Your Short Sweet Guide to Using The

Rave I Ching.

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Rave I Ching History Lesson.

In 1989 Ra wrote ‘The Human Design System’ (also known as ‘The Black Book’). In 1995 he wrote ‘The Book of Letters’ (which became known as ‘The White Book’). It was in the year 2000 that he combine and synthesised the information from these two books into what is now known as ‘The Complete Rave I Ching’. The entire book took Ra 28 days to write. He described it as;

“A bizarre experience for me. I guess there are people that would say it was kind of an automatic writing experience given that I had practically no background in the I Ching’

The final product was a 133 page text that is now an essential part of the curriculum at the IHDS and any other institutions worldwide that educate on the Human Design System. It contains a brief description of all 64 gates, a specific commentary for each of the 6 lines of each gate, as well as a graphical display of the incarnation crosses correlating to each gate. The more you study this text the more in-depth it becomes.

The Bigger Picture.

It is something to keep in mind that when you pick apart a chart and look at only specific details you should also keep in mind the bigger picture. How that gate or line works within the channel, the entire circuitry, type, profile, what center the gate resides in, whether that center is defined or undefined, the planetary imprinting, etc. Keep in mind the whole person and the many other nuances that make up that person’s entire experience rather than laser focusing on the specific detail you are looking at.

You can use the Rave I Ching in many ways. One way to explore the Rave I Ching is through ‘genetic continuity’. When you study the gates and lines over time you will begin to see the themes that run deep within the knowledge. For every line in a hexagram there is a characteristic that is valid for ALL lines in that same position of each individual gate. I.e, the first line of each gate is known as the ‘foundation’ of that gates energy, therefore every first line has a genetic continuity with one another. Over the person’s entire chart you can look at all of their first line themes and see a sort of flow, a continuity, to their existence. Another way to consider the Rave I Ching is that there are 6 lines and 64 different expression of each of those 6 lines. The image below shows you all of the keynotes from only the first line of each gate. This is an example of genetic continuity. This not only flows through the first line of each gate; it flows through to the first colour, tone and base. There is a connectivity throughout the system. A thread, if you will.

As a general rule;

The 1st line description for each Gate will give you the foundation of that Hexagram.
The 2nd line description for each Gate will provide you with the natural projection of that Hexagram.
The 3rd line description for each Gate will give you the material way of that Hexagram.
The 4th line description for each Gate will provide you with the externalization of that Hexagram.
The 5th line description for each Gate will give you what others projections upon that Hexagram is.
The 6th line description for each Gate will provide you with the transitional nature of that Hexagram.

Navigation.

Majority of the layout is pretty intuitive. There are two pages for every gate. One with the general overview information and the other that goes deeper into each of the lines. It is worth noting the two different ’names’ or titles of each gate are; 1. Ra’s title or keynote he has given the gate (that is on the first page), and 2. the traditional name of the hexagram as it is in the original I Ching. This is the large title on the second page.

First page; The gate number is largely printed top left. The channel title and keynote given below that, along with the title of the harmonic gate that makes up the channel. The center, circuit and astrological position are all pretty self explanatory. What I have highlighted below are things that are not so intuitive that perhaps need a little pointing out. The position in the wheel shows you which gate comes before this one and after this one in the rave mandala wheel. It is the sequence that the transits sun gates flow through with every cycle and is another way you can study your way through the text (following the transit program around the wheel). The zodiac sign is self explanatory. Then down below we are given the three incarnation cross variations moving from the personal destiny (profiles in the lower trigram 1/3, 1/4, 2/4, 2/5, 3/5, 3/6, 4/6) through the juxtaposition profile (4/1) into the transpersonal destiny profiles (5/1, 5/2, 6/2, 6/3). All three of these Incarnation crosses will have the gate as their personality sun. This in itself is a huge eye opener as to how many people are living with the same personality sun and incarnation cross, just playing out different profile role under that cross! Anyway, moving on…

