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Yin and Yang Letterbox Hybrid

Hidden : 10/4/2008
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

You are looking for a camo'd .30 cal ammo can. This is also a letterbox listed on letterboxing.org, and there is a rubber stamp inside. It's not a trade item - please leave it in the cache. The hike is exactly 1.3 miles from the gate, so bring a bottle of water, and some bug spray would not be a bad idea.

Congratulations to Jamguys for FTF! Great log!


The girls and I decided to place a cache as a team effort. We decided on a letterbox hybrid, since there aren't many of those in Oklahoma, and they seem to be dying out. The other day, I was pondering how that evil seems to exist only because there is good, and before I allowed circular thinking to trap me in one of those endless loops, I decided I had better do some research. This caused me to come up with the theme of this cache hide.

From the Philosophy Dictionary: yin/yang In Chinese thought, the two great opposite but complementary forces at work in the cosmos. Yin is the female, cold, dark, passive power, yang represents masculinity, light, and warmth. Earth, rain, soft, evil, black, small, even (numbers), are yin; heaven, sunshine, hard, good, white, large, and odd are yang. The interplay of the two forces makes up chi, or the material principle governing the universe. Their balance is essential to harmony and health. The Yin/Yang School of Chinese philosophy, perhaps founded by Tsou-Yen (c. 305-240 BC), is an early attempt at a cosmology, based on the opposition of yin and yang and a doctrine of Five Elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth), operating in ordered cycles in the production of nature and history.


When researching the origin of the symbol, I found this at www.chinesefortunecalendar.com:

By observing the sky, recording the Dipper's positions and watching the shadow of the Sun from an 8-foot (Chinese measurement) pole, ancient Chinese determined the four directions. The direction of sunrise is the East; the direction of sunset is the West; the direction of the shortest shadow is the South and the direction of the longest shadow is the North. At night, the direction of the Polaris star is the North.

They noticed the seasonal changes. When the Dipper points to the East, it's spring; when the Dipper points to the South, it's summer; when the Dipper points to the West, it's fall; when the Dipper points to the North, it's winter.
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When observing the cycle of the Sun, ancient Chinese simply used a pole about 8 feet long, posted at right angles to the ground and recorded positions of the shadow. Then they found the length of a year is around 365.25 days. They even divided the year's cycle into 24 Segments, including the Vernal Equinox, Autumnal Equinox, Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice, using the sunrise and Dipper positions.

They used six concentric circles, marked the 24-Segment points, divided the circles into 24 sectors and recorded the length of shadow every day. The shortest shadow is found on the day of Summer Solstice. The longest shadow is found on the day of Winter Solstice. After connecting each lines and dimming Yin Part from Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice, the Sun chart looks like below. The ecliptic angle 23 26' 19'' of the Earth can be seen in this chart.
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The Ecliptic is the Sun's apparent path around the Earth. It is tilted relative to the Earth's equator. The value of obliquity of the Ecliptic is around 23 26' 19'' in year 2000.
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By rotating the Sun chart and positioning the Winter Solstice at the bottom, it will look like this Photobucket. The light color area which indicates more sunlight is called Yang (Sun). The dark color area has less sunlight (more moonlight) and is called Yin (Moon). Yang is like man. Yin is like woman. Yang wouldn't grow without Yin. Yin couldn't give birth without Yang. Yin is born (begins) at Summer Solstice and Yang is born (begins) at Winter Solstice. Therefore one little circle Yin is marked on the Summer Solstice position. Another little circle Yang is marked on the Winter Solstice position. These two little circles look like two fish eyes.
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In general, the Yin Yang symbol is a Chinese representation of the entire celestial phenomenon. It contains the cycle of Sun, four seasons, 24-Segment Chi, the foundation of the I-Ching and the Chinese calendar.


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