Methods: I Ching
Posted: 12 Jun 2020, 08:37
Made me some I Ching tiles and dice.
I made these from a clay that dries hard, no need to fire it in a kiln. I made 2 sets of the 8 trigrams. Each has a little dot to indicate which way is up.
I had a little leftover clay so I made a pair of dice. The little bag I made a long time ago and never used until now.
I just did it for fun, never really used them thinking that it was necessary to draw each line one-by-one. (I'm just learning.) But this morning I read something that encouraged me.
The Taoist master Alfred Huang writes in his book “The Complete I Ching” that there are many alternative methods to the traditional Yarrow Stalks or 3 Coins methods.
He notes that some people may feel that the less traditional ways are not meditative enough or are less authentic. But there is a Chinese saying that “The type of vehicle does not matter, so long as it gets you to your destination.
There are people who feel even coin throwing is not authentic enough. And then there are many who use the online I Ching apps.
I'm kind of happy now to be using these things I made.
The way it works is I pull two cubes, one at a time, to create the hexagram. Then I roll a die to determine which is the moving line.
In his book, Master Huang describes a method he uses sometimes of putting eight stones or crystals in a bag and assigning a trigram to each and pulling one, noting it, tossing it back in the bag and drawing again.
My "system" has 2 sets of the 8 trigrams so I don't have to put the first one back.
I made these from a clay that dries hard, no need to fire it in a kiln. I made 2 sets of the 8 trigrams. Each has a little dot to indicate which way is up.
I had a little leftover clay so I made a pair of dice. The little bag I made a long time ago and never used until now.
I just did it for fun, never really used them thinking that it was necessary to draw each line one-by-one. (I'm just learning.) But this morning I read something that encouraged me.
The Taoist master Alfred Huang writes in his book “The Complete I Ching” that there are many alternative methods to the traditional Yarrow Stalks or 3 Coins methods.
He notes that some people may feel that the less traditional ways are not meditative enough or are less authentic. But there is a Chinese saying that “The type of vehicle does not matter, so long as it gets you to your destination.
There are people who feel even coin throwing is not authentic enough. And then there are many who use the online I Ching apps.
I'm kind of happy now to be using these things I made.
The way it works is I pull two cubes, one at a time, to create the hexagram. Then I roll a die to determine which is the moving line.
In his book, Master Huang describes a method he uses sometimes of putting eight stones or crystals in a bag and assigning a trigram to each and pulling one, noting it, tossing it back in the bag and drawing again.
My "system" has 2 sets of the 8 trigrams so I don't have to put the first one back.