The I Ching (translated: Book Of Change(s)) was authored approximately 5000 years ago by Fu Hsi, King Wen, the Duke of Chous and Confuscious. It is still a widely used form of "reading" in many cultures. The I Ching is best used for answering deep questions where you will get answers to contemplate...asking yes or no questions will be useless with the I Ching.
The ritual used in the I Ching consists of tossing three coins (if you are using pennies they are deemed to be the luckiest coin) six times while concentrating on your question and recording the results. There are 64 possible hexagram outcomes. The recorded results will be based on the following coin tosses:
Two heads = results in a solid line
Two tails = results in a broken line
Three heads = results in a "changing solid line"
Three tails = results in a "changing broken line"
Each throw results in a line that is stacked one on top of the other until you have something like this:
 |
| Not necessary to actually tattoo the results...sheesh! |
_ _sixth toss
___fifth toss
___fourth toss
_ _third toss
___second toss
___first toss
This will be your hexagram. If any of the tosses results in a "changing" solid or broken line, you will need to draw a second hexagram changing the solid or broken line for that toss to its opposite i.e. a changing solid line would show as a broken line in the second hexgram. All other lines would remain the same in the second hexagram. The reading will then be a combination of these two hexagrams.
You will need to invest in a book on the I Ching to have pictures and meanings of all the 64 possible combinations of hexagrams. Once you have built your hexagram that will be the answer to the question you were concentrating on while throwing the coins. That's all there is to it.
As far as relating to 2012, the I Ching hexagrams were dissected and plotted back in the 70's and then graphed. The researchers related the I Ching to 2012 in a new way. Extending their graphs over a period of time showed some unique alignments: when the "new world" (a high on the graph) was discovered and lows when the Roman empire fell and the world wars took place. The researchers were unaware of the Mayan calendar at the time but their graphs ended in a low and it was late in 2012!
Who knows, maybe there is more to this than first thought.
May the I Ching answer all your burning questions...
