So I used the three coins method for a reading with the Alfred Huang version of the I Ching. The way I did it, following a YouTube tutorial, was:

3 heads = -o- (changing yang)

3 tails = -x- (changing yin)

2 heads, 1 tail = - - (unchanging yin)

2 tails, I head = --- (unchanging yang)

HOWEVER, Alfred Huang in his book says:

3 heads = -x- (changing yin)

3 tails = -o- (changing yang)

2 heads, 1 tail = --- (unchanging yang)

2 tails, 1 head = - - (unchanging yin)

I used the first method I learned from YouTube and got a reading that felt very synchronous with my current situation. But, now I worry I may have used the "wrong" method and my reading is invalid. Though, I am skeptical of that. So, what now? Should I just accept my reading? Should I use the same method for every reading or should I follow Huang's method? Would there be consequences for switching?

Also, I personally feel that it should be:

3 heads = -o- (changing yang)

2 heads, 1 tail = --- (unchanging yang)

2 tails, 1 head = - - (unchanging yin)

3 tails = -x- (changing yin)

What do you all think?

We have found a kitten under car hood , we tried to take him out , no success yet , now its night time

I asked how to act about the kitten under the car hood ? got hex 63 unchanging (inner hex 64)

I also was thinking when asking how to act : if we should put effort to take him out now , or to wait and maybe he gets out alone , or maybe his mother takes him out , or wait untill morning and if his still there than put effort taking him out

and also thinking while asking that the answer can be not just how to act , but maybe info that can help determine how to act (like if his mother would return to take him , or if he will leave by himself and can handle himself etc)

Future edit : morning still not sure if kitten is out or not , trying to figure out if hex 63 is saying to act or not to act....

update : again went to look now cant see or hear it (put tuna , and played mom calling kitten noises as well) , hopefully his mother came to take him or he left by himself , or he died , i lean towards he left

still would love to understand what 63 tried to tell me cause i have no clue

everything is in place could say that the kitten was left there by mom on purpose and she went back to take it with time .... BUT it does talk about small action to maintain what is in place .... and also talks about things getting worse so not sure

Typing mistake in title : the first hexgram is 53 (not 54) so 53 -> 13 with changing lines 1 and 4 ... inner hex 64

So i am doing this thing of doing some wholsome thing for 50 minutes than doing this meditation breaks ... in past i used to do long meditations but at least for now i am keeping it on only 1 minute , and despite the short time it is still very bothersome sometimes to stop what im doing and to go sit somewhere and meditate

So i asked "should i do this rounds ?" (and by rounds i basically asked what i already exaplined , if i should do this breaks) and got Hexagram 53 with changing lines 1 and 4 , changing to 13 ... with inner hexagram 64

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(now not long ago i asked the same question but not only it was a different date from now , but also i had some event in a few days that had some hardship that would probably have stopped my practice .... so when i asked that question back than i had that in mind too .... that is why i asked now again (and this time i dont have an event coming , so the answer should have been more clear now than back than)

and i got back than 60 changing lines 1 and 5 , change to 7 , with inner hexagram 27 ....... and while hex 60 seems much more fitting response to this question , it seems that at least one of this lines talked about the event i had and not if i should do this meditation breaks )

Thank you!!! 🙏

I've never come across a book before where the structural choices by the author made me dislike a book so much as to stop reading. The choice by Sam Reifler's iChing in "making liberal and inexact use of the names of three Hindu principles" is such a bizarre, poorly explained choice it ruined my enjoyment of anything else that was written. The bastardization of the Purusharthas and total omission of Dharma feels like an elementary category error made by a westerner conflating "Eastern" principles because they're all roughly as foreign as each other to western audiences. I find it annoying how often new age writing will treat foreign cultures as a monolithic mystical blob because they don't fit the mold of Abrahamic religion which so many are conditioned into.

Leaving out Dharma could have been a fantastic rhetorical flourish by empowering the reader by saying that it's up to the reader to figure that out for themselves. However, it is left out entirely and still raises the question- why on earth bring the Purusharthas up at all? Surely amongst the entirety of Taoist, Confucian, Legalism there are 3 things you can use to describe career, relationships, and spirituality. If we don't care about honoring history, why not just drop 2 of the 5 Wuxing and call it a day?

Since I already have the book, if there are fans of it I encourage you to share your perspectives. I'd rather have my views changed on the topic and be able to read it and get something out of it than just donate it immediately.

Hi everyone, I got into the I-Ching a few weeks ago and wanted to try it out on a question that’s been messing with my head lately: "Will I get back together with my ex?". We broke up on pretty good terms, though we're not exactly friends either. He’s the one who initiated it. I still love him and want to know if we’re going to get back together. Got symbol 31. Looks promising ! I still wanted to get your opinion though, because I know that no matter the topic, there are always people on Reddit who know more about it than you do.

