Hi everyone. I got interested in the I Ching through my interest in the Dao De Jing. I find that the act of casting the hexagrams with the stalks to be very therapeutic. Now I'm thinking about asking a question and using the oracle through the hexagrams but I have a couple of questions about the hexagrams I need answered.

If I cast a hexagram with changing lines, do I -

- use the hexagram and also the readings for the changing lines?

- use the hexagram but swap the original lines for the changed lines?

- use the hexagram as is, as well as the new hexagram it changes into?

- or something else?

Thanks. :bows:

Read the original hexagram
Read the changing lines in the original hexagram
Read the resulting hexagram
At this point don't bother with anything like swapping lines.

Read a good translation, not somebody's interpretation.
And don't use books that say they are for beginners.

Think of the resulting hexagram as the direction of the change, but not necessarily the outcome.
Like your compass can point North, but that doesn't mean you're going to see Santa.

What is a swapping line? I've never heard that term before. (Clearly it's not another term for the changing lines, since those were mentioned separately.)

Roras, since you've found this website, a good place to start might be with the learning resources provided by Hilary Barrett, Clarity's owner.

Oh wait. Is a swapping line the line in the relating hexagram which corresponds to the moving (changing) line in the primary hexagram? Example: If the cast hexagram is hexagram 3, and line 5 is changing which produces hexagram 24 as the relating hexagram (Roras, for this we often use shorthand notation like 3.5 > 24) - then the swapping line would be 24.5?

Is that what you meant, Roras?

And welcome to Clarity!

Here is a free pdf edition:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/215289323/Kerson-Huang-Ching (You can log on to get it through Facebook to example)
---
To go in depth here's another free pdf edition, in two volumes:

http://www.hermetica.info/ (Scroll down to The Book of Changes: Yijing (I Ching) - Word By Word )

I think it's really a matter of personal experimentation. I've been doing it for a little over 40 years now, so the early process is a bit foggy, but in recent years I've narrowed things down to a system based on documented divinations from ancient China that gives you one and only one text no matter how many lines change. You'll need to interact with the Yi Jing and feel your way to what works for you. For me, getting an answer that says good fortune and misfortune in one reading is useless. Others, however, take a more nuanced approach and in that example might look at the positions of the lines with good and bad fortune and how they relate to one another, thus getting a reading from that. Welcome to the most wonderful book in the world, by the way.

Thanks for the reply bradford.

bradford said:

Read a good translation, not somebody's interpretation.

Click to expand...

I just discovered I have both of your volumes. Are they good ones?

bradford said:

Read the original hexagram
Read the changing lines in the original hexagram
Read the resulting hexagram
At this point don't bother with anything like swapping lines.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. Should I treat the changing lines as something like additional information and not as separate entities? I understand Yin and Yang as two poles between which everything moves, with nothing eternally Yin and nothing eternally Yang. Should the changing lines be treated as information on how some aspects of the original hexagram will change? Over time perhaps? I've read they should/shouldn't be seen as what may happen after the original hexagram has played itself out.

lisa said:

What is a swapping line?

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Hello lisa. LOL! bradford means 'swapping a line'. I asked about swapping a changing line's reading for the original line, ie. the swapping the lao Yin for the shao Yin.

lisa said:

If the cast hexagram is hexagram 3, and line 5 is changing which produces hexagram 24 as the relating hexagram (Roras, for this we often use shorthand notation like 3.5 > 24) - then the swapping line would be 24.5?

Click to expand...

Thanks for explaining the notation! I have seen it during my trawl of the internet but you're the first I've seen to explain it. My wife would just say it's because I don't wear my glasses enough...

lisa said:

And welcome to Clarity!

Click to expand...

Thank you very much!

svenrus said:

Here is a free pdf edition:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/215289323/Kerson-Huang-Ching (You can log on to get it through Facebook to example)
---
To go in depth here's another free pdf edition, in two volumes:

http://www.hermetica.info/ (Scroll down to The Book of Changes: Yijing (I Ching) - Word By Word )

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link svenrus. I tried the Scribd one but you have to pay now to download documents. I'm sure I used to get them for free... I already have bradford's excellent editions.

I also have Legge's, Cleary's Buddhist I Ching, Wilhelm and Baynes', Nigel Ricmond's, and Greg Richters. I've really only read the introductions to them though.

cjgait said:

I've been doing it for a little over 40 years now, so the early process is a bit foggy, but in recent years I've narrowed things down to a system based on documented divinations from ancient China that gives you one and only one text no matter how many lines change.

Click to expand...

I've read a book or article that included divinations for various emperors. I'll have to find it and re-read it again.

cjgait said:

You'll need to interact with the Yi Jing and feel your way to what works for you.

Click to expand...

Yes, that seems to be common advice! I've got some reading ahead of me!

cjgait said:

Welcome to the most wonderful book in the world, by the way.

Click to expand...

Thanks cjgait.

Thank you everyone for your replies.

_Roras_ said:

Thanks for the reply bradford.



I just discovered I have both of your volumes. Are they good ones?

Click to expand...

There is no "final" or ultimate translation. I tried to make them more literal than literary. I regard the Matrix version as the more important, even though it's multidimensional.

_Roras_ said:

Thanks for the advice. Should I treat the changing lines as something like additional information and not as separate entities? I understand Yin and Yang as two poles between which everything moves, with nothing eternally Yin and nothing eternally Yang. Should the changing lines be treated as information on how some aspects of the original hexagram will change? Over time perhaps? I've read they should/shouldn't be seen as what may happen after the original hexagram has played itself out.

Click to expand...

Rather than think in these terms, I would just read all of the texts, and go with what resonates. But journal the experience and look back on it later.

Again, thanks for the advice. I think baby steps are the way to go. The journalling is something I will definitely start doing. Thanks.

_Roras_ said:

The journalling is something I will definitely start doing.

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Hilary (the owner of this site) is coming out with new software for journalling I Ching readings (and then some) in October. More information is found on Hilary's excellent blog:

http://onlineclarity.co.uk/answers/...-dreams-journal-software-coming-15th-october/

I did a casting on Friday. The question I asked was, "Please tell me something about myself." I got hexagram 35 with line 4 changing. I read the hexagram, the changing line and then hexagram 23 (which 35 changes into). I also did a lot of reading of different I Ching translations and the introductions by the various translators. I read all of Bradford's volume one (a ton of information) and the best method I could find that I feel comfortable with is the following.

I cast the hexagram (using the one above as an example) and then read 35 plus the changing line. Then read hexagram 23 and try to relate them all together as well as to myself (the question was about me!). The changing line threw me off but relating the whole lot to me and not some situation makes it sort of easier but I'll admit I don't yet understand it all. I try but if I get too deep into it a door closes...

I also did another casting on Saturday and came up with a hexagram with two changing lines; 17 with 4 and 5 changing. I found that if I read 17, then the changing lines, then hexagram 3 (17 with line 4 changed) and then hexagram 24 (3 with line 5 changed or 17 with 4 & 5 changed) it told a an unambiguous story.

My thanks again for everyone's help and to Hilary for making so much info about real readings available. :bows:

_Roras_ said:

I also did another casting on Saturday and came up with a hexagram with two changing lines; 17 with 4 and 5 changing. I found that if I read 17, then the changing lines, then hexagram 3 (17 with line 4 changed) and then hexagram 24 (3 with line 5 changed or 17 with 4 & 5 changed) it told a an unambiguous story.

Click to expand...

That's not what I would have recommended to a beginner, but that's how I prefer to read with multiple lines.