King Wen Oracle | Moderately Quick Silver

Wen Wang Gua is such a fun oracle. It is rather cerebral in its functioning, not unlike horary astrology, but it is incredibly accurate. In fact, I think the I Ching (in its Wen Wang Gua or Plum Blossom forms) is to Chinese Astrology what horary astrology is to Western astrology. There are some limitations to the analogy, but it is a good one, as far as it goes.

Some days ago, I asked the I Ching when it would rain, just for kicks. Being the end of August, some rain wouldn’t be bad.

Subject: Here
Object: the Weather
Focus: Parents line (represents rain, because it is life-giving)

“When will it rain?” answered with Wen Wang Gua (I Ching). Software used: Four Pillars & Feng Shui

Parents hold the Object line with Shen (Monkey, metal.) It also holds the Month branch, therefore not only is it vibrant: it is also useful. But it doesn’t move. Furthermore, the Subject, Wealth Snake, moves to restrict it, and while it is untimely at the Month branch, it is supported by being at the Day branch which is also Snake (although Metal is born at Snake). The Day Branch holds the Parents up in a combination. It is a very uncertain picture, and indeed we’ve been having a very changeable weather, with clouds and sun, but not rain. It is complicated by the fact that this is a six-combination Hexagram, which doesn’t favor change.

But the situation should change on Goat day, that is, in two days, when the Goat Wei clashes the void Ox line from void to compact to drain away the restricting Snake energy and generate the Parents line. It is more likely to rain in Wei or Shen hours (1pm-5pm). However it probably won’t last very long as the resulting Hexagram is an all-clash.

(Note: these are my notes on the reading taken on the day of the reading)

Flashforward to two days later

I asked again. This time the question was if it would rain that day

“Will it rain today?” answered with Wen Wang Gua (I Ching) Software used: Four Pillars & Feng Shui

The Hexagram is still. Technically this would mean that there are no changes, but this is not necessarily the case, as change can happen in many ways. For instance, in this case we have the Parents line still represented by the Monkey Shen at Subject and, again, at the Month Branch, while the Object is void, which usually is said to indicate unpredictable weather. Voids prelude to change. In this case, Goat at the Day Branch clashes the Ox from void to compact to generate the Monkey. It will probably rain in Goat or Monkey hours.

Result: it rained in Monkey hour, at 15:30, but it lasted less than an hour, as predicted by the six clash Gua. I’m wondering if there is something I was missing that would have allowed me to narrow down the hour to just Monkey and not Goat in the prediction.

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

The Wen Wang Gua cast for the match. The program I used is Four Pillars & Feng Shui

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: