Fifty Stalks

In an age of instant answers, why spend twenty minutes casting one reading?

Original

大衍之數五十，其用四十有九。分而為二以象兩，掛一以象三，揲之以四以象四時，歸奇於扐以象閏，五歲再閏，故再扐而後掛。……是故四營而成易，十有八變而成卦。

In plain words

The number for unfolding the reading is fifty; forty-nine are used. Divide them into two, an image of heaven and earth. Hang one between the fingers, an image of the three powers. Count them off by fours, an image of the four seasons. Set the remainder aside between the fingers, an image of the leap month; there are two leap months in five years, so set aside twice and then begin again. ... So four operations make one change, and eighteen changes make a hexagram.

Key words

蓍shīYarrow: the plant stalks used for casting. Today a set of fifty sticks, or even toothpicks, will do.
太極tài jíThe one stalk taken out at the start and left untouched throughout: an image of the source of all things.
變爻biàn yáoA changing line: a 9 (old yang) or 6 (old yin), which turns into its opposite and points to a second hexagram.

Reading it step by step

For several pages we've learned the language of hexagrams and lines. Today we use our hands. The ancients cast with yarrow stalks, and this passage describes the method, though so briefly that the details have been argued over for two thousand years. Here is the common procedure, and a question: why so slow?

First: get the arithmetic clear. Take fifty stalks. Set one aside in front of you: it stands for the source of all things and is not touched again. Put the other forty-nine on the table and divide them, without counting, into a left heap and a right heap. Take one stalk and hold it between your fingers. Count each heap off in fours and take out what remains (one to four; if a heap comes out even, take four). That is one change.

Gather the rest and divide, hang and count again, three changes in all. The number of groups of four left on the table is the number for this line: six, seven, eight or nine. Write it at the bottom and work upward; six lines take eighteen changes.

How to read the numbers: seven and nine are yang lines; six and eight are yin. Nine and six are "old" and change: nine becomes yin, six becomes yang. The hexagram you get after the change shows where the matter is heading.

50 stalksset one apart

49split · hang one

count by fourstake out the rest

three times→ 6, 7, 8 or 9

Six lines × three changes = eighteen changes

Second: your hand can't reach in. Why divide the stalks, and why not count them as you do? Because nobody can track forty-nine stalks split at random. That is the point: the answer you want can't touch the result. Making up numbers in your head instead tempts you to pick the ones you like: setting your own exam and marking it. The method hands this half to something outside your control. Some readers call it meaningful chance; you needn't accept that view, but at least your preferences can't get a hand in.

Third: slowness and exactness are themselves sincerity. The whole thing takes about twenty minutes, best done early in the morning while the mind is quiet. The steps must be exact. One student complained that several readings had nothing to do with his question; when he went through the method again, he was found to be taking one stalk too few every single time. A miscast reading isn't read at all. The fussy rules are a reminder that what you are asking deserves care.

6 · old yinyin, changes to yang

about 1 in 16

7 · young yangyang, stays

about 5 in 16

8 · young yinyin, stays

about 7 in 16

9 · old yangyang, changes to yin

about 3 in 16

We're used to answers in three seconds, and we often remember them for about as long. In twenty minutes of sitting and counting forty-nine stalks, the hurry sinks and the question clears. Often, before you finish, you already know what you really care about.

How to read the result, and which line to read when several change, will come up as we go. Next is the last page of this part: what kind of question is worth asking.

One line to carry

Twenty slow minutes of counting is itself sincerity.

Try it with your own hands

Divide in two, set one aside, count by fours, put the remainder away: at our sister site, Fifty Stalks, you can do today’s count yourself, step by step. It is slow, and the slowness is the point.

五十策 Fifty Stalks →

A reading is a consultation, not a prediction. For investment, medical or legal decisions, ask a professional.