As I’m currently dabbling in Chinese philosophy and metaphysics, I have inevitably come into contact with an incredible system of reading the I Ching that I had never heard of. In the Western world, the I Ching (or Yi Jing) is mostly associated with tossing coins and reading passages in an old book.

However, a couple of other different systems of interpretation exist, including Mei Hua Yi Shu, or Plum Blossom, and my new favorite, Wen Wang Gua, or King Wen Oracle. Plum Blossom is essentially a form of Horary Astrology (another huge interest of mine.) You don’t really cast a hexagram: you deduce it from the time the question is asked (although there are other methods as well.)

Wen Wang Gua, on the other hand, is a mix of Horary and regular divination. Like horary, it takes into account the current astrological climate (using Chinese astrology in the form of Ba Zi, the eight characters or four pillars.) However, it also involves using coins or yarrow stalks to cast a Hexagram with a varying number of changing lines. The answer is not read in a book, but deduced almost mathematically by applying a set of interpretive rules.

I am by no means a master of anything in life, and even less of Wen Wang Gua, whose rules I still struggle to keep in mind (there’s way too many,) let alone apply coherently. However, I tried making a prediction today on a soccer match. Now, I couldn’t give a rat’s behind about soccer, and the match I chose to predict I picked at random from an online newspaper. I know nothing about the teams.

It was Frosinone versus Atalanta, two Italian teams. In order to predict a competition in Wen Wang Gua, we need to assign a Subject and an Object. In this case it doesn’t really matter which team is assigned to what, as long as this is done beforehand. I cannot go into the subtleties of the system. I will start talking about it once I’ve managed to get the basics down. This is my Hexagram (original plus resulting Hexagram) and my line of reasoning.

Subject: Atalanta
Object: Frosinone
Focus line: Officer (because it is a fight) although I’m doubtful that a Focus line was needed. After all, the objective of a match is to beat the opponent, not to win something else

Subject (Wu, Horse) is extremely weak, being jailed by the Month Branch and exhausted by the Day Branch. Furthermore, the line moves to become void. Object Zi controls Subject Wu (Water controls Fire.)

Object (Zi, Rat) is technically void, but because it is generated by a moving line, it is not. It is also generated by the Month Branch and forms two Water Triangles, one with the Officer and the Day Branch Dragon and one with the Wealth Dragon and the Month Branch Monkey. This strengthens it. Officer also moves to generate it. Line 6, the Dog, moves to attack it, but it is dispersed by a clash with the Day Branch.

However, the Hexagram is a six-clash gua, and the Body line Mao does not appear, which indicates uncertainty, so it cannot be a unilateral triumph. Furthermore, Subject seeks to control Officer, and while it is too weak to win (furthermore, Officer is at the Month Branch), still it shows that the losing team doesn’t go down without a fight, especially considsting the White Tiger at Subject. Subject also moves to become the Ox and attack the Object, although, again, the Ox is void, so it doesn’t accomplish much. Finally, the Object Zi is not especially strong in itself, although it is a good deal stronger than the opponent.

In short, a mixed picture where Object (Frosinone) should prevail but not triumph.

I cast the hexagram at around midday of the day of the match. The match started at 18.30. The result: