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TO: I CHING WITH CLARITY- Hilary Barrett

FROM: Joel Benson

Re: NEW YI JING DIVINATION TOOLS

In the course of studying the Yi Jing recently I developed some tools that might make

Yi Jing divination rituals easier and perhaps more enjoyable. My primary purpose is to

communicate my ideas and the nature of these tools to the Yi Jing community with

the hope that this information will be useful and helpful.

I understand the Clarity website has considerable reach in the Yi Jing community, so I

will summarize these tools/ideas with the hope that this information will be made

available to your Yi Jing users. I believe the tools/ideas expressed herein are novel.

Enclosed with this memo are some of the noted tools for your use and consideration.

Improved Yarrow Stalk Divination

The traditional forty-nine-stalk method of divination has long been known and has

been supplanted by the quicker three-coin method and other relatively rapid modern

methods, for example involving special dice or sixteen ritual objects such as colored

marbles.

I found it odd that in all the literature I examined, the assumption seems to be that

yarrow divination is necessarily limited to the ancient method of sorting, counting and

adding random bundles of thin sticks. I decided there has to be an easier way to

perform a Yi Jing divination with yarrow, while enhancing the wonderful tactile feel

and spiritual presence of yarrow stalks.

After some thought I realized there is a simpler, quicker way to manipulate a limited

number of sturdy, relatively thick yarrow stalks to randomly define primary hexagrams

using the established Yi Jing yarrow probabilities.

In my improved divination method only eight yarrow stalks are required. I prefer

stalks about 10 inches long and about .25 inches in diameter. Each of the stalks has

yin and yang ends that are marked in any way that may be preferred to designate old

or young yin/yang in the accepted yarrow divination proportions.

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My preferred way of marking the eight yang ends of the stalks is to insert a

magnetized pin in each yang end. So the yang ends generate magnetic energy in

accordance with their yang nature. The yin ends have no such pins and are therefore

identified by their receptive, non-energy nature. A black end color is used to designate

a single old yin end and three old yang ends, as required for yarrow divination. The

remaining ends that are not blackened define seven young yin and five young yang

ends.

In the divination ritual, the eight stalks are shuffled and then an end of one stalk is

selected at random to designate the first level of the primary hexagram. The selected

stalk is then returned to the group of eight, the stalks are shuffled again and a random

end of a stalk is selected to define the second level of the primary hexagram. This is

continued until the six-line hexagram is defined.

This method is similar to Rule of 16 divinations, except colors need not be

memorized and only eight sturdy yarrow stalks are used. Also, the magnetic yang ends

may be detected by a compass to add a mystical touch to the divination.

So a few substantial yarrow stalks may be used in an easy, quick and modern style of

divination. Following is an image of eight yarrow stalks of the type described and an

image of a magnetic pin inserted at the yang end of a stalk to illustrate how the yang

ends of the stalks are marked.

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Improved Coin Method of Divination

I have heard people complain that the three-coin method of divination is reminiscent

of gambling and throwing coins is loud, distractive and possibly disrespectful. It has

also been said throwing coins is not the proper type of “volitional” manipulation

required for the most effective divination. These issues can be resolved.

Following are images of coins used in a simple four coin divination method that does

not require throwing coins or adding numbers corresponding to coin faces. Also the

divination ritual requires selecting only single coins, a preferred volitional act.

The first image shows the yang sides of the coins with the black face coin

representing old yang and the uncolored faces representing young yang. The second

image shows the opposite yin faces of the coins with the black face representing old

yin and the uncolored faces representing young yin.

In the divination ritual the coins are mixed and a single coin is extracted with a

selected side facing up to designate the first line of the primary hexagram. The coins

are then mixed again and successive coins are selected to define the complete

hexagram. Note, no coins are thrown, no math is required and coins are randomly

selected with a volitional act. The probabilities for the three-coin method are used.