Second page; This is where it gets a little more interesting and also a little tricker to decipher. The layout again is quite intuitive with the large gate number up the top and the title of the hexagram as it is known in the traditional I Ching. You will also find the hexagram chop or the yin, yang lines that make up that gate’s energy (this is also the same as the traditional I Ching). Something to note is that the lines on the left hand side are always listed with line one at the bottom move up to line 6. The Hexagram chop is arranged the same way. It is a little hard to tell with this example below (gate 1) as all of the lines are Yang lines. But with another gate you could have a quick look to see if the energy of the line you are looking at is a yin or yang energy (again, this is just detail, keep in mind the whole energy of the entire gate as it lies in the entirety of the chart). Some lines with have an ‘intro’. These are always written in blue directly above the line it applies to. The other detail on this page is the exaltation and detriment with a symbol of it’s fixing planet pictured.

Exaltations & Detriments.

Alright, let’s get tricky.

The first thing I really want to highlight is what the mind does when it hears ‘exaltation and detriment’. It instantly goes- one is a good and worthy part of myself and the other is bad, not a well respected trait or part of myself that I can use to succeed or excel in life. You can watch your mind do this as you read through you own exaltations and detriments. We must move the mind away from that line of thinking. Ra simply took the terms from Astrology and stuck with them even though he said many times he wished he didn’t use the terms ‘exaltation’ and ‘detriment’, in fact it was his one mistake in writing the Rave I Ching. He would have rather call them “THIS or THAT”. There is no good ro bad, better or worse. These are simply aspects of ourselves that tell us something specific about the role we’re here to play in the collective. And on a larger scale, the diverse type of people we need in the collective.

I mean for me, and I mentioned this many times to students of mine over the years, that in essence, the only mistake in naming that I’ve had in my experiences in HD was putting these terms “exalted” and “detriment” to the lines themselves.

Actually, the exalted and detriment were there to describe the planetary force in that aspect of the thematic. But of course, it has taken on another quality over the years through interpretation because the not-self easily will interpret exaltation as being good and detriment as being bad. Rather than seeing that there is a planetary force that will bring out, in that specific place that quality, as an identified quality.

Everything about having an exaltation, you know this is again, I would have been happy to have called it “this” and “that”, but nonetheless, you have an exaltation in your design, the assumption is that you know you really have something special there. You know you’re only getting ‘the best part’. But it’s not true.

-Ra Uru Hu.

Okay so how to read the chart in correlation to the Rave I Ching-

Take a look at the image below. This is Gate 9 line six. If you have Gate 9 in your chart on line 6 and it is in your moon placement then you will find it is fixed as exhalated.

If you have Gate 9 line six (9.6) in your chart and it is in your Pluto placement you will find it is fixed in detriment.

Now, if you have the line fixed in either exalted or detriment, it is not that you don't experience the other variation of that line, it is just that the fixed trait will dominate your expression and experience.

Fixed lines are there in the character from the beginning. They do not need development over time or learning or any becoming. They are simply always active and always there.

Next example- Say you have Gate 9 on line six but it is in your Mercury placement (or any other planet besides the fixing planets of this line, the Moon and Pluto), both the exaltation and detriment variations could be expressed through you. You will move between the two. You are simply not fixed either way and here to experience the full spectrum of this lines energy. So when studying this line you would read the intro line (the blue line, if there is one - more on this below because it is important and changes the way the line develops over time) and both the detriment and exaltation for the full spectrum of that line.

To make it even more confusing - channels, transits and other people can fix you as well.

If you have the full channel- the planetary placement of the harmonic gate (the other end of the channel) can exalt or fix in detriment the line you are looking at. I know! WHAAAT?! clear as mud. Read it again and take out your I Ching to follow along. Taking our example above if you have channel 9-52 in your design. Let’s say your 9.6 is located in your mars placement- it would not be exalted or in detriment. However, if your 52 (does matter what line) is located in your moon that would automatically fix your 9.6 in exaltation regardless of its planetary placement. If your 52 is located in Pluto, that would fix your 9.6 in detriment regardless of its planetary placement.

