SPIRIT
I Ching: Walking your Path, Creating Your Future
CJ Liu interviews Hilary Barrett about her book, “I Ching: Walking your Path, Creating Your Future”.
Part 1: How Does I-Ching Work?
Hilary shares the history of the I-Ching and how her relationship with the I-Ching started. While there are many ways to access the I-Ching (online, coins, beads, yarrow stick) and various divination tools available to us (Tarot, Ruins, etc), Hilary explains that the 3000 year old history, the many available interpretations, and the many people consulting the I-Ching done every day make the I-Ching a divination tool with collective resonance not normally found in other tools.
How Does I-Ching Work?: YouTube Video
Part 2: Reading I-Ching Coins
While there are many ways to access the I-Ching (online, coins, beads, yarrow stick) and various divination tools available to us (Tarot, Ruins, etc), Hilary explains that the 3000 year old history (see Part 1 for introduction of I-Ching), the many available interpretations, and the many people consulting the I-Ching done every day make the I-Ching a divination tool with collective resonance not normally found in other tools.
Step 1: Question
Each reading starts with a question. Excerpts from Hilary’s online book share examples of the types of things you may use the I-Chng for in making decisions, solving problems, gaining understanding, or realizing intentions. Hilary humorously shares that you can ask the I-Ching anything from the simple (e.g.- should I buy this software that’s on sale) to the deep (e.g.- what do I need to know about my soul’s mission).
Decisions (‘What if I take this job?’ ‘What if I don’t?’)
Solving problems (‘How to handle this?’ ‘How can I help?’)
Understanding (‘Why do I react that way?’)
Realising intentions (‘How can I…?’)
If you want to ask something more open ended, Hilary offers these questions to start your inquiry
What do I need to understand about…?
What best to do about…?
How can I…?
What if I…?
The next piece is using your divination tools (coins, sticks, beads) and pulling out sequences ranging from 6-8
Step 2: Consult your Divination Tool (if coins)
CREATE THE HEXAGRAM: https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/learn/beginners/3-how-to-cast-a-reading/casting-a-hexagram-with-3-coins/
Each hexagram is made up of 6 lines (either a broken yin line of a solid yang line)
Your first toss goes on the bottom of the 6 lines and each coin toss adds a line above it with a numerical value. If the value is a 6 or 9, it means that you will have 2 hexagrams (vs. 1). You can use the table below to determine if you have a 6-9 for each of the 6 lines and a solid/broken likne
3 heads is a 9 and a changing line from yang to yin
2 head| 1 tail is a 8 yin (broken line)
1 head|2 Tails is a 7 yang line (solid line)
3 tails is a 6 and a changing line from yin to yang
FIND HEXAGRAM ON TABLE (https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/learn/beginners/3-how-to-cast-a-reading/look-up-your-answer/)
Once you get 6 lines and the 1-2 HEXAGRAMS look at the rows (lower) trigram for your first hexagram and the vertical columns for your second hexagram.
Here was CJ’s reading from the YouTube show:
Line 1 8| Line 2 8| Line 3 7 -15 hexagram
Line 4 8| Line 5 6| Line 6 6 – 53 hexagram
(15.5.6 – 6 old yin becomes young yang and 9 old yang becomes young yin changing line)
Reading I-Ching Coins: YouTube Video
Part 3: How to Interpret I-Ching Hexagrams
We continue from learning about the I-Ching and how to use it (Part 1) to doing a reading (Part 2) and now how to interpret the I-Ching reading we just did. During the interview Hilary explains how she would interpret the reading from Part 2.
Question: What additional things do I need to know about my soul’s mission (work)?
Hexagram 1: 15.5.6 (Integrity with changing lines 5 and 6) and Hexagram 2: 53 (Gradual progress).
Hilary steps us through the format she uses in her book:
Key questions: If you were conversing with the I-Ching these may be the questions it would ask.
Oracle: There is a one sentence italics which is the Chinese translation into English. What follows is advice she has given to her clients over a decades worth of reading the I-Ching for clients.
Image: This is an image that uses nature as a guide. For example, a mountain under earth… what would that mean?
Sequence: The hexagram proceeding often offers a context with where you are within a transition. It is what is happening before you arrive at this Hexagram.
Pair: This is the antonym or opposite of this energy.
Lines: Hilary explains that this is the crux of the reading and gives insight into the situation.
She walks us through the 2nd hexagram and then at the relationship between these 2 hexagrams.
To get your own reading you can go to Hilary’s website https://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/reading/
How to Interpret I-Ching Hexagram: YouTube Video
More on Hilary Barrett
Hilary Barrett lives in a small village in Oxfordshire with her husband David. Clarity has been her work since the year 2000: writing, doing readings, creating courses and other I Ching offerings. Everything she can think of to help you connect with the oracle. I’m an I Ching diviner who’s also become an author and teacher along the way. When asked what she does, Hilary responds, “I help people have conversations with truth.”
Related Articles on
How to Do a Dream Interpretation
