Under ideal conditions, the I Ching should be cast after a period of reflection upon a query, notion or impression. Anyone can consult the wisdom of the I Ching but a clear and peaceful state of mind is needed if the individual is to be receptive to the cosmic inspiration found within the Book of Changes. A moment of meditation before consulting the I Ching is preferable if one is to clearly formulate the nature of the situation.
There are basically two common methods to manually cast the I Ching. Hexagrams are typically created by tossing three coins to create a line or by drawing yarrow sticks. With the advent of the computer age you can now simply click your mouse. The coins can typically be cast within a few minutes while it may take uo to an hour revealing a hexagram using yarrow sticks. Using coins is more convenient since it is so quick. The yarrow stick method entails the use of 50 yarrow stick and provides more time for contemplation of the issue as the process is completed. Details of how to cast the I Ching using coins or yarrow sticks is beyond the scope of this site. We may provide these details in a written version of our I Ching if there is eventuall interest for such a product.
The important thing to understand when casting the I ching is that each line can be 1 of 4 possible options. These are stationary Yang, moving Yang, stationary Yin & moving Yin. This lines are represented as indicated below.
---- X ---- Moving Yin Line
------------ Stationary Yang Line
---- ---- Stationary Yin Line
---- 0 ---- Moving Yang Line
Moving lines (shown as broken lines with a X or 0) are important becasue they indicate changes are about to occur.
The hexagram lines are read from the bottom line to the top. As each line is cast it is added on top of the next to create a 6 line hexagram consisting of an upper and lower trigram image. Once cast the user should read the interpretation and the applicable moving lines. Non-moving lines are not to be read as they do not apply to the inquirer. Only the main text and moving lines apply. If the hexagram cast has no moving lines then only the main text applies.
There are 64 possible permutations that can form the 6 line hexagrams using the 8 original 3 line trigrams.
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