The Encyclopedia of Crystals, Herbs, and New Age Elements: An A to Z Guide to New Age Elements and How to Use Them - Adams Media 2016

I Ching
The Power of Insight: Divination Systems, Tools, and Practices

ORIGINS

The I Ching, or the Book of Changes, is an ancient Chinese text containing sixty-four interrelated hexagrams originally used for divination, along with commentaries attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551—479 B.C.E.). The hexagrams represent nature and human endeavor in terms of yin and yang—the seemingly opposing and yet complementary forces of the natural world. The I Ching uses a type of divination called cleromancy, in which an outcome is determined by seemingly random means (such as flipping a coin or rolling a die) but was once believed to reveal the will of God.

HISTORY/LORE

The I Ching has evolved over the course of thousands of years. The text originated in a Western Zhou divination book called the Zhou yi, which was assembled between the tenth and the fourth centuries B.C.E. The Zhou yi offered a guide to cleromancy using the stalks of the yarrow plant (see entry in Chapter 2), although it is not clear how the stalks translated to the numbers or lines used in the hexagrams. Ultimately, the I Ching evolved into the cosmological text we know today with a series of commentaries known as the “Ten Wings.”

USES

If you’re new to the I Ching, you may be a bit overwhelmed by its ancient origins and apparent complexity. Hexagrams? Yarrow stalks? How is a person supposed to use this thing anyway? Worry not; there are many modern interpretations and techniques that simplify the act of consulting the I Ching for guidance and wisdom, one of which is a series of coin tosses you can perform. There are lots of online resources with step-by-step instructions for using the I Ching, as well as countless books, classes, and workshops for those interested in this ancient text and its modern applications.