The Working Tools

The working tools of an I Ching practitioner are the yarrow or staves, the paper, the pen or stylus and ink, and the book itself.   The yarrow or staves are used to cast the oracle, paper is used to record the oracle on, the pen to draw the lines of yin and yang, and the book is used to study and analyze the hexagram and consider its implications.

However, in the Yi Fa Society we are not just fortune-tellers but cultivators, so we apply these tools to the development of enlightenment. 

In that sense, the staves or yarrow stalks represent Time and the nature of Change. 

The paper represents the vast potential of Space.

The pen represents the noting of confluence of these forces, manifesting in the specific measurement of Change in this one point in space-time.

And the book represents the wisdom of the Sage in comprehending the significance of this measurement, in order to know how to manifest the Superior Individual in any point in time and space, in any circumstance of change.