Hexagram 6 > Hexagram 35
I may have done more I Ching readings than anyone in human history.
But it wasn't until I started journaling about each reading that I began to find my own form of clarity from them, repeatedly and consistently.
The truth is that even though reading the experiences of others on the internet helped me tremendously in my early days with the oracle, it has its limits.
Many of those people that share their experiences likely don't keep detailed journals. And if that's true, sometimes our memories fail to return accurate information.
It's through excessive readings and detailed journaling that you'll get insights that change your interpretation accuracy, and knowledge about how these hexagrams and lines actually play out in real life.
How Many Readings A Day Is Sufficient To Gather Data?
As of the time writing this post, I do at least 18 readings a day, though, I've done much more in a day on countless occasions.
If you're just beginning your path of consulting the I Ching and want to gather data in a hurry, I suggest:
1) Creating An I Ching Card Deck
I wrote a post about making an I Ching card deck here, and it's been the biggest help in doing readings faster.
There's so much dogma about doing readings with yarrow stalks, and coins, but the truth is, you can get accurate readings with a deck of cards. I have thousands of readings under my belt with my own deck, and it also saves your loved ones from hearing clanging copper, if coins are your currently preferred method.
2) Get Your Readings Done Quickly
My ‘Simplest Guide’ post can help you with the resources you need to quickly figure out what changing lines you received once you've made and begun using your own I Ching card deck.
3) Do Hourly Readings And Journal About The Unchanging, And One Changing Line Readings
By preparing for the day ahead, ask "what do I need to know about the 8 am hour" or whatever hour you start your day with. Then do that for each hour you plan to be awake the next day.
Email yourself the readings, and then journal only about the unchanging hexagram readings, and the one changing line readings.
I journaled about every reading, even the multiple changing lines ones, so knock yourself out.
But the reason I recommend only journaling about the unchanging and one changing line readings is part of the secret to personal I Ching mastery: you're not going to be able to figure out how a single line plays out in real life if you're also trying to determine what event or circumstance belonged to all of the other changing lines you received.
You need one changing line readings to see how they stand in your life on their own. Not muddled by any of the other five possible lines (not to mention the transitional lines).
This is also beneficial because it saves you from unnecessary journaling that will only end up confusing you more.
Let's talk about how to journal.
4) How Should You Journal?
An important consideration when it comes to journaling about your readings is that you want it to be simple enough to build a habit.
With that said, there's some elements that make up a useful journal entry when your goal is understanding how your readings play out in real life:
A) A description of the events that unfolded for that reading during that specified amount of time.
B) The emotions that you experienced during that period.
C) The actions of anyone that you interacted with during that period of time.
With those three elements you should have sufficient data about what your experienced during the period of time you asked the I Ching about.
5) Having Patience And Gathering Data
It took me years to learn what I've learned about the I Ching, though, it would have taken less had I used the advice I've written about thus far in this piece.
Keep records.
Use consistent formats (Ex: 45.4, 12.6, etc.) for documenting what changing line you received so your records are easily searchable.
Once you've gotten the same line multiple times, you can begin to understand how it actually expresses itself and find patterns like I've found patterns.
Then you can have your own expertise, and deeper relationship with the I Ching.
6) Bonus Tips
A) Use My Hexagram Meanings
Look at my I Ching love readings post and look at the names I've given the individual, unchanging hexagrams.
Some may differ from other I Ching writers, and it's because I've seen them play out in real life in the ways I named them.
Get a head start on learning the oracle by using those meanings/names as scaffolding, that you eventually remove and replace with your own understanding.
B) Use My One Changing Line Interpretations
Take a look at my secret meanings post, take a look at my most hateable and enjoyable I Ching readings post, and then search for your current changing line in the Two Dreams search bar.
By reading my interpretations that involve only a single I Ching line, you're getting a big hint as to what those lines mean for real life events (based on my tens of thousands of readings of experience).
And the good thing is you can compare it to how that line played out for yourself, after the fact.
C) Do Bi-Hourly Readings
If you really want to speed things up for yourself, do what I didn't do: bi-hourly readings for your day ahead.
So, this would be: "what do I need to know about the 8 am - 8:30 am hour" and so on.
By doing so, you can double your data points quickly. That means more chances of receiving one changing line, more opportunities to journal, more things to reflect upon.
Final Thoughts
Without journaling, you won't learn from experience. You'll be spinning your wheels in place, relying on countless translations, trying to distill meaning from each translator's commentaries.
If everything I've suggested seems excessive, it *is*.
If you'd prefer not you may want to continue with translations like this James Legge one I put together.
Or you may want to wait for me to release my planned online I Ching course. Which, if you do: sign up for my newsletter here and you'll be the first to know it has launched.
Regardless, I hope that you're able to begin, or further your connection with the I Ching.
It's my favorite oracle, and the more people communicating with it, and communicating with each other about it, the better we all may be.