☯️ Who Are You Becoming? (An Alchemical Inquiry)
We’re 8 days past Winter Solstice. Yang energy has reemerged and is growing stronger each day - still tender, still new, but present. And here we are at another threshold: the turning of the Western calendar year.
While the Chinese New Year won’t arrive until February (at the second new moon after Solstice), we can’t ignore the cultural energy for this moment. In our society, December 31st and January 1st carry weight - a symbol, a marker, a place to look toward the new year with hope. There’s a collective feeling of things ending and beginning, a stirring of questions about what comes next and better days to come.
Working with the I Ching to merge your identity with your Dao - the next step, guided by Your Wu Wei
This is where consulting the I Ching can become an Alchemical practice, not just as an Oracle telling your fortune - BUT as a tool for deep self-inquiry in the present moment.
The I Ching as Soul Inquiry -- Your Oracle 101
When Jaye and I turn to the I Ching at threshold moments like the New Year, we start with the concrete question we’re actually facing: Should I move now? Is this the right place to put roots down? Is this the right partnership? Should I change directions in my work? Each time we write down a question and we meditate on it before we each throw the I Ching coins.
These are real questions for many. These are variations of LIFE questions that most of us face or encounter sometime in our lifetime. Each person has their own questions, and we have asked many, many of them over the years. The I Ching responds to each person, each question, each moment in time powerfully - sometimes with answers so clear they take your breath away. (I once asked about whether to sell my house and got the hexagram that essentially said: don’t just leave, RUN - before the roof falls down! That was indeed clarifying.)
But here’s where it becomes Alchemy: we think the real wisdom isn’t just in the answer. It is also in the question. It’s in noticing how you feel about the answer(s) and then asking “better questions” - the questions lying beneath your question.
The I Ching - the ancient Chinese Book of Changes - is a 3,000-year-old mirror. A system of 64 hexagrams, each representing a different energetic pattern of transformation. When you consult it with a genuine question, it gives you an answer. But that answer is a doorway, a pathway, an alternative way to look at your journey. We like to think of it as our own personal Oracle!
Start With What’s Really Real
We suggest you don’t make your questions too vague or too spiritual at first. Ask something about your current situation in life: Should I move to a new house? Should I leave my job? Should I end this relationship?
Be specific. Be concrete. Think and Ask about the actual choice in front of you.
The I Ching responds to questions that are clear about what you’re asking, but genuinely open to what comes back. The Oracle speaks to sincerity, not certainty.
Then Ask: What’s Deeper Than That? What's beyond ...
You get your answer. Maybe it a big "Yes." Maybe it a mysterious "No." Maybe it says "not right now."
Notice how you feel.
- Relief? That tells you what you actually wanted.
- Resistance? That tells you what you're afraid to see.
- Confusion? That tells you there's a deeper question waiting.
Then ask yourself ... What's deeper than that? What's really behind that question and that answer!
If you asked "Should I sell my house?" and got yes - what are you actually ready to let go of? What chapter is ending? What chapter will begin?
If you asked "Should I leave my job?" and the no that you got felt disappointment - what were you hoping to escape? What needs to transform within the situation instead?
If you got a confusing answer - what are you not wanting to see clearly? What's the real question you're afraid to ask?
This is our Alchemical approach: using the first question and the answer as a doorway or an invitation to go deeper into your soul's inquiry to perhaps the deeper underlying need for guidance.
Ask the big question again, if you need to. Sometimes the better question becomes clear only after you’ve gotten the first answer. You're looking for the pattern, not just the prediction. The hexagram isn’t just telling you what will happen. It’s showing you what pattern you’re in, what pattern is trying to emerge, and who you’re becoming in the midst of it. That’s where your Dao reveals itself - in the pattern of how you move through change.
How to Consult the I Ching
The traditional coin method creates a ritual that helps you focus. Here's what you need:
What You'll Need:
- Three identical coins, traditional Chinese cash coins -QIAN coins were used but Pennies work great too!
- Paper and pen
- A copy of the I Ching (we like Alfred Huang's The Complete I Ching translation)
- A quiet space and a focused mind
- Tortoise shell was used through the ages to hold and shake the 3 coins
The Method:
You'll toss the three coins six times to build a hexagram - a six-line figure built one toss at a time from bottom to top. Like the one we created below.
