Divination Methods: More than fortune telling (Part 1)
© T. Darlene Cheek
We're going to begin with a look at the I-Ching (pronounced ee-cheeng). The word I itself means change, and Ching means book. So I-Ching translates into "the book of changes." The I-Ching has been used since around 500 B.C. and is probably the oldest divination we have.
We all know that nothing ever stays the same. Life is constantly changing around us. In the I-Ching, you will find 64 types of changes, covering all of life's transitions from one experience to the next. The translations of these 64 types of changes can, however, be very difficult to understand. What I'm going to do is explain the basics and recommend a book.
To begin with, there are eight trigrams. They look like this:
Roderic and Amy Sorrell say, "Each trigram represents one of the living forces of the universe." Each of them, numbered 0 through 7, have their own qualities:
The I Ching Made Easy goes into much more detail on each of these trigrams, but for basic study, this will give you the general idea. Next, you have each of these symbols placed into every possible pair, resulting in the 64 hexagrams.
The hexagrams will have one trigram on top and one trigram on bottom. Each of these in turn, has its own particular "meaning." For example:
The lower trigram (shown in the bottom three red lines) describes the internal (hidden) aspect of any situation. The upper trigram (shown in the top three black lines) describes the external (visible) aspect of any situation.
Each line in the hexagram also has its own symbolism (read from bottom to top):
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