Hexagram 01

Qián

The directing power of Heaven

Creation
Eminent - expansion
Harvest - determination

The great image says:
Heaven moves: firmness.
A noble one owing to his own strength never ceases

Heaven
Heaven

Another old form of qián, banners attached to a pole or halberd.

    In the early morning the rays of the sun touch the trees and plants, still wet from the night. They evaporate, as if they breathe. As if spirits with faint rainbow colors are dancing around the trunks of the trees.
   The mists travel down along the slopes, toward the valley, where they collect and cover everything. But not for long, when the sunlight reaches down, they disappear.
    Every morning the light wakes up the earth, brings it back to life. Every new day is a new creation. Heaven reaches down to the earth, and the earth responds, brings forth, makes life.

Qián: the character is composed of 1, yan³ : banners. 2, dan⁴ : dawn, the sun just above the horizon. 3, yi³ : vapors or breath. Maybe the line of the sun-at-dawn belongs to 4: obstructed vapors or breath, but this is not very probable. No yi³ in the older version at right. The pole with banners was erected in the center of settlement or army: the place of the leader.
QIAN²: to create, creative power, life-energy, strong, lasting, continuous, constant; heaven, father, male, sovereign; active transforming power, élan, fundamental dynamism, the undivided One. Spirit and time. (Pronounced gan: dry, dried, clean, useless, forceless).
In the Mawangdui Yijing hex. 1 is JIAN ‘the key’: the male organ.
More about hexagrams 1 and 2 HERE and on Harmen's site
Wonderful story about the dragon on Marshall's website

9 at 3: The noble one is the whole day creative creative. In the evening he is alert like in danger. Without fault.
Go ahead if Dao goes ahead, turn back if Dao turns back. Stay in tune with the universe, nobody can ever go another way than Dao and still keep his strength and good fortune.
(Changes to hex.10)

Above 9: Overbearing dragon. There is regret.
In the realm of the spirit, one can only follow obediently the universal laws. What deviates from them, is always wrong. If man tries to lead according to his own human laws, he shuts the door on universe, and life will fail.
(Changes to hex.43)

9 at 2: The dragon appears in the field. Harvest: seeing great people.
Whatever one shows or does or even thinks should be genuinely and truly himself. Only oneself appearing is shining. Associate with people of value, good and bad are both contagious.
(Changes to hex.13)

9 at 5: Flying dragon in heaven. Harvest: seeing great people.
When the creative spirit becomes visible, it influences everyone who has a spark of it. One's own thoughts and behavior and everybody who is able to see. Associate with valuable people, who are able to give or receive value.
(Changes to hex.14)

Initial 9 : Submerged dragon. No employ.
Not acting is not enough when it is not the time for acting; the mind has to be without acting. Like the stag, he does not know about rut outside the mating season.
Every action needs rest like seeds need winter. Only then one can react to season, time, Dao and find action at the right moment. The most important part of any action is knowing when the time says not to act.
(Changes to hex. 44)

9 at 4: Somehow dancing in the abyss. Without fault.
To find new ideas, dare to dance in the abyss and depart from certainty. Inspiration isn't found within fixed rules, old habits or formalities. Creativity isn't making something happen, it is allowing it to happen through you and the tools you work with.
(Changes to hex.9)

For the meaning of Eminent - expansion. Harvest - determination click HERE
According to Shaughnessy (see link 'Books'), the lines of hex.1 describe the positions of the constellation "Dragon" at sunset.
Click here for the positions of the 6 Dragons

Line 1. The winter season is very dry in China, so the dragon is asleep in the water. In spring, when the first clouds appear, the farmers throw 'dirty things' in his pool, in order to get him out and bring the rains. Do not start to sow before you are certain there will be rain too^*.
Line 4. The character 'somehow' can also be translated 'someone' or 'maybe'. 'Dance' is foot +pheasant-feathers: dancing as if flying. Bradford Hatcher (his book appears very soon) says: leap/jump yue used to be a shamanic feather dance, a rite of passage, the "leap of faith" from aerodynamic theory to real flight.
Line 6: 'black and yellow': xuan, black, means also mystery. So black and yellow can also mean mysterious or invisible - and shining or visible.