You can use the I Ching to obtain oracular guidance on problems you are experiencing in your life, or on group, social, business or political issues.

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Divination is the reading of signs or symbols in order to obtain guidance about current situations and future events. Many different methods of divination were used in the ancient and medieval worlds, including the observation of animal behaviour, the movements of stars and planets, the casting of lots, and inspired oracular utterances. These methods were understood as ways of communicating with the world of spirits and unseen powers

From a modern psychological perspective, divination represents a subtle means of tapping the wisdom of the unconscious mind.

An ancient Chinese system of divination, the origins of the I Ching are steeped in myth and legend. The book is certainly one of the oldest in the world, dating back to about 1000 BCE. It is based on an even older shamanistic oral tradition. The book was used for divinatory purposes for hundreds of years before it was finally codified during the Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE). At the same time, various commentaries were added to the basic text.

The I Ching has been in continuous use up to the present day. Its intelligent, profound, sophisticated and often uncannily accurate readings have recommended this system of divination to many westerners, including the psychologist C.G. Jung, the physicist Wolfgang Pauli, and the writer Hermann Hesse.

The central idea behind the I Ching is that of flux or change. All things, including human affairs, are understood to change through time - they are born, develop, decay, die and are reborn in some new form.

By studying these changes, we can recognise significant patterns of change (e.g., night and day, the phases of the moon, the seasons of the year, the ages of man).

Change also involves relationships between opposites. The two most basic opposites are the principles of Yang and Yin.

Yang corresponds to active, creative, expansive force.

Yin corresponds to receptive, mutable, contracting form.

All change can be understood in terms of the relationship between Yang and Yin.

There is also a reality beyond Yin and Yang. This is T'ai Chi (The Absolute).

Yang and Yin are represented in the I Ching by unbroken and broken lines.

Each line in a hexagram can be either Yang or Yin. The various combinations give rise to 64 different hexagrams.

For the purposes of the divination, each different hexagram (and every line in a hexagram) has its own particular oracular meaning.

There are 8 possible trigrams. Each of these also has a traditional meaning.

Hexagram 22 (shown above) is therefore made up of Mountain (above), and Fire (below)

Additional trigrams, made up of lines 2,3,4 and 3,4,5 of a hexagram, are also understood to form a nuclear hexagram that gives further insight into the meaning of each hexagram. The nuclear hexagram for Hexagram 22 (Adornment) is therefore made up of Thunder (above) and Water (below). The nuclear hexagram is believed to indicate something of the original hexagram's contrary or shadow qualities. The shadow (nuclear hexagram) of 22 (Adornment) is 40 ( Liberation). All this will become much clearer as you begin to use the I Ching.

Each hexagram also has one or two governing or Ruling Lines. These are pivotal in the structure and dynamics of the hexagram and generally represent auspicious qualities. Most commonly, line 5 is a ruler but sometimes other lines take precedence. For Hexagram 22 (Adornment), the ruling lines are 2 and 6 (indicated by asterisks above).

If you choose one of the experiments, your reading and other information you select are submitted, BUT NOT YOUR QUESTION.

In other words, your QUESTION always remains completely confidential.

You begin your consultation by formulating a question. You can ask questions about situations in your own life, or about general situations, such as social, business or political events. You should NOT use the I Ching to ask questions on behalf of another person (although, of course, you can consult the oracle about your own relationship with other individuals).

You should spend some time reflecting on your thoughts and feelings about the situation, before formulating your question. Your question should be clear and precise. Do not assume that the oracle knows what you have in mind. Vague or ambiguous questions will get confusing answers. Do not ask whether specific events will occur (this is not fortune telling!), but focus instead on how things will affect you, on how you should behave in the situation, or on what aspects are operating in events. If you do not get a clear answer to your initial question, then more focussed follow-up questions are advised.

Most importantly, you should approach the I Ching with an attitude of openness, honesty and respect. The oracle has a very definite "personality" of its own, as you will soon learn. If you use the I Ching in a trivial or inappropriate way, you are not only wasting your own time but you risk being wound up or perhaps reprimanded by the responses you receive from the oracle.

Examples of BAD questions are:

• Hey, this is cool! (not a question)
• What's up? (unfocussed, ambiguous and supercilious)
• How do I improve things? (imprecise)
• Who will win the Mexican Grand Prix? (specific prediction)
• What should Mary do about her cheating husband? (this is Mary's question, not yours!)

Examples of GOOD questions are:

• How can I learn from the events of today?
• Should I consider psychotherapy at this time?
• How should I respond to John's invitation to spend the weekend with him?
• How will moving to Chicago affect the family?
• What are the prospects for my business partnership with Susan?
• What is the best way to ask for a raise in my salary?
• How can I improve my relationship with my daughter?
• How will the planned surgery affect the way I feel about myself?
• How is my spiritual development progressing?
• How will political negotiations proceed at the forthcoming Camp David summit?

Traditionally, the I Ching hexagrams are constructed by throwing three coins six times, or by following a complicated procedure that uses 50 yarrow sticks. Both methods are based on the assumption that the "random" fall of the coins or division of the sticks in some way reflects the nature of the inquiry. From the perspective of Jungian Psychology this happens synchronistically, (i.e., due to meaningful coincidence, or the operation of an acausal connecting principle known as synchronicity ) .

The coin oracle is the most commonly used, simply because it is quicker. However, the yarrow stick procedure is the more ancient, and is considered by many people to be more authentic. This is because the mathematical odds involved using the yarrow stick procedure are more consistent with the underlying theory of the I Ching.