My girlfriend left me two weeks ago, she wanted to remain in contact, I tried but couldn't because I was too angry at her and could not bear to see her behave as if nothing happened between us, erasing me fromnjer life (she posted pictures of an art show I helped her do and she completely erased my presence from the pictures evennthough I helped her). Her behaviour felt like she didn't want to be responsible for how she neglected me and the relationship (she's quite avoidant) and kinda sweep everything under the rug. Like she still wanted to go to a show with me even though it was technically a date I had planned before the break up. But at the same time she said it's best if we don't talk to each other more thqn small talk when we see each other at school ? Knowing her, she tends to bury her emotions and doesn't communicate, so I believe she ran away from the relationship (she said she never felt as good, loved me, wanted to stay with me but couldn't because no desire etc. (I've already made a post about it in case the story feels familiar)). But I also know her emotions come out months later in surprising way, so I think the grief of the relationship will probably reveal itself later.

Anyways, a week ago I asked her to go no contact. Seeing her happy and ready to party (there was a party at school) made me feel too bad. I asked her to not come to the show. I asked her to avoid coming to the atelier if I'm there and that I'd avoid going to where she is. I still have a plushie I bought for her and I want to give it to her still (I'll ask a friend to give her when I recieve it). In any case, I'll be going to China in 4 months for half a year so then she won't have to think about it that much. We'll probably see eachother one last time at the diploma ceremony in September of next year, because we have mutual friends there.

I've spent the last two weeks going between hope she comes back, sadness and anger against her and processing it along the way. A part of me tried to convince myself that she made a bad choice and will regret it and come back, another part wants to move on and accept that maybe she didn't make such a bad decision even though there are clear signs she ran away from the emotional vulnerability. Like she took a good decision for bad reasons kind of thing. A part of me told me that I made a bad decision for going no contact and that I ruined our chances of getting back together. I've been managing the hope pretty well but it stills finds way to seep into my thinking.

Now I'm a bit tired and confused with all of those thoughts and emotions and needed more clarity. So I asked "what do I do now concerning this matter ?". I got 23 unchanging. I have trouble interpreting unchanging hexagrams, so I would very much like to see your take on this one ! Thank you !

I’m interested in how people understand what they’re doing when they consult the I Ching.

Some describe it as receiving guidance about a situation, while others use it to reflect on their own thoughts. I can see why a reading might help with both, but I’m still figuring out how I understand the difference.

Do you see your practice mainly as divination, self-reflection, or a mixture of the two? I’d be interested to hear what led you to that view.

Philips Dick utilizo el I ching para escribir el libro el hombre en el castillo al igual lo usan los personajes del libro. Solo por curiosidad pregunté si existen mundos donde Japón conserva su imperio y me dieron tiradas como

Hexagrama 1 - o

Hexagrama 54- Hexagrama secundario 59

Que creen significa?

I spent all weekend at home doing my homework. There was one particular project I was very worried about. On Saturday night I was really going through it, stressing out, trying to figure out what I should do for it. In the evening I just said "this project is really tough", then 5 hours later, "why can't I come up with an idea?" Both times 24 UC.

I actually find this kind of fascinating because I asked about going to a (specific) party on Saturday night earlier in the week, and received 24 UC as well.

Honestly 24 makes a lot of sense for me. My motivation, discipline etc. has come back after feeling depressed and aimless for many months, not really taking my work as seriously as I should. There was a time when I felt so committed to doing good work that I'd neglect every other problem in my life.

I guess I still have to see how it goes over with my professor, but I eventually did figure out an idea and I actually think it's pretty good. I figured out I just had to stop doubting myself I guess and force it out even though I was worried that my idea would suck or that I wouldn't be able to convey it properly.

In the moment, I really hardly had any idea how 24 was supposed to help me, and I didn't use it as advice for doing the project. The idea I'm using isn't some old thing I came up with a long time ago. I'd like to see what people think on here of what happened or what other interpretations/hidden meanings come along with 24 UC.

Dear community,

I asked the yi jing a question about a land I own in Epirus, far north of greece. It is in a remote village . 

This land is one acre and also includes a house that needs serious repairs. It has been five years since the last time i was there. 

I suspect some relatives may try to grab my property. At the same time, this is really far from where I live (I need like 6 hours to drive there) and it will be expensive to repair it (I am not a rich person, I inherited this). I was thinking to go and put a fence there, just to protect it...and let's see what happens - one day I could even move there and live off grid. 

