Great Power

I-Chinghex 34

Dà Zhuàng (大壯) — Great Power

Judgment: 大 (big, very, mighty; great, much, a lot of) · 壯 (and strong; strength, vigor, potency, force) · 利 (worthwhile, rewarding, productive) · 貞 (to persist, be determined, resolved, steady) Image: 雷 (the thunder; thundering) · 在 (is in, across; there is v in) · 天 (the heaven(s), sky(ies)) · 上 (above, overhead) Line 1: 壯 (strong, vigorous, potent; force, power (ful)) · 于 (is in, for, of, through, to, with) · 趾 (the toes, feet) · 征 (to assert, aggress, go (ing) (boldly)) · 凶 (bodes ill; is unlucky, inauspicious (for)) · 有 (have, hold (onto); be, stay; keeping (-ing)) · 孚 (truth, sincerity; confidence; true, confident) Line 2: 貞 (persistence, determination, resolve, firmness) · 吉 (is promising, auspicious, opportune, timely) Line 3: 小 (the common, ordinary, average; small) · 人 (people, ones, individual(s), person(s)) · 用 (apply, employ, practice, rely on, try, use (s)) · 壯 (strength, force, power, vigor) · 君 (to (the) noble) · 子 (young one,) · 用 (applies, employs, relies on, tries, uses) · 罔 (nets, webs, snares, traps; (his) wits, subtlety) · 貞 (persistence, determination, firmness) · 厲 (is difficult, harsh, stressful; trouble) · 羝 (a, the billy; ^) · 羊 (goat; } ram) · 觸 ((who) butts (against), attacks, rushes) · 藩 (a, the hedge(row), fence) · 羸 (and entangles(ing); (is) caught; damages) · 其 ((by) his, its (own)) · 角 (horns, [contentiousness, direction]) Line 4: 貞 (persistence, determination, resolve, firmness) · 吉 (is promising, auspicious, opportune, timely) · 悔 (and, as, while regret(s), remorse) · 亡 (pass, disappear, dissolve (s)) · 藩 (a, the hedge(row), fence) · 決 (opens (up), ruptures, (is) broken through) · 不 (without, with no; there are no) · 羸 (entanglement(s); getting caught; damage) · 壯 (the power, strength) · 于 (to go, proceed) in, of) · 大 (a, the big, great, mighty) · 輿 (cart, wagon, vehicle) · 之 (is (with)in its; refers to its) · 輹 (axle strut, housing, bracket, mount (s)) Line 5: 喪 (losing, forfeiting, forgetting, giving up) · 羊 (a, the goat, ram) · 于 (in; with, at) · 易 (the exchange, changes; ease, leisure) · 無 (no, with no, without; nothing) · 悔 (regret(s), remorse; to regret, repent (of)) Line 6: 羝 (a, the billy; ^) · 羊 (goat; } ram) · 觸 (butts (against), attacks, rushes, charges) · 藩 (a, the hedge(row), fence) · 不 (not, un-; im-; no, without, with no) · 能 (able; possible; power, ability, capacity) · 退 (to retreat, withdraw, back up, pull back) · 不 (not, un-; im-; no, without, with no) · 能 (able; possible; power, ability, capacity) · 遂 (to proceed, progress; push, follow through) · 無 (this is no, not; (this) lacks, has no) · 攸 (a direction, purpose; an aim, orientation) · 利 (with merit, of value, with rewards) · 艱 (but, yet difficulty, problem, trouble, trial (s)) · 則 (give(s) rise to, lead(s) to; precede; and then) · 吉 (promise, hope; opportunities, good fortune)

Ifáhex 34

Shango — Thunder, Justice, Sovereign Power

Shango (Ṣàngó) is the Orisha of àrá (thunder), mànàmáná (lightning), and ìdájọ́ (justice) — historically the fourth Aláàfin (king) of the Ọ̀yọ́ Empire who became a cosmic force after his departure from ayé (the visible world). As documented in Britannica's entry on Shango, he wields the oṣé (double-headed axe) and the èdùn àrá (thunderstone), symbols of sovereign judicial authority. Shango's ese Ifá teach that his destructive power is legitimate only when deployed in service of òdodo (righteousness) — the oral tradition records that when he used his lightning carelessly, it consumed his own àfin (palace). His worship demands that àṣẹ and ìwà pẹ̀lẹ́ (power and character) remain inseparable.

