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In this section, I've listed some of the more unusual methods of casting hexagrams and trigrams, in an effort to demonstrate how unlimited the Yi Jing, whether consulted as an oracle, or merely read for increased wisdom / psychological growth / spiritual growth. I probably could have tripled the number of methods listed in this section, without any trouble. Indeed, as a former soothsayer, I can say that the method is irrelevent, the image is all that is required.
Despite the long association of turtles with the Yi Jing, very few texts I've read mention anything about them, other than as being the source for the trigram arrangements. White Tortoise Pond is the name given to the pond that legend claims is the place where Fu Xi saw a tortoise with the He Tu Map on it.
In brief, heated pokers were applied to the shell, and from the way the cracks were formed the interpretation was provided. In most instances, the original question was written on the shell, along with the prognosis. In some instances, we also find a record of what happened. By studying these collections, apprentice soothsayers learnt to read the Turtle Shells.
Oddly enough, some Chinese doctors claim that this usage of heated pokers was the source of both accupuncture, and Moxi treatments.
In as much as the Yi Jing developed from oracle bones, it only seems correct to include some information on how they were created.
The shoulder bone of an ox was the preferred bone. The question was incised on the bone, which was then heated. The direction, length and "intensity" of the cracks indicated the meaning of the crack. In some instances the prognosis was also inscribed on the bones. These were also kept and studied by apprentice soothsayers.
The use of oracle bones developed to determine whether or not the dieties accepted the sacrifice that was made. This acceptance, or lack thereof, was made by analyzing how the bones cracked during the sacrifice. Somewhere along the line, it occured to a Shaman that instead of waiting till after the sacrifice, to see if it was accepted, one could crack the bones before the sacrifice. After a slightly longer period of time, the sacrifice itself was omitted.
The decline of the use of Turtle Shells, and Oracle Bones arose, once it was realized that the collections of readings were starting to replicate themselves. Along the way, the use of yarrow stalks was introduced, and the library of turtle shells consulted, to see how the cracks were interpreted.
Whilst the story is not known, it wouldn't be surprising that a shaman, dislocated from his abode for some reason --- I like to think of it being because he accurately foretold something that greatly displeased the ruling elite --- decided that carrying around a couple of hundred turtle shells, and ox bones was too much hard work. At a river, he makes a hut, and during the day, studies the various cracks, and sorts them out. This then gets transcribed to bamboo strips. After some more sorting, we have the predecessor of the Yi Jing. Whereupon he promptly abandons his library of Turtle Shells, Ox Bones and the like. This gets shared with other shamans, and eventually they all decided that using bones is too complicated. In passing, I'll point out the "Yi" is the Zhou word for "easy", and that the use of Yarrow stalks is considerably easier than that of Ox Bones and Turtle Shells.
This is just one example of how adaptable the circumstances can be, for one to cast a hexagram. A local Air Force Base, also happens to have an attached Naval Air Station,. Needing a hexagram, and observing that both naval and air force trainees were flying, i decided to use a somewhat different technique. Observing the planes take off, i cast a hexagram thusly. If it was a pair of F-15's, then it would be a moving line, where as if it was a pair of F-16, it would not be a moving line. If the planes went on their training flight to the North, North East, East, or South East, the line would be Yang, otherwise it would be Yin. My justification for using F-15's as the moving line, is that they have two tail fins, whereas the F-16's do not. Furthermore, I associate the F-15's with the Navy, and thus to water, which is that which is adaptable. As such, it seemed more appropriate for the F-15's to be the moving lines. The directions correspond to those of the Father, and his three sons, using the diviner's arrangement of the trigrams. An unorthodox way to do things, but it seemed like the right way to do things.
The specific hexagram cast is of no importance, but the following shows how the hexagram was developed. I watched 2 F-16's roar off the runway, climb up, do a slow circle, and then veer away to the northeast. This indicated to me that it was a Yang line, which did not move. I then observed two F-15's take off, do a lazy climb and head south. This indicated to me a Yin line, which changed to Yang. Since the planes were taking off at about 3 minute intervals, it took about twenty minutes for the entire hexagram to be completed, or about twice as long as it would have taken me, had a thrown coins.
This was described to me, by Steven Craig, in a series of message exchanges on the I Ching Conference of the Pagan And Occult Distribution System « PODS » during September and October of 1993.
Stephen Craig wrote:
At the other end of the spectrum, one of the things I like about the Yi Jing is that it allows spur of the moment divinations to be done anywhere --- even if you don't have three coins, there is usually some pattern around you from which the lines of a hexagram can be culled. A few days ago, I did this by observing how many people were sitting on the seats of a subway train. The interior of the train, rather than having one long bench along each side, has two seat units in sections of six on each side of the aisle, with a set of doors between each section. The number of persons in each unit corresponded to the line that was cast.
Stand on a street corner. Watch the people going past. Males are counted as Yang, females as yin. If there are two or more people abreast, it is a moving line. The gender which predominates indicates whether it is a 7 or 9.
This method can be adapted to other situations, fairly easily. The example above, about a subway is one example.
This method involves a normal chess board setup, except that there are only 6 pawns on a side, rather than 8.
Play a game of chess. The square that the piece that checkmates the king, is the cast hexagram. The square that the king is on, indicates where one is most vunerable. Squares are converted to hexagrams, by use of the the Fu Xi Sequence of hexagrams. Source: Culling: 1989: 58
Slowly pace a circle. When one feels impelled to stop, whichever foot is forward, indicates the line. « Left is Yin; Right is Yang » Repeat this process six times, for the entire hexagram.
Interpretation follows one's normal and usual methods. Source: Culling: 1989: 65
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