Also known as the Yi Jing, Zhouyi or Book of Changes, this oracle is
one of the worlds’s most revered and ancient books, originating in China
around five thousand years ago. Richard Wilhelm, who published a much-
respected interpretation of the I Ching in the 1920’s, said this about it:
Nearly all that is greatest and most significant in the three thousand years
of Chinese cultural history has either taken its inspiration from this book, or has
exerted an influence on the interpretation of its text. Therefore it may safely be said
that the wisdom of thousands of years has gone into the making of the I Ching.
Reading this, one is left in no doubts as to the honourable lineage
of this venerated tome… but could be forgiven for imagining
that it might not exactly be an engaging page-turner.
This Book is so worthy that even the word ‘book’ begins with a capital;
it sounds like something one probably should read, but which one just
might not get around to because it sounds a bit too much like hard work.
One could not, without interacting with it ~ for it requires this
mutual exchange rather than to merely be 'read’ ~ imagine
its profundity, its humour, its relevance, its very aliveness.
For those with whom it resonates, there is the spark
of recognition experienced when meeting a kindred spirit
and feeling a meeting of hearts and minds.
The analogy could be made to a bolt of lightning
travelling towards the Earth which, as revealed with
high-speed photography, meets a reciprocating ‘streamer’
of lightning emanating from the ground, resulting in a double-ended,
super-charged bridge of energised light connecting Heaven and Earth.
Similarly, where the spirit of the Zhouyi finds
resonance in the spirit of one who connects with it, the
potential for great insight and transformation is actualised.
This is all the more striking when one considers the great
age of the Book and its origins in a very different world.
The I Ching can transcend all of these perceived
barriers of language, culture, space and time, for
it speaks heart to heart, and has a profound
ability to transform itself throughout the
ages, effortlessly harmonising itself to
the ever-evolving needs of humanity.
In this critical time of powerful
transition, as the very future of
the Earth and all her beings
hangs in the balance, such
heart-centred assistance
in living our truth is
of inestimable
value.
With the help of the fundamental principles of the Book of Changes it is
possible to arrive at a complete realisation of man's innate capabilities.
This unfolding rests on the fact that man has innate capacities that resemble
heaven and earth, that he is a microcosm.
Now, since the laws of heaven and earth are reproduced in the Book of Changes, man is provided
with the means of shaping his own nature, so that his inborn potentialities for good can be completely realised.
Ta Chuan / The Great Treatise
Though the Zhouyi is renowned as an oracle, it's also a deeply coherent
~ and compassionate ~ wellspring of wisdom, which has been of huge
value and influence to me over the last thirty years.
My focus for twenty of those years has been to create a visual
interpretation of the I Ching's sixty-four states of change.
This can be accessed on this site as an interactive oracle.
It's also available in the form of a card deck.
The tiny prototype edition of 250 is here.
An edition of eight oversized decks with unique cast glass
artworks is also nearing completion. (Ask if you're interested :)
At art college age 18 :)
For my eighteenth birthday, a good friend gave me a copy of the I Ching and it, in turn, became a close and loving friend; one who was always there for me to give me counsel about anything which concerned or confused me in life.
I came to have deep faith that the wisdom being shared with me, in turns gentle, shocking,
humorous and awe-inspiring, was always for my highest good…and, as the friendship
deepened, it connected me ever more strongly with my own inner truth.
Through this, I began to feel empowered to chart a clear course through my life day by day and decision by decision…and, finally, inspired enough to share this incredible friend I'd made with others.