This is a computerised reading: you click a few times, and you get 'instant' hexagrams. It looks for all the world like a game - and indeed, you are welcome to 'play' with it!
But this is also the authentic I Ching, with all its potential to transform your life. (These days everything from coffee to cosmetics claims to be life-transforming. The I Ching is.) Why not take your time: take your hand away from the mouse, sit back in your chair, look away from the screen and breathe for a while... and become aware of where you are, and what you seek.
The I Ching is the ancient Chinese Book of Change, an oracle over 3,000 years old. With its help you can see the truths shining through the surface appearances of life: understand where you are, and discover new ways of attaining your goals.
The I Ching consists of 64 hexagrams and the various words and images associated with each one. A hexagram is just a stack of six lines – either broken (yin) or solid (yang). Combining these two different kinds of line in groups of six, you get 64 unique ‘stacks’, the hexagrams. When you divine with the I Ching, you receive one of these 64 basic answers. Each hexagram describes a way that energy moves, gives you an idea what to expect from the situation, and how best to act within it. (The titles of the hexagrams provide the simplest answers - such as Retreating, Approaching, Gathering Together, Inner Truth, Keeping Still, Waiting...)
Basically, one reading gives one hexagram – the primary hexagram. This is the core of your answer – the setting that begins to answer your question. Sometimes it’s also the only answer, if you have an unchanging hexagram. (In this reading, if your hexagram is unchanging, you'll see the same one displayed on both sides of the page.)
More often, though, there will be changing lines in your answer.
You’ll remember that each line in a hexagram can be either broken (yin) or solid (yang). But this isn’t a permanent condition: yin and yang are in a constant cycle, yin turning into yang and yang to yin. Some of the lines in the primary hexagram will be ‘young’ – just become yang or yin, and not yet changing. But there will usually also be one or more ‘old’ lines that are on the verge of changing to their opposites. These are the most important part of the reading – the pivotal points of change.
Receiving a changing line has two main implications for your reading.
Firstly, when each changing line has turned into its opposite, you get a new hexagram: the relating hexagram.
It can be hard to say exactly how this hexagram 'relates' to the main situation described in the primary hexagram – you’ll have to use your intuition here! Perhaps the relating hexagram is the consequence of the change... perhaps it’s a desire or an attitude that ‘pulled’ those lines into changing. As a rule, it sets the primary hexagram in a personal context. This is what the whole reading situation is 'about' for you. It could be what you want from the situation, or how you approach it.
Secondly, when a line changes, you need to read the text associated with that line. The lines are numbered from the bottom up (line 1 at the bottom), since energy rises through a hexagram. The changing line texts are the most important part of the reading, and this is where you should find a direct answer to your question.
So, to begin to make sense of your reading:
- Look to the primary hexagram for an objective image of the situation.
- Look to the changing line texts, if any, for the most direct answer to your question.
- Look to the relating hexagram for something you can relate to out of your own experience.
(NB these are only very general guidelines, and might not apply to your particular reading.)
Enjoy!