Graphical Oracles

Here we present some graphical methods for obtaining a hexagram of the I Ching.

Each of the six lines of a hexagram requires performing a procedure with four outcomes, usually denoted: 6, 7, 8, or 9. We wish to emulate the procedure graphically, that is, with a graphic on which a single click (or short set of clicks) of the mouse effects the outcome. We call such a procedure a graphical oracle for the I Ching.

We begin with one-click oracles, of which the simplest is a four-color map. Each pixel of the graphic is given one of four colors, one color for each outcome.

In each case we strive to reproduce the probabilities of the four outcomes achieved by either the classical Coin Oracle, CO or the ancient Yarrowstalk Oracle, YO. For these statistics, see CO Stats and YO Stats.

Revised 07 May 2002 by Ralph Herman Abraham