The Visionary I Ching, as presented in this section, offers a new non-sexist, non-militarist interpretation — along with inspirational art for each of the I Ching hexagrams — that renders this ancient divination system more useful as an enlightened decision-making tool in modern times. We offer this section as a supplementary or alternative resource for I Ching users, along with instruction to help beginners easily learn to use this fount of timeless wisdom.

Paul O’Brien‘s personal discovery of the I Ching as a teenager at UC Berkeley — followed by over 20 years of studying the revered oracle — led to the composing of this modernized but faithful set of I Ching interpretations and its use in one of the first multimedia programs called Synchronicity in 1989, the more immersive Oracle of Changes CD-Rom adding a meditative sound track and original art for each hexagram in 1997, and the creation of I-Ching.com and Tarot.com in 2000.

• How To: Give Yourself an I Ching Reading
• Interpret: I Ching Hexagram Lookup and Interpretations
• Photo Album: Hexagram Artwork
• Article: History of the I Ching

Paul O’Brien, on his discovery of the I Ching

Other I Ching Books and Resources

Like any other ancient text, I Ching books on the market today offer an assortment of translations to choose from. Some translators have modernized the text, removing gender bias and archaic language. Others have elaborated on the explanations, and only roughly paraphrase the original text. There is a range of quality in translations. Although the Wilhelm/Baynes version by Princeton Press, with its forward by Carl Jung, is certainly the most popular, it is tainted by the politics of the 19th century and tends to be stilted in a slightly Germanic way (it was translated into English from German, which was the original language of translation from the ancient Chinese). It has faithfully preserved the militarism and sexism of patriarchal China going back to the time of Confucius and before. Another version that is also faithful to the original Chinese, but far easier to digest, is The Complete I Ching: The Definitive Translation by the Taoist Master Alfred Huang, a modern I Ching scholar from Shanghai.