I Ching: Used traditionally. Not as just another Tarot.

[Greg the Yeti]

Hi everyone interested in I Ching,

I've been trying to work out how to do the I Ching properly with Orphalese. There are already a few Decks out there in Orphal Space, but I've been preparing a few of my favourites interpretations to use.

Meanwhile - how to arrive at the Hexagram? I started off a year or so back with the '3 Coin' Method, being too daunted by the older 'Yarrow Stalk' Method. However more recently I've been using a 16 marble method, devised by Stephen Karcher (from his book Thorson's Way of The I Ching. This method, he claims gives the same odds as the original Yarrow Stalks. Now I'm having to take him at his word as the Yarrow Stalk method is too complex for me to work out the odds myself.

However I have liked the idea of using a method which at least approximates to the traditional method. It gives quite different odds to the 3 Coin Method (which gives nice 'scientific' equal odds for the four possibilities:- Yin, Changing Yin, Changing Yang and Yang). But the point isn't science but intuition and being in harmony with the Tao!

In brief Stephen Karcher's 16 Marble method gives the same odds for Yins in total and Yangs in total, 8 each but this is split up differently for Yins and Yangs

Yins - 7/16
Changing Yin - 1/16
Changing Yang - 3/16
Yang - 5/16

This is based on the fundamental idea of Yin and Yang as complementary opposites which periodically change into the other. However Yang is more unstable and changes more than the stable Yin.

Don't ask me how this can keep an equal balance between Yin and Yang. Mathematically I don't think it can, but once again 'this isn't science'! There is as far as I'm aware no rule of 'Conservation' of Yin or Yang.

Anyway, joking aside, I like this idea of the I Ching's Wisdom being more in tune with this cycle of Yin and Yang. So I've pondered a way of doing it in Orphalese.

The bad news is that as Orphalese is, it's not possible to do it without either

a) using your old manual method of choosing the six lines of the Hexagram and consulting your table of the 64 Hexagrams to see which one or two apply. Then... But this isn't really 'using Orphalese', except as a glorified e-book.

b) Constructing a Deck of 16 'Cards' to represent the 16 marbles in the correct proportions and shuffling before drawing each line. I've constructed the Deck (it's simple, plain and functional, not pretty) and will share it when I post this. After each draw the 'cards' will need gathering, so you will need to remember or write down the result as you shuffle and draw your way to all six lines of the base Hexagram. Then you will need to consult your table of 64 Hexagrams again. Except I have Drawn up a version which can be used as a Wallpaper for the I Ching Decks, which I will again share. You can even use the Orphalese ability to use two Decks at the same time. Brilliant, it works! This is 'using Orphalese' but also involves writing on paper or memory and consulting a table to get your Hexagram(s). It's rather tedious but does work and accurately simulates the Yarrow Stalk method as represented by Stephen Karcher's Marble method.

c) Use my I Ching Yarrow Stalk Odds Deck and use my
I Ching Yin Yang line Spread 'Unfortunately Does not Work',
which I will upload for people's understanding of what's going on here. Here six of the lines are simply drawn at one go and displayed as the 'Hexagram'. But beware! the odds here will not be the same as either the 3 Coins or the Yarrow Stalks! Imagine what will happen if you draw the Changing Yin line for any but the last line. Since there is only one of 16 you can't draw another so you CAN'T have a Hexagram with two changing yin lines. Now this would be very unusual. It's only happened to me the once! But on that occasion this method would have been 100 wrong!

d) I've also prepared another much larger Deck to try to compensate for this by multiplying the 16 by 20 to give 320 cards. My reasoning behind 20 times was that 10 wrong seemed just too large, but 5 wrong sounded getting towards reasonable? As it is it has slowed down the shuffle and draw quite considerable so I didn't want to go any larger. I will share this Deck for people to see and use if they are willing to accept a 5 error. It can then simply be used together with my Spread mentioned above
I Ching Yin Yang line Spread 'Unfortunately Does not Work'.
This will work and give a small error of only around 5 for those Changing Yin lines. However even using this you still have to consult that Hexagram Table (Which someone has so kindly provided) and then manually select the Card or two Cards which correspond. Now this in itself can be tricky, depending on which Deck you are using. Many do not have very large numbers and thus with such a Deck the only way of manually selecting those cards is to Sort the Deck first and then using 'Free Selection' index from the left (or the right, depending on which way you sorted) with the keyboard arrows, pressing the space bar at the appropriate card. Now all of this is fidly still just a little complex and certainly NOT user friendly. I don't find it very conducive to a good reading. It's quicker and more fulfilling to get out my tray of marbles and use method a)!

As far as I can see the only thing which would persuade me to not use method a) (which only uses Orphalese as an e-book), would be for the program to be able to

1) Do those six draws, gathering in between each, but leaving a record of the line/card drawn on screen, shuffling and redrawing, six times from one selection of an I Ching Spread. (I'd be happy with the possibility of just one Seeded Shuffle at the start of the sequence.)

2) Compare those six lines drawn, the Hexagram, with an internal database of the Hexagram Table and selecting the one or two Hexagrams that correspond from your second Deck of 64 I Ching Cards of your choice.

Now that would be neat!

I'm quite aware that this is not a small ask, but would take considerable changes to the program! I'd be prepared to be patient! But I see a considerable interest in the I Ching out there. So a lot of people might benefit!

In addition I see the possibilities of some kind of scripted interaction between the two decks enabling lots of other potential new style, more complex systems of 'Divination' and also the simulation of more kinds of Card or Dice Games. It would unlock a door to a whole new world of potentially new ideas.

A 'programmer' type comparison would be to say that it was like the difference between a 'Flat Database' and a 'Relational Database'. Any takers Richard?

Regards Greg the Yeti

P.S. I noticed on using method for a reading and then saving it with the Reading Wizard, that the Hexagram Lines were unfortunately placed in the wrong order visually. It would certainly be helpfull to be able to change the order within the Wizard (without affecting the template for other readings) Perhaps a

[Greg the Yeti]

Hi

I just noticed my P.S. got cut off by the 7000 word limit! So here it is again.

P.S. I noticed on using method for a reading and then saving it with the Reading Wizard, that the Hexagram Lines were unfortunately placed in the wrong order visually. It would certainly be helpfull to be able to change the order within the Wizard (without affecting the template for other readings) Perhaps a seperate template will fix this? I will investigate!

Regards Greg

[Programmer]

Hi Greg,

Sorry for the delay in replying, I have had builders in this week and been without electricity for much of it. The I Ching idea is interesting, but I can't help feeling that it would have to be a separate project, because such significant changes would be sure to create some unexpected bugs with the existing functionality. I don't have time to undertake such a project (although it does sound like it would be a lot of fun!), so this idea will have to stand comparison with other requests that come in. For example, there is the idea of allowing cards to be freely rotated through different angles, which comes up with great regularity. There is also my personal pet project at the moment, which is the idea of establishing an Orphalese Tarot centre in Second Life. So basically it sounds like a really intriguing idea, but I wouldn't hold your breath...

Cheers,
Richard

[Greg the Yeti]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply Richard. You sound busy, and everyone has got to have priorities. Fine! I just hope some other I Ching lovers out there might help me to persuade you ............!

I promise that despite being a clumsy Yeti I'll do my level best not to break any bones as I'm twisting your arm!

Regards Greg the Yeti