Ursi's Eso Garden

What’s the difference between Yijing and I Ching?

'Yijing' is the more modern pinyin transliteration of the two Chinese characters, 'yi' (change) and 'jing' (book or classic) that used to be represented in the old Wade-Giles system as 'I Ching'. Mandarin (putonghua) pronunciation of both – since they are merely alphabetic variants of the same Chinese characters – is 'ee jing' rather than 'eye ching'. Some diehards still refer to the text as 'Yi King', which often reflects that their interest stems from the works of Aleister Crowley, who used the James Legge translation (Peking was always pronounced Beijing in China).

Similarly, 'dao' is the pinyin equivalent of 'tao' and more accurately reflects how it is pronounced. The Daodejing for instance is the Tao Te Ching. Dao is the same character as the Japanese 'do' in judo, kendo, meaning 'way'. The Japanese Samurai code of bushido for example means 'way of the warrior' – in Chinese bushido is wushi dao, a 'wushi' these days being a person good at martial arts (wu as in King Wu, the martial king, and shi as in 'army', the tag of hexagram 7). 'Dao' is the character on the right of the three at the top of this page, the other two being 'yi' and 'jing'. By 'Yijing Dao' I do indeed intend to imply a martial arts approach to Yijing.

Yijing Dao - Calling crane in the shade by Joel Biroco.

A very exciting Daoist experiment!

Coffee Tasseography:
Fortune Telling with Coffee
It has been done for more than a thousand years in many areas of the world. The most common form of tasseography that is done today is tea leaf reading. Normally, I prefer to do tea leaf reading. I think that the tea leaves are a little bit bigger and it is a less messy process. Sometimes, however, people will specially request coffee-ground reading. Both work the same way: after drinking the liquid, the grounds of coffee or leaves of tea that are left behind in the cup create the symbols that, interpreted well, may be the psychic key to a person's future.

Drinking the Coffee
Drink the coffee and enjoy a good conversation. As you near the bottom of the cup, try not to swallow the grounds. You can use your lips as a sieve to strain the coffee. One technique that I recommend is to try to stay ahead of the coffee grounds. When you are trying to consume the last of the liquid, turn the coffee cup slowly while you are drinking so that you can strain the liquid from the grounds. Drink as much of the liquid as possible.

If the cup holds overwhelmingly negative symbols: symbols of death and treachery, the cup is probably a manifestation of the subject's fears, not what will actually happen.

If the cup is about the future, however, the placement of the image in the cup is important to understand. I believe that the cup relates to only about 4 months into the future. The images at the bottom of the cup relate to something that is farther away, while the rim represents the present time.

As a major component of visual symbolism, color has played a significant role in the world's religions. Seasonal colors adorn shrines — think of Christian churches with their purple altar cloths at Easter or red and green at Christmas. Color designates a person's religious station — consider the saffron robes worn by Buddhist monks or the red miters of Roman Catholic cardinals. Color marks the sacred directions in many indigenous cultures — for instance, the Lakota association of white for north, red for east, yellow for south and black for west.

Our own, however, are chiefly of continental origin, while, so far as it is possible to speak with any positive opinion upon so dubious and involved a question, it would appear that the French systems are largely particular to themselves, subject of course to the fact that proceeding in all cases on certain general principles, to that extent they may be said to derive from one another, or at least from a common root. I have selected for inclusion one system which -- although it first came into notice at the beginning of the nineteenth century -- is likely to be new to my readers.

Crystal gazing is a way to get into trance, where you stare at a shiny object for a longer period of time. If done right, the person will receive visions of various nature.

The trance can be achieved with any shiny object. In popular media, a crystal ball is often used, typically by an old gypsy woman.

Dr. John Dee, 1581 he began to experiment with crystalomancy or crystal gazing, a mode of divination using a globe, a clear pool of water (the method that Nostradamus used to collect his quatrains) or any transparent object.

Here the central figure is unusually surrounded by the ovoid shape of the vesica piscis. Analogous to a vulva, the vesica piscis is a powerful symbol of the Universal Mother. Within the labia or lips of the womb are found the zodiacal signs in the heavens.

