Hilary Barrett, I Ching

Archive for the 'Divination tips' Category

Just an oracle

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Oh dear, oh dear. Another one – someone explaining how the Yijing is not just an oracle, but ‘so much more than that’. I do wish people would not say this without pausing for a moment to contemplate what an oracle is. A variation on this ‘just an oracle’ idea (…I think this post is [...]

Bad hexagrams, problem cards

Sunday, December 18th, 2011

I don’t do tarot readings, or know anything worth mentioning about tarot, but I still like reading what wise tarot people write. They seem to have a creative, flexible, improvisatory approach to divination that I think Yi people could learn something from. And a lot of the problems/ questions/ possibilities in tarot reading are things [...]

Why look at the relating hexagram?

Saturday, May 21st, 2011

A few people have told me lately that they don’t tend to look at the relating hexagram as they don’t really find anything in it. They’re not alone – if any part of a reading’s going to be forgotten or glossed over, it’s usually that second hexagram. (I’ve done it a few times myself – [...]

Asking for awareness

Monday, May 9th, 2011

In the past I’ve done a lot of readings, for myself and other people, seeking advice about what to do and how to do things. I expect I’ll do a lot more of them, too, because they are direct, clear, straightforward and massively useful. ‘How can I do this?’ ‘What’s my best path?’ ‘What if [...]

Advice for relationship readings

Monday, April 25th, 2011

Most people seem to get started with the Yijing by asking about a relationship. It’s a good way to start: it’s present, immediate and something you care about – when you ask these questions, you’re really asking them. It’s also potentially tricky, that mix of getting started with overwhelming emotion. Easy to get tangled up [...]

Living the image

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011

I’ve written before about not being in too much of a hurry to get past your reading’s imagery to ‘what it means’, because the image is what talks to you, and where you live, and somehow is the hinge and pivot of change in a way that a concept isn’t. I just wanted to add [...]

How does it work?

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

No, this is not going to be the post where I explain how Yi answers questions – ask me again after a few more lifetimes – but one where I ponder in a meandering way about how these conversations we have with the Change Book actually result in personal change. Sometimes, of course, they don’t. [...]