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The Water Ching Method

willow

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I've invented a new method! Well, not exactly, but it's a variation that I'm finding absolutely wonderful:

The Water Ching

Find a small bowl that is deeper than it is wide. The one I have is a handmade ceramic about 5 inches across and 5 inches deep.

Place your 16-marble set in the bottom of the bowl.

Add water - enough to fully cover the marbles, but not so much that it will slosh over the side when you put your hand in. I set my bowl outside over the course of a winter storm and let it fill with fresh rainwater.

Add murk. I used a pinch of clay-ey mud from my yard which I dissolved by gently breaking it up with my fingers under the water. A bit of food coloring might be an alternative if you don't have mud.

You now have a bowl containing your marbles under opaque water. If your murk settles between uses, so that you can actually see the marbles when you first pick up the bowl, all the better.

Concentrate on your question and pick up the bowl. When you are ready, place your fingers of one hand into the bowl and gently stir the marbles with your fingertips.

Again when you are ready, select a marble and draw it out. Record the result, and return the marble to the bowl. Do this six times until you have your reading.
 

ginnie

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Do you use a pen to record your line? But aren't your fingers wet from the water in the bowl?

So, do you have a towel and dry off your hand, then pick up the pen, then record the reading?

In other words, how do you keep your notebook dry, using the water method?

Ever the practical one,
Ginnie
:)
 

willow

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I remember the lines until I'm done and write them down after. I've done this a long time with the marble method. Occasionally I forget a line, but then I just accept that I wasn't concentrating/open enough to do it properly. Come to think of it, this is sort of "the 65th answer" for me - sometimes the oracle answers that, hey, you're just not up to asking right now are you. Try again later.

I write down lines during for the yarrow stalk method, but for coins and marbles I don't. The reason is that I need the calming punctuation time between lines to get the line deeply. Sitting with it long enough to commit it to reliable short-term memory does the trick. Even though this is something done in the mind, I think of it as embodying the reading, letting it write itself on me. With marbles it is easier because you have four colors and it's easy to recall the changes. With coins I call the lines young and old.

What is interesting is that after all these years I still don't know the majority of the hexagrams by sight. 1, 2, 24, 44, 30, 52 - of course, but many times even a famous obvious one like 50 will take me by surprise when I look it up in the chart. The first hexagram I learned by sight was 20 - wonder why!

But if you do want to write down while you go, using the water method, just pull the marbles with your non-dominant hand. Keep your writing hand dry and your notes away from the bowl!
 

ginnie

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You must have developed an absolutely remarkable memory for the hexagrams, Willow, using this water method. That is so interesting. Thanks so much for sharing this.
 
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peterg

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calculator ching method & 12 token

On the subject of variations of old methods :

Calculator
I have a 3 digit random number generator on my scientific calculator
and out of curiosity I recently started using it to cast.
I read the numbers as odd = 3 and even = 2 , which mimics the coins.
You have to be careful about the details to avoid mistakes.

I am getting to-the-
point casts about things happening right now.
Recently 37.4 - 13 about a family situation that looked hopeless,
and then things suddenly turned around and the cast made perfect sense.

12 Token
Here is another I have been experimenting with.
sixteen token is 1357 over 16 This one is 1245 over 12.
The odds are about half way between coins and yarrow.
I use ordinary playg cards as tokens : 4 queens, 8 kings jacks, 16 odd pip, 20 even pip.

It works with yarrow if you divide by 3 for the first operation, giving 7 or 4.
Change this to 9 or 5 and continue with normal yarrow.
Far from ideal but workable nonetheless.

Byee
pg
 

ginnie

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Since the method can vary so much, perhaps it is only our intention, our wish to ask the question of the I Ching, that opens the connection.

Allowing it to answer.
 
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peterg

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gas bill

Just after opening Gas bill I cast 49.2 - 43 , calculator style.
Not worried about the bill , but whether I should write these up as genuine casts.

49. Fire in the marsh signifies the combustion of marsh Gas , as Tuck Chang puts it.
43. Includes a notification from the capital and an outcry.

Well , thats one level of meaning , which seems to answer the question.

pg.
 

ginnie

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Did your gas bill show unexpected good fortune?

You know, you didn't say what question you asked.
 
