The I Ching
Classic of Changes
Consult the Oracle
◄ Present
Hexagram
► Future
Hexagram
Cast a Hexagram (RNG)
Casting a hexagram on this page uses the computer's RNG (random number generator) to build a hexagram.
Hexagram from Bits (24 Bits)
24 bits of randomness can be supplied from any source to build a hexagram. 4 bits are required for each line. Bits must be supplied in binary notation.
Interesting sources of truly random bits include:
ANU QRNG: Quantum Random Numbersrandom.org: Random Numbers from Atmospheric Noise
Hexagram Cast Log
A log of the hexagram's lines will appear in this box when it is cast.
Formulating a Question
The I Ching can be used for guidance in three contexts: as a psychological tool, as an oracle which
divines the future, or as a method to commune with spirits.
You are free to use the I Ching and this website in any fashion you please; however, I (website creator)
tend to view it as a psychological tool which creates interesting correspondences with the future by
means of synchronicity.
Below is a guide on formulating a question from "The Original I Ching Oracle Or, The Book of Changes"
(2018, p.19) which assumes that the I Ching is being used as a psychological tool. In a psychological
context, one would use the I Ching to receive images that can be interpreted for guidance in a manner
similar to dream interpretation.
Of course, it is not strictly necessary that these guidelines be followed, but I would assume that
scholars who have translated the I Ching know better than I about how to ask it questions.
Formulating a Question to the Oracle
1. Ask only questions that are emotionally significant for you. The emotional charge in your question is the energy that activates the archetypal images in the answer. Only then can they speak to you and cause a rearrangement of your view of the situation. A question asked out of simple curiosity rarely gets a meaningful answer: the psychic energy required for significantly processing the matter is simply not available.
2. Divination is not meant to replace critical reflection and introspection. Interrogating the oracle is useful only after you have deeply examined the situation and yourself and out of this examination you have distilled an appropriate question.
3. Avoid asking the Yijing [I Ching] what to do, and avoid asking questions that expect yes or no as an answer (e.g., is it right to do this? will this succeed?). The answer will consist of images, and it will say neither yes nor no: it will be up to you to decide for a yes or a no, based on the resonance that those images call up in you.
4. Avoid alternatives (e.g., /should I do this or that?). If the question is formulated as an alternative, it is difficult to decide whether the images contained in your answer refer to “this” or to “that.” When you are faced with an alternative, make a tentative choice (maybe the choice that is closer to your heart or the one that awakens more energy in you) and “test” it with the Yijing (“what about doing this?”). The answer will usually indirectly illuminate also the other option. A typical formula we often used at Eranos is “give me an image of ...” (this situation, this choice, my attitude, etc.).
5. Be as specific as possible. Do not be afraid to narrow your question down. The answer to a vast or general question is often difficult to interpret, because the images can be read in too many different ways. On the contrary, starting from a concrete and emotionally significant question, the answer of the oracle frequently expands to include larger issues in the consultant's life.
易經
The I Ching
or Book of Changes
or Classic of Changes
Translated by Richard Wilhelm (1923)
and Cary F. Banes (1950)
About This Translation
This website hosts an English translation of the I Ching (a.k.a. Yijing, Book of Changes, Classic of
Changes)
by
Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Banes. Originally translated from Chinese to German by Richard
Wilhelm
in 1923, Wilhelm's translation was later translated into English by Cary F. Banes in 1950.
As of 2025, Wilhelm's
translation is over 100 years old. Thank you Richard Wilhelm for allowing the western world
access to
this ancient wisdom, and thank you Cary F. Banes for allowing the English-speaking world access
to it as well.
The machine-readable translation of I Ching by Wilhelm/Banes used for this website was sourced
from Adam Blvck, who sourced a
Markdown version from Harry Wang, who
sourced the original digitized text from a webpage hosted by
the University of Parma.
If there are any issues with the translation, please let me know by
opening an issue on this website's Github
repository. There seem to be a lot of typographical errors
at the moment. I myself have fixed a number of the typographical errors found in the
machine-readable translation, but there's a good chance that I haven't caught all of them. In fixing
such
errors, I used another digitized
version of Wilhelm's I Ching as a reference.
About This Website
This website was created on a whim by a programmer named Dan. I wanted both an aesthetically pleasing copy of the I Ching and an online script to cast I Ching hexagrams with. The hexagram casting script found on this website uses the Four Coin Method, which yields identical probabilities as with the classic Yarrow Stalk Method. The hexagram random number generation uses the Crypto.getRandomValues() API with a fallback to Math.random() if Crypto is unavailable. The website's stylesheet was created using a heavily modified version of simple.css. The hexagrams are drawn and animated using SVG.js. No generative AI was used in the creation of this website.
After the idea for creating this website came to me, I consulted the I Ching on the action of creating it. I casted a hexagram and received Hexagram 29, Darkness: "The Abysmal repeated, If you are sincere, you have success in your heart, And whatever you do succeeds." Carl Jung happened to receive the same hexagram after asking about his action in writing the foreword to Richard Wilhelm's I Ching translation. The oracle works in strange and unusual ways!
Each hexagram entry on this website links to The Gnostic Book of Changes, by "Michael Servetus." The GBC is an amalgamation of multiple I Ching translations, combined with the insights of its author. I find it to be a great source of further information on hexagrams beyond referencing just one individual translation.
For a Version of I Ching
The imminent is as immutable
As rigid yesterday. There is no matter
That rates more than a single, silent letter
In the eternal and inscrutable
Writing whose book in time. He who believes
He's left his home already has come back.
Life is a future and well-traveled track.
Nothing dismisses us. Nothing leaves.
Do not give up. The prison is bereft
Of light, its fabric is incessant iron,
But in some corner of your mean environs
You might discover a mistake, a cleft.
The road is fatal as an arrow's flight
But God is watching in the narrowest light.
- Jorge Luis Borges (translated by Eric McHenry)