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How long is the answer accurate?

“Hi, Hilary:
I have a question. When I consult the I Ching, how long is the answer-advice accurate? An hour, a day, a week? Does it vary? How is one to know? Thank you for your attention, and have a nice day.

Christopher”

The simplest way to know how long any advice applies for is to specify a time period in your question:
“What’s the best way to be in this relationship this week?” or “How can I cope with these tensions today?” or “How can I expect this to unfold over the next three months?” – and so on.

If you’ve asked a more open-ended question and are wondering whether or not it still applies, then it probably does – unless you know something substantive has changed. (An example of what I mean by ‘substantive change’ would be an external change like getting new options to choose from, or an internal shift like a true change of approach and attitude. Starting to doubt a previous answer and feeling the need for more reassurance, however, wouldn’t be.)

Any response from the I Ching is an accurate insight into the present moment – which, of course, includes dynamics and tendencies for future development. I think the aim of divination is to reconnect you with what’s really happening here and now. This puts you in the best possible position to sense how the situation might be changing or starting to move in a new direction.

12 responses to How long is the answer accurate?

  1. Ha! I’m smiling at your explanation and specially your last paragraph. I agree. I was just pointing something similar in the E-Ching forum (Spanish) to a person that gives advise tagging some of the hexagrams as being either in the “past”, “present” or “future” based on numerological calculations. My idea is that if it works for him, fine, but is dangerous to give advise to others in this way as it separates the querent from the synchronicity of the Present.

    L

  2. Yeah, the short answer is: the timeframe of the Yi’s response corresponds to the timeframe you had in your mind when you asked your question. If your question was about a situation that demands some sort of involvement from you *right now*, then the Yi’s response is for right now. If you ask: “What do I need to know about dealing with my boss in the next twelve months?” then the timeframe shifts accordingly.

  3. It’s probably worth saying that the I Ching’s advice is valid until in impatience you enquire again about the same thing. Omens are easily overturned by our own doubt. If you enquire again you are creating competing omens and somewhere along the line of repeated questioning the omens may distinctly change.

    I think many have probably experienced the point at which a series of good omens turned into a series of bad omens. Clearly you have cast yourself adrift by that point, and invalidated by your own actions your initial good oracle. In other words, how long an oracle is valid for is entirely dependent on you. It could be invalidated immediately if you are unable to follow it. As a rule of thumb, if you enquire about something again a few days or a few hours later, then discard the oracle you received previously.

    You cannot beat a situation where you may not have consulted the I Ching for, say, 3 months or more, then something important looms on your horizon, you consult the Changes about it, act on what it says, and then don’t consult it again for ages. That isolated oracle has great power, and is likely to be understood lucidly. I tend to find great masses of paper with hexagrams drawn everywhere a testament only to the confusion I have allowed myself to indulge.

  4. “It’s probably worth saying that the I Ching’s advice is valid until in impatience you enquire again about the same thing. Omens are easily overturned by our own doubt. If you enquire again you are creating competing omens and somewhere along the line of repeated questioning the omens may distinctly change.”

    Yeah, although I’d never have said this, I think it’s probably true. You realize, of course, that the implication of all this is that we create our reality with our thoughts? If you can overturn an omen with your doubts, and if omens reflect your reality, then it means you’re overturning your own reality with your doubts.

  5. I wouldn’t have thought there was anything surprising about the idea that we create our reality with our thoughts. You don’t even have to consider the magical dimension of this to realise it has to be true. The same situation can look very different, for example, depending on what kind of mood we are in when we look at it. That is an instant effect of our thoughts. Meanwhile the situation itself is what it is. But our response to it from a happy optimistic mood could be very different to our response to it from a depressed and fearful mood. I always find it instructive how a situation can appear to change as a result of a change of mood, even though nothing has actually happened and nothing has been added to the situation beyond a more expansive outlook on it. And, as I say, this is what is perfectly obvious without even getting into the magical aspect of creating our reality.

  6. Greetings.

    on the timeframe for the answers,i wouldsay that it depends on what uhadaskedthe Iching.

    in case it is a question about marriage thenit would b till that marriage lasts or thatrelationship lasts.

    i also have read that there are some hex which would asku to consulti ching again on the same question.

    in caseur uestion is about the next scne in a telesrial the relevance may btill that episode.( believe me i hav tried)

    I hav also understood that i ching wants u to b changing and improving in life to have great fortune (enlightenment in my opinion) therefore one shouldkeep changing the course as guided and in such situation the time frame forvalidity of anser is eternal

  7. “As a rule of thumb, if you enquire about something again a few days or a few hours later, then discard the oracle you received previously.”

