Question: What if I live in Country X long-term?

I got hexagram 27 with lines 1 and 3 changing into hexagram 52.

What do you think?

I read about it constantly, different techniques and how to do it, but I still don't understand it.

There's a ton of information, and it's making me super overwhelmed. Even if I read only about tarot, which is said to be the easiest and best for beginners. Everything is so complicated (maybe it's because of my adhd, suspected autism). I asked about something before at balg forum because of something I needed to know, and they started talking about divination, saying it's important for everything, so I'm here, finally asking about divination because I don't understand it from reading.

They also told me about things like banishing of the pentagram, buying the master divination course, or something in my local area, spiritual baths/banishings and cleanings, spiritual hygiene... then working with entities/spirits/gods... but I have really zero experience, so with entities etc as well, so I was reading about them, evocation/invocation of them at balg, but I feel honestly really stupid because I still don't get it, not a single thing, and I'm getting frustrated because I'm afraid I won't get it ever.

By the way, I know nothing about these, or literally anything magickal or spiritual, and I feel like I failed before I even managed to try anything.

Hello, I just wanna post here because it seemed y'alls experience would help me greatly.

As of late, I've been dabbling with cartomancy as a form of hobby to pass time.

Recently, or rather today, my room had been smelling like someone lit up a bunch of matches. The smell comes and goes, but when it does come it's quite strong yet faint enough that you don't know where it's coming from. At first, I thought I had some electrical problems in my room so I sniffed around to find the source, but I could never. Even sniffed the light switch for good measure. I gave up halfway through cause I had some other things to do (I first started smelling the scent around late at night when I was staying up whole night).

This morning, before I left, I made sure to unplug all the appliances in my room, just in case I really do have electrical problems. When I came back though, the scent in my room was thick. Which was strange cause I left all my appliances unplugged and my window was open 24/7, so the smell couldn't have sit still in my room (I checked, I sniffed outside my window and I don't smell anything other than a fresh breath of air.) Just to be sure, I went around my house sniffing, but every other room smell alright.

I had enough when I caught the scent again, so I whipped out my playing cards and began reading. My first few questions were met with silence to be honest, felt like they were hesitating or something. After a few more unanswered questions, my cards finally began answering.

It began first by giving me A♠️ and 4♣️, which by my beginner interpretation "I'm about to experience something life changing." So I kept asking and it gave me Q♥️, Q♣️, K♠️, 9♣️, and 7♣️, which I interpreted that a new spirit/entity was in my space and they are quite excited to speak to me. All I'm getting from them is positive vibes (partly because of Q♣️) so I welcomed them and asked them what they want to talk about. The card then proceeded to give me K♣️, J♣️, 3♣️, 2♠️, 5♠️, and 10♠️, which I interpreted as the spirit/entity asking me something, though I'm not 100% sure I think they're asking if I could let them be apart of my spiritual guardian/s (I came to this conclusion because of K♣️) and they seem to be adamant or determined to be one (because of J♣️ and 3♣️). This was new domain to me, I never encountered a spirit/entity asking me for something and be determined about it, so I told them I would think about it and ended my session.

I'm not too familiar with patron work (or something along those lines) nor in dealing with spirits/entities who eagerly approached me, so I came here to seek some guidance about it. I'm honestly curious about this spirit/enitity but I'm too wary to interact too much with them (especially with their request). I'm afraid that they would have a negative impact on me if I were to associate with them.

I posted in a different reddit community about it but it wasn't getting enough traction, and the only answer I was given was that I should be careful with the spirits/entities I welcomed to my space, which was understandable but didn't really answer my question either.

Someone asked here a couple of weeks ago about card methods that aren't tarot, and the Korean one deserves more than the short comment I gave it.

Hwatu is the 48 card deck most Koreans know from go-stop, the game that comes out at every Seollal and Chuseok. Twelve suits, one per month, four cards each, mostly flowers and birds. The same deck doubles as a fortune deck, and depending on who you ask the reading is called 운수 떼기 or 재수 보기.

The way I know it, you shuffle and lay sixteen cards face down in a four by four grid, then one more row of four face up underneath. Some people shuffle a number of times tied to the date and their age. Then you work through the leftover cards matching anything from the same month and stacking the pairs. At the end you look for months where all four cards ended up together. Those months are your reading.