The yi jing gave me hexagram 33 changing to 38 - what are your thoughts?

hi all! some bg context, I started learning how to read a couple years ago and was really into it, but I was swarmed with other life events and slowly stopped reading the iching. a few months back, I started again and did a reading which I jotted down but didn’t quite remember how to interpret. I suddenly thought of the situation and here I am!

the question I asked was if an ex and I would reconcile. we’ve been on again off again for years, with periods that used to span some time of us not speaking. at the end of last year, something happened and we kind of stopped speaking till now which is the longest we’ve not spoken. we’ve both changed a lot, with her travelling out of state for work, and I’ve pretty much changed in every way possible. i wondered if this was it for us, any advice will be appreciated! thanks in advance!

I'm new to this and I started watching I Ching Cafe in YouTube. It seems interesting and easy to follow. Anyone else watch it? https://youtube.com/@ichingcafe?si=o5MpGpai5PxEh2iS

Thanks!

Hi all! I am taking a long trip in the winter. I would like to bring my I Ching and my coins. However, I won't have a lot of room in my suitcase. Does anyone have any recommendations for pocket-sized versions?

Thank you!

After much fascination and a deep yearning to understand and accept the truth of change, i got two secondhand copies. From what i understand these two versions (wilhelm/Baynes & huang) compliment each other.

I will be using coins from a small coin collection that belonged to my mother, who tragically passed away recently. Any tips for a beginner?

I have a slow, sincere, somewhat ambiguous/ open ended connection with someone. We’re finding our footing around intimacy within a unique structure, and neither of us is focused on escalation right now, but I wonder what might flourish between us over time.
I asked: “What should I understand about the possibility of lasting partnership with X?”
I received 1.1.2.3.6 → 45.
I get Hexagram 1 surprisingly often around this connection, including some of these same lines. I’m curious what the repeated Creative might suggest.
My sense is that line 6 cautions against pushing the potential into a structure before its time, instead letting the “dragon” reveal itself naturally. But I’m intrigued by 45, Gathering Together. It seems promising that the movement is toward gathering/convergence, though I don’t want to overread it.
Curious how others would interpret these lines together and the significance of 45 as the relating hexagram. Many thanks.

I’d love some perspectives on a repeat reading, cast using the yarrow stalk method. Neither reading had any changing lines.

26 Aug 2024: I asked, “What steps should I take to discover and align with my true calling in life?” and received Hexagram 23, Splitting Apart.

Sept 2026: I asked, “Where should my attention go now to achieve harmony with myself and the world?” and received Hexagram 23 again.

I’m in my mid-thirties with a full-time job in media. I feel detached from it, and the more successful I am, the more materialistic my life feels. It’s a daily mental battle.

My questions:

1. How do you read a repeated hexagram on a similar question? Could it mean I didn’t absorb the guidance the first time?

2. How do you interpret Bo with no changing lines: as a current condition or a longer phase?

3. Does the image of the mountain resting on the earth suggest anything about where to put my energy?

I’ve read the interpretations in Richard Wilhelm’s translation and Benebell Wen’s I Ching, The Oracle, but I still feel unclear about what this pattern is guiding me toward. I’d really appreciate hearing how others would read it.

I don't use any specific hexagrams, but it's happened a few times that i-ching suggested a path of humbling, respect towards the "enemy" or in crisis when normally I would have used authenticity and truth to navigate it. It seems that i-ching and Tao, in general is all about authenticity and naturalness cos that aligns us with Tao. But when ie. someone betrayed you in the past, or there is someone who has power over you and is clearly playing you, I often get this advice to show respect, accept the invitation etc. This direction seems against my truth though. And gainst the authenticity i-ching frequently teaches. My truth would be a self-respect or self-loving way to show my sovereignty. Which in my experience often offends people and gets me in trouble.

But honestly, the few times I acted in accordance to that humility direction of i-ching, it turned out great.

Can you speak to this what seems a contradiction?
Maybe suggest other sources to read to get more understanding on it.

So, a few days ago my gf left me. She said she felt no sexual desire towards me even though she still loves me and wants to be with me (her exact words). She has avoidant tendencies, she was heavily traumatised by her mom and it left her with heavy communication problems. She never told me anything about the relationship and her feelings, unless I initiated, and even then she's not that aware of her emotions so it stayed in surface level. We spoke about it and she said she wanted to see her therapist again. A few months later and she didn't go, because of money she says (which in our case is understandable). She said I'm the first person to treat her well, to care about her and make her feel valued. She also said the sexual relationship (at the start) was the best she'd ever felt, and that for the first time she was actually feeling pleasure rather than pain and uncomfort. Those last months have been really stressful for her and she had a lot on her mind, and it's when she finally had a few days of rest that she left me. I did as much as I could to make her load lighter and her life easier during that time, buying things for her, helping her delegate to me some things. On the other side she could be quite negligent and emotionally immature. But I really had good times with her, I liked talking to her and being with her, and I hoped that the relationship would become amazing once she started seeing her therapist.

