1960s I Ching?

[hilary]

Ah, the wonderful emails that come my way:

I am an assistant buyer on a feature film set in the 1960s and the script
requires an i ching kit. From my research so far, I have found that this is
made up of yarrow stalks and coins, but I would be extremely grateful if you
might take the time to advise me more precisely. We are ideally looking to
buy a vintage 1960s kit.

...I look forward to hearing from you,

Carla McCannon

I suggested Wilhelm/Baynes, silk, yarrow stalks or Chinese coins, and incense. But I also had to point out I'm not the best person to ask. Carla would really like to talk to someone who was divining in the '60s. Any offers?

 

[bruce_g]

I think you covered it fairly typically. Might add a bag of weed and a little statue of Avolokitesvara.

 

[Sparhawk]

I have two such kits that appear to have been popular back then. None of them is from the 1960's but one is from 1971 (first one) and the other is from 1972. The actual text of the books isn't any good for serious students but if vintage kits is what they're looking for, these are the closest things to it... As wisely put by Bruce, weed is optional and extra...

 

[Trojina]

(I think Luis got the 1971 kit for his 10th birthday that makes him um 40 something today ! Happy Birthday Luis )

 

[bruce_g]

A copy of Jung's Man and His Symbols makes a natural compliment alongside W/B.

 

[bradford]

Hi Hilary-
I have seen Legge's hardbound version used in movies before,
because when opened the hexagram figures read quite nicely
on film. I would have this opened, next to both yarrow stalks
and coins as accessories. Maybe with a little notpad where a
relevant reading is written down.
We're ready for our closeup, Mr DeMille.

 

[bradford]

PS-
If someone is saying the name in the dialog and they're not spozed to be
some hippie new age flake I'd have them say yee jing instead of eye ching

 

[Sparhawk]

(I think Luis got the 1971 kit for his 10th birthday that makes him um 40 something today ! Happy Birthday Luis )

Well, almost... I was almost 14 when I started my Yi journey... Believe me, as teenagers goes, I was at the top of the heap for weirdness..

Thanks for the wishes!! 46 today...

 

[Tohpol]

I just love the lettering in the Chin Lee and Kay Wong edition. It's like something out of a Peter Sellers Fu Manchu movie. I want one!


Topal

 

[fyreflye]

The Word From Bird on the '60's I Ching

As a genuine Old Hippie (formerly Young Beatnik) whose first I Ching is dated 4/1964 on the flyleaf, I can assure you that all us serious crackpots used the W/B edition and three pennies. The friend from whom I first learned about it and who "threw" my first Hexagram owned the original two volume Princeton hardback edition. Mine was and still is the large, bulky single volume black as death edition; same gray dust jacket as the current smaller volume.
As for yarrow stalks - who in Los Angeles would know where to find such exotic plant life in 1963? Finding magic mushrooms was hard enough. Another friend gave me my first set of stalks around 1970, picked and dried out on a plateau in Trinity County not far from Weaverville, where the first Taoist temple in California is still standing.
The only part of the romantic legend that's true is that we did spice up our consultations by lighting up something, but it wasn't incense.

-fyreflye

 

[bradford]

I guess that clarifies that it really does matter who the characters
are in the movie. I too started in the 60's with the W/B and 3 pennies
(and 2 hits of acid). We said eee ching. Clearly the setup is different
if it's set in Chinatown, or on an ivy league campus.

 

[midaughter]

Bradford wrote: I have seen Legge's hardbound version used in movies before,
because when opened the hexagram figures read quite nicely
on film.

I started in 1976 but in New Orleans in was still the 60's. My roomie worked for NOLA book commune and brought home all the neat books (including the Pao Pu Tzu ) for me to read. We had WB and used coins. Last time I saw WB in a movie was last week in the Tao of Steve, a funny movie about romance, we wei and under achievement, with a little weed sprinkled in.

 

[cesca]

I started in 1967, with WB, coins and weed. Those were the days.

 

[midaughter]

Did anyone notice that n the movie 'Big Trouble in Litle China', there is a prognostication of the goat that get his horns stuck in the fence (hexagram 34) and thereafter the movie has that idea as its theme?