So I'm a fairly newbie Yi interpreter; I've been casting for about a year now. I'd love to know what lessons you've learned about casting and reading.
Here are my own idiosyncratic notes on what I've learned in my brief tenure:
-I used to cast with coins, but then I started comparing it with Clarity's online casting tool. Over time, I found the coin readings inaccurately and unduly negative. Using Clarity's online casting tool, the readings have been both more positive and more accurate. I have a slightly supernatural theory about this: that somehow my handling the coins inflicts them with a bit of my own pessimistic energy, whereas OC's casting tool has been used by so many for so long that it's immune to this.
-I love Jim DeKorne's Book of Changes at http://www.jamesdekorne.com/GBCh/GBCh.htm. I always look up several translations & commentaries for each hex/line, and use what feels appropriate. My general favorite translation is Legge; I find his to be clearest and most accurate. Second is Wilhelm-Baynes. Third Blofeld. Everyone else comes after. For interpretations, I find Legge's Confucian commentary and Legge's own commentaries to be most useful, followed by Wing, and then DeKorne, and Anthony if available. Then everyone else.
-Controversial, probably: I have found the images to be not very useful. Once or twice they've illuminated things, but usually they add confusion.
-I often find Yi is speaking a kind of "sentence" with two hexagrams: e.g. 2.1 The Receptive > 24 Return might be "Be receptive TO the return." You can insert connective terms to see what fits.
-Often Yi will use the same hexagram or even the same line repeatedly over a period of time to mean the same topic in my life. It acquires a special additional meaning for me beyond its stated text.
-Indeed over time the hexes generally start to mean certain general themes to me that reference my life... so a vocabulary seems to be developing.
-With respect to spiritual questions, Yi often addresses the ego... so readings that indicate something "bad" for the ego may actually be good for the spirit, so to say. But this is not an ironclad rule.
-Yi cannot express timing well
-The situation is always changing. Readings seem to give a snapshot of the energies at the moment, but if the situation changes, it is worth doing another reading.
-If a question is unclear, I've found that asking for clarification, or venturing an interpretation and asking Yi whether the interpretation is sound, can be helpful -- mostly. Sometimes it can make things more confusing.
-There have been times when I've been utterly confused by readings, particularly when there are 4+ moving lines. Often I'll ask for clarification, but if that doesn't help, it seems to me that it's time to set Yi aside for a while and come back later.
So that's what I have for now...
Here are my own idiosyncratic notes on what I've learned in my brief tenure:
-I used to cast with coins, but then I started comparing it with Clarity's online casting tool. Over time, I found the coin readings inaccurately and unduly negative. Using Clarity's online casting tool, the readings have been both more positive and more accurate. I have a slightly supernatural theory about this: that somehow my handling the coins inflicts them with a bit of my own pessimistic energy, whereas OC's casting tool has been used by so many for so long that it's immune to this.
-I love Jim DeKorne's Book of Changes at http://www.jamesdekorne.com/GBCh/GBCh.htm. I always look up several translations & commentaries for each hex/line, and use what feels appropriate. My general favorite translation is Legge; I find his to be clearest and most accurate. Second is Wilhelm-Baynes. Third Blofeld. Everyone else comes after. For interpretations, I find Legge's Confucian commentary and Legge's own commentaries to be most useful, followed by Wing, and then DeKorne, and Anthony if available. Then everyone else.
-Controversial, probably: I have found the images to be not very useful. Once or twice they've illuminated things, but usually they add confusion.
-I often find Yi is speaking a kind of "sentence" with two hexagrams: e.g. 2.1 The Receptive > 24 Return might be "Be receptive TO the return." You can insert connective terms to see what fits.
-Often Yi will use the same hexagram or even the same line repeatedly over a period of time to mean the same topic in my life. It acquires a special additional meaning for me beyond its stated text.
-Indeed over time the hexes generally start to mean certain general themes to me that reference my life... so a vocabulary seems to be developing.
-With respect to spiritual questions, Yi often addresses the ego... so readings that indicate something "bad" for the ego may actually be good for the spirit, so to say. But this is not an ironclad rule.
-Yi cannot express timing well
-The situation is always changing. Readings seem to give a snapshot of the energies at the moment, but if the situation changes, it is worth doing another reading.
-If a question is unclear, I've found that asking for clarification, or venturing an interpretation and asking Yi whether the interpretation is sound, can be helpful -- mostly. Sometimes it can make things more confusing.
-There have been times when I've been utterly confused by readings, particularly when there are 4+ moving lines. Often I'll ask for clarification, but if that doesn't help, it seems to me that it's time to set Yi aside for a while and come back later.
So that's what I have for now...