Regarding the "intentional" selection of hexagrams...

[morphyijing]

Two days ago I temporarily "rebound" my original and only copy Wilhelm / Baynes "THE I CHING OR BOOK OF CHANGES", purchased while in college at the start of 1970. I now realize that buying it probably influenced my career path after college, resulting in a complete switch from biology to the as yet not even started computer revolution. As I thumbed through its pages and began familiarizing with the hexagrams and their binary representations, they were somehow preparing me to more easily absorb the digital electronics patterns of bits I would soon be discovering in a test engineering lab.
As the hexes became more familiar to me, I remember when certain ones would begin punctuating everyday experiences. It was not long before events became overlaid with hexes almost as if they were labels identifying experiences.
At the time I knew that coins or stalks were to be used to select these sequences, but for me the experiences were causing hexagrams to appear in my mind's eye.
Eventually simply paging through the book began to trigger ideas about problem solutions and other things, as if it were helping to constructively disturb mental "logjams".

I'm wondering if there is anyone else has conducted divinations in this way, or using any other unusual methods?

 

[rosada]

I too enjoy reading the IC as a book of wisdom and not just as an oracle. It's particularly helpful it you have an idea of what your situation is about and then intentionally read the hexagram you think might apply. Thus if I am intending to start work on a project and I am not certain how to go about it I might choose to read hexagram 3 to help me recognize what I need to do to get going (find a friend who shares your interest and who isn't too far ahead of you) or 47 if I'm really stuck.

I wonder if back in ancient China if it was a requirement to know the I Ching by heart before one was considered qualified to consult it as an oracle?

 

[moss elk]

I'm wondering if there is anyone else has conducted divinations in this way, or using any other unusual methods?

I don't think what you have described is divination per se. Maybe more like,
"being mentally stimulated by thumbing through the book & 'recognizing helpful principles & patterns in real life that you see again and again in Yi'

One might say one of the goals of Yi is to teach one how to deal with all the ordinary problems we encounter. Not only for uncovering the unknown. Eventually, I think people may use Yi less and less over time as the teachings become ingrained in the individual. (I cast not even 1/10th of what I did when I was first learning, because I've solved (with Yi's help) most of my past 'ongoing' issues, I only use it for the big stuff now.)

I also catch myself noticing experiences and saying to myself... "yes, this requires a 36, smile big, reveal nothing" without a casting. :]

 

[dfreed]

Author and Merry Prankster Ken Kesey once wrote, "You get good advice from the Ching even when you're eavesdropping".

 

[blackcat]

I wonder if back in ancient China if it was a requirement to know the I Ching by heart before one was considered qualified to consult it as an oracle?

Yes Rosada, the I Ching a was text studied by Scholars. It was kind of a public ceremony, where people gathered around the diviner, sat down in the middle. First, diviners performed the ritual using tortoise shells with bones and carved inscriptions on it. But because of the gathering nature, yarrow stalks became a prefered method. One interesting fact, the diviner used to perform the ceremony of divination with very long yarrow stalks so everyone could follow the process (Think of those stalks as kind of flags?). When the I Ching started to be more of a single person thing, some scholars introduced the coins method as a simplified system.

Also, there is a reason why Stalks became the predominant method in China. Even coins being widely adopted (A lot more here on the West), a lot of Schools continued using Yarrows and derivative yarrow methods. It's because the link between The I Ching and Taoism. In other words, the divination process was (and still is for most scholars) a process of meditation, and yarrows help in that process.

As a note, (and in advance this is just an opinion, and I may be wrong), I think here in the west we atribute the divination process more likely to something Divine, like comunion with God/s or something like that? I guess it made sense because a lot of western dinination heritage linked to that. But In my opinion it's easier to understand it studing Taoism and Chinese Philosophy.

Anyway, and in my case this applies also for The Tao Te Ching, The I Ching, as a book of wisdom itself is enough to change everyone's life. I've been interiorizing the book instead of using it for divination. I mean, the advices on its lines apply everytime, the hard part is to know when you should apply their advice.

