The I Ching (“Book of Changes”) is a key text of Chinese philosophy and a system of divination, devised between five and eight thousands years ago. A central pillar of Chinese culture, the book outlines what were to become the fundamentals of the Taoist religion, emphasizing the duality of ying and yang and the inevitability of change (hence the title). Both Laozi, the author of the Taoism’s central text, the Tao Che Ching, and Confucius were professed devotees of the work.

The book’s format, however, may seem unique to Western eyes. It is comprised of 64 hexagrams of broken (yin) and solid (yang) lines that each possesses a unique meaning, much like the cards of a Tarot deck. By choosing hexagrams at random–usually by means of a coin toss or the casting of yarrow sticks–users are supposed to be able to chart the flow of yin and yang energies and reveal secret glimpses into the higher order of the universe.

The I Ching first appeared in its current form in the 1143 BC, when King Wen, the first of the Chou dynasty, folded two sets of trigrams developed by the Emperor Fu-hsi more than 1500 years prior into the 64 hexagrams we are familiar with today. With the aid his son, the duke of Chou, he then set about devising a short summary of each character’s meaning that provided advice and commentary to would-be diviners.

Over the next thousand years, however, the secrets of the I Ching would become a closely guarded secret of the Chinese hierarchy. In 213 BC, Emperor Chin ordered all Confucian commentaries on the hexagrams burned. Fifty years later, the Emperor would commission a private examination of the I Ching for imperial use. This is known because one copy from this exercise turned up in the year 1715, with notes from more than 218 Chinese academics dating back to the second century BC.

Despite its widespread influence in the East, a definitive translation of the I Ching did not reach the West until the 20th century, when a German copy was released in 1929–an English edition followed in 1949. Both bore forewords by psychologist Carl Jung, who stated the system’s results perfectly illustrated his own theory of synchronicity. “The method of the I Ching does indeed take into account the hidden individual quality in things and men, and in one’s own unconscious self as well,” he wrote.

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