☵ Water (kan or k'an), which is one of the five Chinese elements. The trigram represents the abysmal, the gorge, since that's where the water naturally travels. The nature of water is to flow to the lowest place, as is pointed out in Chinese philosophy — for example the Tao Te Ching. The difference between what this trigram represents and the second one, the Lake, is subtle. Shouldn't the lake, with its depth, be more abysmal than water? But the lake is usually experienced by its surface, not its depth, whereas water always insists on flowing downwards, seemingly forever. Water is heading for the abyss. The lines also imply this characteristic of water. A Yang (heavenly) line surrounded by Yin (earthly) lines. Water is earthbound, but moves of its own will, in spite of this captivity. It strives to go underground, but still it is stopped by ground, eventually — though that can be very deep down. The Chinese character for the trigram means pit, hole or trap, expressions of the downward movement of water. It also means crisis, probably from the threat of something in nature behaving in its own mysterious way, moving towards regions out of our control. Element: Water, Binary Value: 010

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