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I Ching (Yi King or Y-Kim)

The ancient Chinese Book of Changes, attributed to the emperor Fo-Hi in 3468 B.C.E. It expounds a classical Chinese philosophy based on the dual cosmic principles of yin and yang and claims to elucidate the outcome of any given situation by a technique involving interpretation of 64 hexagrams, each composed of two groups of three lines. These lines are each either broken or solid.

Predicitions are traditionally ascertained by a detailed process of selecting sticks or yarrow stalks to indicate the appropriate hexagram and the interpretation associated with it. A bundle of 50 sticks is used. These should be kept wrapped in clean silk or cloth. When the I Ching is consulted, it is traditional to face south and incorporate the divination procedure into a ritual. Prostrations are made, then incense lighted and the sticks passed through the fumes. The question to be answered should be straightfoward, usually related to the favorable or unfavorable auguries of a given project. One of the 50 sticks is taken out and put on one side. The remaining 49 are bunched together then quickly divided into two heaps by the right hand. The inquirer then takes one stick from the right-hand pile and places it between the last two fingers of the left hand. He then pushes away four sticks at a time from the left-hand pile until only one, two, three, or four remain. This remainder is placed between the next two fingers of the left hand. Next, four sticks at a time are pushed away from the right-hand pile until only one, two, three, or four remain. The left hand should now contain either five or nine sticks, thus: 1 + 1 + 3; 1 + 2 + 2; 1 + 3 + 1; or 1 + 4 + 4. These sticks are laid in the second heap. The process is then repeated with the remaining sticks from the first heap, which are pushed together with the right hand and then divided as previously. This will yield a total of either four or eight sticks, thus: 1 + 1 + 2; 1 + 2 + 1; 1 + 3 + 4; or 1 + 4 + 3. These four or eight sticks are then placed on the first pile, but kept slightly apart from those already there.

The process is repeated with sticks remaining on the first heap, resulting in either four or eight, as in the second phase. After these three counts, the second heap will contain (5 or 9) + (4 or 8) + (4 or 8). These three figures indicate the bottom line of the appropriate hexagram (i.e., unbroken or broken), and whether "moving" or not. The 49 sticks are then bunched together again and the whole process repeated to discover the second line from the bottom of the hexagram, and so on until the six lines have been found. A table of interpretations of the upper and lower trigrams can then be consulted.

A quicker system of divining the appropriate hexagrams involves tossing six coins; a set of I Ching playing cards has been marketed in the United States, permitting an even more rapid divination.

There are several translations currently available, and it is advisable to study more than one, because the interpretations of the ancient Chinese concepts and symbols sometimes vary. For parallels between the I Ching and Western occultism.