Pa Qua

 I have worn a small "Pa Qua" around my neck since the age of about 23. I received it as a gift from my Tai Chi / Kung Fu teacher. He had just returned from a trip to see his Buddhist Master. He distributed various  Buddhist medallions to some of his closest students but to me and Black Steve he gave Daoist Pa Qua's.

I wore it day and night for years because it felt special. I had always liked the yin yang symbol since seeing it on a "Town and Country" surfboard as a child in Hayle, Cornwall.

In the mid nineties a couple of friends from Dead Dog Mountain,  Jonny Jedi (Fused/3EV) and I designed a flyer and backdrop for a birthday party I was throwing. The design was based around a yin yang and a (smurf).

 I knew the Pa Qua was a yin yang surrounded by the eight directions /trigrams of the I Ching  and that Pa Qua mirrors were used in Feng Shui . I was also  vaguely aware of the internal martizl art with similarities to Tai Chi Chaun commonly referred to as "Ba Gua Zhang."

I once had a Korean girlfriend named "Joh" who seemed impressed I wore a pa qua. She said in Korea only really "old school" people wear them.

As my martial arts journey progressed I took up the Brazillian art of  Capoeira and after a few years met my teachers Master "Mestre No". I was surprised when I  first met him to see he wore a large Pa Qua round his neck. I was even more surprised when the first thing he did was walk up to me point his finger at my Pa Qua and said  "Why are you wearing that? Do you know what it means?"