm proud enough of it

FIVE
I have no idea how significant this might be:
I Ching =

or:

2
4
8
64

primary forces
images
trigrams
hexagrams

78

2
4
8
8

Tarot deck

primary forces
images
trigrams
primary hexagrams*

22 = Tarot Trumps
56 secondary hexagrams

Tarot Minor Arcana

78 again
It's probably just another goddam intriguing coincidence.

* 'primary
doubled.

hexagrams'

(my term) are those eight hexagrams consisting of a single trigram

SIX

After years of comfortable

ex-Irish Catholic atheism, I became, between one instant

and the next, obsessed with the I Ching in July, 1966, and have joyfully pursued this obsession without interruption

since. On 23 June 1969, again between one moment and the next,

I became likewise obsessed with Magick and with western occultism in general, not so much
as things or ends in themselves but as expressions of the same lovely system/structure

I had

found to underlie the Changes. In fact, I regard my discovery of the Nuclear Evolution
system as the triggering event that left me open to this fascination with Magick.
The whole thrust of my overtly magical studies has been to perfect a synthesis of the
western and eastern traditions,
perception,

and to develop therefrom a practical system of mystical

free of the obscurities and corruptions of the Judeo/Christian

bining the transcendent

tradition, com-

objectivity of the I Ching and the empirical subjectivity of the

Qabalah; a system that would 'work'

pretty

much independently

of the practitioner's

faith/belief, and would appeal, as equally as may be, to both the mystically and the technically inclined-in

short, a post-Einsteinian occultism.

Failing this, I was willing to settle for a workable technique

for thaumaturgical

engineering.
L. Ron Hubbard has already done something much like this, but my whole nature
recoils from the absolutism of Scientology, as well as from Hubbard's pre-Diane tics career
as one of the blacker members of the O.T.O., Magus of the Agape Temple in Pasadena, et
cetera.
I suspect Scientology of being Black Magick hiding behind a lab smock, and Hubbard's
motives of diabolism.

Many Scientologists

have 'buttons'

programmed

into them that,

pushed, produce spectacular results (but don't do it in your own home). As an experiment,
next time you encounter a Hubbard robot, look him fixedly in the eye with that well-known
Clear stare and say, in a loud, flat, intense monotone:

RON HUBBARD DEAD! and see

what he does.
The degree to which I have already succeeded in my Work is partly shewn in this book.
Actually, I have developed a fairly extensive technology of meditation,
tion and actualization,

symbol manipula-

and ceremony that, so far as it goes, more or less lives up to my

stated intention and in practice generally exceeds my expectations. For example, before an
average of twelve witnesses I have conducted
fer' (the 'spirit' of the trigram Li

successful conjurations/evocations

=== The Clinging, Fire),

'Ashtoreth'

of 'Luci-

('spirit' of Tui

=-=

The Joyous) and assorted elementals, using only a circle of trigrams, using words of friendly
invitation rather than command, and doing without threats, compulsions, Names of Power,
defenses-without,

in short,

Renaissance anti-hierarchial

the entire paraphernalia

ceremonial

and underlying

attitudes

of early

magic, and in every case without the traditional

undesirable side effects.

In the light of what I'm after, that sort of Goetic sideshow is quite trivial, of course,
but most encouraging.
More to the point, I have taught several young people several ordinary years' worth of
basic magic-as-yoga using the system of the Changes as the medium for 'energy transactions' that led in most cases to marked improvements in the students' life styles, personal

integration, happiness/health,

and to improvements in their relationships with the objective

cosmos. One of my students assisted in the burning of the Isla Vista Branch of the Bank of
America, who a year before had been too law-struck to piss against a wall.
I've successfully used trigram circles (roughly half the time explaining them, and
leaving them unexplained
unfortunate

prerequisite)

the other times) to train people who really wanted to learn (an
to project a lot better, mostly, than I can myself. And I've used

the circles with some success in healing, too, in erecting precisely-tuned spells/charms/amulets, et trivial cetera.
All of which (being still essentially an ex-Irish Catholic atheist/sceptic)
ing curious.
It is obvious to me that one to one correspondences

I find exceed-

can be established among the I

Ching, the Tarot, the Qabalah at large, Astrology, the system of (at least) Kundalini Yoga,
and, indeed, any and most forms of occult/mystic art/science characterized by the operation
of a system, including those of the Hopi and some other Amerind cultures; and that the
benefits

of establishing these correspondences

will be manifold

beyond prevision. The

correspondences themselves, in many instances, are much less obvious to me. My limitations
keep identifying themselves.
So likewise do my pleasures.

