The
yin/yang symbol can be seen almost any place one
looks. It is used in logos, on book covers, in
the New Age movement, in the martial arts, and
so forth. "Yin and yang are considered to be opposites.
Yin represents eternity, dark, feminine, left
side of the body, etc. Yang is its opposite and
represents history, light, masculine, right side
of the body, etc.'' "Yang is male, positive, and
represented by the Sun. Yin is female, negative,
and represented by the Moon,'' says Paul E. Desautels
in The Gem Kingdom.
"The symbol
itself dates back at least to the fourth century
B.C., and has been identified with the Eastern
philosophical religions of Confucianism, Buddhism,
and Taoism. In the Western world it has long been
adopted into the symbolism of myth, magic, astrology,
and witchcraft.
A book,
Black Magic, White Magic, explains the Yin-Yang
like this:
"Another
ancient magical sign called the yin-and-yang first
appeared sometime before the 3rd century B.C.
in China. This emblem became a favourite of sorcerers
and mystics throughout the Orient because it,
too, embodies so many possible meanings.
One well-known
witch, Sybil Leek, who is called the "mistress
of the occult," proclaims that the Yin-Yang theory
is:
"...an idea
that inspired such things as Chinese boxing, breath
control [used in yoga, meditation, etc.], the
use of special herbs, and some rather erotic sexual
exercises designed to nourish the Yang with the
Yin?
She adds:
"Crucial to Taoism is the idea of Yin and Yang.''
"According
to the ancient Chinese philosophers, in the beginning
was Tao. But then Tao separated into the two prime
principles, yang and yin. And from the many combinations
of yang and yin everything else that is in the
world has emerged.
"Yang and
yin produced the 'five elements', which are metal,
wood, fire, water and earth. Everything in life
is in a constant state of flux; in fact, the only
thing that you can be sure of is that it will
change."
Another
book states:
"The Yang-Yin
symbol is one of the easiest to recognise and
understand. It represents the two opposite, conflicting
forces found in every action, and which are responsible
for the dynamic universe....The Yang and Yin operate
in the universe primarily through the agency of
the five elements: Earth (Saturn), Water (Mercury),
Metal (Venus), Wood (Jupiter), and Fire (Mars).
These elements under the guidance of the five
planets form, with the Sun and Moon, the seven
rulers. Each of the elements may also be Yang
or Yin, so that combinations of all these could
produce broad number possibilities (sic) and astrological
alternatives. Each, of course, has its symbol
which can be, and often was, incised into jade.''
The concept
of yin and yang (also called Tai-gi-tu), likewise
plays an important role in many other occult practices.
For instance, the Dictionary of Mysticism states
the following about the practice of shu shu:
"Shu shu:
The ancient Chinese system of magic, divination
and occult practices, including astrology, dream
interpretation, the art of co-ordinating human
affairs by the active and passive principles of
the universe (yin yang) and the Five Elements
(wu hsing), fortune telling by the use of the
stalks of the divination plant and the tortoise
shell, and miscellaneous methods such as dream
interpretation, the regulation of forms and shapes
of buildings, etc.''
Of course,
many of the Chinese exercises, medical practices,
etc., are also based on the theory of yin and
yang. In Health: A Holistic Approach we find:
"The techniques
of acupuncture, acupressure, and moxibustion apply
needle, pressure, or thermal (heat) stimulation
respectively to meridian points to effect a change
in the orderly flow of Chi through the meridians.
This treatment helps to re-establish the yin-yang
balance by initiating normal energy flow in stagnant
meridians. The choice of meridian points to be
stimulated is arrived at by using specific laws
derived directly from the five-element theory
and knowing the order of Chi distribution in the
meridians. The five-element theory is the practical,
tangible application of the complementary opposites--yin
and yang.
"The Chinese
system of physiotherapy, or therapeutic exercises,
is represented primarily in the practice of T'ai
Chi Ch'uan, which is a system of exercises performed
in close co-ordination with regulated breathing.
The exercises are comprised of thirty-seven movement
patterns, the composition of which is regulated
by the principles of yin and yang.
"The philosophy
of T'ai Chi Ch'uan is rooted in Taoism, which
advocates natural effort, and in the I Ching,
or Book of Changes. The movements and inner teachings
are derived from the complementary relationship
between Yin and Yang, two fundamental forces that
create and harmonise the Universe by their interaction.
"The interaction
of Yin and Yang is vital to the practice of T'ai
Chi Ch'uan since physically and mentally the practitioner
is continually shifting between empty and full
and soft and hard to achieve a proper and evolving
equilibrium.''
In fact,
t'ai chi came to be "represented by the circle
divide into the light and the dark, yang and yin.''
