...life can be translucent

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Choosing beads to consult with

hilary

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I'm just back from a very interesting hour or so spent with a crystal specialist who turns out to live just a mile round the corner. She's going to be designing some bead sets for consultation (using the 'sixteen token' method): simple rings to carry, bracelets, whatever works well.

So this evening I've been introducing her to the four kinds of line and some of their associations (yang, bright, red, dragons; yin, dark, earth, brown, maybe blue...), and the idea that things aren't intrinsically 'yang' or 'yin', but only in their relationship to one another.

Questions... what colours would you associate with the different kinds of line? Or what stones? (We're thinking things like carnelian, quartz, amethyst, sodalite - keeping it affordable.) Do changing lines seem more translucent to you? (Changing yang definitely seems translucent, but what about changing yin?)

Yes, I know this is all wildly subjective, but it's a lot of fun to play. Any thoughts/ suggestions/ inspirations?
 

javalava

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My beads are just 10mm translucent marbles: 9=clear crystal, 7=clear yellow, 8=dark red, 6=dark pearlescent red, shading to a metallic silver/blue. Wasn't sure at first, but with use I've grown quite attached to them. :)
 

my_key

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Hi Hilary
I have marbles as well. A bag of marbles bought in a kids toy shop in a sale. Material unknown but are basically white with flecks in. The colours of the flecks are as follows
Changing yin - yellow
yin - blue
yang - red and blue
Changing yang - green
They work a treat and make a great sound as I mix them round in a ceramic bowl before pulling each line out. The bowl was originally bought for the pate it contained - brussels if I remember correctly.
I keep the marbles in an old spectacles case in between consultations.

Mike
 

solun

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Maybe the lower lines could be on the red or carnelian/ orange jasper/citrine (expensive) - maybe a yellow calcite (altho fragile) - side of things, ascending rainbow like the chakras, ending up with the deeper heavenly blues, indigos violets lavender at the top..
Or do yang, for sake of reference, red orange yellow, and the yin, green blue and lavender or clear
? I make jewelery out of stones/crystals, so I had to put in on this one, Good luck! sounds interesting!
 

frank_r

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I also use marbles/stones to consult. I have 8 stones. 3 yin dark stones, 3 yang white stones, 1 brown changing yin stone and one brown/white changing yang stone.
In a way then you always pick one of the trigrams, this because all stones are different. Then the changing yin and yang are Heaven and earth.
Doing this with 8 stones you have the probability of the coin method.
IMG_0281.jpg


Frank
 

hilary

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Solun - yes, I can imagine a spectrum through the stones from red yang through yellow and green/blue to purple changing yin. Marie (-the-crystals) showed me some really beautiful deep-coloured carnelian that would be a wonderful thing to draw for yang lines. I'll email her a link to this thread :) .

(Thanks, everyone. And Frank - thank you for sharing the photo. Very beautiful.)
 

javalava

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Hilary, are you approaching a decision yet? I was very intrigued by that mini-ring set. Did you ever try using that? For me, there are lots of things that make up something that "feels right". Unfortunately, most of them are apparently quite irrational. :blush:
 

miakoda

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Hilary:

I'm so excited that you're doing this--I think many people would want them (depending on the cost).

I have given (and sometimes sold) marbles in inexpensive silk bags (large enough for a hand to easily move in) found readily in any Chinese/Japanese/Tibetan gift shop. I've used many colors--all dependent on what's been available at local shops, but my favorite sets (and the easiest to read from) have been:

Pure black for stable yin
Pure white for stable yang
Swirled warm colors or red for changing yang
Iridescent or clear blue for changing yin

All of this is fairly inexpensive, not crystal or onyx, though... Btw, people have expressed the desire that the marbles are of a uniform shape, so they are unaware of what is being selected during a reading.

In addition, I have 6 sets of marbles from a chain craft shop that I keep in a bowl where I meditate, so I can select marbles and set them up in a line without looking at all.

Hope that's helpful...

Best,

Miakoda
 

hilary

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I'm deliberately sharing the creation and decisions with Marie, because she has a sense for the qualities/ personalities of the stones involved, and also for creating beautiful things that you would want to carry or wear for their own sake. She's good at the irrational things that make it 'feel right'. Also because I'm mindful of readings advising me to work more in partnership this year!

So I've just emailed her a link to this thread, and I wait to see what chords it all strikes with her. I imagine that rather than a 'decision', we'll come up with a few different possibilities (different stones and different ways of putting them together - given that not everyone wants to wear bracelets :) ) and see what grabs people.