SEVEN
The fundamental
every thing

that

law of the Changes

is, and of these

likewise

well a Yang and a Yin, endlessly

of the

atom

evolved

elaborations

Thus

outward

of that

the eight

this the elemental

a Tarot

through

express

duality

is a Yang and a Yin form/aspect

a Yang and a Yin for each, and of those

the infinitely

composition

there

from the simplest

primal

trigrams

is that

positive

ramified
whereby

and negative

universe,

of the 64 hexagrams

all things

being

variously

Itself.

of the four

can be established.

forms as

charges at the core

the One appreciates

the Yang and Yin forms

of

Elements.

From

This may facilitate

correspondence.

r~

13

37

--- - =\ I=
- -, .,
.... ... ~- - C 0:.....
- - .-. - ~-....
--- -=
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<?
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--.. ---.. -... --..- ...-.. -..- -...-I..
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-.. -..
- -. -..
==
-. --.-e-. .... - -......-- =-=
--... -- .. ....
- 60
......
. ..-... - -..
--..

-- -- I~

;Z.C(

I---'"

--

.. - .... .. - -:..:
- --= .. --~ --....
-. -.. ...-.
- !()_
-."..- _..
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----.. -.. -.. -.- ....... ....
-. -.. ..- .... .... -..

- .. -::,...::.-.. - ..-

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s-q

}...?

1\2-

15"_

--- B=--

::..:;,

:.= ~

..

..-

---

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5'1

17

sa

, I

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.... ......-

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-

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- - -=- . - -- ..--- -=
--....
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21

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::-:

The hard part about trying to march the Ching with anything else is that nothing else
has so perfect and integral a system. Astrology is a complex compromise choking on three
extra planets and a surfiet of character analysis. Divination by palms, moles, mice, political
speeches and headlines, to name but a few of that kind, is rigorously asystematic. The
Major Arcana of the Tarot are evidently the relicts of what must have been a very elegant
system, but it's been forgotten, and some of the pieces have doubtless been lost.
The Minor Arcana, though, are just as neat as they can be. They even, like the Ching,
incorporate

two systems, a Yang and a Yin: the Court Cards and the numbered cards. In

The Book of Thoth, dear old Crowley undertakes to mate each court card (and some of the
small cards) with a perfectly matching hexagram, and despite being handicapped by James
Legge.'s Yi King Karma he comes up with a system that pleases me as well as if 'twere mine.
In his stab at fitting trigrams to the Tree (Figure 6), the Beast puts all the polar trigrams of the Primal Arrangement in the Middle Pillar, thus removing them from elemental
roles, and assigns the elements to the four in-between trigrams, thus:

~
Kt""
O".~'" V

K"\,,)~"t'

'P...

..- -... ::::.

I.~J~

-.- -.

C...,S
S"" ..~j

.-. ~"T.,l,~

These trigrams all express the Yin side of the four elements, but otherwise the match is
perfect.
Next he matches these elemental trigrams to the four Court Cards and to the four
Suits and sets them up in a grid:

Wf>-"r:'t,>

K,,,,",
Q"ff"\

--.

..
-.....
.~:t
~
.-

-hI

~fa~'"

2-9

'!J1'

~
H?

;::

!Ii

5"3

5"2-

--- .-- .
..-- ===- . _._.=::.: i.i ~
\7

'-I~

')..1

-- - :c
- _. --==- - .......
-.- -.-.- --.-- _.....- -=-..
.-

~~

\<.~~~t'

S~oD.s\.s P.7;~

- ---- .-....-.-

CVfS

w w

.:-&

Sf3

.'

