The four primordial qualities: harmony of matter
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Article: The Four Primordial Qualities – A Theory of Harmony of Matter | I Ching

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The Four Primordial Qualities – A Theory of Harmony of Matter | I Ching

I Ching 81 · Aquadea knowledge article · Norbert Herdlicka

The four primordial qualities –
a theory of harmony of matter

How a 5,000-year-old ordering system describes the chemical elements anew


I Ching 81 is a simulation program – not an oracle.
Norbert Herdlicka showed that the I Ching, expanded to 81 positions, arranges all stable elements of the periodic table by their atomic number into an energy pattern – and in doing so reveals qualitative relationships that the classical periodic table does not show. The foundation of this system is four primordial qualities: four basic energies from which, according to ancient Chinese understanding, all phenomena of the world arise.

In the classical I Ching there are at first only two states: the solid line (yang) and the broken line (yin). This is the first polarization out of the formless primordial state – the primal tension between light and dark, expansion and contraction, spreading and gathering. In the system, these two poles are called “Old Yang” and “Old Yin”. Pure and undifferentiated. Like the north and south poles of a magnet, before one asks how the field flows between them.

From this first polarization a second level arises – through the question: does this energy behave substantially, resting in itself? Or does it transmit itself, does it spread out? As a result, each of the two poles splits into a pair. The outcome is four primordial qualities. Not four things – four energy states that together cover the entire spectrum of the physical world.

The four primordial qualities at a glance · Mapping to the Gaussian number plane
+1
Essential Yang
Expansion · light · free electrons · electrical conduction
+i
Transmitting Yang
Magnetism · vortex core · positive charge carrier · rotation
-1
Essential Yin
Condensation · mass · space energy · superconductivity · center
−i
Transmitting Yin
Dielectric · neutral transmission · voltage · silent force

The four qualities can be mapped to the Gaussian number plane: essential yang and essential yin lie on the real axis (+1 and −1) – they are substantial, direct, the poles themselves. Transmitting yang and transmitted yin lie on the imaginary axis (+i and −i) – they are rotated by 90°, neither purely yang nor purely yin, but the bridge between the two. Transmitted yang connects essential yang with essential yin. Transmitted yin connects essential yin with essential yang. The cosmos turns in a four-step rhythm.


+1 Ess.
Yang
First primordial quality

Essential Yang –
the principle of expansion

Light · free electrons · electrical conduction · spreading through space

Essential yang is the bright, the active, the expanding. It is the energy that carries itself outward, takes up space, creates connections. In electrical terms it is the electron gas itself – the free, negative space charge that flows through conductors and transports energy as it does so. Essential yang is the substantial pole of the yang side: not the movement of the field, but the current that flows.

In human experience it corresponds to the moment of complete clarity and expressive power – when knowledge, words and effect coincide. When the inner flows seamlessly outward.

⚡
The flowing current Electrons traveling through a conductor – that is essential yang in its purest form. Not the magnetic field around it, not the voltage in front of it: the current itself, in motion, expanding, warming, shining.
☀
Light Electromagnetic radiation is essential yang: expansion in all directions, no mass, maximum spreading. Light occupies no fixed place – it disperses. Herdlicka also assigns the trigram 6-KIÄN/Heaven to essential yang: liberation, brightness, expansion.
47 Ag 107.87
Silver
The best electrical conductor of all elements

Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of all elements. In I Ching 81 it stands in the 6-KIÄN/Heaven family at the third position of the transformation sequence – exactly where essential yang finds its purest expression. No element transports free electrons more easily and with less loss than silver.

I Ching 81: family 6-Metal/Heaven · position 3 of transformation · trigram of the electron gas · Herdlicka names silver and copper as direct confirmation of the system’s assignment.
29 Cu 63.55
Copper
The universal conductive element of everyday life

After silver, copper is the best electrical conductor and by far the most widely used conductor material in the world. It conducts not only electricity but also heat exceptionally well – a yang quality in both dimensions. Herdlicka places copper at the same relative position as silver, but in the sub-square with digit sum 2. The two best conductors of the periodic table sit at structurally identical positions in different sub-squares.

I Ching 81: digit sum 2 · position 4 in the sub-square · Herdlicka: “The best electrical conductors, copper and silver, lie at comparable positions – copper at the position of germanium, silver at the position of tin.”