Sufismhex 34

Al-Qadir (القادر) — The All-Powerful, Absolute Capacity

Al-Qadir (القادر) is one of the Asma al-Husna (Most Beautiful Names) denoting God's absolute and unconditioned power — the qudrah from which every created capacity derives. Al-Ghazali in Al-Maqsad al-Asna explains that al-Qadir is the One whose will encounters no resistance: all things exist because al-Qadir wills them from non-existence into existence. This Name belongs to the jalali (majestic) cluster of divine attributes, expressing God's transcendent sovereignty. The salik who contemplates al-Qadir through dhikr realizes that every power exercised by any creature is borrowed — a tajalli (self-disclosure) of the one qudrah that has no source other than itself.

Alchemyhex 34

Iron (♂ Mars)

Iron is the metal of Mars (♂), the planet of war, force, and severance. In the sevenfold metal-planet correspondence, iron carries the martial virtues: hardness, resilience, and the capacity to cut and separate. It is forged only through extremes of heat and quenching — a miniature solve et coagula enacted at the anvil. The alchemists considered iron the most resistant of the base metals to transmutation, as its Sulfur is harsh and impure, requiring the most vigorous operations to refine.

Ancient Egyptianhex 34

Horus (𓅃) — Sky, Kingship, the Rightful Heir

Heru (Horus) is the falcon-headed neter of the sky, whose right eye is the sun and left eye is the moon — the restored Wadjet eye becoming one of Egypt's most potent symbols of wholeness and healing. The Contendings of Horus and Set recount his eighty-year struggle to claim the throne of his father Osiris, a conflict resolved by the tribunal of the Ennead at Heliopolis. Every living pharaoh was identified as 'the living Horus,' bearing the Horus name as the first of the royal titulary, making kingship itself a manifestation of this neter's sovereignty. The Pyramid Texts describe him as 'Horus who is in Osiris' — the son who redeems the father, the rightful heir whose claim restores ma'at to the Two Lands.

Elder Futharkhex 34

Uruz (ᚢ) — Aurochs, Primal Strength

Uruz (ᚢ), second rune of Freyr's ætt, embodies the úr — the aurochs, the extinct wild ox whose untamable strength the Old Icelandic Rune Poem calls 'úr er af illu jarne' (dross comes from bad iron). The aurochs was the supreme test of a young warrior's courage in the Proto-Germanic world; to face it was to confront raw, undomesticated might. Uruz represents the vital force (*ūruz) that precedes all shaping — the primal hamr (life-force) before it has been tempered by will or craft.

Hinduismhex 34

Manipura — Solar Plexus Chakra, Fire of Will

Manipura (mani = jewel, pura = city) is the third chakra, the 'city of jewels' located at the navel center (nabhi-sthana). The Sat-Cakra-Nirupana depicts it as a ten-petaled lotus of brilliant blue, associated with the agni tattva (fire element) and the bija mantra RAM. It governs tejas (radiance), iccha-shakti (willpower), and the digestive fire (jatharagni) that transforms food and experience alike. Its presiding deity is Rudra, and its challenge — articulated in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali through the niyama of tapas — is the right governance of personal power: agency without ahamkara (ego-inflation).

Hinduismhex 34

Rajas — Activity, Passion, Restless Motion

Rajas is the guna of pravritti (outward activity), chala (restlessness), and upashtambhaka (stimulation) within Samkhya's analysis of prakriti. The Bhagavad Gita (14.7) defines it: 'Rajo ragatmakam viddhi trishna-sanga-samudbhavam' — know rajas to be born of craving and attachment, binding the embodied self through addiction to action. In the Samkhya-karika of Ishvarakrishna, rajas is the kinetic principle without which neither sattva nor tamas can manifest — it is the engine of srishti (creation) and the source of both kama (desire) and krodha (anger). The Gita (14.12) identifies its signs: lobha (greed), arambha (restless initiative), and ashama (inability to find peace).

