Divination
The Yi King is one of China's methods of divination. It is one of the most elaborate divinatory techniques in the world, as it is the result of speculative and cosmogonic research made over centuries and by several generations of mediums. Discover this divinatory art by reading this article.
Origin of the Yi King
The Yi king is a Chinese manual that describes a system of binary signs used to make divinations. Its design dates back a thousand years B.C. and it is the oldest manual of the five Chinese classics that describe the states of the world and their evolutions. According to tradition, the Yi King comes from the observation of nature successively made by Fo Hi, King Wen, the Duke of Cheou and Confucius. They have carefully studied and transcribed in a book the different elements of nature, the links between them on the one hand, between them and men on the other, and the impact of human actions on the state of the world. All these natural movements, the interactions between man and nature have been represented by signs thus forming figures describing order, harmony and antagonism that prevails between them. The Yi King would therefore be a large complex figure composed of sub-figures split in two: on the one hand the tigrams and on the other the hexagrams. The invention of the tigrams (numbering 8) was attributed to Fo hi and that of hexagrams to Yu the Great (founder of the Xia dynasty). There are 64 of them. It was King Wen who drew and grading the hexagrams and then wrote an explanation to each of them. It was his brother who completed the work by writing the linear explanation of the hexagrams. Subsequently, the Yi king was the subject of several translations and comments. The most famous comment is that made by Confucius. Since then, the Yi King has remained a very valuable document that belongs to the heritage of humanity. It is now one of the most preserved treasures in the history of Chinese thought.
Consultation with Yi King
The Yi king presents a map of the world that reports as much as possible on nature, its changes, humans and their changing relationships. The figures he describes serve as the basis for understanding the past, explaining the present and knowing the future. However, in order to use it effectively, it is necessary first to understand the system of signs and symbols that it proposes, then to ask a question to which you will find answers by interpreting the variation of the existing figures (in relation to your question) and by reading their explanation. However, the variability of the responses gives the consultant the opportunity to rephrase his question and adapt his point of view to the translated text. The magical dimension of the text makes it capable of providing answers to any type of questions, even those relating to random situations. There is, however, a very popular method of viewing the Yi King. It's about taking three coins, assigning the "2" value to the stack and the value "3" to the face. Once launched, depending on whether the three pieces fall on a coin toss, you will get a sum between 6 and 9. The six corresponds to the mutant Yin (old Yin), the seven to the nascent Yang (young Yang), the eight to the nascent Yin (young Yin) and the 9 to the mutant Yang (old Yang). You note the strokes from bottom to top and will get a complete hexagram after six throws. All you have to do is go to the hexagram table to get the answer to your question.
