The I Ching

The Book of Changes

The I Ching (sometimes spelt "Y King" or possibly "Yi King") is an ancient Chinese system of divination, its origins deeply rooted in Taoist philosophy. Although it can be used to "tell the future" it is more often used by those seeking understanding and/or guidance.

In essence the I Ching seems simple - six binary numbers are chosen. These are used to create a hexagram consisting of six lines, each of which can either be solid or broken. This hexagram is then looked up in the Book of Changes which gives an associated text.

Each hexagram can also be considered as two trigrams and this often influences the direction of the interpretation.

The classic method of casting an I Ching hexagram used yarrow sticks. Today, most people use coins - although there are modern i Ching sticks available to buy.

Put like that it seems too simple to be worthwhile - toss a coin six times and look up one of only 64 possibilities. In fact the I Ching is a lot subtler than that.

The method of creating the hexagram is not just tossing a coin for each line. In addition the system categorises each line as either "stable" (young) or "changing" (old). This is in accordance with the name "The Book of Changes".

Each changing line adds an extra commentary to the interpretation of the main hexagram. In addition, unless all the lines cast are stable, the changing lines will result in a second, future hexagram which must itself be interpreted.

This now gives a huge number of possible combinations of interpetration and commentary. Given that the text itself is not designed to be simple, this gives great scope for a psychic or skilled interpreter.