I Ching guide books
These are books about the I Ching - not translations, not commentaries, but volumes of fascinating material about its internal patterns, ways to use it, and its history, philosophy and spirituality.
Many translations and commentaries also have excellent, in-depth introductions - I mention the best of them in my reviews on those pages.
On this shelf
- Ta Chuan, the Great Treatise, Stephen Karcher
- I Ching Course, Hilary Barrett
- How to make Change a working part of your life, Stephen Karcher (recording and transcript)
- The I Ching and its Associations, Diana Ffarington-Hook
- The I Ching and You, Diana Ffarington-Hook
Ta Chuan, the Great TreatiseStephen Karcher |
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I had to start with this: the guide to the I Ching that's a part of the I Ching itself. The Great Treatise is one of the less well known Wings: it's not part of the divinatory texts (apart from a few passages which Karcher regards as historical readings), but rather an ancient guide to the I Ching: what it is, its source, what it can do. Karcher calls it 'the key to understanding the I Ching and its place in your life.' It is very wide ranging: readings from the Master; Taoist spiritual insights; the cosmology behind the yarrow stalk method; Confucian understanding of the line relationships. All this is interspersed with Karcher's own commentary (very helpful), and includes a fascinating introduction to the treatise and to the I Ching as a whole.
The most striking thing about this book is its beauty: the wonderful photographs of the natural world, the Chinese characters, and the overall sense of spaciousness and calm. The Ta Chuan is not an easy work, but this translation makes reading it a pleasure.
I Ching CourseHilary Barrett |
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This is Clarity's own I Ching Course, focussing throughout on direct and practical ways to make divination part of life. You can get the course with personal tuition included, or just order the course materials, for instant download in pdf and mp3 format (or I can post them to you on CD-ROM). The aim of the course is to give you not just the knowledge you need, but also the means to turn this into insights you can use.
How to make Change a working part of your lifeStephen Karcher |
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This is a recording of a two and a half hour web seminar with Stephen Karcher: a combination of very practical advice on divination with in-depth insights into the nature of the I Ching and divination. The information presented here builds on what's presented in Total I Ching, but also goes beyond it. This is available on CD and as an instant download; a complete transcript and background materials are included. Details - and free excerpts to watch online - here.
The I Ching and its AssociationsDiana ffarington-Hook |
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Sadly for those of us out here in the UK, Diana ffarington-Hook's works are no longer readily available. I grabbed my copy of 'The I Ching and Its Associations' when the local library was selling it off, and a friend loaned me a copy of 'The I Ching and You' that he'd carried around India in a backpack a few decades ago. (That fact by itself probably tells you something about these books!) But you should be able to get hold of a copy through Amazon.com or Amazon.ca.
Diana ffarington Hook wrote several intriguing books expounding her view of the I Ching. She is especially interested in its inner patterns, connections with astrology, etc, rather than in the text itself. This book is a grand mixture of essays on such things as 'Dowsing and geomancy' and 'Alchemy and the I Ching'. It is also full of interesting case studies from Diana's work as an I Ching consultant, on entirely practical questions such as 'What about buying this car?' or 'should we cut this tree down?', or 'where have I put my keys?'. Does this embrace the full potential of the I Ching? Um, not exactly. But it does show the workings of a real-world oracle and a very genuine diviner.
The I Ching and YouDiana ffarington-Hook |
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This is Diana Ffarington-Hook's original 'I Ching guide book'. Along with a wealth of diagrams and reference charts, it explains how to formulate a question and cast a hexagram; the trigrams and the relationships between the lines of a hexagram; the Five Elements and the Yellow River Map... It also contains some intriguing sample interpretations showing you how all this material can be used in practice. Her approach and mine are different, true, but I have a great respect for these books.
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