As the beginning of a new year, 2011, approaches, we all care for some additional (horoscope) information on how best to plan for the year ahead. Beyond the obvious weight-loss plans by many Westerners, we are likely to need and want a renewed focus and a plan for our main areas & goals in life.
So, I thought it would be an opportune time to introduce a new tool on the blog ‘We Are One World Healing’ that would help you in your planning effort.
I’ve had this book, The I Ching, The Book of Changes, as translated by James Legge
What is the I Ching?
Throughout time, man has used a variety of tools for divination. The I Ching of ancient China is one of the oldest tool for divination.
Development of the I Ching
Actually, the I Ching or the Book of Changes is one of the most important books in the history of Oriental culture. The basic text of this book seems to have been prepared before 1,000 BC in the last days of the Shang Dynasty and the first part of the Chou Dynasty. This book was one of the Five Classics edited by Confucius, who wished he had fifty more years to study it. Since Confucius, it never lost its importance.
In essence, the I Ching is a manual of divination, founded upon what modern scholars like Wolfgang Pauli, the Nobel Laureate physicist and C. G. Jung, the psychoanalyst, have been called the synchronistic concept of the universe. This means that all things happening at a certain time have certain characteristics features which can be isolated, so that in addition to vertical causality, one may also have horizontal linkages.
According to tradition, King Wan and his son the Duke of Chou spent their lives analyzing the results of divination in terms of interacting polar forces and six-variable hexagrams, correlating an observed body of events with predictions.
I Ching Symbols
In an I Ching reading you are presented with two I Ching hexagrams (called ? guà in Chinese). Each hexagram consists of six lines stacked on top of each other. The lines are either broken in the center (yin) or solid lines (yang). Each hexagram has its own meaning. There are 64 hexagrams in all.
A hexagram diagram is actually composed of two three-line arrangements, called trigrams (also called ? guà in Chinese). The first three lines of the hexagram or the lower trigram reflect the inner aspect of the change that is occurring. The upper trigram describes the dynamic outer (external) situation.
The eight trigrams of I-Ching are Earth, Mountain, Water, Wind, Thunder, Fire, Lake & Heaven, and are depicted in this chart.
Your Online I Ching Reading
With some Divine encouragement, I created a new website section where you can get your own readings.
If you go to this site section, you get to write down your question and by pressing on the button, the JavaScript algorithm will offer you the answer to your question by the I Ching oracle.
Try it. It’s free.
Click Here for Your Online I- Ching Reading:
How to Use this Tool of Divination
It is said that sincere use of the I Ching will help one make the right moves at the right time, minimize pitfalls and enhance one’s opportunities of success.
Do not ask trivia questions. Also, do not ask the same question more than once. If the answer is not clear to you, you can either meditate on it some more, or ask a clarifying question.
Get Your Own I Ching Manual
You may find that your initial reading requires you to reflect on it for some time.
Personally, I believe it takes some time and further study to obtain the full benefit from your readings. If you indeed want to learn more, I highly recommend that you obtain your own I Ching manual, such as any of these books, as they are the more original, classic texts on the topic:
2. The I Ching: The Book of Changes by James Legge
But first, go check it out.