The Oldest Divination Text
The I Ching (易經, the Book of Changes) is the oldest continuously used divination text in the world. Its 64 hexagrams — each a stack of six broken or unbroken lines — encode a complete philosophy of change, balance, and the relationship between human action and cosmic pattern. The text is over three thousand years old.
The King Wen Sequence
The hexagrams are arranged in the King Wen sequence, the traditional ordering that gives the I Ching its structure. Each hexagram has a name, a judgement, and an image — a brief poetic text that describes the situation the hexagram represents. The Wilhelm/Baynes translation brought the I Ching to the modern Western reader in 1950 and remains the standard scholarly reference.
Consult the Oracle
- Consult the I Ching — the working tool (yarrow stalk simulation)
- Divination in Ancient China — the broader cultural context
- The Cosmic Library — all divination traditions