+i Trans.
Yang
Second primordial quality

Transmitting Yang –
the principle of motive force

Magnetism · rotation · positive charge carrier · vortex core

Transmitting yang is the magnetic field of the current – not the current itself, but the force that arises from it and acts outward rotated by 90°. It is the positive that spreads out in rotation: positive space charge, centrifugal vortex core, driving and transmitting force. In electromagnetism, essential yang turns into the next level.

In the image of the Tai Chi, transmitting yang is the right hand of essential yang: it supports its spreading, carries it further, gives it direction and strength. Ferromagnetism is transmitting yang in its purest form – the substance that not only generates the magnetic field but holds and amplifies it permanently.

🧩
The magnetic field A flowing current generates a magnetic field perpendicular to itself – that is the 90° rotation of +i. The magnetic field is transmitting yang: energy-carrying, rotating, able to transmit forces over a distance. Electric motors, transformers, induction – wherever these are at work, transmitting yang is at work.
⛤
The vortex core In the vortex system, transmitting yang represents the centrifugal core – the rotating positive space charge at the center of the vortex. Viktor Schauberger described this core as the actual carrier of energy in water. In his system, Herdlicka assigns it the same quality.
26 Fe 55.85
Iron
The ferromagnet par excellence

Iron is the ferromagnetic element par excellence. In I Ching 81, ferromagnetism is directly assigned to transmitting yang: the ability to store and transmit magnetic fields permanently. Herdlicka notes that magnetism and superconductivity (essential yin) stand in an opposing relationship to each other – just like +i and −1 in the number plane.

I Ching 81: family 7-YangMetal · trigram 3/8/7 · transmitting yang as magnetic field. Herdlicka: “Magnetism and superconductivity stand in an opposing relationship – the magnetic field is transmitting yang, space energy is essential yin.”
60 Nd 144.24
Neodymium
The strongest permanent magnet in the world

Neodymium-iron-boron magnets are the strongest permanent magnets known. Herdlicka explains this systemically: in neodymium, 7-YangMetal is on top (the outer, reactive trigram) and 6-YinMetal below. Yin supports yang from below. As a result, the element is maximally yang toward the outside – and amplifies the ferromagnetism of iron to the extreme.

I Ching 81: digit sum 6 · 7-YangMetal on top / 6-YinMetal below · Herdlicka: “Yin supports yang. As a result, the element is very yang toward the outside and improves the ferromagnetism of iron.” Neodymium is the controlling element of the 2-Earth family.

−1 Ess.
Yin
Third primordial quality

Essential Yin –
the principle of condensation

Space energy · mass field · superconductivity · the center of gravity

Essential yin is the deepest, most substantial force in the system. It is not the dark in the banal sense – it is the contracting, the condensing, that which allows mass to arise. Herdlicka calls it negative space energy: a contracting, field-like energy that fills the space between particles and acts within it. It is the ground on which all matter stands.

In the system, essential yin is assigned to the center – position 5-Earth, which knows no transformation because it is the center of gravity of all transformations. Superconductivity is the purest physical expression of this quality: a state in which all resistance is suspended and a deep, binding energy state arises. Magnetism is actively expelled in the process – the opposing relationship to transmitting yang shows itself in the Meissner effect.

◐
The pull of low pressure Essential yin is not the water that flows – it is the suction that draws it. Not the movement, but the cause of the movement. The Earth’s gravitational field is essential yin: invisible, without flow, and yet the most powerful thing in the system.
❄
Absolute zero Superconductivity occurs when the temperature approaches zero – when all thermal motion, everything vibrating, everything external comes to rest. What remains is the deep binding energy of essential yin: coherent matter, without resistance, completely gathered in itself.
41 Nb 92.91
Niobium
The center of the entire system

Niobium (41) is the only element that occupies position 5-Earth/Center in I Ching 81 – essential yin in its purest form. It is the strongest elemental superconductor, with a critical temperature of 9.2 K. No other pure element reaches this value. Before the discovery of high-temperature superconductors, the compounds Nb₃Ge and Nb₃Sn were the most powerful superconductors in the world. Herdlicka: “The center is assigned element 41, niobium, which ranks first among the superconducting elements with a critical temperature of 9.2 K.”

