The redesign survey and competition closed at the end of November. Many thanks to everyone who entered - reading through your answers was both encouraging and challenging! And especial thanks to Helen Hriskin, Lyn B, Peter Manyakhin, Christopher Murray, Anders Honoré, and Lila - whose thoughtful critiques and suggestions have won them free readings.

New features to look forward to:

• Clearer navigation, making it much easier to find what you're looking for
• A free email course covering the basics of I Ching divination
• More advanced tutoring by email so you can develop your own skills to the full
• Even more I Ching information, free downloads and resources
• A chat function for Friends and customers

Christmas break
As announced, I'll be away from the computer over the Christmas and New Year period, so that I can give my family my undivided attention! So Clarity will 'close' on 22nd December and be open for business again on 5th January.

™DIY Corner—

Question:
How can we tell time hours minutes from I Ching Hexagrams? J.S. Gaidu
Answer:

The I Ching's answers don't usually contain any information about the timescale of the events or opportunities they describe. This is all part of its tremendous versatility, its ability to answer questions about past, present or future, and the inner world as well as the outer, and to offer advice and understanding as well as mere fortune-telling. Having said that - there are several ways in which the I Ching can give you information about time.

The most obvious one is in the words of the answer. 'Before seedburst, three days; after seedburst, three days.' Or 'three years go by, there is conquest.' However, as a rule these are not to be taken literally. 'Three' is a general term for 'several', so three days means 'pause for thought'; three years means a long time, and hard work. 'Seven days' means a naturally completed period of time. In each case, these apparent references to outer time usually translate in practice into the inner time of our own experience.

But what if you need specific information about the kind of time that's measured by the calendar? Well, it is worthwhile looking out for one of the twelve 'tidal gua' in your answer: the twelve hexagrams that denote the months of the year. In practice, though, I've found that these, too, tend to relate to inner time: Hexagram 24, Return, for instance, often refers to an individual's return to the tao and the return of their strength and purpose after a dark time. The fact that this hexagram occurs in many people's readings at this time of year comes as no surprise: the cycles of the earth are also part of us, in a way that the names of the months are not. (For this reason, I would say that in the southern hemisphere, these hexagrams should be connected to the seasons, not the months. Not everyone would agree with me, though!)

The simplest and most straightforward way of getting the information you want is to ask for it. This is also the oldest way: people would divine about the coming week. You need only include the time-frame you're thinking of in your question. You might want to add a further refinement, and mentally associate each line with a period of time. For example, a line per day if you are divining for the week; a line per two months if you are divining for the year. Then the moving line(s) you receive would give you an indication of when, as well as what or how. Obviously you would want to be quite clear in your own mind how you would read the lines before you began to cast the hexagram!

Finally, there is the system of divination known as the Wen Wang Ba Gua. This huge divinatory system engages with great precision with specific times and places. Although it nominally uses the I Ching, it is really an entirely different method, based on the fantastically complex system of Chinese astrology, rather than on the ancient texts themselves. In fact, its proponents advocate it as an alternative to divining intuitively from the texts. It has traditionally been left to professional fortune-tellers, and is certainly not for the faint-hearted!

If you're interested in studying Wen Wang Ba Gua, the best resource I know of is to be found in the list archives of the Chinese Astrology group at Yahoo. You need to join the group to get access to the archives. And I believe that this method of divination is also taught by Master Raymond Lo.

If you have ANY questions about consulting the I Ching please write to me, and I'll answer them in future issues.

(But please note - this is for questions about consulting the I Ching yourself. If you have a question for the I Ching, you need the services page!)

™Last minute Christmas gifts?—

It's getting a little late for ordering gifts online, but here are a few divination-related ideas…
(Full-length book reviews back next month!)
To introduce your friends to the I Ching:
Clarity's gift certificates
(The code will be sent straight to you when you order, to pass on to the recipient however you wish.)