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peterg

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the question

Well , beside the previous cast I had written ' treat as genuine casts ? '
so that was the unspoken question.

Gas - notify seemed to take the cast into the here and now , and the ' notification from the capital ' could be taken as a reference to the origin of the casts.

I usually dont ask questions.I treat the casts as background information to help make decisions and interpret them in the light of events.
The context of the casts is often clear enough straight away or becomes clear over time.

I expect to be left in a certain amount of doubt generally, since doubt is necessary for free will - another reason for the obscure language. This kind of material is rarely written in plain text.

regards
pg
 

ginnie

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Well , beside the previous cast I had written ' treat as genuine casts ? '
so that was the unspoken question.

I expect to be left in a certain amount of doubt generally

Maybe you were deciding about whether or not to announce here at onlineclarity that this is the method you use. The way I see it, 49.2 is a favorable reply to your deciding to make this announcement.
 
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peterg

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49 - 43

Normally I would use yarrow without a question or the q. might be implied if something big was happening.
I would read this cast as preparation for a day of action (49) in connection with a letter (43 notify), an appointment (kings chambers),and a challenge ( arms).Something along those lines.

All the best.
pg
 
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peterg

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43

Making announcements on the forums is a good take on H43.
Ideo- hand and jade object giving one the right to speak at the Kings palace.
Displaying and exposing things.Not to use arms or brute force or outlawry but legitimate means, moral force or force of character.
With a consciousness of the peril involved and awareness of the risk of a backlash from the yin.
regards
pg
 
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peterg

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Frank Kegan and 59.4.5.- 64

Cast 5, calculator style, 59.4.5 - 64

No question, but I was thinking about threads and posts.
The following day I heard the sad news about the death of fkegan.
I wondered if the Yi was marking the passing of a great Clarity senior.

59 :
Dispersal. Scattering - as in ashes. End life aspect.
The King Imagines Possessing a Temple : is this anything to do with the death of Wen or the corpse- embodier ?
The blood of sacrifice flows over the flock, the hill-top (grave mound) shrine, the Kings residence, dispersing and clearing away misunderstandings, suspicions, obstacles.

I had a lot of respect for fkegan , if a little daunted by his stern professorial style.
Fierce and tigerish, he took no prisoners , suffered no fools.
I must say I was amused by some of his put - downs ,esp. of the unwary.
Although, its no fun being on the receiving end.

My favourite fkegan quote, revealing a poetic side to his character, is from thread 4876 post 12 :
' The trail of the Spirit of Yi ,and or, Lady Luck or Lady of Fates(trigram wind),
runs through the Cosmos and thro our consciousness, and influences outcomes.

(Like the hexagrams tumbling in pairs in their King Wen Sequence) the trails of the tumbling objects , dice or pennies , move thro the air and bounce or not on a surface
and interact to determine what shows up as a result of a throw.'

Goodbye Dice Man.

pg
 
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peterg

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For the record there were five casts since mid january in this 'calculator' series :
37.4 - 13
18.1.3.6 - 19
9.4 - 1
49.2 - 43
59.4.5 - 64

H.18 often pops up around funerals.

regards
pg
 
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peterg

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Just heard news about a family business ,which had survived many tribulations - a letter telling them to quit a long-rented store within 14 days.
An hour before I cast (yarrow symmetry) 61.3.4.5 - 14
and a few minutes before that ( calculator) 64.2.5 - 12
Time to pull back maybe.The horse team is extinguished.
 

ginnie

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This was your first throw:
(calculator) 64.2.5 - 12.

I take it that when we get 64, we are making an attempt to carefully distinguish the nature of things before taking any action. 64.2 :: halt now and proceed later. 64.5 :: Maybe your intention is to share the results of this method with the owners of the family business? 12:: A hindrance arising, perhaps due to distrust of this method or some other distrust that arose - even the distrust between the owners of the family business and the landlord, since 12 is the relating hexagram; how you are related to the response.

Your next throw:
(yarrow symmetry) 61.3.4.5 - 14

61.3 :: Did you speak of this to someone in a way you thought might be inappropriate or embarrasing? Or did someone say that what you were saying is confusing? No matter. A little refinement in the way things are presented is called for, that's all.
61.4 :: To me it means accomplishing something that people with your specific social or educational background usually cannot do and wouldn't even think of doing. In other words, an incredible success! Congratulations!
61.5 :: Pulled forward by your confidence in what you're doing - no error! Innermost sincerity and trustworthiness ... For one thing, you have made this as an offering to all diviners who are reading this thread.

