Making my own I Ching Stalks
07/17/24
I’ve been exploring the I Ching recently and am really appreciating it as a divination practice with ancient roots; I’m starting to experiment with using it as a method for communicating with Buddhist figures of the non-human realms. While effective, I don’t love the coin toss method and have been wanting to try to learn the yarrow stalk method for a while. I looked into purchasing some yarrow stalks but then read in Benebell Wen’s fantastic I Ching, the Oracle that she recommends making your own from plants that grow around where you live. I got excited about using Columbine stalks since we have an abundance of Columbine in our yard and I love it so much.
At an astrologically elected time around June’s full moon in Capricorn I harvested as many Columbine as I could, saving the seeds to scatter once they are dried. I let them hang out under the full moon for a nice while along with some other magical bits and pieces.
I cut them into roughly 10″ sections with pruners and wrapped them up to keep them protected.
The next morning I trimmed off any frayed ends with a kitchen knife and cut them down to 9″ each. Every time we had a sunny day I put them out in the yard to dry.
Benebell recommends keeping them wrapped in black silk which contains the magical properties of the sunshine they were dried under and keeps the light off them except when they are being used. I prefer not using silk so I purchased a black cotton square for this and somewhat miraculously found a perfect piece of dark blue linen in my closet for an outer wrap. Side note: Artemis is obsessed with these stalks – every time I get them out she comes running to inspect them. Is I Ching going to be her Witch Cat practice of choice?
Today, having established that my stalks were fully dry and ready for action I put the finishing touches to the whole situation.
First I gave the stalks themselves a bath in some astrological materia (Water of Asclepius & The Fishes Eyes are With Tears).
Then I worked on the wraps, washing them in laundry soap with a couple drops of laundry bluing for purification and a drop of The Throne of the House to beef up their protective qualities. Then I dried them in the sun and ironed them.
Just now I did my first official divination with them and it was great. I really love that this method takes so much longer than using coins. It allows for a much more deliberate and meditative experience with repeated opportunities to focus on the question at hand. It wouldn’t work so well if I needed a quick answer but I get the feeling that, for me, I Ching is going to be for more lengthy ritualized divination so this method seems perfect. Using these stalks that I’ve prepared myself through several different stages definitely feels like a level-up in my magical practice.
