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I Ching The Classic Chinese Oracle of Change

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Your life will never be the same again! The I Ching can entirely change the way you see things, helping you recognize and resolve anxieties and fears, fulfill your every desire; and release hidden energies. Developed over 3,000 years ago in China, it was originally intended only for rulers, but now can help anyone. Inspired by Carl Jung's insights into the psyche, and researched for more than 50 years through the aid of the Eranos Foundation of Switzerland, this fully revised edition offers much more than just a new translation. It presents the oracular core of the I Ching as a psychological tool and a way of connecting with the creative imagination. The original imagery is retained in its entirety, so all the symbols can interact with your mind just as dream images do. Consult it for any question that concerns you, and it will become an active sourcebook for the care of the soul.

Hardcover

First published December 1, 1994

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Stephen Karcher

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
6 reviews
October 23, 2018
This book is not for the occasional I Ching reader, but for people who like to read between the lines.
It is intriguing and open an entirely new way of reading the oracle of changes.
This is an example from hexagram 16:

Thunder issuing-forth-from earth impetuously. Providing-for.
The Earlier Kings used arousing delight to extol actualizing-tao.
Exalting worship's Supreme Above.
Using equaling the grandfather predecessors.

Associated Contexts Thunder, LEI: rising, arousing power; the
Symbol of the trigram Shake, CHEN. Issue-forth(-from}, CH'U: emerge
from, come out of, proceed from, spring from; the Action of the trigram
Shake, CHEN; contrary of enter, lU. The ideogram: stem with branches

It is clear (or unclear) that the hexagram text is show as a puzzle, that you have to ensemble. Other translation try to make sense of the texts, but this one show the meaning of each Chinese character is show in raw form. It is up to reader to combine the meaning of the disconnected words and make up the message.

I think it is too complicated for the average reader, but also falls shorts for those who seek to understand better the raw Chinese text. It is confusing because many Chinese characters share the same spelling (romanization). Karcher's book shows the characters using the traditional Wade-Giles romanization method instead PinYin, but either using PinYin of Wade-Giles, many characters share the same spelling, that is confusing, because you can see the same spelling in different hexagrams, but referring to completely different characters. It would be far best if it showed the Chinese ideograms as well.
Still it is an interesting translation.
Profile Image for Julia.
54 reviews9 followers
October 26, 2007
i learned much from this book..

its written in many layers... from cover to cover it has a easily read "quick & dirty" layout for someone feeling the need to just pick up a couple pennies (or sticks) and toss a few times, find a hexagram, read a couple pages and be done with it...

but there is much more written there, and if you want to go at all deeper, even if it is a matter of looking for the "tone" of the message, or the shift in the colors or pitch, or some possible transformation: its all there, you just have to stop and look.

the book teaches someone how to find a hexagram with either the coins or sticks, and even though i've had this book for a couple of years there are so many dimensions to it that i am only now even beginning to see and understand....

i think i will never actually be "done" reading it.
Profile Image for Speaker Stelios.
25 reviews13 followers
November 23, 2014
I-cing can for real be a very effective way of finding answers to your problems.
It helps practitioners to dig into themselves and find the answer to their question.
I just found this copy on a market just today.

Cant wait to start giving i-ching answers to my friends!
4 reviews
July 10, 2023
Very complex style of presenting the Iching. Not for the average reader who is only using the I ching in a casual sense. The translation takes the original work down to its very core components. Very in depth for those that are interested in that.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews

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