Hexagram 7 AND 8, fighting for your land.

07 SHI, The legion or the leader

Ban Xiang           Hu Gua            Qian Gua          Jiao Gua           Pang Tong Gua

Trigrams  water earth Nuclear  24 Inverse  8 Reverse  8 Complement  13

    Pictures at top:
SHI¹: The left part dui¹ (1) (the old form of shi) is either a small hill or mound, or testes or buttocks, meaning 'military'. Probably close to the meaning 'having guts'. Another possibility: a kind of ceremonial object (!). It is the original graph for shi, army. Another meaning is rolling, waving. In (3) there is another form of shi, this time dui is not at left, but at the top. The part at right (2), is maybe a skirt, but it can also be a banner, za¹: turn around an axis, instructor, master, army. It is an ox tail, attached to a standard, for giving signals to the army. Two other old forms of shi at 5 and 6. 
SHI¹: army, multitude, division in Chinese army, smaller than the LU of hex.56, and usually there are three SHI, one at right, one in the middle, and one at left. The king often divines which one he should join. Military camp, big hall. Model, example, master, teacher, tutor, to imitate; a specialist (med., music, paint or divining), local administration chief, high functionary, superior in rank. Shi lu (names of hexagrams 7 and 56 combined): a body of 2500 troops.

    Characters and words at left:
1 (venerable leader) teacher
2 (leader craftsman) master worker, tutor of king/emperor, general term of address in late 70s and 80s.
3 (leader aunt) Buddhist nun
4 (meditation leader) Zen master [meditation is dhyana in India = chan in China = zen in Japan]
5 (emit leader) finish one's apprenticeship, send out an army
6 (leader duke) grandmaster, sorcerer
7 (wizard leader) wizard; sorcerer
8 (turn-round army) return in triumph, move back (troops)

Most meanings in compounds have to do with the skilled leader, the one who has craftsmanship. The leader turns an unorganized mass of soldiers into an army, without him they are just a mass

Hex.7 is not only an army but also 'organizing', especially talents and assets. For becoming a specialist, one has to organize knowledge and specialize like the divisions of an army, one has to be a good leader of one's own legion, which consists of knowledge, intelligence, talent and skill. 
  The army can be a real army of thousands of people, but your own little group is also an army. You defend together your interests, your territory. You fight for new possibilities, search for expansion, explore new realms. It can even be inside one single person: your own army of talents, ideas, knowledge, strong and weak points. 
  Hexagram 7 is composed of the trigram water below or inside the trigram earth: the masses in the earth, or the fertility dwelling inside. But maybe it also refers to lands which are good to live on, with enough water. Only a healthy and thriving people will produce a big and strong army.

08 BI, Stand by

Ban Xiang           Hu Gua            Qian Gua          Jiao Gua           Pang Tong Gua

Trigrams  earth water Nuclear  23 Inverse  7 Reverse  7 Complement  14

  Pictures at top:
Bi³: The character represents two people standing or walking behind each other.
Original meaning: to juxtapose. Later to be close to, compare, equal, similar. A person turned to the left, REN², (2) is man, a person turned to the right, BI³, (3 and 4: deceased mother) is a symbol for female. North, BEI³, (5) is two people standing back to back - or a man and a woman. The middle between East and West? 
BI³: Equal, similar, compare, just like, accord with (great principles, with what is good and also accomplishing it), successive, come to, when, as, arranged orderly, classified correctly, like preceding cases, category, metaphor, equation (math), mime, to inspect.
BI⁴ unite, go together with, to be neighbors, follow, concordant, partisan, sectarian (opposite to zhou, universal), aid, accord with, on behalf of, to be intimate with, combine, join forces, according to expectation, several together, close, dense, tight, put under patronage, to be the origin of, thanks to, accomplish one’s task, every, continuation, succession, before one’s turn, in advance, accomodant, unit of 5 families (Zhou-dynasty), to form a clique.

  Characters and words at left:
1 (man-together) to part, distinguish 
2 (together-must) cautious
3 (silk-together) come unwoven, untwisted
4 (woman-together) deceased mother
5 (not compare) unparalleled; matchless
6 (together example) proportion, scale
7 (together side) analogy; instance
8 (together side exchange) for example
9 (field-together) assist, next to

Juxtapose, putting things or people side by side. It is what Yu did by calling the individual chiefs together, in order to form a united force against the floods.

  Hexagram 8 is about living together. A group is always complicated, however small it may be. Reckoning with all these different characters and interests, giving everyone enough space to develop and yet keeping all in control so things keep running more or less smoothly. 

  Alfred Huang (The Complete I Ching) says: In ancient times, Bi was the fundamental unit of the Chinese household registry system. Every five households formed one unit, called Bi. In every Bi a head was appointed, to take care of the neighborhood. Thus, Bi also means neighborhood and symbolizes a close bond of the people in a community.

  The people around you, the group in which you live your daily life, is usually not your own choice. You may have chosen the person you married, but now you're stuck with the rest of the family. You may have chosen a job, but not the people you work with. Even if you have chosen everyone, like a director of a firm, there are many mutual connections and dislikes among your personnel which you could not foresee.

  A group will always make a big demand on your ingenuity, your feelings, your adaptability. One moment you will have to be arbiter, the next you are being scolded, then you have to comfort someone, or you have to exert yourself in a task. It is a complete world in human size, with all the good and bad things humans use to have.

  A group can make one's life extremely rewarding - or utterly frustrating. Feelings can range from deep love to deep hate. No wonder the Yi says this is the source of oracle-consulting with yarrow. It is not the origin of big sacrifices to the gods, it is the daily need for simple and instant advice in everyday matters.

  When the Great Yu had conquered the flood, he called all the heads of the clans together. In organizing all the clans involved, it might be possible to stand up to future floods, or to attacks by enemies. This meeting is called 'BI'. One of the chiefs arrived late, and Yu had his head chopped off )see the top line of Bi).
  Bi is composed of the trigram water above the trigram earth: waters over the earth.

  Maybe "source of oracle consulting with yarrow stalks" is what actually happened during the flood. The Shang did already use yarrow and hexagrams, it might be that when the flood had to be conquered, it proved its value beyond any doubt. The name "Yi" is a sacrifice to make the sun return. When it is raining and raining and the river floods all of the land, then the shaman who can make the sun come back is a lifesaver, and his oracle will gain great recognition. Maybe a "Shang Yi" evolved into the Zhou Yi we know now.