The placing of zodiacal man at the centre of the vesica piscis, provides a potent symbolic image of mankind quite literally being born from the universe. Furthermore, the zodiacal signs in the heavens can be seen to correspond with the different zodiacal parts of the body, demonstrating the Hermetic principle of 'As above, so below'.

The primary characteristic which distinguishes a runic alphabet from other alphabets is that each letter, or rune, has a meaning. For example, whereas "ay", "bee", and "cee" are meaningless sounds denoting the first three letters in our alphabet, the names of the first three runes, "fehu", "uruz", and "þurisaz" are actual words in the Germanic language, meaning "cattle", "aurochs", and "giant", respectively. Runes also have magical and religious significance as well, thus transforming the simple process of writing into a magical act. They are also used for divinatory readings and to create magical spells.

This method of spirit communication is based upon a very old ritual known as 'rolling the bones'. Just toss the three Answer Cubes into the Vault of Mystery, shake well, concentrate on the question you want answered, and pour the cubes out onto any flat level surface. The cube that lands closest to you will reveal the answer to any question you might ask. The vault and cubes are quick and easy to build, so make a set before sundown and let the communications begin!

The Vault of Mystery

The astrological map of the hand is key to palm reading. Without an understanding of the qualities that correspond to each part of the hand and each finger, the lines, dots, squares, cuts, hollows and bumps are meaningless.

A star on the mound of Apollo has a very different meaning than a star on the mound of Mars. A person with a large thumb and a long, straight Jupiter finger will behave very differently than a person with a large thumb and a short, twisted Jupiter.

The Astrology in your Hand
by Leslie Zemenek.

A hybrid creation that lies outside the realm of anything recognizable in nature, this oracle figure deliberately provokes anxiety through its shrouded anonymity and the sense of suffocation and entrapment it suggests. Such works and the ritual practice in which they are used are both known as kafigeledjo, a term that is variously translated as "he who speaks the truth," "tell the truth," or "saying true things." The figures give visual representation to invisible bush spirits and function as divination devices. In contrast to the sublime humanism of works of Senufo Sando divination, they clearly embody a wild and unsettling anti-aesthetic.

Kafigeledjo divination is used to uncover misdeeds, false testimony, and culpability. Like the tyeli divination technique practiced by Sandobele, this pursuit of truth ultimately seeks to preserve and uphold Senufo social guidelines concerning descent. It does so by unveiling illicit behavior and by punishing with supernatural sanctions those who violate rules pertaining to forbidden sexual relations and exogamous marriage.

Njinda Divination Figure (Ngombo)

It is generally accepted that we live in the present. The past has passed and the future is still to happen. Therefore:
We cannot change our past and the future is still uncertain.

That means also that nobody can really know what will happen in the future. You could make educated guesses but knowing it is impossible, as that would require that in some way or another the future should already exist.

The idea that the future already happened is impossible to comprehend. Besides, the thought that the future is known, fixed or pre-defined could easily lead to wide spread fatalism.

© Oswald the Runemaker

The first step in understanding rune lore is the understanding of the concept rune. Runes were in use by the Nordic and Germanic tribes of Northern Europe. A rune is not merely a letter in an old Germanic alphabet, but it bears the primary definition of "secret" or "mysteries." There were many different runic alphabets in use throughout Northern Europe over the centuries. The most common is the Germanic or Elder Futhark. This system may have begun as early as 200 B.C.E. The Elder Futhark contains 24 letters divided into three groups of eight, called Ætt (aettir, plural). The first eight is called Freyja's Ætt, the second Heimdall's Ætt and the third Tyr's Ætt.

Free online runecast with viking runes icons and information.

Historical and modern runes, runemaking, and artistic interpretations and products. Includes photographs and descriptions of rune monuments.

© Oswald the Runemaker

In the News:

Glen Johnson said he once used his dowsing rod to communicate with a lost cat. The cat came back the very next day, he said. Welcome to dowsing in the 21st century. The 73-year-old North Berwick, Maine, resident and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard retiree said he has been dowsing for 50 years. He picked up his first divining rod - cut from a wild cherry tree - after a Grange meeting in Wells, Maine, a half-century ago. Practicing with his first forked stick that night, he found water, said Johnson.

Dowser seeks divine power with his divining rods by Portsmouth Herald. (English)
>>> With long Video.