The mini-ring... surprise, surprise, it's fiddly to use! I find happier with more normal-size beads. It was fun to make, though - recommended for myopes everywhere...

Miakoda, I'm intrigued by the idea of having 6 sets, so you lay out the whole hexagram without looking. Seems it would be a very different experience to divine without anticipating which hexagram you're casting. What kind of difference does it make?

(By the way, crystal beads are hugely satisfying in that completely irrational way - knowing that what you're touching is 'real' - and also they're mostly much cheaper than you might expect.)
 

solun

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OK, I'm an idiot, I just read how these work. I don't know what I was thinking or why. But I am going to try these methods, both the sixteen and the 8. I will go to the coinlike first since I have been doing that lately. What a great idea, and timely. The coins I have been using are not physically working so great right now. And I love stones, have a lot of em and this will probably 'feel right'! righter, for now anyway!

The crystals are a good idea Hilary, but with these as with any stones, and even the coins, I purify them before using them - initially at least. You probably already know this.
I do this by just holding them over some burning sage (store bought herbs work) smoke or leaving them on a clearing plate for a day or two, even in the sun for yang, moon for yin if you're a purist!! Hammemelis water works too.
 

miakoda

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Hilary:

You asked about the experience of the six sets:

I use it at the end of a meditation. It's very centering not to be aware of or anticipate the hexagram forming. In that way it's similar to using Clarity's click-on-the-bowl image--but because it can be read from a semi-conscious state, it feels more powerful. And it's extremely satisfying to dip a hand into an entire bowl of cool, round marbles and sense the right sphere find your fingers. I'd venture to say that it's perhaps the most reverential approach outside of using the yarrow stalks....

Now what would it be like to use crystal (which people say have something going on for them that is more powerful than mere glass)??? Fascinating. I'd love to try them!

Best,

Miakoda
 

javalava

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And it's extremely satisfying to dip a hand into an entire bowl of cool, round marbles and sense the right sphere find your fingers.

Yes, that's one of the things I like about them too. With my fingers amongst the marbles I sense from a partial touch that one of them is the one I'm looking for, and try to pick it out. Now, how on earth can that work? But it seems to.
 

solun

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The stones I chose aren't uniform exactly. But they are similarly shaped, oval to obovate - around there - close in size so I can't really feel 'who' they are, but I do feel better acclimated to the properties of stone than flat metal pieces w the coins. I just stir them around until the time and mix feels right and then I go for one. So I'm not channeling the stone as directly as maybe the timing - although both are occuring in each way. Interesting to hear these orientations in the process.
The coins required a lot of energy to shake up and drop well. The yarrow sticks require a length of concentration, which I think is to its credit some. helps w focus on the question, but that should almost come before we inquire. But again, it 's a process thing. Thestones are a nice way to go, a friendlier human and earth relation to the process it feels like. Has a nice sense of timing to it as well.
 
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hilary

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Thestones are a nice way to go, a friendlier human and earth relation to the process it feels like. Has a nice sense of timing to it as well.
I talked about this to a shop owner in Oxford - stopping there to buy some exceptionally beautiful labradorite - and though I don't think he'd ever used the I Ching, his immediate response was that surely something like this should be done with stones or natural materials. Interesting.

Anyway... I visited Marie this evening, and she showed me a couple of 'trial' bead rings:

mariesbeads.jpg


The bigger one is roughly bracelet-sized (she suggests making little copper wire coils to replace the silver spacer beads to get it big enough for larger wrists) and the smaller one is roughly ring-sized; she thought maybe someone would use it as a keyring. We liked the colours of the smaller one better.

Thoughts, comments, preferences?

(We thought up some other bead combinations while I was there, so there'll be new pictures presently.)
 

heylise

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I made a chain of tokens, from beads. The differences are not that clear, but for me good enough. I have clear mountain-crystal for yang, smoke crystal for young yang, tiger-iron for yin and tiger-eye for young yin. Tiger-iron also contains tiger-eye, but also jasper and hematite, very heavy and dark.
marbles.jpg

Clear stones are crystals, which feels to me yang, the not-transparent ones are very often 'mother-stone', to me more yin.
Also got two 8-sided dice for casting an upper and lower trigram, plus a common dice for one line
trigram-dice.jpg

Trouble is only that I always forget which number is which trigram, so they don't work very well.
 
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Trojina

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i much prefer Lises colour scheme...red, white and blue make me think Union Jack lol and not so pleasing to wear, i find those smoky colours much more attractive and wearable. rather than contrasting colours i think it may be better, more pleasing to go for differing shades of same part of colour spectrum..at least in terms of attractiveness as piece of jewellery..IMO of course
 

hilary

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Mm - I'll pass that on - I'm inclined to agree with you. This is actually my 'fault' for telling Marie about colours traditionally associated with yin and yang instead of leaving her to create what feels right.

