The bead method sounds better than mine. It's rare to find dice that do not show a preference for certain numbers. (Simple physics regarding material and weight. Nothing so very arcane.) My 3-dice method is probably skewed slightly.I have the Wilhelm/Baynes translation with a forward by Jung.
As I understand things, there is a certain probability to casting lines with yarrow stalks that cannot be directly duplicated using 3 coins. So I use a set of 16 painted coins similar to what Don Webb suggested in How to Become a Modern Magus:
"For this month, you will need to find a book on the I Ching; a hand mirror you will use for scrying and feeding the Ka; a small black silk bag; and 16 beads, colored as follows: 5 yellow, 7 black, 3 red, and 1 blue."
The only issue I have is that paint on the coins tends to chip a little bit at a time. Colored glass beads or marbles would be preferable, but I haven't gotten around to finding just the right ones yet. The method for casting the hexagrams is described here:
Take a glass bead from the bag (or bowl) without looking at it, mark down the kind of line it represents, and put it back in the bag (or bowl). Repeat 5 more times. Hexagrams start with the bottom line (1) and finish with the top line (6). Look up the trigrams & hexagrams. Then make a new hexagram if any of the lines in the first one were "moving" and change Moving Yin to Yang & Moving Yang to Yin. Look up the new trigrams and hexagrams, if any, and use the results for meditation upon your query.
--x-- (6) Moving Yin has the least probability of occurring at 1/16 (one blue bead, if following Webb's instructions),
--o-- (9) Moving Yang has a low probability of occurring at 3/16 (three red beads),
----- (7) Yang at Rest has a medium probability of occurring at 5/16 (five yellow beads), and
-- -- (8) Yin at Rest has the highest probability of occurring at 7/16 (seven black beads).
I use 777 by Crowley and the method I stated above.If you read the I Ching, do you have a preferred translation? What method(s) of casting a hexagram do you use? Have you tried using it for divination or other occult practices?
As I recall, originally I used sticks - the traditional format for the I Ching. Matchsticks work fine.On the road, I don't always have dice.
I have used toothpicks. But if I'm not packing dice, toothpicks aren't likely either. And, what with online payment for everything, coins are scarcer than _________ (insert sumpin' witty here, I'm tired.)As I recall, originally I used sticks - the traditional format for the I Ching. Matchsticks work fine.
Here's a question. On the road, I don't always have dice. Anyone try using an online random number generator? Set paramaters 1-64 for the hexagram. 1-6 for the line. Aesthetically I do not like it. Still, I can't think of any good reason not to use the expedient.
It's a little hard to write "an online not truly random whether or not that matters would depend on how one views the underlying mechanism of the method for attaining foreknowledge if it is a "spirit" that desires or is compelled to share the information, then it would probably be very important to avoid any "material world" interference with their subtle manipulations of the medium on the other hand if it is deterministic of a specific sequence of events on a specific timeline in a multi-verse, then, it doesn't matter at all"- number generator, isn't it? So just humor me ok. I call the number generator what the site's owners call it. You got a problem with that, take it up with them, ok?Well. They're not truly random. Whether or not that matters would depend on how one views the underlying mechanism of the method for attaining foreknowledge. If it is a "spirit" that desires or is compelled to share the information, then it would probably be very important to avoid any "material world" interference with their subtle manipulations of the medium. On the other hand if it is deterministic of a specific sequence of events on a specific timeline in a multi-verse, then, it doesn't matter at all.
Then there's secret option #3, that the human mind is involved in creating / altering reality in a literal manner such that the foreknowledge is actually seeding / incepting / and ammending the sequence of events with the assistance of the magic inherent in the human who is casting the lots.
It's a little hard to write "an online not truly random whether or not that matters would depend on how one views the underlying mechanism of the method for attaining foreknowledge if it is a "spirit" that desires or is compelled to share the information, then it would probably be very important to avoid any "material world" interference with their subtle manipulations of the medium on the other hand if it is deterministic of a specific sequence of events on a specific timeline in a multi-verse, then, it doesn't matter at all"- number generator, isn't it? So just humor me ok. I call the number generator what the site's owners call it. You got a problem with that, take it up with them, ok?
Establishing what is already known? Sure kid, knock yourself out.It's not a criticism of you or what you wrote. You asked about using a random number generator for divination. That's a good question. Answering it involves establishing right away, it's not actually random.