Other interrelated
techniques dependent upon yin/yang are zone therapy,
polarity therapy, macrobiotics, Shiatsu, Jin-Shin,
Do-In the martial arts (such as Kung Fu, Chi Kung,
Karate, T'ai Chi), etc.
Palmistry,
the occult practice of foretelling the future
by reading the hand, is also based on the theories
of yin and yang and the Five Elements. In another
occult book, The Chinese Art of Healing, written
by a Buddhist monk, the author explains how the
ancients relate massage, which includes Reflexology,
to the Five Elements and to palmistry. He states:
"The thumb,
for example, was associated with the spleen, which
belonged to the earth element, the index finger
with the large intestine (metal element)...and
so on....The form of massage known as 'from the
water element to the earth element,' reminds us
of occult concepts of this kind.
"According
to Oriental magicians, the palm of the hand contains
the secrets of life. There was also an ancient
Chinese school of thought which maintained that
the palm of the hand was a replica of Yin and
Yang and could provide information about illness
and good health and one's entire fate."
Masonry
also uses the concept of yin and yang in their
symbolism but it is in a disguised form. Albert
Pike states that the black and white pavement
symbolises "the Good and Evil Principles of the
Egyptian and Persian creed. It is the warfare
of Michael and Satan, of the Gods and Titans,
of Balder and Lok; between light and shadow, which
is darkness; Day and Night; Freedom and Despotism
...."
Masons also
use the two triangles to represent this idea of
opposites. In the Short Talk Bulletin, a pamphlet
which is to be read in the Lodges, we are told
that the triangles "are symbolic of good and evil,
day and night, the Chinese yang and yin, etc.''
The two
triangles joined together to form a hexagram indicate
sexual union. This same viewpoint is also associated
with the yin/yang. In Our Phallic Heritage we
are told:
"But since
union of the sexes is necessary to produce offspring,
both sexes were represented in most religions.
In the crudest forms of worship, representations
of the genitalia of both sexes, or of the sex
organs in union, were worshiped. Such was the
worship of the phallus-kteis in Greece and Egypt,
the lingam-yoni in India, the massebasher of Syria,
the yoseki-inseki in Japan, the yang-yin in China,
and the baal-peor of the Canaanites in the Bible.''
Masonic
author, George Oliver, states:
"Thus the
monad and duad were the phallus and kteis of the
Greeks, the lingam and yoni of the Hindoos (sic),
the woden and friga of the Goths, and yang and
yin of the Chinese, and indeed, of the creative
and destructive powers of every country under
Heaven.
This thought
is reiterated in Myths and Symbols in Indian Art
and Civilisation:
"Lingam
and yoni, Shiva and his goddess, symbolise the
antagonistic yet co-operating forces of the sexes.
Their Sacred Marriage (Greek: hieros-gamos) is
multifariously figured in the various traditions
of world mythology. They are the archetypal parents,
Father and Mother of the World, themselves the
first-born of the pairs of opposites, first bifurcation
of the primal, cosmogonic reality, now reunited
in productive harmony. Under the form of Father
Heaven and Mother Earth they were known to the
Greeks as Zeus and Hera, Uranos and Gaia, to the
Chinese as T'ien and Ti, yang and yin.''
One catalogue
that sells statues of gods and goddesses as well
as many other occultic items states:
"At once
the most sacred and the most mysterious path to
higher consciousness, Tantra refers to the Divine
Union of Opposites. Taoists refer to these energies
as yin (from yoni, the active principle) and yang
(the recumbent principle)."
Since there
is some yin (female) in the yang (male), which
is represented by the little dot, and some yang
in the yin, the concept of bisexuality is also
symbolised. Charles Berger remarks:
"Sometimes
efforts were made to make gods bisexual. Hermaphrodite
is the best example of this. He was the son of
Hermes and Aphrodite and embraced Salmaco, a nymph,
who called upon the gods to make them inseparable.
The gods heard the plea, and formed of the two
a perfect being who possessed the characteristics
of both sexes. From this mythical being comes
the term hermaphrodite. Omphale was a queen of
Lydia and the task-mistress of Hercules. She is
represented with a lion's skin and a club, male
symbols, while Hercules wears her gown and spins
for her. Omphale is thus represented as double-sexed,
as is Hercules by his dress and his work. The
name Omphale is a bisexual name, coming from 'Om,'
the Universal Mother, and from phallus, the male
organ. Likewise, Janus of the Greeks not only
had opposite faces but was double-sexed, or hermaphroditic.''
The New
Age movement looks favourably on homosexuality.
In fact, in alchemy, the androgyne (meaning male
and female in one body) was considered to be "the
image of human perfection and wholeness. By some
ancient traditions, the original and perfect form
of the human being.... A fashionable look among
some celebrities.'' "Bly, Nin, and Jung tell us
that each individual must achieve inner marriage
of their masculine and feminine natures to encounter
true equipoise."