I Ching 81: position 5-Earth/Center · essential yin · no trigram transformation, since no classical hexagram exists. The center is the fundamental binding energy of the entire system – that which holds the world together at its innermost core.
77 Ir 192.22
Iridium
The densest stable element on Earth

Iridium is the densest stable element in the entire periodic table – density 22.56 g/cm³, more than twice as heavy as iron. It stands in the central circle at position 7-Metal and is the synergetic element of germanium. Herdlicka sees in this extreme density a direct expression of the space energy of essential yin: the neutron focuses this primordial energy onto the elements with the target trigram 9-LI/Fire and produces maximum mass density.

I Ching 81: digit sum 5 · inner central circle · position 7-Metal. Herdlicka: “The iridium isotope 139Ir is the densest stable element. This is a clear indication that the negative energy of 5-Earth/Center represents the mass field.”

−i Trans.
Yin
Fourth primordial quality

Transmitting Yin –
the principle of silent transmission

Dielectric · electrical voltage · neutral transmission of force · cosmic medium

Transmitting yin is the most enigmatic of the four qualities – and perhaps the deepest. It is neither matter nor antimatter, neither current nor magnetic field. It is the neutral medium that carries energy without flowing itself. Electrical voltage – not the current, but the field that makes the current possible in the first place. The dielectric: a substance that stores energy without consuming it.

Herdlicka describes transmitting yin as the neutrino stream, the cosmic dielectric through which gravitation propagates. It is the left hand of essential yin: it transmits the deep space energy, spreads it, passes it on – without movement of mass, without current, in a quality that modern physics still finds hard to grasp. Maxwell introduced precisely this fourth quality into his equations as “displacement current” – and thus made possible Hertz’s discovery of electromagnetic waves.

⚙
Electrical voltage Voltage is transmitting yin: it is the potential that is present before the current flows. It needs no movement, no matter – it is the field itself. A charged capacitor holds energy in transmitting yin: invisible, silent, completely present.
🌊
The wave on still water A wave on a calm lake hardly moves the water – it transmits energy through the medium without sweeping it along. Transmitting yin is this medium: that through which the force travels. Herdlicka assigns it the neutrino ether – the subtle dielectric that permeates the entire cosmos.
73 Ta 180.95
Tantalum
The dielectric par excellence

Tantalum is the classic transmitting-yin element in I Ching 81. Its pentoxide Ta₂O₅ is one of the best-known dielectrics: it stores electrical energy in a capacitor without conducting itself. For the same volume, tantalum capacitors have a 3.3 times higher capacitance than aluminum capacitors – this extraordinary property follows directly from the system’s triplet. Herdlicka names tantalum as a prime example of the primordial quality of transmitting yin.

I Ching 81: hexagram 9/9/1 · essential yang and transmitting yin. Herdlicka: “Transmitting yin: electrical non-conductors, dielectrics, e.g. tantalum pentoxide. I know of no system that derives the outstanding properties of an element so accurately from its atomic number alone.”
3 Li 6.94
Lithium
The lightest metal – the silent carrier

Lithium is the lightest of all metals: minimal mass, maximum mobility. In the lithium-ion battery it is the carrier of energy transfer – the ion that travels between the poles without being consumed in the process. It is not the energy itself, but the medium through which it flows. This property – neutral, transmitted, not consuming itself – is the characteristic feature of transmitted yin. Lithium dissolves completely in water (1-KAN/Water, dissolution): it combines with the medium without resisting it.

I Ching 81: digit sum 3 · family 3-YangWood · the lightest element of the light-metal family. Lithium in the battery is the purest everyday analogy for transmitted yin: the neutral, mobile transmission medium between two poles.

Synthesis · The four-step system of the world

What Herdlicka shows with I Ching 81 is at its core simple and at the same time radical: nature moves in a four-step rhythm. Every force appears in two forms – as substantial poles (essential) and as transmitting bridges (transmitting). Light and dark, spreading and condensation, current and magnetic field, gravitation and the neutral ether that carries it. Four qualities that describe everything.

The deepest thought here is that of the center: essential yin – the negative space energy, the mass field, the contracting deep force – is not darkness in a negative sense. It is the ground. The stillness from which everything else arises. Niobium, the densest metal at the center of the system, the strongest elemental superconductor, is its physical image: a state in which the deep force of space suspends all resistance – and precisely in this unfolds its greatest effect. On to the concrete example of germanium.

IChing81:

Written by Werner Habermeier

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