Free Online I Ching Reading

Divination is the art of seeing and interpreting signs in everything around us. The goal of shamanic divination is to encourage well-being by helping a person live in harmony with the universe around them. One of the best known systems of divination is the I Ching, or Book of Changes. For some 3,000 years, people have turned to the I Ching to help them uncover the meaning of their experience and to bring their actions into harmony with their underlying purpose. The I Ching is an invaluable divination tool in the shamanic art of restoring harmony and balance. Consult the I Ching online using a javascript hexagram generator based on the yarrow stalk method. The result is the immediacy of the coin tossing method with the reliability of the yarrow stalk method.

 

The program is based on my book I Ching: The Tao of Drumming -- the only shamanic interpretation of the I Ching from a rhythmic perspective. A synthesis of shamanic drum ways and Taoist philosophy, The Tao of Drumming provides for the first time the rhythmic structure of the 64 hexagrams or potential human situations. Drum patterns derived from the hexagram images render the essence of each archetype of experience into sound, giving it physical, mental, and spiritual impulse. Through the natural law of resonance, the drummer then embodies the qualities and attributes necessary to effect change or harmonize with change in any given situation.

More than an oracle, the I Ching is a keyboard or periodic table of rhythm archetypes. The key to understanding the I Ching and its place in your life is to realize that the universe is made of vibrational energy; that it is a single, flowing, rhythmic being. According to quantum physics, everything in the universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, has an inherent vibrational pattern. The entire universe is created through vibration and can be influenced through the vibrations of drumming. The Tao of Drumming is a shamanic tool for altering or harmonizing the vibrational state of the drummer or a particular situation in the community. With clear and practical explanations of each of the 64 hexagrams along with useful exercises and illustrations, this innovative handbook demonstrates how drumming these simple rhythm archetypes brings the essential self into accord with the pattern or way of cyclical change, and that way is known as Tao. Find an I Ching Rhythm for your need of the moment.

 

Drumming the Hollow Bone

We need to get out of the way of our dreams and passion so they can be birthed in a clear way. In the current issue of Sacred Hoop Magazine, I share a simple meditation method using the drum to help us shift our consciousness to become a hollow bone or conduit for spirit. It is a way to clear away anything that could possibly clog the bone of our spirit and mind. When we can move our ego and rational mind out of the way to channel the divine power of the universe through us, anything is possible. Read my article "Drumming the Hollow Bone" in Sacred Hoop Magazine, Issue 78, 2012.

Our Ancestors, the Acoustical Engineers

Chavín de Huántar

New discoveries in the young field of archaeoacoustics hint that just as we create elaborate sonic environments with our electronic stereos and theatre sound systems, the ancients may have sculpted their soundscapes as well. In a recent article in Discover Magazine, archaeologists demonstrated that ancient builders of the temple complex of Chavín de Huántar in central Peru designed subterranean soundscapes as stirring as any special effects. In short, the temple's designers may have been not only expert architects but also skilled acoustical engineers. View the Chavín acoustic findings video.

"Shamanic Journey Down Tobacco Road"

My Journey With My Ally Plant
by Dr. Carol Parker

"About 10 years ago while leading one of my first vision quest ceremonies in a remote location in Death Valley, I was shocked when a young woman named Ricki returned from her solo site laden with three - foot long stalks of Wild Tobacco. I had no idea tobacco could grow in such a bone-dry environment. Ricki is an accomplished herbalist, and explained to the group that she had found a spring about two miles from basecamp in a hidden canyon, and near the spring were thick stands of this sacred plant. She planned to dry them and use the dried tobacco in ceremony." Read more.

The Mayan Calendar and Spiritual Evolution

Kenneth Johnson is the author of Jaguar Wisdom: An Introduction to the Mayan Calendar, the only available book written with the assistance of traditional Mayan Daykeepers. In an article for Parabola Magazine, Johnson explains how the Maya used the Mesoamerican Sacred Calendar to compute large cosmic and historical cycles using a system of reckoning called the Long Count. The Long Count is one of the greatest achievements of Maya civilization -- a unique and visionary effort to mathematically quantify and define cycles of emergence. In Maya cosmology, the world is constantly developing in a state of emergence, and hence unstable. Therefore it must be maintained through a mutual divine-human interaction. It is only through the prayers of human beings and their spiritual behavior that the world's equilibrium is made possible. This idea of humankind's spiritual evolution lies at the heart of the history of the cosmos as the Maya understood it