ABOUT
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Why this exists
I first heard about the I Ching from Jason Louv's Master the I Ching course on Magick.me about ten years ago. I bought Wilhelm's book, started throwing coins, and immediately did what Jason warned everyone not to do: I over-threw. Every decision, every day, every question that crossed my mind. It took time and maturity to understand that the I Ching isn't a Magic 8-Ball. You don't consult it for what to eat for dinner.
Jason explained that the I Ching is 3,000 years old. You should think of it as an advanced being who lives on top of a mountain and has seen it all. When you throw the coins, you figuratively climb that mountain and ask your question. The I Ching responds accordingly. In my mind I would picture myself climbing a mountain path until I reached a cave, and inside sat a monk. A Confucius-looking old man waiting for my question. Jason also mentioned that Aleister Crowley became as obsessed with the I Ching as he was with his Thoth Tarot later in life. That got my attention. I discovered Crowley's own book of translations and loved how he mapped the I Ching hexagrams onto the Kabbalah Tree of Life. Two ancient systems overlaid, each illuminating the other.
I then found Carl Jung's book Synchronicity, which describes the I Ching and how synchronicity factors into a reading. The way I see it: when you ask a question, the reality wave function collapses and you move into a version of reality where your question is answered to the best of the I Ching's ability. I have found that the I Ching is rarely subtle and usually pretty spot on. If you over-ask, it will correct you.
After years of using Wilhelm's book and physical coins I stumbled across iching-online.net. The site is ad-heavy, but the functionality is there. I used it for nearly a decade. Their main translation comes from an old software program called the I Ching Empower Tool by Roger Norton and David Miller. That software hasn't been available since 1995, but the translations live on through iching-online, and they are in my opinion the best short interpretations of the Book of Changes that exist. I would take screenshots of my readings over the years. I have thousands. I really liked how they offered both the Empower Tool and the Wilhelm-Baynes translations side by side. I also thought their addition of images to the readings was novel. After using it for so long, I almost knew what a reading said just by looking at the image. I would borrow this idea for ASCII-Ching, where each hexagram and each changing line gets its own piece of ASCII art that captures the meaning.
The I Ching has gotten me through some of the most intense situations of my life. From divorce to career changes to relationships to back surgery and everything in between. It has been a lifelong friend and I have trusted its advice. By following the I Ching you learn a new way to live, a new way to think about and adapt to situations and circumstances. If you build a relationship with it, it will guide you.
Why ASCII
Being a 90s kid raised on AOL, I was familiar with ASCII art, but I didn't have the appreciation for it that I do now. To me it was always associated with NFO files and the warez/hacker scene. I didn't realize what it actually was.
About two years ago I came across Stone Story RPG, an entire game rendered in ASCII. Hearing the creator standardcombo's love for the medium and watching his tutorials changed how I saw it. Trying to create my own art from scratch showed me how hard it is to make something recognizable with as few characters as possible. In those tutorials he mentioned Joan Stark, and the rest is history. Her ASCII art is by far the best. She isn't called the Queen of ASCII for nothing. I have an entire tribute page for her. The majority of the art on this site comes from her archive, simply because it is the best.
The tutorials made me appreciate how ASCII conveys an idea using the absolute minimum. This is similar to how the I Ching works. Three coins tossed become lines. Lines become hexagrams. Hexagrams become readings. ASCII is lines. It just fit.
The idea
My idea was simple: create an online I Ching tool, free of ads, with 10+ selectable translations including a distilled translation featuring all sources combined, alongside 448 pieces of ASCII art from the best artists of all time. I wanted the art to be as important as the translations themselves. Maybe more. I go through my process for selecting and pairing art in the References section.
I couldn't have gathered all the translations as quickly without the help of James DeKorne's Gnostic Book of Changes, which compiles multiple translations alongside Western esoteric commentary. The translations on ASCII-Ching are currently summarized.
ASCII-Ching will always be free. It will never have ads. This is my thesis, my repayment for everything the I Ching has given me over the years. I have followed its advice and it has helped mold me into the person I am today.
Who built this
ÆonWΔrez. One person, over about two years, on evenings and weekends. Ten years of throwing coins led here. I hope this finds you when you need it. Thank you for reading.