Hexagram 14 :: the body of knowledge we already possess. Since the yarrow stalk method is the method you already know and trust, it is not unusual that you received h14, (the body of knowledge we already possess), as your relating hexagram.

When we set the intention of asking the I Ching a question, then the I Ching is given the opportunity to answer. I don't personally believe that the method matters a whole lot. For example, some people throw the coins and say that 2 tails + 1 head = a stable yin line. But I threw the coins for many years and counted that 2 tails and 1 head = a stable yang line. Isn't it a fact that the I Ching knows what system we are using and simply adapts itself to it?

So interesting! ....
 
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peterg

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Like the comments and ideas.
Sometimes just a word or idea can transform the way you look at a reading, such as the family business idea.In the past I have seen fate take a definite hand in the affairs of that business and the turn of events around it.

Yijing maths interest me.Thats why I'm more focused than usual on the method.
For me, odd and heads = 3, fits like a glove.
 
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peterg

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I could be way off beam, but
I've got 61.5 in connection with books eg Karcher Ritsema.
In this case it would be Decisive Moments by Lehrer
which is about integrating emotion and logic.

61.3 Mixed feelings.Antagonism. Conflict of positive and negative emotion and reason and emotion.

61.4 Failure to integrate. Pulling apart.The horse team separates.Waites tarot compares emotions to a horse team. As does Plato.The charioteer is reason.

61.5 Successful integration.The confidence that comes with it. Stick together.Bind as in book binding.The binding at-the-wrist threads of a marriage ceremony. Upper wind as cord. Upper nuclear ken as hand.

H.14 as something you already possess, like a book ( or an ability to use good and bad or horrible feelings to help you make decisions.)
49 - 43 as a book. Revolutionary in that it challenges traditional assumptions about decision making. 43 as the urge to make a decision and committ to it and set events in motion.
 

ginnie

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Speaking of methods, there's Karcher's yang operator and yin operator, which does seems to apply to your 61.3.4.5 > 14.

The yang operator is 31, Sensitivity. How we become sensitive and are moved by various influences. Especially our emotions (or feelings and sentiments).

The yin operator is 41, Reduction. Doesn't this seem to indicate that the sensitivity needs a way to be reduced? By reason, of course.

I think Sensitivity, hexagram 31, is a major issue in divination. Emotional sensitivity needs to be reduced. Over time we need to find ways to reduce some types of sensitivity, because the results backfire or cause us to feel unwell. I mean, we need to learn ways not to get entangled in the problems of others.
 
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peterg

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Karcher thinks the operators are a very powerful aspect. 61 - 14 is the first case I've seen where they do actually make some sense , with 31 and 41 highlighting the interplay between emotion and reason, good integration and emotional control.
The binding aspect of 61.5 is strengthened by the appearance of 31 with its strong attraction theme.
On the subject of getting less emotionally entangled , 31.4 may be on the ropes , but 31.5 seems to have got past this and recovered composure.Tuck Chang is good on this line.
On methods of casting :
I d'ont like tossing coins.It might be the way the coins fall or the quality of spin or the roadside pitch-and-toss I played as a kid. So I'm interested in variations. No Q and A , although on reflection it might be a lot easier with a question.
The latest is taking coins randomly out of the petty cash box and lining them up , three per line.I tend to get observations about the immediate with this variations methodology.
Yesterday the cast was 54.2.4 - 17
Later I was out and about in town and went online.I had forgotten my reading specs but discovered I could read the screen by squinting my eyes, as per 54.2 squinting enabling observing.(I'd be lucky to get off that lightly ) Later I glanced out the window and noticed it was getting dark.Time to go home as per 17 symbol.

Parting is such sweet sorrow.
 

ginnie

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Yesterday the cast was 54.2.4 - 17 ... I had forgotten my reading specs but discovered I could read the screen by squinting my eyes, as per 54.2 squinting enabling observing.(I'd be lucky to get off that lightly ) Later I glanced out the window and noticed it was getting dark.Time to go home as per 17 symbol.

Peterg, you are definitely a diviner.
:)
 

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