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Improved Rule of Sixteen Divination

People have complained that using colored marbles for Rule of 16 divinations is

unnecessarily complex because colors must be associated with yin/yang states. The

simple answer to this concern is to use labeled yin/yang divination objects, for

example glass stones marked with the necessary yin/yang symbols. Laser-etched

stones may be obtained for this purpose at a relatively low price. Following are some

illustrative images. Note old yin/yang stones are shown with asterisks.

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Converting Primary to Secondary Hexagram

I have designed a simple laminated paper tool for converting a primary hexagram to a

secondary hexagram. Images of the front and back of this tool are shown below. The

design is simple, inexpensive and effective if a Yi Jing user wants assistance in doing

this conversion.

The old yin/yang are designated with arrow heads and the line designations for the

front and back have reversed positions, so note the line number in reading the

conversion.

The central spinner may be used to randomly define the primary hexagram by either

selecting two random trigrams or selecting six yin/yang symbols from the outer

periphery of the spinner with yarrow divination probabilities.

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Converting Primary Hexagram to Nuclear Hexagram

Here is a simple laminated paper tool that converts the primary hexagram to a nuclear

hexagram. Images of the front and back of this tool are shown below.

The old yin/yang are designated with arrow heads. The central spinner may be used

to randomly define the primary hexagram by either selecting two random trigrams or

selecting six yin/yang symbols from the outer periphery of the spinner with yarrow

divination probabilities.

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Portable Yi Jing Divination

Yi Jing divination typically requires a collection of ritual items for randomly defining a

primary hexagram in response to a designated question, a table to convert the

hexagram to an index number, and a reference book to look up a translation of advice

corresponding to the hexagram. These tools are not easily portable.

I designed a simple, portable, hand-held laminated paper tool that uses a central

spinner to randomly define the primary hexagram and a movable wheel that

automatically converts the hexagram to its corresponding Yi Jing index number. The

back of the wheel provides a summary of a responsive strategy for each index

number. These strategies were derived by consulting several well-known Yi Jing

translations.

The front of the 7-inch diameter portable tool is shown in the following image.

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Here is the back of the portable tool:

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Versatile Yi Jing Divination Spinner

In researching the Yi Jing, I was somewhat surprised to note that no one is using a

simple spinner to define the primary hexagram. A spinner seems an ideal way to

randomly select the yin/yang symbols of the hexagram. Also, a single spinner can be

easily used to generate random symbols with either the yarrow or three-coin

probabilities as well as use the trigram method which is favored by some users.

I noted people who use the trigram method of forming a hexagram may use a

separate die to select a single moving line of the hexagram. This seems inappropriate

to me as the person in that case assumes that there is a significant moving line for the

hexagram, without consulting the Oracle of the Yi Jing. This seems to violate the

general principle that the Yi Jing Oracle must be consulted to determine the existence

and identity of a moving line.

So I designed the spinner shown below with two sub-spinners to be used when

trigrams are selected by the spinner. The lower left sub-spinner determines if there is

any single significant moving line. If there is such a moving line, the right sub-spinner

determines the identity of that line. Alternatively, the main spinner may be used to

select the two trigrams of the primary hexagram and then the lower left spinner may

be spun six times to determine which lines are moving. Note the chance of obtaining

a moving line is one-in-four for all methods of divination.

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Final Note

Thank you for considering this memo. Please feel free to copy and distribute this

memo or any portions of the memo to your associates or display the memo or

portions of the memo on the Clarity website. I only ask that you credit me as the

source of this information. I will email you a pdf copy of the memo if you wish. Also,

feel free to use any of the information or materials provided herein for your personal

use.

As a point of information, I’m providing the above-noted tools in the United States

on the Etsy.com website under the trade name AnswerQuest. I have not implemented

sales outside the U.S. because I do not know if there is any interest. Please let me

know if Clarity members wish to acquire any of the noted tools from me. If there is

significant interest, I can implement distribution of tools to Great Britain.

Thank you.

Joel Benson

Email: jbenson@netscape.com

Mail: 7611 Oak Ridge Ct., Crystal Lake, Illinois, USA 60012

Phone: (815) 479-5180

Copyright © 2014 by Joel W. Benson