With the advent of personal computers, software is increasingly used to simulate the traditional methods of casting hexagrams. This has the advantage of convenience, speed and computational accuracy. It may seem odd to use a computer for this purpose, but in principle there is every reason to suppose that synchronicity operates just as readily in this way. Many people's experience (including my own) is that computerised I Ching readings are just as valid and useful as those made using more traditional methods.

To cast the oracle, you first choose either the coin or yarrow stick methods. Unless you have become accustomed to using the coin oracle, and are most comfortable with this, I recommend that you choose the yarrow stick simulation.

Next, type in your question. You can also select the general area of your inquiry.

Hold your question clearly in your mind. When you feel the time is right, click the GO button to cast the hexagram. You may have your own way of getting into the right frame of mind for the divination. Some people like to use a simple meditation or some kind of personal ritual.

The I Ching Oracle gives 64 x 64 = 4096 possible readings.

A reading is generally made up of three main parts:

1. The First Hexagram (+ shadow features)
2. The Changing Lines
3. The Second Hexagram (+ shadow features)

The reading for the first hexagram indicates the basic current situation and advice. Additionally, the nuclear hexagram is used to give an indication of the contrary or shadow elements in the situation (i.e., things to avoid at this time).

In many readings (but not all), the initial hexagram changes into a second hexagram, due to the fact that one or more of the lines change from a Yang to a Yin (or vice versa). If this is the case, you next interpret the reading for the changing lines. These give an indication of the dynamic or changing features in the situation. The changing lines should be read in sequence (the text is read from top to bottom, even though the corresponding lines appear from bottom to top). If a line appears to contradict the advice in the basic reading, the changing line takes priority. When the various lines give different advice, these may refer to a sequence of events, or may indicate genuine tensions in the dynamics of the situation. If a line is marked with an asterisk (*), this shows a ruling line. It should be given particular emphasis.

Finally, you read the second hexagram. This indicates the way in which the situation may develop, or advice for the future. Additionally the second nuclear hexagram is used to suggest the contrary or shadow elements in the possible future situation (i.e., things to avoid in the future).

If the reading has no changing lines, you will have no second hexagram. This implies a situation that is fixed or static.

In order to get full value from the reading, you should play with the ideas that are suggested, relating them to your situation and considering various interpretations. This should be done lightly and intuitively, allowing your unconscious mind to suggest connections, associations and possible meanings.

If you wish, you can also consult various books on the I Ching that give more detailed readings of the hexagrams (see the Bibliography below).

You can PRINT a reading using print page from your browser's menu. Make sure that your printer is set to LANDSCAPE orientation, and check that everything is OK by previewing.

You can also SAVE a reading. This will generate an eight-figure number. Record this number, which can be used later in order to reload the reading (Note that your question is not saved).

You can click on Info to get information about the component trigrams, nuclear hexagrams, and ruling lines.

To VIEW any hexagram (including all lines), choose View Hexagrams and type the hexagram number in the box for First Hexagram. If you also EITHER type in the numbers of any Changing Lines OR the number of a Second Hexagram, then a full three-part reading is given.

As part of an ongoing research study into synchronicity, you are invited to participate in experiments to test whether people can correctly identify their actual I Ching reading. To examine this, you will be shown TWO readings. One of these is your actual (Primary) reading. The other is an alternative (Reserve) reading. You have to guess which of the two readings is your actual reading (they are shown to you in random order). Your readings and other information you select (BUT NOT YOUR QUESTION) are then automatically submitted, before you are shown the actual reading.

Choose either the Coin Experiment or the Yarrow Experiment, then type in your question, select the area of inquiry, focus your mind and click GO as with the standard oracles. Then follow the instructions given on screen.

You can carry out either or both experiments as many times as you wish.

I advise that you gain experience of using the standard I Ching Oracles before you attempt these experiments.

As an alternative to the Coin and Yarrow Stick Oracles, you can also cast a reading based on the current date and time. This is known as the "Plum Blossom Divination". The reading changes every minute. You may prefer to use this method if it seems that the present moment is somehow significant to your inquiry. Using this method, only 384 (out of 4096) readings are possible because there will always be exactly one changing line.

You can also use this method to cast a reading for ANY date and time. This is useful should you wish to examine the influences operating at critical moments in the past (e.g., births, marriages, deaths, battles, discoveries, starts of years, centuries or millennia) or future (e.g., meetings, interviews, and other scheduled events). For precise readings, you will need a time accurate to within a minute. As an example of this method, the primary hexagram for the detonation of the Atomic Bomb over Hiroshima (6th August 1945 at 08:15) is 36: DARKENING.

For a whole day reading you can use midnight as the time. For example, using midnight on 14th October 1066 (date of the Battle of Hastings) gives 29: DANGER as the primary hexagram. Another interesting synchronicity comes from examining the dates of the assassinations of John F Kennedy (22nd November 1963) and Archduke Ferdinand (28th June 1914). These both give a primary hexagram of 51: SHOCK (the readings are, in fact, exact matches). The death of Princess Diana (31st August 1997) also gives 51: SHOCK as the primary hexagram and the three part reading is extraordinarily apt. It should be borne in mind, however, that when using this whole day procedure, only eight primary hexagrams are possible and only 48 (out of 4096) full readings.

If desired, you can use the whole day procedure to obtain a daily forecast.