A book of East Asian fortune-telling

Today, I’d like to share an interesting book from my bookshelf.

This one's something like the original fortune-telling manual of East Asia... It's been read for centuries in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and beyond.
It's called the Yi Jing (易經).

The copy I own was published in Shanghai in 1943, and just holding it, you can feel the weight of history...
the texture of the paper, the slightly faded ink...
I mean, don’t you kind of get the feeling that if you used this to do a reading, it might actually work?

But the real history of this book goes way, way further back.

For example, archaeological findings suggest that by around 170 BCE, the text we now know as the Yi Jing had already taken its present form.
And from sites dating all the way back to 1000 BCE, we've even found partial writings that match the current version.

So yeah...no one really knows exactly who wrote it or when.
It's a pretty mysterious book.

Maybe because its origins are so murky,
the Yi Jing has picked up all sorts of slightly occult-sounding legends over the centuries.

...Like how the first trigrams were supposedly drawn by an ancient emperor with the body of a snake.

...Or that the original text was written by a virtuous ruler while he was imprisoned, sometime around 1000 BCE.

...There's even a story that Confucius read the book so many times that the string binding it snapped three times.

...Oh, and let’s not forget the theory that its true origin might actually lie in ancient Mesopotamia.

…Yeah, I know.
Sounds totally over the top, right?
But honestly, it just goes to show how much this book has captured people’s imagination over the ages.

Alright, enough about the history and background...
let’s get into how to actually do a reading.

There’s a traditional method using special tools called yarrow stalks (蓍策),
but there’s also a much easier way.

For example, if you're in the U.S., just grab five pennies and one dime.
(If you're elsewhere, any five same-sized coins and one that's noticeably different will do.)

Here’s how it works:

1. Shake the six coins around in your hands just like you're rolling dice.
2. Then, line them up vertically in a single column, making sure you can clearly see which side is heads and which is tails.
3. Now, look at the ratio of heads to tails, and take note of where the dime is positioned.

Based on that combination, you’ll match it to one of the 64 hexagrams in the Yi Jing,
and read the interpretation that comes with it.

That’s your answer.

Alright then, let’s try it out by doing a reading for my own "tomorrow."

The Question:

As of August 7, 2025, my throat hurts, my nose is running,
my body feels heavy, and my head’s pounding.
My temperature? A slightly worrying 37.8°C.

…Yeah. No doubt about it. I’ve got a cold.

So here’s the question:
Can I take the day off tomorrow?

The Result:

Dime - heads

Penny - heads

Penny - tails

☴

Penny - tails

Penny - tails

Penny - tails

☷

The reading came up with ䷓ Hexagram 20 – Guan (觀 / “Contemplation”),
specifically the top line (上爻).

Now, what does that say?

上九，觀其生，君子无咎.

Roughly translated:

“Contemplation one’s life. If one is a virtuous person, there will be no blame.”

Well, I mean…
I do work hard most of the time.
And honestly, I wouldn’t be wrong to call myself a "君子" (a person of virtue), right?

So yeah...when someone like me occasionally gets sick,
taking a proper rest to recover shouldn't bring any blame.

Let’s take that as a green light to take the day off.
(Even though, yes, the doctor later told me it was just a regular cold…)

You know, I think the real value of fortune-telling isn’t so much about whether it “comes true” or not it’s more about pausing at a crossroads and giving yourself a moment to think.

The Yi Jing has actually been translated into English under the title “I Ching, or Book of Changes”,
and Carl Jung wrote the foreword.

Here’s what he had to say:

"The I Ching insists upon self-knowledge throughout. The method by which this is to be achieved is open to every kind of misuse, and is therefore not for the frivolous-minded and immature; nor is it for intellectualists and rationalists. It is appropriate only for thoughtful and reflective people who like to think about what they do and what happens to them — a predilection not to be confused with the morbid brooding of the hypochondriac."

…Pretty heavy stuff, huh?

But if that piqued your interest even a little,
you can grab a copy for around 15 buck...might be worth a read, don’t you think?