 

[Trojina]

Two days ago I temporarily "rebound" my original and only copy Wilhelm / Baynes "THE I CHING OR BOOK OF CHANGES", purchased while in college at the start of 1970. I now realize that buying it probably influenced my career path after college, resulting in a complete switch from biology to the as yet not even started computer revolution. As I thumbed through its pages and began familiarizing with the hexagrams and their binary representations, they were somehow preparing me to more easily absorb the digital electronics patterns of bits I would soon be discovering in a test engineering lab.
As the hexes became more familiar to me, I remember when certain ones would begin punctuating everyday experiences. It was not long before events became overlaid with hexes almost as if they were labels identifying experiences.
At the time I knew that coins or stalks were to be used to select these sequences, but for me the experiences were causing hexagrams to appear in my mind's eye.
Eventually simply paging through the book began to trigger ideas about problem solutions and other things, as if it were helping to constructively disturb mental "logjams".

I'm wondering if there is anyone else has conducted divinations in this way, or using any other unusual methods?

Chris Lofting, a member here on and off for many years wrote a book I think on his method, (which was largely incomprehensible to most people) whereby one would choose a hexagram as 'best fit' for a question. He didn't believe in divination at all and spent much time telling us we were stuck in the dark ages. Many people did gain a lot from his work though. His writing will be all over the archives, he went by several names, one being 'lightofdarkness' I think. You will recognise his posts as they are long and full of binary codes and such. He died some time ago. There are links to his work somewhere, will link if I can find.


The problem, potentially, with seeing the I Ching as 'a book of wisdom' apart from divination is to my mind that one can begin to impose one's own philosophy onto it and make it a book of that. I don't think the I Ching has 'teachings' and I think the danger of seeing 'teachings' is losing sight of the fact this is an oracle of change not an oracle of one philosophy or fixed tachings of the world.

I don't think that's what you're doing however, it seems more like you have a living Yi in your head, it all sounds very alive and fruitful.

 

[Trojina]

It would be a shame if you missed Chris's work as you may find it interesting. The best I can do re linking is I think when he died there was a special thread for him here in I Ching News somewhere but he died a good while ago.

I think either @hilary or @Sparhawk will know where links to his work are.

 

[blackcat]

The problem, potentially, with seeing the I Ching as 'a book of wisdom' apart from divination is to my mind that one can begin to impose one's own philosophy onto it and make it a book of that. I don't think the I Ching has 'teachings' and I think the danger of seeing 'teachings' is losing sight of the fact this is an oracle of change not an oracle of one philosophy or fixed tachings of the world.

Originally, the book was known as the I of the Zhou dinasty (1122-221 B.C). Befora that, there were other 2 text but only few fragmets survived from those texts. The first part of the book is from King Wen of the Zhou, and his Son the Duke of Zhou, who wrote the decisions of the Hexagrams.

The commentaries of those texts, known as The Ten Wings, are originally from Confucius. It was after Confuncius commentaries when the I of Zhou became revered as the I Ching. Without Confuncius work, the original text are really hard to understand (because the original texts are written in ancient Chinese).

Confucius commentaries did open for more scholastic study of the I Ching, and It's been a subject of study as a book of wisdom from centuries. Today, there is in China a subject at the University called Chinese Philosofy of Changes with the Yijing as a main topic.

I agree with you Trojina that one can begin to impose one's own philosophy onto it and make it a book of that. It's quite complex text and it's not something everyone achieve lightly. While I agree with you, I think the problem itself is because our understanding (here in the west) about the purpose of the book. I usually use the Tao Te King as an example. Being two different text with different approach, both share the rich wisdom of Taoism, from schools like Confucianism or from Lao Tzu.

We Westerns Some people use it as a tool to predict the future, while others use is closer to ask for advice to a wise old master, being the I Ching that collection of wisdom.

EDITED: Thanks for the correction, yes, it was a mistake that generalisation.

 

[Sparhawk]

It would be a shame if you missed Chris's work as you may find it interesting. The best I can do re linking is I think when he died there was a special thread for him here in I Ching News somewhere but he died a good while ago.

I think either @hilary or @Sparhawk will know where links to his work are.

See how easy it is to summon me? All these years wasted without mentioning me... We could have been soulmates by now...

To address what you mentioned, indeed, Chris Lofting was our resident hybrid of Mr. Spock and Hari Seldon. He went by many names here. One being Lightofdarkness. His last one was "Elvis", in case anyone wants to search the forum. I was always in awe at his capacity to connect hexagrams even if I was hardly able to follow his reasoning. Many times I tried arguing with him about his ideas but I was playing the mouse to his cat IQ. Chris' work, published shortly before he passed in 2010, is a book called "The Emotional I Ching". You can still print it on demand at Amazon and isn't that expensive. For Yi geeks, like many of us here, it is a valuable work that offers a fresh perspective for the use of the Yijing. After he died, I also siphoned down his websites because I knew they wouldn't last too long in the wild and I have the feeling that his daughter wasn't into her dad's passion or even close. I have a lot of respect for Chris and I miss our exchanges.

Cheers

 

[morphyijing]

So many wonderful and informative responses...
Recently I changed my member name from "ichinguru" (which was feeling like a very poor choice and far too presumptuous especially compared to the wealth of experience found on this site) to "morphyijing", which much better describes my relationship developing with the Yi, especially after meeting so many devoted members here.
My first contact with Clarity occurred around 2007 while trying to find out about any further known solutions to a "data compression" solution I had discovered while trying to arrange black and white beads (sixty-four in all) representing all Yijing hexagrams in an overlapped fashion to form a "rosary".
Clarity provided an incredible amount of enthusiastic support which helped answer so many questions and at the same time maintain a feeling of optimism about the project's relevance, while supplying the perception that I had somehow initiated a creative chain reaction of inquiry, which was very gratifying.
Especially Rosada and "I Ching on a string", which soon showed signs of helping to support this community.
The "Changes" occurring in the "whirled" (thanks Moss Elk) over the last two years have emphasized more than ever the accelerating rate of global change we must all handle.
Haing recently become a Clarity supporter in a small way, I am looking forward to the new Lunar New Year of the Ox and participation on this site to nudge prospects of Gaia's survival into prosperous optimism :!

 

[Trojina]

We Westerns Some people use it as a tool to predict the future, while others use is closer to ask for advice to a wise old master, being the I Ching that collection of wisdom.

EDITED: Thanks for the correction, yes, it was a mistake that generalisation.

blackcat I thought the post you refer to of mine was silly so I deleted it but unfortunately you must have seen it. Please accept my apologies, too hasty on the keyboard for no good reason. You had no reason to correct anything.

 

[morphyijing]

Thanks Sparhawk for informing about Chris Lofting ... looked at Amazon, truly a wealth of material :!

 

[dfreed]

I wonder if back in ancient China if it was a requirement to know the I Ching by heart before one was considered qualified to consult it as an oracle?

I would assume that knowledge of the Yi was needed if you were a competent Yi diviner. However, 'ancient China' covers a lot of territory: when the Yi was first introduced to know it 'by heart' probably meant you knew the Zhouyi - the hexagram and line text; it wasn't until a few centuries later that the other layers and commentaries were added.

Also, at first, the Yi lived side-by-side with oracle bone divination, and sometimes both were consulted. I assume then that some diviners would have to know both kinds of divination 'by heart' - yarrow stalk divination (the Yi and other written oracles), and oracle bone divination.

And ... even knowing something by heart does not preclude disagreements or a range of interpretations. I read of one reading where a second diviner (a woman) was called upon to offer her interpretation of a reading, and hers was accepted as the correct one.

Regards, D.

 

[hilary]

See how easy it is to summon me?

Hm. I'm not sure whether ease of summoning makes you a likely soulmate, or something interesting from another dimension with an indeterminate number of heads. Either way, nice to see you here.

Yes, 'The Emotional I Ching' is still on Amazon, and so is 'The Quick Emotional I Ching'. (Note there is a £15 version as well as the £31 one.) Apparently he published that on January 1st 1722.

 

[Sparhawk]

Hm. I'm not sure whether ease of summoning makes you a likely soulmate, or something interesting from another dimension with an indeterminate number of heads. Either way, nice to see you here.

Both, actually, depending on your candles, magic circles and moon cycles, but the key is repetition. I'll go back now and tend to my sulfur jacuzzi.

 

[Trojina]

See how easy it is to summon me? All these years wasted without mentioning me... We could have been soulmates by now.

I save you for special occasions.

I am most gratified by your prompt obedience to my call. It's a bit like 61.2, I whistle in the shadows and there you are, sleek and shiny and ready for service....or maybe that's another line

 

[Sparhawk]

I am most gratified by your prompt obedience to my call. It's a bit like 61.2, I whistle in the shadows and there you are, sleek and shiny and ready for service.

There you go, we understand each other...

 

[hilary]

Do you two need a private forum?

 

[Sparhawk]

Do you two need a private forum?

Where's the fun in that? No, we do it in public because it is cringe-worthy...