Stephen Karcher's How to Use the I Ching. Probably the best introduction to divination with the I Ching.
Full review | How to use the I Ching from Amazon.com | How to use the I Ching from Amazon.co.uk

The I Ching Kit - includes 'How to use the I Ching', Chinese coins, 'yarrow' stalks and a quick reference chart of hexagrams: everything they need to start divining.
Complete I Ching kit from Amazon.com | Complete I Ching kit from Amazon.co.uk

The I Ching Made Easy - probably the best simplified version available, and an ideal gentle introduction for people who might be intimidated by the full version. (You might find yourself buying them a translation for their birthday!)
Full review | The I Ching made easy from Amazon.com | The I Ching made easy at Amazon.co.uk

For those already captivated by the oracle!
The Mandate of Heaven, S.J. Marshall - published just this year, full of utterly fascinating insights into the origins of the I Ching.
Full review | The Mandate of Heaven from Amazon.com | The Mandate of Heaven from Amazon.co.uk

Zhouyi, by Richard Rutt - a fresh, challenging perspective on the oldest layers of the text, and with a wealth of information on the cultural background.
Full review | The Zhouyi at Amazon.com | The Zhouyi at Amazon.co.uk

Last order dates for the 25th
Holistic Shop - 19th December, for delivery in the UK. Divination supplies including tarot, other cards, and beautiful crystal runes. Amazon.co.uk - 19th December, for delivery in the UK Amazon.com - up to 21st December, but they will charge extra for the postage! Clarity gift certificates - up to 21st December, as I close for the holidays from the 22nd to the 5th.

Apologies to my compatriots... it seems that Amazon UK doesn't have as many of these books available for despatch by Christmas as does the US store. Why not get them a gift certificate instead? (Or buy some New Year presents...)

™Discussion point—

Survey results: Ways of Divination
As you might expect given the theme of the site (;-) ), there is a probably a slight 'bias' towards the I Ching in these results. However, I did publish links to the survey in every divination-related venue I could think of, and the results are distinctly interesting…

Runes, which I find beautiful and fascinating, seem strangely neglected in practice. So too was dream incubation, a profound and intensely personal way of divination. But respondents used tarot and the I Ching in roughly equal numbers. Interestingly, the third most popular option after these two was 'none of these, I wouldn't expect divination to help'! It seems that fewer people expect divination to have anything to offer when it comes to specific decisions, or understanding repeating patterns. I was fascinated to see that these were the same questions where more people choose I Ching over tarot.

Looking at the answers 'behind the scenes' I also found that those who choose the I Ching are far more likely to use astrology than tarot devotees, who prefer psychic readers. Perhaps this was to be expected - after all, many psychic readers do use tarot cards, and the many people come to the I Ching because they enjoy exploring its inner structures would find the same stimulus in astrology.

Here are the results:
Key:

I Ching

Tarot

Runes

Psychic

Astrology

Dreams

Other

None of these

You're worried you and your partner are drifting apart, and want to know how to improve the relationship. Where would you turn for help?
IC	T	P	A	D	O	N

You need to decide between two courses of action – different career paths, for example. Where would you turn for help?
IC	T	R	P	O	N

You can't understand why the same pattern keeps repeating in your life. Where would you turn for help?
IC	T	R	A	D	O	N

Feeling 'lost', you need some general guidance on where you are and what choices you have now. Where would you turn for help?
IC	T	P	D	O	N

Past, present or future?
This month's survey seemed appropriate for the time of year: one spent looking back, looking forward, and at the same time being intensely preoccupied with the present moment. But where do you most often choose to focus when you divine?

(I know that at this time of year you have more things to do than answer surveys. So you can vote on this one in two clicks: - just click and send a blank email. If you want to choose more than one option, just send more than one email.)

Where do you focus - what do you ask about - when you divine or consult with a diviner?

• The past: I want to understand what happened, or how I got where I am now
• The present: I want to know what's going on now and what would be my best course of action
• The future: I just want to know what's going to happen

Or you can vote online and see the results so far.

™Have a wonderful holiday!—