The assumption
of yin/yang also leads to homosexuality. In one
issue of the Whole Life Times was a letter from
David Lang. He wrote:
"For example,
macrobiotic theory explains homosexuality as a
yin-yang imbalance caused (or at least aggravated)
by excess consumption of yin foods (such as raw
fruit) on the part of males and excessive ingestion
of yang foods (such as animal flesh) on the part
of females.''
Texe Marrs
explains:
"Homosexuality
and bi-sexuality are accepted, even encouraged
by the New Age teacher. The unholy doctrine of
reincarnation and the principle of yin/yang are
perfect excuses and rationale for homosexuality
and other forms of sexual immorality. If you are
a homosexual or a lesbian in this lifetime, New
Age teachers believe that it is probably because
you were a person of the opposite sex in a previous
incarnation or past life. The residue and influence
of that past life is simply retained within your
brain and consciousness.
"The yin/yang
principle, also called unity, integration or polarity,
holds that a person is born with both masculine
and feminine traits. A man supposedly could have
been a man 250 times and a woman 250 times in
previous incarnations, and the memory of those
past life experiences are said to remain as indelible
traces of consciousness. Thus, we are each a combination
of male and female, masculine and feminine. The
New Age encourages children and adults to appreciate
and practice the harmony of opposites, teaching
the individual to merge the two selves, man and
woman.''
Many of
the gods and goddesses of paganism are shown to
have dual sexual natures. Mercury, called the
'male-female' was an androgyne. Even much symbolism
contains this dual nature. For instance:
"The serpent's
head and neck is distinctly a masculine symbol,
but the serpent is sometime symbolised with its
tail in it mouth [oroboros], the body forming
a circle which is feminine. Also, the mouth is
feminine, while the tail, which is in the mouth,
is masculine. Thus for two good reasons the serpent
with its tail in its mouth represents both sexes.
Sacred fire was often prepared on religious occasions
by rotating a realistic wooden representation
of the phallus in a wooden representation of the
kteis, rotating being done by an apparatus resembling
a bow. The cornucopia, or horn of plenty, was
double sexed in symbolism. The horn was masculine
and the inside was feminine. The fruit inside
symbolised productiveness of the female."
"The four-limbed
cross generally had a different meaning, and represented
the male and the female in unison, in the act
of creation. From time immemorial a perpendicular
line or object has been used to symbolise the
phallus, and a horizontal line the kteis or vulva.
The surface of water, a female element in creation,
was horizontal, and women were practically in
the horizontal position in the act of creation.
Prostitutes were spoken of as 'women who made
their living horizontally,' and the term was applied
to women who were kept in their own room by some
wealthy man. Coitus has been called 'horizontal
exercise.' Horizontales (horizontals) is one of
the names which the French apply to women who
sell love favours, women of easy virtue. The four-armed
cross was an easy figure to make, being an intersection
of two straight lines at right angels, and it
became a symbol of man's most lofty and most holy
activity, expressing the reverence for the act.
Some of the Asherahs of the Bible represented
Baal in union with Astoreth. The results of the
union between the sexes resulted in a new life.
Separately, man and woman were incomplete, important,
and barren, but in their union they became a perfect
soul, realising the immortality of life."
One particular
group that knows the sexual implications of the
yin/yang and intentionally uses it as their official
symbol is The Sex Information and Education Council
of the United States (SIECUS). This group promotes
extensive sex education in schools. SIECUS Position
Statements reveal the following:
"It is the
position of SIECUS that contraceptive services
should be available to all--including minors who
should enjoy the same rights of free and independent
access to...contraceptive care as do others....It
is the position of SIECUS that the use of explicit
sexual materials (sometimes referred to as pornography)
can serve a variety of important needs in the
lives of countless individuals....
Another
group using the yin/yang (knowingly or unknowing)
is the Girls Scouts. "On page 66 of the Girl Scout
Badges and Signs book, the yin/yang symbol is
used to represent the World in My Community proficiency
badge. In the Junior Girl Scout Handbook, yoga
exercises are explained. The theme for their 1987
program was 'The Year of Magic.'"
The I Ching
(Book of Changes) is another occult practice that
incorporates the use of the yin/yang. Geoffrey
Parrinder writes: "The yin-yang dualism entered
into Confucian orthodoxy by its incorporation
into the I Ching--a late compilation from, and
rational arrangement of, earlier works on divination.'
