I have an issue that's never arisen before in my consulting the Oracle

[Laurentree]

I use the marble method recommended by Karcher. Yesterday I asked a question about a relationship, one in which
I've talked with the I Ching about for several years. There may be important issues that arise soon.

I use a small bowl for the marbles and I plucked them out of the bowl on my sofa which dips inward slightly. After I finished all six lines, I noticed one of the marbles had come out of the bowl. I think I looked at the bowl as I dropped each marble back in
and I only remember seeing the stray one at the end, which came to rest on the bowl.

Should I redo this reading over or would it be best to leave it as is and assume the marble dropped out when I plucked
out the sixth line? Or leave it assuming the Oracle intends for me to have this divination? (which is overall positive with
some warnings, 50.4.6. to hex 46). I don't want to do it over again unless it would be wise (I know typically you don't want to ever ask the same question). Many thanks in advance for any thoughts.

 

[Serendiplomat]

I say take it as a sign to do your question over again. You can't unsee or unthink what you saw and got out of your last casting, so you'd bring a new you to the oracle. Neither can you guarantee your assumption is wrong or right (about when the marble fell out, and whether it matters), so as it is you're not sure your original casting is a wish-fulfilment fantasy or the Oracle's True Take on your gestalt. That you'd even bother asking strangers on the internet, rather than go ahead and query the Oracle anew, something which some do with alacrity on the same questions, over and over again, suggests to me that there'd be value in it for you. My particular taste in these matters (and it's mostly that, a matter of taste), is to go for the slow yarrow stalk method. It builds a kind of tension in the 20 minutes it takes to sort them all out into six lines, and just the same if a twig falls, but you can work out where it fell and reintegrate it into the method without marring the count, then you continue the casting, and if you can't, you have to start over.

 

[Hans_K]

I don't want to do it over again

I think that is the answer, your feelings/intuition is the best guidance in cases like this.
Regardless of what others here say, including myself, listen to your gut. Don't go trying to rationalise it, if it doesn't feel right then just don't do it.

 

[Trojina]

Should I redo this reading over or would it be best to leave it as is and assume the marble dropped out when I plucked
out the sixth line? Or leave it assuming the Oracle intends for me to have this divination? (which is overall positive with
some warnings, 50.4.6. to hex 46). I don't want to do it over again unless it would be wise (I know typically you don't want to ever ask the same question). Many thanks in advance for any thoughts.

When similar things happen to me I leave it a little while and ask again. I don't see any harm in asking again next week for example or a day or two later if you want to. Likelihood is you'd cast a similar answer anyway, that is also my experience when such things have happened, the casting gone a bit astray I mean.

I don't much like consulting with marbles I think coins are better but it's a matter of opinion.

 

[Trojina]

BTW if you want help with the reading this is the forum for it but if you don't Exploring Divination is better for this query since it's general.

I think it might get more discussion in ED actually so I will move it there if you agree.

 

[Liselle]

If it was me, I think I might do parts of everyone's suggestions:
- do what you feel is right (if it ever happens again, you might have a different reaction, who knows)
- give some time to the reading you got
- if it ends up seeming like good guidance, well - good!
- if it doesn't, no problem in casting again

Here's a little something Hilary wrote once on the general castings-gone-awry topic. She concludes there aren't rules for it (there aren't a lot of rules about divination in general, is often the conclusion):

https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/answers/2007/09/05/i-ching-coins-questions/

 

[Liselle]

Oh - maybe my most memorable such experience was once I was out and tossed one coin as a yes/no oracle (it was that kind of question), and it landed more-or-less upright in a crack in a sidewalk. It was in fact leaning more one way than the other, but my immediate reaction was to do half of what I was asking about, so that's what I did. What Hans said about gut reactions.

 

[moss elk]

When similar things happen to me I leave it a little while and ask again.

I do the same.
Sometimes I do or don't go back to the question.

And similar for similar:
I was talking with a bright and creative young man (and for anyone wondering: he also looked like Michaelangelo's David and No, you can't have his phone number) one day about Yi, and he seemed very interested. I reached over to the cell phone to show him Bradford's pdf.

The battery died at that exact moment.
He stared at the phone and said,
"Did you see that? That means I'm not ready yet"

I said. "I think you are right and cannot argue with that"

 

[Laurentree]

Hi all, thanks everyone very much for your thoughts. Trojina, thank you, sure go ahead and put it in the other forum as well.

I'm likely to follow my intuition on this one, though I was tempted to redo it. I felt the original spoke to me because the moving lines were similar to one or two other hexagrams I've received on this relationship. Meaning, I've had moving lines that were seeming opposites, as if, if you aren't mindful and not prepared for what may come, it could prove to be a setback or worse in the relationship. Or you are honoring the love in this relationship and you are on heaven's path. (I see multiple moving lines as options or a narrative of a possible path).

Once or twice a marble fell out early in a reading, but I caught it, and did the reading over.
But this question had special significance about a specific decision that might affect us
both and which, in the past, has not been a problem, but now may be.

I might try the yarrow stalk method at some point. I used to use coins, which are fine. I like the marbles because I read (Karcher) that they have the same mathematical probabilities as the yarrow stalks.

 

[Trojina]

Trojina, thank you, sure go ahead and put it in the other forum as well.

It can't be in both as then it's a duplicate so I will move from here over to Exploring Divination