The Eight Animals of Bagua

The Eight Animals of Bagua are, in order around the circle:

• Monkey
• Dragon
• Unicorn
• Hawk
• Bear
• Lion
• Snake
• Phoenix

Three are enchanted creatures.  The others are normal animals, but each with very distinctive characteristics.  The monkey is fast and light on it's feet, yet very powerful (do not get attacked by a monkey - it's bad).  The Hawk is fast and strikes from out of the blue, and with it's deadly beak and talons, a very serious adversary.  The Bear rolls and has enormous power in his blows.  The Lion, of course is both fast and powerful. The Snake is subtle, strikes suddenly, and can be poisonous.   

In the Elthos World I have the Eight Animals of Bagua associated to eight of the twelve Elkron (the cosmological  and Celestial Powers of my world).  They form a nucleus of Animal Powers, and as such are the Lords of Eight Animal Kingdoms.  There is one King of each of the Eight, forming the Eight Kings of Bagua.  Each one rules his own Kingdom in a fashion that is aligned to it's nature.  The King of Serpents is subtle, quick witted, and poisonous.  The Monkey King is light, carefree, and jovial - but very powerful, and a trickster who defies even the Greater Powers in the Higher Dimensions simply because he happens to be like that.  He is fun loving, and very loyal to his own people, and his friends.  And so on.   

I am trying to build out the Elthos World on the foundations of classical mythology, and so I use things like the Eight Bagua Animals to enhance and extend my world.  It's fun.   And in this way I try to make the various elements of my world work together and coordinate internally.  Thus forming a cohesive whole to the cosmology that hither to could not help but be fragmented.  Now it is much less so.  And I'm quite glad about that.  Keeping the mythological background of Elthos coherent has been one of the most difficult aspects of my endeavor as a World Weaver.  Finally, after much effort and research, I feel the fruit is beginning to ripen.  

On a side note, I have been studying Wudan (Chinese Internal Martial Art - Sword School) for several years now.  The curriculum covers Tai Chi, Hsing-Yi, and Bagua.  The above drawing is one that I created this morning for my Sifu as a Christmas gift.