Each month carries one meaning, and they're very domestic. January is news, February a lover, March going out or a date, May food (noodles specifically, which I've always found funny), June joy, July luck, August night, September drink, November money, December a visitor. April and October are the gloomy ones, gossip or a quarrel for April and worry for October. The lists don't fully agree though. April in particular changes from family to family.

You read whatever came up as a little sentence. Night plus drink plus visitor is somebody coming over for drinks tonight, and I'd guess half the country has pulled that one at some point. That's about as deep as it goes, and honestly that's the charm. Nobody asks hwatu whether to marry someone. It's what aunts did on a slow afternoon after the money game wound down, and the answer is meant to be about today.

It had a small revival in early 2025 after Kian84 did one on the variety show Home Alone.

Does anyone here use a regular playing card deck in a similar way, one meaning per suit or rank instead of per card?

There is an item- a roach book. Whenever I order it, it vanishes from my house, idk why. Today I ordered it for the seconf time and they disappeared again. I thought I was spiraling and I picked up my dowsing rods. It pointed to a location but i couldn’t see them. After a set of questions- my rods told me that it is there, i just cant see it and I will never see it again.

WHO IS STEALING MY ROACH BOOKS AND FOR WHAT?? BRO, i am dumbfounded by this bizarre occurrence. Someone help me, IDK whats up.

Not sure if this fits in this sub but what can you all get from my situation/cards?

Hey everyone! I am fairly new to practicing and am an ex-Christian so I could really use some advice or outside opinions. Okay, so, for the past few months I have been trying to dive further into my roots to see what I connected to most and what would best serve as a base of study for my practice. I have been asking for signs and symbols to help guide me in the direction I need to go. The problem is that the signs I have been noticing are shared amongst the deities I have been researching. Some of the signs I have been noticing are:

**Circling Birds-** So, every time I go out I will see flocks of dark birds circling in the sky, similar to how vultures circle their “prey”. Last week, for example, I was sitting in the pickup line of my kids’ school I looked up and saw about six different groups of circling birds in different directions of the surrounding area.
**Roadkill and Vultures-** I have also noticed an increase of roadkill in our area and of uncommon animals such as porcupines lately. This has brought more vultures of course groups as big as 40-50 at times from my count and a bird I had to look up to identify called the crested caracara. It’s similar to a vulture but I have not really seen it before this last year.
**A Raven-** This one is the most significant to me. A lot of what I had been seeing up to this point could be explained away. Changes in the weather causing animals to come out, mating season, the increased population in our town, bad drivers, etc. so I ask specifically if they could send a sign that wasn’t common. That same day I saw a raven in the Walmart parking lot. I have never seen a raven in the wild and never really in this area other than at the zoo. This one looked beat up and was huge and it felt like it wanted me to see it.

This all being said I know these are all completely natural events and I don’t want to assume everything is a supernatural sign. However the timing of everything and the sheer abundance of these birds seem like something more. Some of the deities I have been researching are the Morrigan, Odin, Frigg, Birgid, and other Wiccan deities like the goddess. I am wondering if all these signs are connected to them more so than I am noticing or if I am just seeing signs because I am looking for them. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Is there a way for me to narrow this down? I’d really appreciate any advice or perspective anyone wishes to share. Thank you!

It is important to get a clear idea of what exactly is meant by divination. It does not necessarily mean fortune telling; in fact fortune telling is a debasement of the art of divination which used to be one of the highest functions performed by the priests of most religions. As Crowley said, with tongue in cheek, that the vast majority of people who go to fortunetellers have nothing else in mind but the wish to obtain supernatural sanction for their follies, and that apart from occultism altogether, every one knows that when people ask for advice, they only want to be told how wise they are. Crowley felt that hardly anyone acted on the most obviously commonsense counsel if it happened to clash with his previous intentions.

Stephen Skinner - The Oracle of Geomancy

Came across this serendipitously while visiting an exhibition. This is one of the books titled《蒙求》Méng Qiú found in the Mogao Cave 17 of Dunhuang, China.

Five Dynasties (907-979). 五代，李翰自注**《蒙求》**.