William
Spear teaches astrology and macrobiotics and has
been using the I Ching for 20 years? He states:
"Taoism,
inseparable from the philosophy of the I Ching,
is based on the complimentary yet antagonistic
principles of Yin and Yang which mutually create
and destroy each other by the ceaseless rearrangements
of their relationship. The basic rule they obey
is life's only certainty: change.''
One ad for
a book by Diane Stein on the I Ching (also called
Kwan Yin) tells us: "The Kwan Yin Book of Changes
is a wonderful book, finding admirerers (sic)
with not only new agers, and feminists, but others
such as pagans, divination fans, goddess worshippers,
and those involved with Eastern philosophy.''
Of course
Diane Stein isn't the only pagan who uses the
I Ching. A witchcraft magazine, Circle Network
News, gives an extensive ritual to be used in
connection with the I Ching. Part of the instructions
are:
"An altar
should be set up in the middle of a room facing
north....Lay the stalks in the middle of the altar
along with the I Ching book that you are going
to use and your I Ching journal. Include on the
altar other ritual tools and symbols that you
feel you need. Be sure to include burning incense.
"Ritually
purify yourself and the space with techniques
of your choosing. Ground and centre. Call the
quarters and Spirit in a fashion that feels appropriate
....
"Once you
have determined the hexagram, draw it in your
journal. Look it up within the text of your I
Ching book ....
"When you
feel complete with your answer and have recorded
all relevant information in your journal, pay
respects to the I Ching in whatever way you feel
comfortable....Thank the spirit helpers [demons!]
and the quarters for helping with your work.''
New Ager,
Jeffrey S. Stamps, likes to use the yin/yang in
a slightly different form. He calls his symbol
the "Emergent Tao." He explains:
"The ridgepole
symbolises the line of the roof, thus separating
heaven from earth. As a line, the ridgepole is
unity, yet it generates duality--'above and below,
a right and left, front and back--in a word, the
world of opposites.'...
"As a symbol
of change, tao, too, may change. To compress my
thought of many pages to a single symbol, I offer
Emergent Tao....This symbol extends the traditional
t'ai chi symbol of the circle with a ridgepole
dividing the complements of yin and yang. I have
added the spiral curves between the outer circle
and the two inner circles. With these lines, the
symbol clearly expresses emergence and levels:
the circle of the whole (n) and the 'higher' (n+1)
and 'lower' (n-1) smaller circles/levels. Emergent
tao expresses the essence of Holonomy: complements,
levels, and unitary process.''
Emergent Tao
The yin/yang
symbol is quite appropriate today for humanists,
New Agers, witches, Satanists, etc. As Michael
Tierra, a proponent of the yin/yang theory, states:
"The Yin/Yang theory is a teaching method and
does not define anything absolute.'' There are
seven laws concerning the yin/yang, one of which
is: "2. Everything changes."
This is
an important item to notice. The idea that "everything
changes" does not agree with the Bible. There
we find that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever (Hebrews 1 3:8). He doesn't
change. James 1:17 also states: "Every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning." Malachi
3:6 tells us: "I am the Lord, I CHANGE NOT."
Another
law is: "3. All antagonisms are complementary.''
Again, this is contradictory to Scriptures. This
would make Jesus and Satan complementary to each
other! What blasphemy!
Yet another
law is: "6. The extreme of any condition will
produce signs of the opposite.'' Again applying
this to Christ would mean that because He is the
extreme in goodness, mercy, compassion, etc.,
that He will produce signs of hate, injustice,
unconcern, etc. This also would make Satan eventually
become kind, loving, obedient, and so forth. The
Bible warns: "Woe unto them that call evil good,
and good evil: that put darkness for light, and
light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet,
and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise
in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
...Which justify the wicked for reward, and take
away the righteousness of the righteous from him.
(Isaiah 5:20-21 23).
In addition
to the seven laws of yin/yang, there are twelve
theorems. One of these is: "8. Nothing is solely
Yin or Yang; everything involves polarity.'' This
is stating that nothing is entirely good or entirely
evil. This again contradicts the Scripture for
in Habbakkuk 1:13 we find that God is "of purer
eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on
iniquity." The Bible also tells us that there
is no truth in Satan (John 8:44). Obviously, the
yin/yang theory is not consistent with God's Word.
We'll cover
the sinister aspects of the hexagram later, but
it's interesting to note that An Illustrated Encyclopaedia
of Traditional Symbols tells us that the hexagram
is affiliated with the "Chinese occult symbol
of ying (sic) and yang. The connotations, therefore,
of the hexagram also apply to the yin/yang symbol.
There are
probably hundreds upon hundreds of groups that
have used the yin/yang in their logo or symbolism.
Some groups probably do so innocently, but I believe
the majority of them know exactly what they are
doing and what the symbolism means. On the following
pages are just some of the ways in which the yin/yang
is being used.
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