Struggling with readings with multiple moving lines?
There is more than one way to approach this - Felix has explained Chu Hsi's rules at the I Ching Community; Shieldwolf has a new article about the 'most probable moving line' method at his site. (My own preference is to work with all the changing lines - see Answers Issue 5)

Did you know you can easily invite a friend to make use of all the free resources and information at Clarity - from any page? Just look for the 'Tell a friend' button in the left-hand menu.
(And I've just added the same function to the free online I Ching reading)

™DIY Corner: Can the I Ching tell me how he feels?—

Question (from the I Ching Community): Can you really ask about other people's feelings?

Answer:

It would seem that Robbie hadn't encountered the I Ching!

The oracle can offer rare and precious insights into how another person feels. Wherever emotional or physical distance damages communication, the I Ching can be of immense help in revealing the emotion behind the words - and the effect that your words are having - preventing misunderstanding and saving friendships as a result.

The I Ching can even let you see yourself as others see you - but these are often the most difficult answers to work with. You need to remind yourself constantly that this is not an objective picture of you, it's just the other person's image of you. What you say and do will be woven together in a complex tapestry with their own half-buried memories of other relationships - and you cannot unravel it.

Trying to develop a real understanding of another person is perhaps one of the greatest challenges we will ever meet - and the I Ching will not suddenly make it simple. You can expect a complex answer (eg with many changing lines, perhaps mutually contradictory). I think the best we can do is to live with the complexity. Sometimes people can feel two contradictory things at once. There may not be a rational explanation, or a simple 'yes/no' answer.

The I Ching won't fabricate a simple answer when the real situation is far from simple. But it will show you the truth about the inner dynamics of a relationship. Perhaps what seemed like a friendly message to you was frightening emotional pressure for him. Maybe she isn't worried about you at all, but is in the midst of dealing with wounds from her past. So often, the I Ching gives you a completely fresh perspective on things, a way out of the maze just as you thought that you'd reached a dead end.

Asking about other people's feelings can be an ethical minefield as well as an emotional one. The temptation to pry, to try to discover secrets that the other person really doesn't want you to know, is ever-present. So too is the risk of taking on too much personal responsibility for the other person.

Many diviners won't read about anyone without their personal permission: they refuse to enter the minefield. But the I Ching seems designed to help guide us through it. When people are truly searching for a clearer understanding, trying not to be blinded by their own hopes and fears, and full of a genuine, compassionate desire to help, then the I Ching will give them support and insight. At least, this has been my own experience. (And if the questioner's motives are less than perfect? Then, very gently, the I Ching will say so.)

Things I ask myself on approaching the minefield

• Why do I need to know?
• Why can't I ask the individual instead of the I Ching?
• Is this the best question? Maybe I should be asking:
• How can I help?
• What would be the best course for my own emotional health?
• What can I do to improve communication between us?

The anonymous questioner at the I Ching Community who prompted me to write that article worried that asking about other people was 'just like reading someone's diary'. What do you think? Please share your experiences and opinions - the discussion is here, including the I Ching's own comments!

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!)

™Book Review: The Shamanic Oracle of Change—

This intriguing version of the I Ching offers four main sections: an introduction, translation, 'modern commentary' and a section on the original title ideograms.

The introduction reads the I Ching as a historical epic: every hexagram is tied in to real events. Is this true? Probably we will never know. More important, I think, is the intense colour and life that this view brings to those hexagrams that Palmer regards as pivotal points in the story - which adds a new dimension to divination. For example, the Traveller (Hexagram 56) becomes an enigmatic figure who crosses the path of the king at his moment of triumph and sets his pretensions in perspective.

The introduction also includes a good history of the I Ching and an intelligent account of how to use it. Palmer is not sympathetic towards those who feel the need to surround consultation with reverence and ceremony: he advocates simply opening the book and pointing to a line at random. For those who find this rather cavalier, he does give an account of the three coin method and the quick and easy 'fortune-teller's' 8-coin method, which always gives exactly one moving line.