Stay with me here…This next piece is HUGE.

Composite charts and transits can temporarily put our lines in exaltation or detriment too. So for example, if I had Hexagram 9.6 (however not in my moon or pluto placements) and someone comes along with either the 9 or the 52 in Pluto or the Moon that connection would fix my 9.6 in detriment or exaltation (depending on if it was a moon or pluto placement that came along) for the duration of the transit or the duration of the relationship.

Let’s go through that again. Say you have gate 9.6 in your design and for that day the moon transits through gate 9. While the moon is doing its thing you will have your 9.6 exalted regardless of where it sits in your natal chart.

Are you really feeling like you have no choice at all now!? So your partner, husband, child, and the transit program can fix you in either exaltation or detriment and you will live out that expression dominantly whilst in their aura or whilst that tranist is active even though it is not fixed either way in your natal design.

Lines With an Intro.

Okay this one is important. It gives you some perspective as to what you are learning over your lifetime. You will see in some cases (pictured below) a one sentence line introduction in blue. This is not the case for all lines, only some. When there is a description in blue it means that there is this something else, something extra that you need to take in first before you go a head and read your exaltation or detriment. If you are not fixed in exaltation or detriment for that particular line you can just take in the blue intro and call it a day, or you can explore the blue intro and the full spectrum of that lines experience.

Here’s the important part- what the blue intro line tells you is that the potential for that line matures over time, it must be learnt, it is not just a given from the start. Ra states that the “potential of those lines with an intro is usually reached at the midlife point (age 40)”. If there is no blue description then you would just move straight on to the exaltation and detriment knowing that this lines energy is something that is automatically present from the moment you entered the world. It is just a given. So, some lines are a learning process, a process of maturation and some lines are simply just as they are, a characteristic of you from the begining.

Lemme 6th line for a moment here…

The wisdom and the learning of the Rave I Ching are far more than just details in your chart. Each and every line, exaltation and detriments has a person born here on earth with that as their genetic make up. I completely believe it is all from good reason. We need the greedy to understand generosity. We need the corrupt to understand honesty. I think it goes beyond ourselves and into the collective consciousness. Where we see exaltation in the design, we see someone who has come to be a unique expression within the collective in the areas we seem to have evolved, be on top of the game and are well experienced. Where we see detriment we see the people who have been born here into the collective to play a role that encourages evolution and mutation, in area’s we are still developing as a species. They did not choose this. You do not choose your imprinting, you come with what you have and it is perfect for the role you are here to play WITHIN the collective, for the greater evolution of consciousness. You come in with the line of corruption and GREAT, amazing, it means people are going to learn mutative things from your presence in the way of integrity and honesty. The detriments shown in your BodyGraph represent where the frequency of that planet, gate, and line needs more work and is an opportunity to contribute to the development and evolution of the collective. Put another way, it’s not personal.

We are not a certain kind of person because we have a certain design. We’re free people. We’re free people who have a bio mechanism to work with, to wake up with, and wake up to, and to learn how to use to be able to walk the body through the door, to see the body walking through the door and to follow it, to let the body get into the zone, to follow a strategy. And once it’s following a strategy to follow it, not to understand it, but to follow it. This is called getting into the zone. So when we realize that the vehicle isn’t us, but it’s just something that we’re meant to follow, to join. Life is for joining, not for figuring out. When we join the vehicle, and we follow the vehicle, we get into the zone and when we’re in the zone, we realize that the detriment doesn’t drag us down. In fact, it’s this extraordinary opportunity. It’s our point of contact, it’s our traction. It’s where the rubber hits the road. It’s where we can make an impact. It’s where we can express ourselves and when we allow the vehicle to follow its strategy, and we follow it, and we’re in the zone, the quantum intelligence that is us applies itself to that place where humanity hasn’t got it worked out.
– Genoa Bliven