I Ching Reflections: Why the 50 stalk method?

Why do I use the 50 stalk method of consulting the I Ching? Obviously, the biggest problem with the 50 stalk method is that it takes at least ten minutes to execute if you are a fast manipulator of the stalks, much longer is you are less experienced. Putting aside thirty minutes or more to consult the I Ching is difficult with our contemporary lifestyles ... Most divination systems provide a mechanism for fast divining, providing an experience that is focused on the interpretation of the resulting images rather than the evolving process of watching the image form, which is the case with the 50 stalk I Ching method. You feel each line individually, viscerally and you start to look ahead at the potentialities present in the coming lines ... You can also benefit from the physical presence of the stalks, the feel of the bundles in the fingers and the "will" (for the lack of a better term) of the stalks during that particular reading, something you don't have within any other divination system that I can think of. By "will" I mean the actual personality of the stalks. Everyday, every reading they behave differently. Sometimes they cooperate marvelously, falling into place cleanly, remaining in place ... Other times they they fight with each other, they fight your fingers, they roll away, fall apart from their groupings and drop off the divining table ... I like to account for these factors in my meditation and reflection ... It is this body memory experience that I cherish the most ... In the end, all divination systems give you an image to interprete ... The 50 stalk method for the I Ching gives you a full-body, tactile, aural (hearing the clatter and roll of the stalks), visual, three dimensional journey that presents images and feelings at many levels from many directions ... I have experimented with many different media for the stalks themselves, even actual yarrow stalks, which I found too lightweight and thin, at least for my fingers (especially after they dry out) ... My favorite stalks are twigs chosen from a variety of trees, where the personality of the twig and the tree can manifest itself in the reading ... Twigs also allow me to blend the sensual celtic. druidic spirituality with the magic of the I Ching ... The problem with the twigs is that they collect and leave particles of dust that activate the Contessa's allergies, so I have settled for bamboo skewers ... They bring a significant substance and weight into the experience that unlocks my body-memories and they are very clean, from the stand point of dust ... They also make a wonderfully clean clicking sound when they hit and roll on the divining table ... But I have to be careful when I do that because it gets on the nerves of the Contessa, so I bought a small padded floormat that I put on my divining table ... The mat is black so that my one eye can see the light bamboo stalks ... Otherwise they literally disappear from my fading sight and I cannot validate the seasonal groupings of the stalks as I divide them ... This also has the advantage of being doable if I become totally blind, a consideration that is continuously on my ... The glaucoma will always be there ... The optical nerve damage will always be there .... And _no_, smoking pot will not solve or mitigate this kind of glaucoma (pigment dispersion glaucoma) ... This is a question I am asked a lot ... Il Matto ... http://josjr.com/