I Ching (and other Oracles)

Just wondering if any other Jedi use the I Ching (or similar "divination" tools) in their daily life?

I can't claim to use it daily, actually, but when I'm facing a difficult problem it's a useful tool to help free up my mind for some new thinking, or a new approach to the situation.

I don't read the I Ching for some profound insight from the cosmos and I don't believe that the combination of lines has more than a passing significance; in short I don't read it for an answer, I read it to unlock the answers which are already inside me.

For me it's a nice symbol of the Jedi belief in our own inherent "Forceliness". We look at something in the world for an insight about ourselves, and that's a reflection of the fact that what's in the world and what's in ourselves is the same.

Keen to hear any thoughts, opinions, experiences or insights you may have

I have tried the I Ching in the past but I haven't in years. Honestly, it never seemed to help much. Maybe I just didn't understand it. Even though it had interesting advice, I never used it.

I like how you put it tzb, finding the answers you already had inside you. That's why, if I need advice, I look inside too. Just pose a question to the universe, open your mind, and wait for an answer to come

tzb wrote: Just wondering if any other Jedi use the I Ching (or similar "divination" tools) in their daily life?

I think there are different kinds of "oracular aids" for different purposes, and I've made a habit of collecting them.

tzb wrote: I don't read the I Ching for some profound insight from the cosmos and I don't believe that the combination of lines has more than a passing significance; in short I don't read it for an answer, I read it to unlock the answers which are already inside me.

I tend to take to the Tarot the way you've described the I Ching: I look at the meaning of the spread I've drawn and focus my attention on the things in my life that could be helped by it.

Yes yes and Yes! I think divination of various methods is impossibly useful. To the max.

It's not mystical, except where the Force has a mystery to it. We can look at a spread of cards, see a "meaning", and interpret it from a personal standpoint. The Force can guide us to see what we need to see, beneath our conscious mind.

Connor L. wrote: To the max.

Unexpected positive consequence of starting this thread: discovering I'm not the only person who says this!

I'm afraid I have never heard of I Ching.
What is it exactly?

It revolves around the Book of Changes, a 3000 year old Chinese text. It's a way of "divining" a bit like tarot or rune casting. It relates to yin and yang, and combinations of both which make up six-line "hexagrams". Each hexagram has a meaning, so depending on the combination you get, you'll get a different hexagram. One way to read the I Ching is to flip a coin six times (or more commonly 3 coins, twice - building up two "trigrams"). You then need to look up the result.. or speak to your local ancient Chinese sage

You can find out more about it here .

Welcome, by the way!

oh, neat

I use oracles like Tarot, Norse Runes and Ogham for meditation and divination. I have thought of adding the I, Ching to my other oracles. I find there is a lot of synchronicity between the cards and runes that I draw and what is happening with me or the world around me. Fascinating.

I sort of use it... :huh: So I present the unofficial jedI-Ching;


NB: Point of view is from (not at) 'Heaven'

A central vertical axis with two points represents the principles of Heaven and Earth. Placed around Earth are the remaining principles. Basically putting Heaven at the top of a tetrahedron shape, with all points connected to it. That placement though tends to become a centre point on that axis when/if using multiple casting's of connected Ground planes.

I enter the 'process' at some determination of my 'connection' along that vertical axis. This sounds vague because its just a type of contemplative tool for meditating. Then I try to assess iterations of relationships (permutations) between principles on that ground plane.... to determine any perturbations/influences. What that might reflect probably has more to do with my health or focus, then any divination, but its just another something.

Edit: the possible iterations of a single casting can be found as the Fano Plane Steiner system.