Step 1: Understand the values
Step 2: Toss and add Shake all three coins and let them fall. Add up the total. You'll get either 6, 7, 8, or 9:
- 6 (three tails: 2+2+2) = changing yin —x—
- 7 (two tails, one head: 2+2+3) = stable yang ———
- 8 (two heads, one tail: 3+3+2) = stable yin — —
- 9 (three heads: 3+3+3) = changing yang —o—
Step 3: Record and repeat Draw this line on your paper - it's the bottom line of your hexagram. Toss five more times, recording each line above the previous one.
Step 4: Look up your hexagram Use this lookup page or the chart in your I Ching book to identify which of the 64 hexagrams you've created.
Example:
Let's say your six tosses gave you: 9, 6, 7, 8, 9, 6.
Drawing from bottom to top would look like this, where line 1 is a yang changing line (—o—), and line 2 is a yin changing line (—x—), etc.
Reading with Changing Lines:
Since you have four changing lines (positions 1, 2, 5, and 6), you read:
- The main text for Hexagram 63
- The specific text for each changing line
- Your future hexagram - created by flipping all changing lines to their opposite
Then you flip the changing lines:
- Lines 1, 2, 5, 6: yin becomes yang, yang becomes yin
- Lines 3, 4: stay the same
This creates Hexagram 46 - Pushing Upward (Earth over Wind).
Your reading shows:
- Present: Hexagram 63 - where you are now
- Changing lines: what's in motion, what's transforming
- Future: Hexagram 46 - where the energy is moving
If you get no changing lines (all 7s and 8s), the situation is stable. Read only the present hexagram.
The Heart of the Coins:
Here's the deeper wisdom behind those numbers:
Three heads (all Yang) = Yang has reached its extreme. It's SO yang that it naturally transforms into its opposite, into Yin. This is "old Yang" or "changing Yang."
Three tails (all Yin) = Yin has reached its extreme. It's SO yin that it naturally transforms into its opposite, into Yang. This is "old Yin" or "changing Yin."
Two heads, one tail = Yang is dominant but not extreme. Stable Yang - strong, but not yet ready to transform.
Two tails, one head = Yin is dominant but not extreme. Stable Yin - restful, but not yet ready to transform.
This is the heart of the I Ching's wisdom: at the peak of Yang, there's already a seed of Yin. At the depths of Yin, there's already a seed of Yang. When something reaches its maximum expression, it naturally begins its transformation. This is exactly what we just witnessed at winter solstice - Yang being born from the deepest point of Yin.
Understanding Your Hexagram
Your Present Hexagram - What you created with your tosses. This describes the current pattern you're in.
Changing Lines - If you got any 6s or 9s, these lines are transforming. Read the specific text for these changing lines - they often contain the most important guidance.
Your Future Hexagram - Change all changing lines to their opposite (changing yin becomes yang, changing yang becomes yin) while stable lines stay the same. This shows where the situation is naturally moving.
If you have no changing lines, the situation is relatively stable. The present hexagram is your complete answer.
A Few Practical Notes
If you're new to the I Ching:
- Don't worry about "doing it wrong"
- Start simple - one question, one reading
- Keep a journal - patterns emerge over time
- The I Ching speaks in images and metaphors, not instructions
If you get a confusing answer:
- Sit with it for a few days
- Look at the images in the hexagram
- Trust your first gut reaction
Books We Recommend:
- The I Ching or Book of Changes by Richard Wilhelm/Cary F. Baynes - the classic
- The Complete I Ching by Taoist Master Alfred Huang - more accessible
- I Ching: The Oracle of the Cosmic Way by Carol K. Anthony & Hanna Moog - modern interpretation
- The Visionary I Ching: A Book of Changes for Intuitive Decision Making by Paul O'Brien
You can also go modern and use an app - we love the Visionary I Ching App for a fun and faster reading.
The Alchemy
What we've learned over years: the Oracle reflects back who you are, who you're becoming, and helps you ask better questions about your path moving forward.
Most people want the I Ching to give them answers. What we've found is that it actually helps you create better questions. Questions that take you deeper. Questions that really sink in. Questions that show you your own Dao.
At this threshold between years, we invite you to practice:
Ask your real question(s). Then ask: What's deeper than that? Why do I want to go there...
The I Ching will meet you there. As deep as you're willing to go... it will go with you!
That's where the Alchemy can happen. Not in knowing what to do, but in knowing who you truly are. The doing follows from that - one inspired footstep at a time.
What are you asking? And what's deeper than that?
May your questions lead you home to your Dao. We hope you get to shaking those coins!
Leta & Jaye
Alchemy Learning Center