Introduction

The I Ching, or, "Classic of Change", is one of the oldest known documents in the world. It can be traced as far back as 3000 years in written form, and the Chinese claim that it was passed down as oral tradition for two thousand years before that. Its longevity isn't the only wonder the I Ching holds claim to. It also possesses the uncanny ability to actually communicate with anyone who chooses to use it. This is no fortune-telling gimmick — in fact, the I Ching often frustrates attempts to divine the future from its pages. This oracle is solely concerned with the present — YOUR present. It takes you past the tunnel vision and gives you a 360 degree view of your situation. It goes beyond the realm of your five senses and picks up the subliminal signals that sailed right past your conscious awareness to become filed away in your subconscious. When you are obsessed with a desire, intent on an outcome, the I Ching gently nudges you and says, "Yes, but have you considered this…?" This classic's ability to accurately gauge a situation probably seemed like a gift from the gods to the sages who discovered it — and in a sense, it is. But modern science is progressively removing the layers of superstition from its legend and replacing it with new understanding that is no less magical. Like all oracles of the ancient world, the I Ching's message is cloaked in ambiguity. What makes this oracle ingenious, though, is that its symbols spark the universal archetypes embedded within the Collective Unconscious we all share. The books of C. G. Jung, the father of modern psychoanalysis, shed light on these archetypes — a subject much too complex to address here. For a quick study, try Jung's "Man And His Symbols" (1964, Aldus Books), or the entertaining and enlightening writings of Joseph Campbell. Another secret of the I Ching's accuracy is its division into 64 sections, representing every situation in life that one might find oneself in. What is truly brilliant about this classic's formula is that every one of these 64 situations can change into any one of the other 63! Thus the classic's name, Change. Yin & Yang The I Ching illuminates the principles of the Tao, the universal flow that underlies all action and permeates all being. These principles are most easily measured in the material world by yin and yang, the polar opposites. It is the degree of yin and yang present in each of the 64 situations that defines it. Each polarity helps define a situation, action, or being with its own respective traits, some of which are listed below.
Yin Negative, Passive, Female, Receptive, Dark, Night, Cold, Soft, Wet, Winter, Shadow, Empty, Moon, Valley, Nadir, Introverted, Reactive, Backward, Descending, Intuitive, Unconscious, Depths, Being	Yang Positive, Aggressive, Male, Creative, Light, Day, Heat, Hard, Dry, Summer, Radiance, Filling, Sun, Summit, Zenith, Extroverted, Active, Forward, Ascending, Reasoning, Conscious, Heights, Doing
Lines In the I Ching, the amount of yin or yang present in a given situation is represented by the lines making up that situation's hexagram. A broken line represents yin (). A solid line represents yang (). If a dot () follows either a yin or yang line, that line is a changing line (also said to be old as opposed to young), which will transform into its polar opposite during the course of your consultation.
Trigrams A trigram is made up of any combination of three yin and yang lines. There are eight possible combinations, each with its own distinct attributes (representing eight primordial elements).
Hexagrams A hexagram is made up of two trigrams, one atop the other. It is read line-by-line, from bottom to top. There are 64 hexagrams in all, each representing an archetypal situation in life. The meaning of each hexagram is affected by the presence of changing lines, which in turn point the way to a second, transformed hexagram. In all, there are 4,096 possible core readings. With the inclusion of symbols, nuclear trigrams, and other factors, the interpretation possibilities are pushed into the tens of millions.
Coin Method When consulting the I Ching oracle, a hexagram is built one line at a time, from the bottom up, by throwing three coins, and drawing the corresponding lines on a piece of paper or in a journal to form a hexagram. No special coins are necessary — you can use any three coins of the same denomination. Designate one side as yin (usually tails), the other as yang (usually heads). Throwing three coins at once makes four combinations possible:

no yang, 3 yin = 1 yang, 2 yin = 2 yang, 1 yin = 3 yang, no yin =

Remember to build the hexagram from the bottom up. The first coin throw designates the bottom line, which is Line One, etc. After the six lines have been drawn, check the hexagram chart at this website for the number of the hexagram formed. The top row of trigrams represent the upper trigram. The vertical column of trigrams on the left of the chart represent the lower trigram. Clicking on the number of the hexagram on the chart will open the corresponding hexagram. The dot after the 3-yin and 3-yang lines indicates that these are changing lines, pointing to supplemental readings below the main hexagram in the text files. If you have a dot after the first line, then read the entry for Line One, and so on. Only the entries that correspond to changing lines in your hexagram are relevant to your reading. In addition, once these lines have been read, a second hexagram should now be drawn, converting the changing lines (with dots) into their opposites (yin becomes yang, yang yin). Now, return to the hexagram chart, and locate this new hexagram. Click on it to read the Tranformed Hexagram of your consultation. Only the hexagram itself is relevant. None of the individual line readings need to be read. If the hexagram formed by your coin throws has no changing lines, then your consultation consists of just the hexagram formed, with no lines or transformed hexagram to read.

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