ari_ormstunga (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ari_ormstunga) wrote2023-05-09 01:33 pm
ari_ormstunga) wrote2023-05-09 01:33 pm
In Praise of the Honorable I Ching
I've had an interest in Taoism since I first read the Tao te Ching in high school (I should probably mention that reading it and understanding it are two different things, although I grasped enough to make it worthwhile to study and ponder). I was disenchanted with Christianity and was looking for other philosophies and conceptions of reality at the time, so I read materials like the Bhagavad Gita, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and various New Age tomes looking for things that resonated better with me.
When I took up the work of the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose while on a hiatus from traditional Golden Dawn magic, I had to choose various methods of divination to study. This was agreeable to me because even after literal years of practice, my Tarot readings are still hit and miss. Sometimes I get the message like a bludgeon to the head, other times I miss the message entirely. I still perform a Tarot divination every day, but I was ready to try something completely different.
Enter the I Ching. I've had a manual on my shelf, untouched, for years. I grabbed a few more to round out my collection of tomes and dove in. I got a few modern takes on the topic, like the Occult I Ching by Maja D'Aoust, the Living I Ching by Deng Ming Dao, and the Magical I Ching by J.H. Brennan. I also bought a bunch of Chinese coins, but often as not I use quarters or even the I Ching online website if I'm on the go.
Unlike the Tarot, 9/10 times I get some kind of useful answer or advice out of the I Ching. The oracle is really like a supremely wise and good teacher. I'm beyond pleased that I discovered it, and some of the alternative materials on the oracle and the legends around its creator and its creation are weird and fantastical enough to appease my inner dorky magician.
If you haven't tried it and this inspires you to give it a go, I copied a list of useful questions from Brennan's Magical I Ching book; his take on the oracle is more western in orientation but I found his book valuable all the same.
Some Selected Questions for the I Ching:
How should I act in this situation?
What is my most profitable course?
How can I best deal with this problem?
Am I missing something in this situation?
What hidden aspects are there to this situation?
What are the pitfalls of this course of action?
What are the opportunities of this course of action?
I usually start with a general reading about a topic, then apply these questions, or variations on them, for more insight as seems appropriate. I've really dug deep into various questions using these methods, although as with any method of divination I've tried, sometimes I come up short in successfully interpreting the results. Asking for strategies in dealing with problems almost always yields useful results, though.
I have a fair amount of probably superstitious reservations about using the internet or technology more generally for magical purposes, but as far as I can tell the results I get with online programs and the ones I get with coins are equally useful and valid.
When I took up the work of the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose while on a hiatus from traditional Golden Dawn magic, I had to choose various methods of divination to study. This was agreeable to me because even after literal years of practice, my Tarot readings are still hit and miss. Sometimes I get the message like a bludgeon to the head, other times I miss the message entirely. I still perform a Tarot divination every day, but I was ready to try something completely different.
Enter the I Ching. I've had a manual on my shelf, untouched, for years. I grabbed a few more to round out my collection of tomes and dove in. I got a few modern takes on the topic, like the Occult I Ching by Maja D'Aoust, the Living I Ching by Deng Ming Dao, and the Magical I Ching by J.H. Brennan. I also bought a bunch of Chinese coins, but often as not I use quarters or even the I Ching online website if I'm on the go.
Unlike the Tarot, 9/10 times I get some kind of useful answer or advice out of the I Ching. The oracle is really like a supremely wise and good teacher. I'm beyond pleased that I discovered it, and some of the alternative materials on the oracle and the legends around its creator and its creation are weird and fantastical enough to appease my inner dorky magician.
If you haven't tried it and this inspires you to give it a go, I copied a list of useful questions from Brennan's Magical I Ching book; his take on the oracle is more western in orientation but I found his book valuable all the same.
Some Selected Questions for the I Ching:
How should I act in this situation?
What is my most profitable course?
How can I best deal with this problem?
Am I missing something in this situation?
What hidden aspects are there to this situation?
What are the pitfalls of this course of action?
What are the opportunities of this course of action?
I usually start with a general reading about a topic, then apply these questions, or variations on them, for more insight as seems appropriate. I've really dug deep into various questions using these methods, although as with any method of divination I've tried, sometimes I come up short in successfully interpreting the results. Asking for strategies in dealing with problems almost always yields useful results, though.
I have a fair amount of probably superstitious reservations about using the internet or technology more generally for magical purposes, but as far as I can tell the results I get with online programs and the ones I get with coins are equally useful and valid.