The Yi talks in images: hexagram shapes, trigram pictures, sometimes the original forms of the Chinese words themselves, and – most clearly – in its vignettes and stories. When you’re just getting started with readings, those are the images you can’t miss. You might ask…‘How to start a conversation to… Read more »Into the image
I’ve been looking lately at something so simple I almost missed it: how the ideas in the Yijing’s texts develop, from one phrase to the next. It’s easy to look at something like, ‘Dispersing, creating success.With the king’s presence, there is a temple.Fruitful to cross the great river,Constancy bears fruit.’… Read more »One step at a time
A shared experience This post is prompted by a conversation I had recently with someone who’s relatively new to the Yi . His first reading really grabbed his attention: it spoke to him directly in a way he hadn’t been expecting at all. Engaged and motivated, he set out to… Read more »How hard can it be?
As I said in my last podcast, some readings are simply gifts. That one was like seeing your reflection in a clear pool and knowing all is well. There’s immediate recognition: not only recognising yourself in the answer, but feeling recognised – and affirmed, and comforted – by the oracle.… Read more »Challenges
I’m about to run a Yijing Foundations Class – we’re starting on September 21st. You can’t enrol for the class yet, but if you add your name to the notifications list… …then you’ll be one of the first to know as soon as the ‘doors’ are open. (Since this is… Read more »What are the foundations?
I almost titled this post ‘working with trigrams’ – but the most useful, productive ways I know of to engage with trigrams in readings actually feel a lot more like play. And besides, who needs more work? So here’s how I suggest you start playing. (This is really not a… Read more »Playing with trigrams
I wrote a bit before about the dangers of AI interpretation that it might, as 26.1 says, be fruitful to stop: its inaccuracy with hexagrams and text; the peril of having an interpretation handed to you without ever engaging with the imagery yourself; and finally, its lack of emotional engagement.… Read more »There is danger: fruitful to stop
