Mercury's Arrangement Hosts the 64 Gua

Mercury's magic square

Mercury's arrangement of the 64 Hexagrams

The numbers associated with Mercury are 8, 64, 260, and 2080. This is because:

• Each row and column and major diagonal of the magic square contains eight numbers.
• The square contains 64 numbers total, ranging from 1 to 64.
• Each row, column and diagonal adds up to 260.
• All of the numbers in the square add up to 2080

The image at right is a depiction of the 64 gua or hexagrams overlaid on Mercury's magic square.  The individual cells are indexed by their numerical equivalents at lower left, and by traditional King Wen indices at upper-right.  

As consequence of the above constraints, pairs separated by 180 degrees of rotation (so-called antipodal pairs) of the Mercury arrangement are complementary opposites.  That is, the numerical equivalents of the pair sum to 65).  

Mercury's magic square is a form of xiantian (complementary opposition) arrangement, but the constraints on Mercury's xiantian are stronger.  The binary values of its rows, columns, and major diagonals  invariably equal sum to 260 where those of the traditional xiantian do not.  This fact provides an common interface between the Chinese I Ching and the Mayan Tzolk'in.