Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Every morning for the past few decades, I’ve given myself a three-card tarot reading AND an I Ching reading.
A book of Chinese wisdom uses hexagrams in various combinations, a total of 64, just as tarot uses 78 cards to explore the self and the world.
While tarot has cups, wands, swords, and pentacles, along with the major arcana and court cards the I Ching uses heaven, thunder, water, mountain, earth, wind, fire, and lake.
You throw three coins six times to get your hexagram addressing your question. Depending on the way the coins fall, heads or tails, you can get just one hexagram, or it can move from one hexagram to another.
I respond to it because, for me, it marries very well with tarot. While tarot has its roots in western imagery and symbols, the I Ching’s are rooted in eastern imagery and symbols. Some days the I Ching informs my journey in a more helpful way, especially if the three-carder is confusing to me
#2, The Receptive, the Empress
#5, calculated waiting, is 2 of Swords.
#51, Shocking, is The Tower
The I Ching Workbook by R. L. Wing, about $20. The original I Ching Book of changes is very dense with complex imagery.
Link to bookshop: bookshop.org/books/the-i-ching-workbook-9780385128384/9780385128384
Every morning for the past few decades, I’ve given myself a three-card tarot reading AND an I Ching reading.
A book of Chinese wisdom uses hexagrams in various combinations, a total of 64, just as tarot uses 78 cards to explore the self and the world.
While tarot has cups, wands, swords, and pentacles, along with the major arcana and court cards the I Ching uses heaven, thunder, water, mountain, earth, wind, fire, and lake.
You throw three coins six times to get your hexagram addressing your question. Depending on the way the coins fall, heads or tails, you can get just one hexagram, or it can move from one hexagram to another.
I respond to it because, for me, it marries very well with tarot. While tarot has its roots in western imagery and symbols, the I Ching’s are rooted in eastern imagery and symbols. Some days the I Ching informs my journey in a more helpful way, especially if the three-carder is confusing to me
#2, The Receptive, the Empress
#5, calculated waiting, is 2 of Swords.
#51, Shocking, is The Tower
The I Ching Workbook by R. L. Wing, about $20. The original I Ching Book of changes is very dense with complex imagery.
Link to bookshop: bookshop.org/books/the-i-ching-workbook-9780385128384/9780385128384