    Interesting. If I’m faced with someone who’s asked the same question umpteen times and lost all connection with what the answers might mean, I tend to suggest they go back to answer #1.

    Hi Nick,
    Good points. It does indeed depend on what you ask. Also, while there isn’t a hexagram that definitely suggests consulting again, there are hexagrams and lines that suggest something about how long the omen lasts. 32 can be a recurring pattern; 44 is a disruption to patterns, not conducive to long-term certainty.

    Asking about the next scene on TV? Interesting! I’ve found when I play ‘prediction games’ like this with the oracle, it plays right back. Like the time I asked how a tennis player would do, and it told me not for the game, as I’d intended, but for the tournament. Not a tame oracle 😉

  8. Hexagram 8 is regarded as the hexagram that invites you to ask again, but this is only because of the Wilhelm-Baynes translation. That said, I have been known to ask again when receiving hexagram 8, to useful effect, inasmuch as I don’t recall the omen ever being countermanded, only strengthened. The implication is that if I am not the right person in the right situation then the oracle will be overturned by a subsequent consultation. However, this practice is only something acquired from the Wilhelm translation.

    Going back to answer #1 after a confusion of hexagrams sounds like a good idea, but actually you have denatured the first oracle by then. It is better to concede defeat and put the book away. By clinging to nothing, by giving up, it is more likely that some sense as to the truth of the situation may emerge from the clutter that has been made after the time has settled. If you attach yourself to the first answer you are likely to end up just prolonging the confusion or building hopes on an oracle that has been thrown away. You cannot fish hexagrams out of the bin. Reality is fluid, and the reality that has not yet come to be is so fluid as to be tenuous, for all it can set as hard as concrete in a moment. It is generally better to know when your approach to the book has been lousy and call it a day.

  9. Hi, Hilary,

    You said:

    “Hi Nick,
    Good points. It does indeed depend on what you ask. Also, while there isn’t a hexagram that definitely suggests consulting again…”

    But what about Hexagram 8, which in Wilhelm says:

    “HOLDING TOGETHER brings good fortune.
    Inquire of the oracle once again
    Whether you possess sublimity, constancy, and perseverance;
    Then there is no blame.

    I’ve often wondered if this is telling me to immediately do another reading and why. What do you think?

  10. Oh, I forgot to add… in his pared-down translation of the I Ching, which was made specifically for divination of the future, John Blofeld advises us not to include any sort of specific time frame in our questions.

    He says that the I Ching was not intended to give time-accurate answers. His advice is to pose questions of the sort such as, “What result can I expect if I…” and the like. I believe he also said the I Ching can’t answer Yes/No questions.

    Sorry, I don’t have his book with me, so I can’t give a complete explanation of his opinions.

  11. On hexagram 8 and consulting again, see Steve’s post. Re-consulting after hexagram 8 is an artefact of the translation, and there are other ways to translate. ‘Retrace the consulation to its source,’ for instance, suggests not consulting over again, but asking yourself ‘where you’re coming from’ in making this divination.

    Doesn’t Blofeld also include a table of hexagrams and the dates they’re supposed to represent? Seems odd! But I would agree with the basic point that there are better things to do with the I Ching than predict timing. Also, if timing’s predictable at all, then I expect there are better ways of doing it.

  12. Even though the invitation to ask again in hexagram 8 is an artefact of the Wilhelm translation, I find it a strangely satisfying idea and so I think it adds to the book. You are being asked to cast your lot to the wind once again, daring the oracle to support you (but only because invited to do so). It really does elicit some powerful on-the-spot introspection, effectively you are being asked a question by the oracle itelf, namely: ‘Do you think you are really up to this?’ If you do, you cast again, with the risk that the oracle will tell you that you are not the one, you are not as you take yourself to be. But when the oracle confirms you in your possession of ‘sublimity, constancy, and perseverance’ you can find yourself not merely answered but empowered. I believe one should be empowered before attempting ‘holding together’, so I value the idea of hexagram 8 offering an invitation to inquire again.

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