Hexagram 51
The internet has many I Ching "Experts," and bookshelves have dozens, maybe hundreds of translations of the Book of Changes.
Every day people flock to these people and things in search of certainty.
Certainty about their relationships, jobs, and all of those calendars that have yet to come.
But the truth is: there's a difference between an I Ching translation and actual data on how that I Ching translation played out in real life.
It took me tens of thousands of readings and record-keeping to find the patterns in how each line played out in my life when I got it in a throw of the coins or deal from the deck.
It's those hard-earned meanings that feature in my I Ching-Astrology Horoscopes and every other post on this site that features a reading.
But what if you want to build your own wisdom about the Book of Changes? That's where the following suggestions come in.
Let's start with choosing a good base to build upon:
Choosing An I Ching Translation
For a first I Ching translation, I have to suggest my version of James Legge's work, which features the titles of each hexagram that I felt adequately represented my actual experience with the book.
A second option that I'd recommend is Bradford Hatcher's exhaustive translation of the I Ching, which you can find for free here.
But if you are really in the moon to spend some coins to inform your throwing of the coins, I'd suggest:
John Blofeld, and Richard John Lynn's translations, which each have their own flavor, and accurate nuggets to inform your perspective on readings.
Make An I Ching Card Deck
I wrote a post about this but an I Ching card deck can enable you to easily do multiple readings.
The more readings and the more data you collect, the faster your knowledge-base will grow as you interact with the I Ching.
There's people that swear by yarrow stalks, people that make their pennies unrecognizable (me for a very long time), and there's people like me that say you can still get incredibly accurate readings by creating something that's much more like a Tarot deck.
One of these options is faster with no loss in accuracy (from my years with my own card deck).
Choose Good Questions
Your questions can influence your interpretations, and your interpretations can determine your perspective on the outcomes.
And your perspective on the outcomes will influence your data and record-keeping.
This is all important because a muddied question will result in a muddied answer, and will make your learned experience from doing readings a lot less clear.
I recommend following my guide, Strategic Divination: An Addendum, to choose the most clarity-inducing questions for best results when it comes to your journaling (see below).
Start Journaling And Then Start To Analyze
You can create a paper-based I Ching journal, but I'd recommend a digital journal, as it'll be much easier in the future to search and utilize ctrl + f to find nuggets of wisdom.
Once you've generated some data, I recommend paying the most attention to single line readings, or unchanging Hexagram readings.
The reason is these have much less interference and noise. If you have multiple changing lines in a reading, and you're starting out, you're not going to be able to determine which of those contributed to the outcome you observed in your life.
By looking at single pieces of data and finding patterns, you'll identify the actual signal of your reading. You'll understand over time what, say, Hexagram 6.4 is saying.
Will it take time? Yes, but it will also get you to a place you want to be.
Things To Speed Up Your Learning Process
I have to recommend reading through my horoscopes, and my Internet I Ching series as I add to it over time.
These things are me dropping hints as to what my thinking is on the Book of Changes, and how these things have played out in my own life.
There's a reason why my readings are worded a certain way, and that reason is: it's how I've seen them reflect in my day-to-day.
Final Thoughts
Not many want I Ching expertise. It can potentially take you years (as it's taken for me to get meanings I'm satisfied with), but if you want to be well-versed in the oracle I personally enjoy the most, it's going to be necessary.
The fruit may not be immediate, but the results can be you not lying to yourself about what a reading is actually saying.
And of course, if you decide you don't want to go down this path, you can always seek out the services of someone that's gone through the pain (like my reading service options)..
I wish you luck in your I Ching adventure, because there's really nothing better in divination than seeing a 38.2 or 5.6 play out in real life the first few (or hundred) times.