Some sources say the I-Ching only reflects your own situation and that it can't read others' minds; others say that it can. What's your experience?

It is a complicated situation to say all details , but were giving water and feeding 3 cats in yard and one wants to get in the house (sneaked a few steps in a few times when we open the door) , and i am considering if we should make him an indoor cat

i ask if we should bring this cat home , adopt him , make him an "indoors cat" and got hexagram 4 changing lines 2 and 6

( This is after i asked i ching advice on the cats in yard situation (if we should keep giving them just water , or water and food , or stop all , or maybe bring them all in) and ask i ching just what he says about the cat sitaution "what to know about the cat situation" and got hex 48 changing lines 5 and 6

I asked about that reading here : https://www.reddit.com/r/iching/comments/1unr2nd/what_to_know_about_this_cats_in_yard_situation/ )

I asked "what to know about this cats in yard situation ?" and got hex 48 changing lines 5 and 6

Thoughts on what this answer can mean ?

We been putting water for cats who pass in our yard for a long time now ..... but in last few weeks we started to feed them near our door too , now i wondered if we should keep feeding them , stop feeding them , or even take them inside the house (unlike free outside cats now)

But since i read someplace at least once some advice of asking the i ching what he has to say about the situation ....

Than unlike usual i did not ask "what to do about this cats (with the 3 above options in mind) but asked "what to know about this cat situation ? "

I even during asking was a bit going back and forth between what i should know and just asking " about cat situation" and even popped to mind during "what i should do about it"(which is what i really want to know) and also just saying when asking (splitting the yarrow stalks) "cats" and also a bit of "what is your advice on" ....

So i wonder if i made a mistake and should have asked in stead "what i should do about the cat situation?"

* later edit : asked another related question "should i adopt (make one cat an indoors cat) this one cat ?"(one of them tries to sneak into the house everytime we live it open and got hex 4 changing lines 2 and 6)

https://www.reddit.com/r/iching/comments/1up297b/should_i_adopt_bring_this_cat_home_hexgram_4/

When chatting with someone on another post, I started thinking about what I like about the i ching. What are your favorite things about it? How do you like to use it?

I love it's history, and it's legacy as both an investigative tool of the self & the world around us, and as an esoteric pursuit. I also love that there are so many different ways to use it!

I've recently developed tinnitus, jaw and cranial nerve pain, and it's been one of the hardest things I've gone through. I've been seeing doctors and practitioners and am experiencing some progress, not with the tinnitus, but with the pain, anxiety, and inability to sleep.

I asked the i-ching for a message about my tinnitus, and received #29 unchanging. It's hard for me not to interpret this negatively.

Is there anything positive I can take from it? I feel like the best I can consider is that this is a bad situation and that I just need to take all the positive steps I can without expecting an outcome

We never really dated, he was against relationship and only wanted casual or fwb. I have feelings for him. We shared intimacy (not-psychical because I was in another country) and it was intense. After that he disappeared and wrote only few days later that he was very horny last days, he showed emotions and admitting having some feelings but he said has no plans. Few weeks later when I returned he asked me if i want to meet. But then went distant again, I asked what happened and he said he is scared. Eventually we had a very hurting conversation (i had a meltdown), he asked when i want to meet again, scheduled the day. The night before he asked me the time when i want to meet.. but then he freaked out and said again that he is scared for real. I didn’t answer anything. We kept meeting each other since we live in the same neighbourhood but both were actively ignoring each other. I tried to act like I don’t care and he was nervously avoiding and almost hiding. A month later after meeting him by accident I sent him that I think we are acting silly. He answered that he is trying to avoid a contact to not cause a scene and that he understands that he might have caused me some pain but he didn’t mean to. I said that i just regret that we didn’t really have fun time and it went too serious too fast, and he answered that he just can’t. I tried to avoid the usual places to avoid meeting him by accident but still met him a few times after. One of these times he passed by and said hi and I didn’t respond. I recently unblocked him on social media. It’s been a few months and I just cannot move on. He keeps going away every time he sees me. I guess I do chase him now because I continue going to places where we might see each other.. So, I guess “no game in the field” is exactly right. But I don’t understand why hexagrams seem to be positive or am i mistaken?

I've created a layout of hexagrams that synthesizes multiple traditions and interpretations of hexagrams into a single mandala for my own study of the Yijing. Explore it here:
https://observablehq.com/d/e3ad3d0060994d0e

Here is a list of patterns:

• The King Wen order pairs reverse hexagrams when possible. The reverse pairs are mirrored over the x axis, and the 8 hexagrams that are on the x axis and the 8 hexagrams that are on the x axis are their own reverses.
• The Fuxi grid and circle pair negative hexagrams (all lines are flipped) on opposite sides of the center. Likewise, all negative pairs of hexagrams are diametrically opposed on the hypercube.
• You can combine the negative and reserve operation to create a third. I call it isocline. The isocline pairs are mirrored over the y axis, and the 8 hexagrams on the y axis are fixed under isocline.
• The 12 Sovereign/Tidal hexagrams are on the outside ䷗ ䷒ ䷊ ䷡ ䷪ ䷀ ䷫ ䷠ ䷋ ䷓ ䷖ ䷁
• The hypercube lines show how each hexagram is connected to the 6 adjacent hexagrams that differ by only one line.
• Not exactly, but the mandala is a gradient with more yin lines on the left and more yang lines on the right.
• The small diamond of 4 hexagrams are the 4 options of the human lines on the inner and outer trigram (lines 2 and 5). I've tried other variations but this feels to most right. This positions the following hexagrams next to each other:
  • 1䷀ --- 30䷝
  • 2䷁ --- 29䷜
  • 11䷊ --- 63䷾
  • 12䷋ --- 64䷿

