Individual Ching Interpretations
I offer I Ching readings using a bundle of yarrow stalks I gathered in Denver, Colorado in 2016.
I don’t think there’s anything particularly mystical about the yarrow stalks in Denver – I just think geography is an important dimension of any story (see my About Me page for more on that).
You could say that an I Ching reading, instead of actively giving you something or anything at all, is really just locating you (and the emergent moment that you’re custodian of) within a larger, ingeniously designed map of archetypal situations.
No woo must be swallowed when reading from the I Ching. Your location in the map of archetypal situations isn’t revealed to me via extraphysical forces. Rather, it’s generated from a series of prescribed twig-counting procedures I perform on a desk or kitchen table. Often I get distracted or drop the stalks. Sometimes I forget to write down the result of a particular line and only fuzzily remember what it was, so I guess. It’s a mess.
But, because this isn’t a religious ritual, the mistakes don’t matter. In fact, that’s largely the point – the I Ching is about fully accepting the dizzyingly complex ecosystem of causes and effects in your life. Because the human mind is very vulnerable and needs its affordances to get any grip whatsoever – this dizzyingly complex ecosystem is temporarily given some metaphorical coordinates and a name.
The process of shuffling around yarrow stalks forces me to be this great combo of attentive, active, and gentle with my hands. This tends to force out the most superfluous thought patterns I have in mind, so I can focus on this precious thing, Your Situation.
I carry this attention when I consult translations of the old Book and write down notes as an attempt at triangulation of the meaning. I look at myself not as a scribe of what the authorities and their translators have set down, but as an advocate. I make adjustments and changes based on what I consider to be particularly relevant to the questioning You I am finding a suite of answers for. I do not have vast knowledge of the I Ching as a traditional text, or Daoist metaphysics, nor do I have any kind of second sight. But I do have a knack for magnetizing concepts together into a bundle and, in turn, magnetizing this bundle to any relevant parties who might be listening to me or paying me, and presenting the bundle as reverently as I can. Because it feels Real Nice to me.
Send me an email if you’d like a Real Nice message that locates your current situation on an old old map.