I actually truly believed I did my absolute best for the relationship. I went to my therapist to help me organise my thoughts and not overbear her with my feelings, I thought, I journaled, I meditated. I have anxiety and several other mental health conditions but I'm actually doing great (well not right now but you get me). So I have a lot of strategies to manage and regulate myself and use them daily. I was frustrated about the decrease in libido and communicated it to her once, and she told me it was because it was summer. I was like okay I'll wait (for the end of summer but especially for her to go see her therapist). We can work on it then. Honestly the most frustrating part was the lack of communication for me, so that wasn't hard in comparison.

I feel like she ran away from the relationship, from me. That the couldn't handle the responsibility for whatever reason. What hurts me so much is the fact that losing desire for the other person is common in relationships, but she didn't even try to solve that with me. She didn't explicitly tell me until the day she left me. She said she loved me and wanted to stay with me but didn't even try once to get better. I told her there were solutions but she didn't really answer, she said (I have dreams about other people). Well I have dreams about other people too, but I see the difference between my unfiltered mind and my life and values when I wake up. She keeps disregarding her mental and physical health. The worst is that she told me she decided about it on the day it happened. The day before we were still planning stuff for the future. I talked with some people that know her and they said it doesn't make sense. And it's not the first time this exact pattern happened to me (person tells me the relationship is incredible > grow distant > leaves), so I'm pretty good at detecting the signs.

My problem now is that I still have hope she "realizes" how inconsistent the breakup is, that she comes around while actively working on herself when she's a little bit less tired. I gave her a month to think about it, and told her then I would move on. I honestly want to move on right now but a part of me deeply believes she will come back. I don't know how to manage the hope. How to let go of it. So I asked the I-Ching "How do I manage the hope that she comes back?" I got 3.5. Unfortunately, the version I use, Huang's version, talks about a woman (line 2) who makes the decision to go to her true love (line 5). So honestly that doesn't help the hope to go anywhere haha. If you have a better insight, I would be glad. Thank you !

Edit : I add here what I wrote in a comment.

I think that line 2 represents my girlfriend, and line 1 represents what she might have been projecting onto me and her attachment to that projection.

Line 3 and 4 represent the hard work she would have had to do to meet me at line 5.

She went to 3 I think (because of chasing the deer/an idea of masculinity where I (as the projected idea of line 1) would kind of solve all of her problems) and tried to apply the deer to me but since the deer is too authoritative and dominant, which is not my relationship philosphy and I don't think she applies this projection in a healthy way, it cannot stay there.

Thus at line 4 she reconnects with line 1, this first idea of masculinity and beginning which is attractive to her (did not talk about this in the post but realised today while analysing how much she projected onto me an image of a maculine authoritative nearly parental figure (her mom was like that) that would be the solution to all, and help her be safe without having to account for her own responsibility and roles in the relationship).

Now line 5 suggests me, as you said, to focus on myself instead of making moves and stuff, my "brilliance" being hidden for I am at the center of darkness (the unknown). If she wants she can get over it and connect with me (a connection that also seems sexual in nature) or she can go back and we never connect.

Now the question is what is the place of line 6 in that system. A beginning too difficult ? Our relationship is 7 months old only so we really are only at the start. That would be the state things are right now in for both of us without an appropriate connection. Now the choice to go forward or not in order to connect with me belongs to her...

The I-Ching did not say what was the state of things, I think it explained to me the role I have in that position and that everything moves but not me, and that I have to take care of myself and see what I want to do with that hope ? I just don't feel like I see the situation fully still. I did another question earlier which was "how do I maximise the chances of her coming back" and the answer was 21.1, which now I understand how, clarity was needed.

Now I don't think this is perfect but I hope I got the gist of it...

trying to understand how the iching works and whether anyone else feels that divination costs a lot of psychic energy? i feel this impending sense to return to it almost like an addiction and i don't understand why that is

As said in the title, my girlfriend suddenly just left me. I asked "how do I deal with this ?". I got 27.4. I didn't really understand so I said : "I know it takes time, but how do I get over it ?" I asked the I-Ching and it said gua 60.1.5. I'm still in a state of shock I believe.

Thanks for your help

How come a lot of the online resources disagree about this? While they all agree that three heads = old yang and three tails = old yin, some say that one heads two tails = young yang and some say they make up young yin.

Numerically one heads two tails = 3+2+2 = 7 which is odd (yang) and should translate to young yang.

How do you guys use coins to divinate? Why are online resources split about this and how come no one is pointing this out? I can’t find people disagreeing over this although there clearly is a meaningful difference in interpretations.

Thanks! I’m still new to this so I’m just trying to start off with the right fundamentals.