I wondered about the translucent/opaque difference, too... was thinking that maybe moving lines were translucent... but perhaps that's only moving yang... Interesting to try to get a feel for these things, and how yin and yang are relative terms... clearly tiger's eye is yin to quartz's yang, but I was also thinking of it as yang to a yin of green stones.

Maybe I should ask Marie if she'd make single bracelets or necklaces or Yi-rings to order in an individual's choice of beads...?
 

Trojina

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Maybe I should ask Marie if she'd make single bracelets or necklaces or Yi-rings to order in an individual's choice of beads...?

Thats a very good idea. Since it has to also be attractive to the wearer i don't think it matters so much what stone is the 'right' one for moving lines etc. If you could take your pick, say theres a selection on her website so you can mix and match your own, you decide what you want as yin/yang then she makes it ...even I might buy one :eek:..green i think.. I guess they all have the same texture..if the beads had different textures you could consult Yi even in the midst of conversation whilst ostensibly just playing absent mindedly with your bracelet...although I can't say I've ever had the urge to consult Yi undercover in public places, it may come in handy :D
 

hilary

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Ah, but if you could tell the beads apart by touch, there'd be the possibility of subliminally choosing lines you wanted. You know, running the beads through your fingers and thinking 'oh please let this be another yin line so I don't get 23...' or whatever - I wouldn't want to be able to tell what I was touching.

Well, I've emailed her a link to the thread, so we'll see what she thinks...
 

Trojina

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Ah, but if you could tell the beads apart by touch, there'd be the possibility of subliminally choosing lines you wanted. You know, running the beads through your fingers and thinking 'oh please let this be another yin line so I don't get 23...' or whatever - I wouldn't want to be able to tell what I was touching.

...

oh yes i didn't think of that :duh:
 

heylise

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Translucent for changing line.. I like that too. Lots of different choices here, everyone can pick her own best-feel.
And the length. Mine is too short for a necklace and too long for a bracelet, sometimes I miss that I cannot simply wear it. If I made another one I would add another set of 16 so it is long enough to fit over my head.
 

janexxx

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Hi I only just joined here today and following this thread with interest. I have made several crystal bracelets for friends, and I ask them to choose two stones that mean something particular for them. One Yin and one Yang. Then the order of threading is used to determine if it is old or young.

The stones are the same size and therefore with your eyes closed you cannot pre-determine which you choose.
 

hilary

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Two more from Marie (who's been waiting for some new beads she ordered to arrive):

smallbracelet.jpg

(white jade - rutilated quartz - blue quartz - amethyst)
and
largebracelet.jpg

(Red tiger's eye - rutilated quartz - blue quartz - labradorite.)

What you can't see from the photos is that tiger's eye is iridescent, and labradorite, which looks almost dull at first glance, also has specks of an inner blue-green glow visible in certain lights. (Marie has the tiger's eye for unchanging yang; I was thinking that tiger's eye and labradorite would both make nice changing-line beads because - well - they change.)

I really like these. What do you think? Time to ask Marie to put some of these on sale?
 
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Trojina

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I'd buy one of these but I think the project dissipated since 2009. Was reminded of these as I linked to it for another SR thread.
 

Trojina

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I've given up waiting and bought my own beads...purple, black, white and pink..just the right size for bracelet hah....now I can consult anywhere....ha ha,

took me 45 minutes to choose 80 pence worth of beads.... but I still think something nice could be done with gem stones.
 

taiga16

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I've given up waiting and bought my own beads...purple, black, white and pink..just the right size for bracelet hah....now I can consult anywhere....ha ha,

took me 45 minutes to choose 80 pence worth of beads.... but I still think something nice could be done with gem stones.
Hi. Is it possible to share your bracelet photos?
 

Trojina

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I think the elastic broke about 7 years ago
 

rosada

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I have a 64 bead necklace made of black and white beads. The pattern is such that all 64 hexagrams can be created by picking a single bead and then noting the five beads that come after it.

Here’s the pattern. I’ve broken it up into units of 6 just to make it easier to follow.

w,w,w,w,w,w,
b.b.b.b.b.b,
w,b,b,b,b,w,
w.w.w.b.w.b.
b,b,w,w,b,b,
b,w,b,w,w,w,
b,w,w,b,w,b,
w,w,b,b,w,w,
w,b,b,w,b,w,
b,w,b,b,w,b,
b,w,w,b.
 

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