The book doesn't include the later Wings of the I Ching, only the original Zhouyi material: the Judgements (which Palmer prefers to call oracles - a good change, I think) and line texts. The translation is sometimes pleasing or challenging, sometimes strange. It aims to recapture the earliest layers of meaning, and to let them come alive for use in divination. Sometimes this return to the roots feels like a gain, sometimes like a loss, as the millennia of accumulated meaning are stripped away. I think this translation works best when used alongside one based on the later traditions, such as Wilhelm's or Huang's. (See the recommended books page.) There is the occasional awkwardness and mistake, but the overall effect is of clarity and simplicity, without diluting the enigmatic character of the original.

The 'modern commentary' section is based on Chinese thought about the I Ching from the 5th century AD to the present day. I found this section clear, brief and to the point, and genuinely helpful. It can offer unusualy insights, since most Western editions don't include the more modern Chinese thought. The section on the original characters is thought-provoking: as much meditative as academic, and not afraid to admit the limits of knowledge in this area!

But by far the best and most exciting contribution of this edition comes not from the translation or historical theories, but from the poet Jay Ramsay. Every hexagram translation has a poem inspired by it on the opposite page. Needless to say, these aren't the I Ching, only an individual response to it - but they are a sincere, sometimes breathtaking response. The book also includes Ramsay's own intensely moving introduction, which shows how his poems have come from personally living each hexagram - the only way to reach a full understanding. The feeling comes through that he has really understood the oracle from the inside out.

The overall effect of this edition is rather like a new version of the I Ching with added 'wings' of commentary, interpretations of the original ideograms, and Ramsay's poetry. As with the original version (though not with any modern English translations I know of), you have to move from one 'wing' to the next to build up a picture of each hexagram.

While I wouldn't take it to a desert island as my only I Ching (I'd be torn between Karcher's and Huang's), I am very glad to have this. The modern commentary brings new light to old obscurities, the historical theory is fascinating - but anyone who wants to use the I Ching for meditation or to deepen their spiritual practice, or simply who enjoys poetry, should buy this for the poems. Oh, and for Ramsay's introduction, which is fast becoming one of my favourite pieces of writing about the Yi, easily on a par with Jung's introduction in the Wilhelm version.

'Now listen:
I am bone, I am the beginnings of written tongue,
In the cracked pictograms of Eye, I am -
I am bare tooth, bear skin and trepanned skull -
I am Creation that came before the Word, and I am now -

In my cave are all your imaginings.'

(from Prelude by Jay Ramsay)

You can order The Shamanic Oracle of Change now from Amazon.com or from Amazon.co.uk

Apologies for last month's book links, that somehow didn't point to the correct page. Oops. :-(
Belatedly, here are links to Stephen Karcher's beautiful Ta Chuan at Amazon.com and at Amazon.co.uk.
(And here's my review of it from last month.)

™Discussion point—

The discussion on methods of interpreting the I Ching has brought up some interesting ideas, and revealed a remarkable depth of knowledge and experience among the regulars at the I Ching Community! Many thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, including Peter for sharing his dice methods, Dee for hers with 10 marbles, and Laurie and 'Major Tao' for their yarrow experiences. I was especially impressed by one of the email votes, saying that the writer simply intuited the hexagram that matched the situation.

The survey results, though, reveal that most of us are traditionalists, with the yarrow and three coin methods combined accounting for 61% of the votes.

This month's survey: What have you used divination for?
What is divination really for? Spiritual practice? Stock market trading? What role does it play in your life? Of course, this isn't just a question about the I Ching, but also tarot, astrology, runes, cartomancy - whatever you use. If you have friends who divine, or you're on mailing lists where people might be interested, please pass on the url:
http://www.onlineClarity.co.uk/html/survey/survey.html
and of course please vote yourself!

As always, you are invited to share your thoughts on this (or anything else divination-related) at the I Ching Community.

™How you can help—