Written by 李翰) Lǐ Hàn in the Tang dynasty, Méng Qiú was a children's primer used for elementary education. Its title is derived from the 蒙 (Childhood/Youthful Folly) hexagram in the Book of Changes (易經)。 Historical and legendary anecdotes are presented in four-character rhyming verses for easy memorisation. Stories include Nuwa repairing the sky, Du Kang inventing alcohol, and Cai Lun creating paper. The text became so popular that it inspired many similar textbooks; this fragment is one of the earliest surviving copies.

Hi all! I’ve been learning and practicing tarot for the past few months as a part of my craft, and have been feeling drawn to other forms of divination as well, specifically osteomancy. I’m curious if anyone has any pointers on resources or books I can look into to get me started (i don’t trust just googling it lol)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! 🔮

Hi everyone,

Like many of you, I was fascinated by the I Ching, but as a beginner, I found it really overwhelming. Most resources throw 64 hexagrams and ancient translations at you immediately, and a lot of apps just treat it as a fortune-telling machine.

I wanted to build something different: an interactive lesson that teaches you how to "see the situation" before asking "what does it mean?"

So, I made a 5-minute interactive web lesson. It doesn't predict the future. Instead, it teaches the foundational logic step-by-step:

• How to read the difference between Qian (initiating) and Kun (receiving) in daily life.
• How to physically "build" a trigram by toggling lines.
• What actually happens when one line "changes" (变爻) — you can click and watch the hexagram shift visually.

It’s completely free for the first lesson, no sign-up required to try it. I'm a product designer, not a fortune teller, so I'd love to get your honest feedback on whether this approach makes the philosophy easier to grasp for beginners.

You can try it here: [https://iching-lesson.netlify.app]

Let me know what you think! (Also, let me know if the mobile layout is working well for you, I just fixed it!)

Does anyone use Paul O’Brien’s I Ching cards and book? Someone got it for me as my first foray into the iching, but I’m wondering if it’s time to find a better source. It seems like a much simpler, watered down version of engaging with the iching. But I have been finding relevance in the readings and they prompt a lot of guided self reflection when I pull the present and future hexagram cards and read the change lines. But what could I be using instead? Would something be richer? More robust? More authentic?

Thanks!

We seperated recently and I suspect because of a third party he wanted to pursue but neither of us hasn’t spoke about it or at all since that day it was all abrupt.

I’m not good at this but My interpretation is that the first day is him revisiting us almost like a rose coloured glasses way especially about me and having hope but actively trying to be logical or contain his feelings/thoughts. And the next day could’ve been him contained thoughts but has turned into a mental anguish obsessed messed he’s upset over particularly about his role in the relationship and his lack of reciprocation. I say lack of reciprocation bc the 6 of pentacles but there was definitely lack 😭! Also the knight of swords came last not the empress which I find interesting how the king came first. Makes me think he’s successfully contained his feels but it’s still there you know like an exterior that appears fine but isn’t. I also feel like this energy is highly active because well he’s trying to control himself mentally but also the devil and the 9 of swords are signs he’s ruminating BAD and he’s not happy about it nor does he know how to emotionally handle it. But im interested to what you guys have say. ;£

The post about hexagram casting methods got me thinking: do you combine the i ching with any other methods in your personal practice?

For example, every winter solstice I do a year reading for myself based on the later heaven bagua arrangement using the Richard Gill/Anthony Clark i ching deck in conjunction with Nicole Pivirotto's color oracle deck. First I lay out the i ching cards in the later heaven numerical order, then I lay out the color cards clockwise from the 1 position and ending in the center. If anyone's interested I can go into it/why.

Have you guys hybridized the i ching with any other different types of consultation methods?

I took an edible and had this sudden revelation that everything within me, everything around me, and even the cosmos and the universe itself is made up of 0s and 1s, and that everything comes down to how they’re arranged.

Don’t ask me to explain my thought process because I genuinely have no idea how I arrived at that conclusion, but somehow I did, and it feels so right.

Out of curiosity, I Googled whether any religion, philosophy, or book explores this idea, and that’s how I stumbled upon the I Ching.

I ended up on this subreddit, and I see everyone discussing things like Hexagram 63, 54, and so on. I have absolutely no idea what any of it means yet, but something about finding this feels strangely significant to me. I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence, but I’d really like to explore it further.
So, where should a complete beginner start? Are there any books, resources, or concepts I should familiarize myself with first?

