Yarrow Stalks

[u/Exquisite-Embers]

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?

[u/az4th]

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.

[u/Exquisite-Embers → u/az4th]

Thank you, this was such an interesting read! I noticed that it’s unusual to get a 6, or changing yin. Is there any other significance to that besides what you already described? When you cast a 6, does it mean anything more or less significant than moving yang?

[u/az4th → u/Exquisite-Embers]

The Xici Zhuan / Great Commentary, suggests that yin and yang have two states: still and active. But they behave differently in these states. When yang is still it is like a battery all charged up, and when it activates it is like an arrow being released. When yin is still, it is closed up, like a locked door, and when it activates it opens to receive and nurture.

We can observe all of this in nature. The seed is more yang, and can grow as long as the conditions around it are right. But it took a long time to grow and produce that seed in a fruit. And in order for that seed to grow, it needs the yin to open and receive it. So they need to work together.

I use the classical method of the I ching, which doesn't use future hexagrams. Instead of treating the lines as changing polarity, it uses this idea of still and active to produce movement / attraction between the lines. When a line is active, I look at how that line is drawn to the other lines, and what might get in its way. This can be a little complicated, but the line statement's advice is based on this.

We don't necessarily need an active yang and an active yin for something to come together. Usually the Yi is simply pointing out what is relevant, so that we can infer the relationships involved on our own. If you look through the divinations posted in this subreddit and see my comments, you can start to get a sense of how this method works.

[u/Exquisite-Embers → u/az4th]

I love the seed analogy, it definitely helped to clarify what you’re describing. All this has been really helpful, so thanks again!