Casting a Gua
Ways of forming a Yi Jing reading.
People have used many methods to consult the Yi Jing over its long history. The method changes, but the mechanical result is the same: you form six lines, beginning at the bottom and building upward. Some lines may be stable and some may be moving; moving lines produce a second, resulting gua.
This edition offers three useful approaches. None changes how the book is read once the six lines are known.
書Journal
錢Coin Method
筮Yarrow Stalk Method
Journal
The method introduced with this edition. Type out the situation you want to consider; the words you choose become the seed for the reading. The same text produces the same result.
錢Coin Method
Three ordinary coins make a simple physical casting method and are a good way to learn 6, 7, 8, 9, moving lines, and the two gua of a reading.
筮Yarrow Stalk Method
A slower traditional method that reaches the same four line values through repeated dividing and counting.
The Journal is quick and lets the wording of your own question participate in the result. Coins are easy to learn and give a genuinely chance-driven physical reading. Yarrow stalks take longer, but the deliberate counting can make the casting itself part of the time spent considering the question.