I CHING CHANGING LINES
The distinguishing feature which separates the I Ching from all other Symbolomancy methods is the ‘Changing Lines’. No other Symbolomancy method I’ve covered in this blog has separate meanings for each component of a card’s picture. The card/symbol is what it is. I know of no other divination method, period, that has a changing feature like this. This is the great asset of the I Ching. Its inherent flexibility allows for ‘tailoring’ the specific message to you.
For example, a person who throws Hexagram 63 and gets changes in lines in 2 and 4 is not going to get quite the same message as another person who throws the same hexagram and gets changes in lines 1 and 3. They both get the same essential message: culmination, achievement, a day that starts out well and deteriorates later. But the specific message of Hexagram 63 to each person will differ because their changing lines are different. When each person flips over the changing lines they threw in Hexagram 63, the resultant hexagram, which shows what their situations will change into, are also going to be different hexagrams.
There are 384 changing lines attached to the 64 hexagrams. Added together with the hexagrams themselves, that’s 448 possible answers. And that’s assuming you get only zero or one changing line to the hexagram you throw; you could get more than one, or none. I’ve never sat down to calculate all the possible potential throws you could get with the I Ching, but it’s probably way more than 448.
Attached below are my list of the 384 changing lines and their meanings. I’ve based it on three sources I personally own. I don’t claim it’s definitive. I encourage you to read up on other sources of knowledge for the I Ching, because I’m sure there are I Ching experts who would quibble with mine. But this is enough to get you started.