=:

Ww

';'2

-31

::::;

:.:

&1

It::

-.

Iff

w._

.-

..

By this means he generates a hexagram for every intersection of Court Card and Suit,
sixteen all told, and all relatively appropriate.
mandala:

And these fall easily into an admirable

_ II,." ~p
In,,

II

et

TI-. e. Cov yor C ,,"If Js

c.,,~n.\ y

c..(,Co.,~i':l 'tb\1'\A

S t j
~..
~H <)( /I.""

05 _

M"s"Cu Th ..,.,""

'66

There are some few weaknesses to the scheme, but it works. Considering Crowley's
general luck with the Changes, I'm glad he had the satisfaction of doing at least one trigram
thing that worked.

EIGHT

Aleister Crowley's more valuable to me for his errors than his hits. Whenever I discover
him in error, I know that I have learned something. His faulty attributions

of the trigrams

to the Tree are an instance of this. He tends to blow it when he strays from the Qabalah of
the Golden Dawn. (What hung him up was Da'ath. He knew that it was an imaginary
Sephira, but he insisted on attributing stuff to it.)
His assignment of the seven Chakras to the Tree is typically wrong. There exist on the
Tree seven planes, four single and three double, corresponding to the Chakras thus:
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.

Kether - Sahasrara
Chokmah/Binah - Ajna
Chesed/Geburah - Visuddha
Tiphareth - Anahata
Netzach/Hod - Manipura
Yesod - Svadhisthana
Malkuth - Muladhara

This is a pretty rough and ready set of attributions,

practical work (western style-for
be no attribution

really, but it's proved useful in

a serious student of Kundalini Yoga I suspect this would

set at all), and throws enough new light on the Sephiroth generally to be

worth while. More loosely, one might assign the Nadi to the Paths.

NINE
There exists a Magical Alphabet
this corresponds

character

McGregor Mathers'

called The Writing of the Malachiim. Like most such,

for character

with the Hebrew

alphabet.

version of The Greater Key and immediately

I found it first in

took it up, for it's both

pretty and simple, and far easier to draw well than the Hebrew, which still gives me fits.
In laying out this Alphabet
characters

are actually

structural

the case (you are not required

the 'secret attributions'

and its symbolic

content,

I realized that the Malachiim

diagrams of the designs of the Major Arcana. This being

to believe it), then the Malachiim characters plainly express

of the Trumps, as discovered

in a suspicious manner by Mathers

and friends and cherished privily by the Golden Dawn (until Crowley blew their whistle).

THE WRITING OF THE MALACHIIM

The information presented with each character is arranged as follows:
First line: the name of the letter, the meaning of the name, and the numerical value of the letter.
Thus: Aleph - Ox - 1
Second line: the Hebrew spelling of the name transliterated, its numerical value, and the cosmic
attribute of the letter.
Thus: ALP - 111 - Air
Third line: the English transliteration of the letter, and the related Tarot trump.
Thus: A, E - O. The Fool

*i

Aleph - Ox - 1
0

tLr

ALP - 111 - Air

A, E - O. The Fool
Beth - House - 2
BITh - 412 - Mercury
B-1.

The Magician

Gime! - Camel - 3
GML - 73 - The Moon
G - II. The High Priestess

rr
N

Daleth - Door - 4

DLTh - 434 - Venus

D - III. The Empress

He - Window - 5

HH - 10 - Aires

H - IV. The Emperor

A\
\II
[]

IX
J

Vau - Nail - 6
VIV - 22 - Taurus
V, U - V. The Hierophant

~ain - Sword - 7
ZIN - 67 - Gemini
Z - VI. The Lovers
Cheth - Fence - 8
ChlTh - 418 - Cancer
Ch - VII. The Chariot
Teth - Serpent - 9
TITh - 419 - Leo
T - VIII. Strength

Yod - Hand - 10
YID - 20 - Virgo

J, Y, I - IX. The Hermit

:=>

Kaph - Palm of the hand - 20

KP - 100 - jupiter
K - X. Wheel of Fortune

Lamed

LMD - 74 - Libra
L - Xl. justice

M - XII. The Hanged

Man

Nun - Fish - 50
NVN - 106 - Scorpio
N - XIII. Death

Samekh

- Prop - 60

SMK - 120 - Sagittarius

~o

S - XIV. Temperance

Ayin ~ Eye - 70

The Devil

This did gIve me pause.

any

thing

tions

that

is beautiful

had all along

source

for that

openly

alphabet

planted

if Mathers

it ill Solomon's

he had arrived
would

not

have been

Dawn

what,

out to be Mathers'
in Barrett's
script

safely

Mathers'
out there

END PROSPECTUS
- 5/5/71

Los Angeles

the

intuition,

- 7/7/73

& Met/(Iocillo

- Back of the head - 100

QVP - 186 - Pisces

Q - XVIII.

The Moon

Resh - Head - 200

RISh - 510 - The Sun
R - XIX. The Sun

Shin - Tooth

- 300

ShIN - 360 - Fire

Sh - XX, judgment

Tau - Cross - 400

ThV ~ 406_-

Saturn

Th - XXI. The World

the G.D. attributions,

these

as I do most

long lost initiated

Alphabet

disturbed

me. My only

man who once drove Crowley

with

script

legitimacy

logic or some

Tarot

out

attributions

of fairly

occultly

gave me

whole

to a set of lovely Tarot

other

to turn him

significant.

the 'true'

Malachiim

attribu-

cloth

and

attributions

disreputable

means.

It

him.
to go on using

of course,

but it would

I was delighted,

'rlie Magus, or Celestial

Does anyone

8/23/70

invented

fabrications.

beyond

Qoph

of fraud was unduly

associations

I intended

attributions,

Tz - XVII. The Star

the fact that

a complex

the element

unlike

accepted

- Fish hook - 90

TzDI - 104 - Aquarius

in the Malachiim

Key to lend spurious

at through

No matter
Golden

had

sense,

shewn

Mathers/G.D./Malachiim

to wonder

I gladly

was Mathers,

into a camel, a man in whom

The

While

and makes

been

Tzaddi

011+

OIN - 130 - Capricorn

o -.XV.

P - XVI. The Tower

W
V
t<

MIM - 90 - Water

- 80

PH - 85 - Mars

- Ox goad - 30

Mem - Water - 40

tt

Pe - Mouth

the Malachiim

somewhat

therefore,

where

to find the Malachiim

reach.
this alphabet

came

Alphabet

and

spoil the fun if both

illtel/(l?,ellcer, This was published

inventive
know

both

from?

in 1801

the

turned

Alphabet

and puts the

This has been the Prospectus for a much larger book, THE INFINITE MACHINE, now in
the writing. THE INFINITE MACHINE should be finished by midsummer, 1975.
Publication date and publisher are in the hands of the Gods.
Inquiries, comments and suggestions about, criticisms of, and additions to the
material in this Prospectus should be addressed to Chester Anderson, P.O. Box 875,
Mendocino, California 95460, and will be gratefully received.

I Ching & the Systems of the West

ONE
The eight trigrams in their two traditional

arrangements

A British witch's Magick Circle

The same expressed in trigrams
Five tailored Circles built of trigrams and hexagrams
Crowley's erroneous placement of the trigrams on the Tree of Life
The correct attributions

set forth for the first time

TWO
Tetragrammaton:

the Cosmology of the Changes

I Ching as a 4-space working scale model of the universe

Three fanciful hypotheses
THREE
Two I Ching calendars
FOUR
Nuclear Evolution: an Adeptus Minor initiation
FIVE
Two comparisons of the I Ching and the Tarot
SIX
Toward a rational system of Magick
Objections to Scientology
Two conjurations
Experiences with I Ching/Magick
SEVEN
I Ching glyphs and the four Elements
Crowley's Court Card/Hexagram

correlation

EIGHT
The chakras rightly placed on the Tree of Life
NINE
The Writing of the Malachiim