• China has used various forms of divination, especially use of the I-Ching (the Book of Changes).

• Any form of divination is based on intuitive interpretation of random events - e.g., how a heated bone cracks when put in a fire, or how the cards, tea leaves, toss of coins, or sticks fall.

• These "random" events are not seen as entirely random or meaningless - they reflect forces at work in the cosmos at the moment which also effect us and our immediate future lives.

• These forces are always in motion, always changing. The I-Ching tells us how they will change in the near future.

• Divination reveals to us the current state of these forces and offers suggestions for our future actions in light of these forces - to "flow" with rather than against them (swim with rather than against the river current).

• Divination is not intended to predict future events but, rather, to guide our future actions

• The eight trigrams of the I-Ching represent the interplay of the ever changing energies of heaven, earth and human and their influence upon each other.

• The three lines of each trigram: upper line = heaven, lower line = earth, middle line = human.

• Each element in the trigram may be exerting either passive (yin) or active (yang) energy at any given moment.

• The broken line is Yin, the solid line is Yang which combine in various ways expressing the powers (te) or principles (li) embodied, in and symbolically represented by, the basic elements of nature:

	Earth is: accepting, receptive, relaxing
	its opposite, Heaven(Sky), is: creating, challenging, powerful
	Water is: independent, separate, self-reliant
	its opposite, Fire, is: reliance, cooperation, joining
	Thunder is: stimulating, arousing, exciting
	its opposite, Wind(Tree), is: permeating, penetrating, insightful
	Lake is: expressive, malleable, tolerant
	its opposite, Mountain, is: grounded, stable, firm

• hexigrams are arrived at through a combination of two trigrams (8X8=64)

• once divined, a skilled interpreter can determine how the forces revealed in the hexagram might apply to the issue in question

Explore the I-Ching on the Web: