Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
If coins are in any way preferable, why?
Ditto!So long as it's random, use any method you like.
Coins are preferable because they are quicker. Yarrow stalks are preferable because they are slower.
Some people like the idea of sitting down and contemplating their question while playing with the stalks. Personally, I'd rather sit for a while, perhaps with my eyes shut, contemplate the question and then throw the coins. Or do a bit of journaling on the issue at hand, then chuck the coins.
Forget the thing about the yarrow sticks being the original, pure, genuine means of consulting the Yi. There isn't much evidence to support the idea that the way that people use the stalks dates back much farther than the coins.
The odds of getting moving yin and moving yang lines are different with the coins and the stalks. It's more symmetrical with the coins (1/8 of getting moving yin, 1/8 of getting moving yang) than with stalks (1/16 of getting moving yin, 3/16 of getting moving yang). Some people mutter something about that being justified because "yin has more inertia" or something like that. I don't like the idea. I haven't seen any real evidence for it in any of the wings, it sounds like a post hoc rationalization to me.
If you do like the idea and don't want to spend the time with the stalks, you can look around for the "16 marbles" method, which reproduces the yarrow stalks odds. I tried it once. I liked playing with the beads and marbles, but I didn't like the idea of the asymmetry. In fact, I just used beads this morning, but with 6/6/2/2 instead of 6/6/3/1. They are pretty and colorful and I like the feeling of rolling them around in my hand.
So long as it's random, use any method you like.
Care to tell us about them?Just for fun I have come up with three of my own methods for generating Yijing images/hexagrams.
* Two coin method. Toss to coins; one lands on the right, the other on the left. One indicates if the line is solid or broken; the other whether that line is stable or moving. You do this six times to create your hexagram. You have to decide ahead of time what the left and right coins; and what the head and tails will indicate.Care to tell us about them?
I can't really compare these methods to say which one is giving me the better or 'good' answers. We get the response we get. I do think that with 8-card method i may end up with more moving lines, but besides that ....You've gotten good answers from all of them? .... What's the point of the 3rd stack in the last one?
* Two coin method. Toss to coins; one lands on the right, the other on the left. One indicates if the line is solid or broken; the other whether that line is stable or moving. You do this six times to create your hexagram. You have to decide ahead of time what the left and right coins; and what the head and tails will indicate.
If you like the 3-coin method then I say use it. It is likely the oldest method we have, and I too use it quite often.... your two coins method, it would result in a high number of moving lines: fifty-fifty chance. I don't ... think traditional three coin method is the best or most pure method ... but it's the way I learned to do it and I'm used to the idea that most of the time I only get one or two moving lines. It feels right.
Yes, I agree, that's not a very good reason to seek out another 'better' method.I'm going through a stage where I get a lot of Unchanging hexagrams, and I'm not sure I really like it -- but I have this weird feeling that I shouldn't just tweak my personal system to get readings that please me more.
I know nothing about Tarot. A woman once gave me a very Tarot insightful reading that was almost scary in it's accuracy and detail. The thing is, as someone who knows nothing about Tarot, I had no opinion about what card spread or what method of interpretation she used. I was only concerned with the results and outcome.I had a friend ... who used tarot cards sometimes. She asked the querent to ... pick out the cards that they decided to pick out, then to arrange them in any pattern they chose. Then they talked about what it might mean.
FYI: here's a YouTube video from Harmen Mesker - 'how (not) to consult the yijing', and Rule No. 6 discusses the yarrow stalk vs. coin debate.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).