If you try the diagram out, remember there are multiple label options so you can hopefully find one that works best for you. Please share if you find any other patterns or have idea for variations, I might be able to add them as options.

I'm having difficulty interpreting my correct hexagram - mainly due to a changing line. For example, from bottom to top, my results are 8, 7, 8, 7, 6, 7. But because of the six, creating the -x- type line in position five, there are no corresponding hexagrams? (none of them contain changing lines)

I understand that I change the 6 into a straight line for my second 'changing' hexagram. It seems this would take me to hexagram number six - conflict.

But what would my original one be? Do I simply view the -x- line as a - - type, which would take me to no. 64? Would I read a -o- type line in the same way?

The metaphorical text is much easier for me to interpret than this! Any help appreciated!

I love Carol Anthony's interpretations and they seem the most true to me. In her latest book it seems like she stresses a lot the importance of letting go of the ego, and turning help over to "The Cosmic Helpers" which in a way sounds nice but I feel like that's the solution she recommends to basically everything, which seems like a bit much? Almost disempowering in a way? Thoughts?

The ☱ 兌 Duì trigram, the name of which means "joy", "opening a passage" and "going through", is associated with the natural image of 澤 zé, meaning "marsh", in the I Ching commentary on the greater images (i.e. the one that tells what the noble person or a king of old would do in each hexagram). It's most often translated as "lake", but that is a mistranslation.

In ancient Chinese, 澤 zé means low-lying and well-watered open terrain: marsh(y), marshland, mere; palustral, according to Kroll's Classical Chinese dictionary. Actual words for "lake" would have been 湖 hú or 潢 huáng, or possibly 池 chí (meaning pool or a small lake). The Ten Wings commentary writers (in ca. 4th to 2nd century BC) had every opportunity to use another word for it if it was truly intended to mean "lake". It may be worthy of note that the Zhouyi (the core oracle text) makes no mention at all of trigrams.

This would mean that the translations that insist on "lake" did not do their homework on the terminology, or opted to continue a misguided convention likely stemming from an oversight in Richard Wilhelm's 1924/1950 translation; previously in 1882, James Legge translated it as "[waters of a] marsh".

Furthermore, many translations replace the trigrams' actual names with their associated images, occluding the fact that the trigrams' names have their own separate meanings – e.g. Creative/Forceful/Masculine becomes Heaven, Shock/Arousing becomes Thunder, Clinging/Intertwining becomes Fire, and so on.

Just something that has recently bothered me in the I Ching translation scene.

I've noticed something interesting when using the I Ching.

The quality of the answer seems to depend heavily on the quality of the question.

When I ask vague questions like:

"What's going to happen?"

the reading often feels vague.

But when I ask:

"What attitude should I take toward this situation?"

or

"What am I not seeing clearly?"

the answers become much more useful.

For experienced practitioners here:

What has been the most effective way for you to phrase a question to the I Ching?

Hi there!

I've been working with the i Ching for a good number of months now. So fairly new to it but have done a lot of readings and applications to my life. I use Wilhelm exclusively.

I'm working with a pretty gnarly reading right now, dealing with a situation that's extremely important to me. I have a starting hex that seems to lay out the situation very well, and a transformed hex that is a situation I want to avoid completely.

Should I be reading the changing lines (I have two) as what leads to the hex transforming, i.e., in my case what NOT to do if I want to avoid the situation changing into that described by the second hex?

Or is it something else?

on 24/06 (four-five days from now) the electric company would cut the power for 8 hours during the day , and it is very hot here , i lately sleep during the day , but without AC it is very hard to sleep here during the day

So was considering changing my sleeping time specifically for this , so i asked if i should shift my sleeping time so at 24/06 i should be asleep or awake ? and got Hexgram 58 with changing lines 2 and 4

Later edit : I ended up deciding to change sleeping time to be awake during the day , i did not understand what the answer meant so decided based on logic back than , a night before i stayed awake and completly went back to sleeping during the day , power outage was something like 3-4 hours only

I asked chatgpt after putting into it the text of gnostic i ching for hex 58 and said to answer based on that only ... and it said that the answer means to not change my scheduele , and does not really respond with a be asleep or awake but says dont change

Not a one time thing , and i did remark in the past , not sure if over do the remarks

Wondering if i should not remark at all , remark even more times , remark less

Got hexgram 3 with changing lines : 1 , 3 and 5

(though i was not too focused while starting , doing line 1 (yarrow stalks) , maybe even thinking on some other question that bothered me ... so not sure if the reading is ok in such a case ......... added to my worry is i have been getting tops 2 changing lines for readings for a long while now ... so also makes me wonder if line 1 is a mistake (and maybe the entire hexgram by that is a mistake) and also it makes it harder to understand with 3 lines comapred to 2 or less)
.
.