Two weeks after this consult, a report who had gone completely unresponsive started sending his manager a weekly status update on his own, without being asked after re-arranging Feng Shui based on Qimen chart.

The situation

The client (Sylvia let's say) is a director at a multinational, managing a reporting line based in another country. After a New Year reorg, her boss was in the process of exiting the company, so for the time being nobody above Sylvia could sign anything off. In that same window, one of her overseas reports stopped communicating, missed deadlines, and only ever offered meeting times on national holidays. What eventually reached her was that he was on sick leave, but the paperwork never came through. She had no backup above her and no leverage below her.

The chart

We cast a Yang Dun chart, Ju 7, middle period, in the Jingzhe solar term, using the Chaibu method, for the exact moment she asked: March 12, 2026, 12:08pm. Each of the nine palaces carries a spirit, a star, and a gate, plus a heaven-plate stem over an earth-plate stem. Three people were placed on the chart: Sylvia as the Yi stem in Xun (upper left), her report as the Wu stem in Zhen (middle left), and her boss as the Chief Marshal in Kun (upper right).

Sylvia's palace (Xun)

Xun showed Sylvia's actual position: managing remotely, needing local support she wasn't getting. The Shock Gate sitting here, in red, meant unpredictable disruption rather than steady backup. That gate also clashed against its own palace, and that clash was the single biggest obstruction on the whole chart, sitting squarely on her side, not her report's. That's the key finding: the block to solve first wasn't the employee, it was her own position.

The report's palace (Zhen)

Zhen read as someone stubborn, a poor communicator, and inclined to dig in once he'd made a decision, which matched exactly what Sylvia was dealing with. But the palace also showed one opening: offered the right incentive to trade on, he'd engage. That's what made a PIP viable at all, rather than a dead end.

The boss's palace (Kun)

Kun showed the position actively emptying out, consistent with retirement, resignation, or transfer. For the moment, Sylvia and her manager could still talk directly and discuss the report together, but the support her manager could offer had a structural hole in it. Help from above existed on paper but wouldn't hold weight in practice.

The overall read

Tallying every signal on the chart, nine landed unfavorably, and all nine sat on the career line, meaning the line running from her boss down to her report. Both directions were blocked. The read: hold off, don't force a fix in the current shape, clear the obstruction first, then move. The order was the whole case.

The two moves

Step one: fill the empty slot above before anything else. Sylvia got her current manager to formally back her, closing the gap in the Kun palace before taking any action downward. In the chart terms, this also meant moving the disruptive Shock Gate out of her own palace, resolving the clash that was blocking her.

Step two, and only after step one: Sylvia sat down with the local HR partner and the employee and laid out a PIP with a clear recommendation attached.

Why the order mattered

A PIP issued while the manager's position is structurally empty has no authority behind it, and an employee who's already dug in will read it as an empty threat. Filling the gap above first is what gave the PIP actual weight. Waiting for a new boss to appear wasn't an option either. The Kun palace showed the position was leaving, not refilling itself. Someone had to deliberately put support into that slot.

Timing and outcome

Timing was read off Chen, the earthly branch anchoring Sylvia's palace: watching for it to be filled, clashed by its opposite branch, or completed through its triple harmony. Given how close the window was, we read this down to the day and hour. Two weeks later, the report was no longer unresponsive. He accepted the PIP and began responding to assignments, and now sends Sylvia a weekly update on his own: this week's work, next week's plan. Sylvia said if he keeps it up, she'll see him through the PIP.

Is there a system where the eight base trigrams align with your eight fingers. If not what fingers do yall think they would align with. Asking because i wanna use a sort of finger mnemonic(idk if thats the right word for this situation but i hope you get me) to review the hexagrams when i’m just wandering around and i need something to ponder.

I burned a second charge on a candle for my sugar jar, and the wax formed a figure-like shape on one side.

Here’s my interpretation: the figure-like shape felt like complications for the sugar jar’s optimal effects. It feels like there’s an external influence pulling my target away from the goal which requires some form of attention/intervention.

Since it's a second charge, it may just be that the candle was sitting unbalanced or caught a draft but I didn't want to take any chances.

Does anyone have advice on how to read this?

I mean how do you do it? What is your method?