I-Chinghex 34

Heaven (☰) — Creative

One of the eight fundamental trigrams. Heaven (☰) represents Creative — the initiating, strong, active force. Three unbroken yang lines symbolize pure creative power, the sky, the father, and untiring forward motion.

I-Chinghex 34

Thunder (☳) — Arousing

One of the eight fundamental trigrams. Thunder (☳) represents Arousing — the shock of movement that initiates action. A single yang line erupts beneath two yin lines, the first son, the sudden awakening that sets things in motion.

Kabbalahhex 34

Gevurah (Severity) — גבורה

Gevurah is the fifth Sefirah, positioned on the Pillar of Severity opposite Chesed. It is the divine attribute of Din — strict judgment and necessary limitation — without which Chesed's boundless outflow would shatter the vessels of creation. The Zohar associates Gevurah with Pachad (Fear) and with the patriarch Yitzchak, whose binding (Akeidah) embodies total submission to divine decree. In the Sefirot's internal economy, Gevurah performs the essential act of tzimtzum at the ethical level: contraction, boundary-setting, and the severity that preserves form from dissolution.

Kabbalahhex 34

Pillar of Severity (Left)

The Amud ha-Din (Pillar of Severity) is the left-hand column of the Etz Chayyim, comprising Binah, Gevurah, and Hod. It embodies the principle of Tzimtzum at the structural level — the divine restraint and judgment necessary for creation to hold its form. The Zohar teaches that without Din, the world would dissolve in undifferentiated mercy. This pillar governs boundary, contraction, and the imposition of limit — the feminine-receptive force of form-giving that the Bahir identifies with the divine attribute of Judgment.

Tarothex 34

The Emperor

Major Arcana IV, The Emperor sits upon a stone throne carved with ram's heads, armored even in repose, holding the ankh-scepter of authority. Waite's Pictorial Key identifies him with Aries and the principle of regulation, governance, and temporal power — the masculine counterpart to The Empress. He is the builder of structure and law within the archetypal sequence, the father figure whose dominion is maintained through reason and order. Crowley in The Book of Thoth emphasizes his martial aspect, alchemical sulfur made sovereign through disciplined will.

Western Astrologyhex 34

Aries (♈) — Cardinal Fire, The Initiator

Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, occupying 0-30 degrees of the ecliptic, and marks the vernal equinox — the moment the tropical year begins. Ruled by Mars and belonging to the cardinal modality of fire, Aries initiates the cycle of manifestation through sheer force of will. Ptolemy in the Tetrabiblos assigns Aries the qualities of heat and dryness, making it the purest expression of the martial impulse. In Cafe Astrology's schema, Aries embodies pioneering energy: the drive to act first and reflect later, with the Ram as its symbol of headlong courage.

Western Astrologyhex 34

Mars (♂) — Action, Drive, Conflict

Mars is the planet of action, drive, aggression, and desire, with its domiciles in Aries and Scorpio and its exaltation in Capricorn. In the Hellenistic system, Mars is classified as the lesser malefic — a planet whose energy is necessary but dangerous when untempered, belonging to the nocturnal sect. Astrodienst describes Mars as the principle of assertion and separation: the force that cuts, divides, and initiates through confrontation with resistance. Cafe Astrology identifies Mars as the significator of how a native fights, competes, and pursues what they want — the raw engine of will that requires the discipline of Saturn or the wisdom of Jupiter to be constructive rather than destructive.

Zoroastrianismhex 34

Khshathra Vairya — Desirable Dominion, Righteous Power

Khshathra Vairya, 'Desirable Dominion,' is the Amesha Spenta of righteous sovereignty — the divine power that establishes just rule in both the spiritual (menog) and material (getig) realms. In the Gathas (Yasna 44.9), Zarathustra asks Ahura Mazda how Khshathra can be strengthened, binding legitimate authority directly to the advancement of Asha. Khshathra Vairya presides over metals and the sky, and in Zoroastrian kingship theology (as elaborated in the Bundahishn), earthly rulers govern justly only insofar as they reflect this divine dominion. The concept implies that power divorced from righteousness is not Khshathra at all, but merely the tyranny of Druj.