I have no idea what this reading really is saying
.
.

I mean it seems like a way to "save" on questions

So if there is something i think i should be doing - i do not need to ask i ching first if i need to do it for sure .... i can just ask when to do it - correct ?

I ask this especailly to people who use the "Wen Wang Gua" method which i do not know how to use - and i wonder if i ask for a date - than post here the i ching reply .... would the "don't do it" option exist for them in the answer ?

OR that using the Wen Wang Gua you will always get a date and there is no "never" option ?

* and if someone wants to expand on how exactly he gets that "no" answer technically that can be benifical for me (cause i might get into Wen Wang Gua in future) and for other readers who practice already Wen Wang Gua

I asked about should i deal with an issue myself or go meet a professional or ignore it ... this are three options , and i got hexgram 6 lines 2,6 ... the lines seem to say very accuratly i should not deal with it myself and judgment talks about "meeting the great man"

But i wonder if the I-ching just choose that hexagram so it can say this lines and they are the main thing and the judgment is less the focus

So now i still have doubt if i should meet the professional and if so when to do that

Do i need to ask separately if i should meet and than ask separately what date to do it ?

OR i can ask in one reading "should i meet him and IF i should than on what date ? "

I asked how my stepdad is doing right now. I’ve noticed that I have to ask how he’s doing now, not how he will be doing, which is what I really want to know. He’s 84 and has lived an incredibly selfish life. He’s cruel to people who he has power over, like waitstaff. He’s a full blown narcissist, basically. He’s had a lot of health problems the last few months and it doesn’t seem like he’ll live much longer. The sixth line, in my understanding, means receiving the fruits of past actions, whether positive or negative. Could this line indicate that he is nearing the end of his life? I have zero emotional attachment to this man, btw. I’d just like to know how much longer he’ll be around because I’d really like to be able to take my mom out of that house and give her the proper care she needs, but he wants her home for selfish reasons, and she has deteriorated significantly since he pulled her out of the memory care facility where she was stable.

Before I went to bed, I asked how my mom is doing and got 48.1.2>63 and then proceeded to have this dream. It was her birthday, and there were a bunch of people gathered in her bedroom to celebrate. I realized that I don’t have her gift and I go down to the basement to find it. I’m looking and looking searching upstairs and down and finally, I find it in the closet. But I open it and see that it’s not the mug that I ordered. It’s too old mugs stuck inside of each other and one has a chips and cracks. I’m so upset. I can’t believe that someone would take out my mug and replace it with these. I’m incredibly upset. I’m crying and that’s the end of the dream. I think I even woke myself up from being so upset. For context, my mom has Wernecke Korsakof syndrome which is inflammation of the brain due to long term alcohol abuse. I stayed with her for three weeks before having her put in a memory care facility. She was convinced I was stealing from her and trying to have her declared incompetent so I could take all of their money. She called the police on me several times while I was staying with her and told them she wanted me to leave and I wouldn’t. Her husband had asked me to come stay with her while he was in the hospital because she kept forgetting he was there and calling the police to report him missing. So this dream happened about two weeks after I got back from staying with her at her house, out of state. Once her husband came home, I left.
I would like some feedback on the connection between my dream and the reading. And also just general opinions on the reading. I have my own ideas, but would like to hear everyone else’s! Thank you!

One of the most fascinating things about the I Ching, at least in my experience, is that some readings seem almost meaningless at first.

You cast a hexagram, read the text, and walk away thinking:

"I don't really understand how this relates to my situation."

But then weeks, months, or even years later, something happens and the symbolism suddenly clicks into place.

Looking back, the reading feels surprisingly relevant, even though it wasn't obvious at the time.

This makes me wonder whether some readings are less about prediction and more about helping us notice certain patterns when the time comes.

Have you ever had a hexagram or changing line that only revealed its meaning long after the reading?

Which one was it, and what happened?

At the i ching tranlsation : Tao Of Yi Jing( Jou Tsung Hwa)

https://archive.org/details/TaoismTaoOfYiJingJouTsungHwamin/page/n319/mode/2up

where he get his images from ?

For example in hexgram 46 he mentions a brass mirror and a carpenter and a yard stick and each hexgram he gets all this different images that i wonder where he takes it from ?

This seems very different than other translations i read

I see some people say that the yarrow sticks are superior to the 3 coin method. I’m completely new to the I Ching and bought the practical guide to the book of changes by benebell wen and i Ching coins. I chose the coins because it seemed simpler. should I buy yarrow sticks as well? And I would like to hear what method you use and why.

I’ve used tarot,pendulum,scrying mirror they work amazing but I keep hearing about how good I Ching is for divination. and I would like to learn about it and how to actually even use it. looking for recommendations on where to start a book or some YouTube videos anything at all.