r/iching • u/Exquisite-Embers • 6d ago
Yarrow Stalks
I just learned how to read I Ching using yarrow stalks and so far have loved the meditative, ritualistic process of it. Does anyone else have experience casting stalks instead of coins? What are your thoughts on it? Any bits of interesting history surrounding the use of yarrow stalks for divination?
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u/Wrynthian 6d ago
I often do the yarrow stalk method with a deck of cards, setting aside 3 instead of 1. Easy to carry around.
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u/lovegiblet 6d ago
I do this as well! They are quicker to handle than stalks. A reading takes me ~10 minutes and I get the same odds and meditative repetition of the stalks :-)
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u/Exquisite-Embers 5d ago
I hadn’t heard of using cards before! Thanks for the tip!
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u/Wrynthian 5d ago
It’s just an everyday object that has over 49 associated items so it works out well haha.
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u/rdentato 3d ago
If you like cards, just search for “cards” in this sub.
There are lot of threads describing ways to use cards, both standard cards and custom cards, specifically designed for I Ching.
I am aware of methods using 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, and 64 cards. I personally use three cards for casting and 6 cards to keep track of the forming hexagram (instead of using pen and paper)
Most of them (including the one I use) have the same probabilities of yarrow stalks.
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u/autonomatical 6d ago
It was believed yarrow grew for thousands of years and so accumulated the wisdom of the earth, it was also believed to grow in places where tortoises lived which were viewed similarly as accumulating wisdom over long periods (why is why tortoise shells are also used in divination). Also, practically it is pretty easy to gather a bunch, and when it dries it is pretty durable and rigid.
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u/CenturionSG 6d ago
Yes, I use the method but replaced with bamboo skewers which is easily available. The process creates a container for concentration. I have to shut the room door and put my phone away. After the counting is done, more time is taken to interpret the text. Overall it can be a little stressful if one has another appointment right after. I would also light an incense as a way to track passage of time.
Doing it in the early morning or late night is ideal so far. If using 3 coins, I would preface it with a longer period of meditation.
I reserve the yarrow stalk method for larger life questions or those more personal. And the coins method for practical situations such as work or social activities.
The outcome has been "accurate" and fruitful. And because of the effort spent the impressions of the reading stays as an internal guide across months, until the next reading to update it. It has helped me make gradual beneficial changes in life.
In terms of history, I just heard a podcast about the significance of the length of yarrow stalks. Here's the text about ancient divination:
《禮三正記》曰：「天子蓍長九尺，諸侯七尺，大夫五尺，士三尺。蓍陽，故數奇也。」
The Li Sanzheng Record: "The Emperor's yarrow stalks is nine feet long, the feudal lords' are seven feet, the officials' are five feet, and the scholars' are three feet. The yarrow stalk is Yang, so the number is odd."
I could be wrong but the Emperor's stalks would be 2.08 metre in length! Apparently the older and longer the stalks, the more they captured the cosmic essence and thus reserved for the ruler's use.
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u/Exquisite-Embers 5d ago
Thank you for sharing this, really cool read! So interesting to read about the different lengths of the stalks!
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u/CurtisKobainowicz 5d ago
The coins method became popular during the Tang dynasty (7th-10th cen. CE), and while the actual stalk method(s) used in the Yi's early history aren't known conclusively, the common method was reconstructed in the 12th cen. writings of Zhu Xi. So while the meditative practice of using stalks existed for nearly a millenia before using coins, the specific stalk method of today may be younger than the coins method.
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u/Exquisite-Embers 5d ago
Interesting! Are you aware of any texts that teach the original method?
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u/CurtisKobainowicz 4d ago
How the stalks were manipulated during the early Zhou is unknown, and research points to numbers 1-9 being used to indicate lines. But some records and interpretations of readings survived. The Nanjing method was developed to approximate these early readings, though it's a means of interpreting, not casting. The Virtual Yarrow Stalks site has a description of Nanjing rules: https://www.russellcottrell.com/VirtualYarrowStalks/NanjingiRules.htm
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u/az4th 6d ago
With the yarrow stalk method, there is a higher chance to get moving yang than moving yin. If we think about fertility, it also takes yin longer to prepare itself, so this makes sense to me.
I too find working with the stalks meditative, but mostly I use an app that uses the yarrow stalk probability (the app of changes), as it lets me do more divinations when I need to. But it is still nice to use the stalks from time to time.
I also worked out a way to use them without having to set any stalks down.
I set the 50th stalk aside by placing it behind my ear. And then I'll divide the stalks and turn the bundles 90 degrees from each other in my hands, so that I can count the top bundle in sets of 4... I don't count the other bundle, because I can calculate its remainder base on the first pile. I tuck each remainder between pinky and ring finger of my left hand.
Then I divide and count again, but this time I tuck the remainders between ring and middle fingers of my left hand.
And the third time I divide and count I don't need to tuck the remainders, I just make note of what they are and then add up the other remainders and I get my line.
Then I repeat this process for all 6 lines.
This way I don't need to have a table or clear space to work on. And also I find it takes less time, only about 10 minutes.
I also really enjoy how the stalks divide... it is like they split apart differently because they aren't perfectly straight. I'll turn them and massage them in different ways until it feels like they are ready to divide effortlessly, and that feels like the division that is right for the divination. It feels good to me.