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I Ching, the Oracle: A Practical Guide to the Book of Changes: An Updated Translation Annotated With Cultural & Historical References, Restoring the I Ching to its Shamanic Origins
Through in-depth annotations, cultural and historical references, and magical practices, Benebell Wen amplifies the wisdom—both profound and practical—of the 3,000-year old text. She includes aspects of the I Ching that have never before been translated into English, offering fresh perspectives on a classic work.
Rooted in her experience and knowledge as a Taiwanese-American occultist and Buddhist with deep family ties to Taoist mysticism, Wen's groundbreaking translation is accompanied by a critical analysis of earlier I Ching transmissions.
Rooted in her experience and knowledge as a Taiwanese-American occultist and Buddhist with deep family ties to Taoist mysticism, Wen's groundbreaking translation is accompanied by a critical analysis of earlier I Ching transmissions.
960 pages, Hardcover
Published September 26, 2023
130 people are currently reading
1749 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 23, 2023
Years ago, I read a different version of the I Ching. I enjoy reading anything about spirituality or religion. I love learning about different religions and cultures. It's all so fascinating.
Benebell's I Ching is beautifully translated with just as beautiful illustrations, which many will find extremely helpful.
Benebell states, "Every
generation, every school of political philosophy, and every path of thought—
from the varied shamanistic and animistic traditions indigenous to the Asian
continent, to Christianity, Marxism, and Jungian psychology—people find
their own truths within the lines of this sacred text." I absolutely believe this is true.
Benebell's I Ching is beautifully translated with just as beautiful illustrations, which many will find extremely helpful.
Benebell states, "Every
generation, every school of political philosophy, and every path of thought—
from the varied shamanistic and animistic traditions indigenous to the Asian
continent, to Christianity, Marxism, and Jungian psychology—people find
their own truths within the lines of this sacred text." I absolutely believe this is true.
January 31, 2024
An exceptionally deep coverage of the I Ching from the view of a practicing mystic. It covers historical, cultural, and practical angles to the fullest. It also has walkthrough practice methods for the different styles and schools.
October 8, 2023
I Ching, The Oracle is another stunningly comprehensive metaphysical reference work from author Benebell Wen. Like Holistic Tarot, though, this book is not for the feint of heart! I was primarily familiar with Wen’s work in the tarot community, where she’s known for her interest in the scholarly and occult side of things. Her books and courses are super-dense and packed with information, and though more digestible, her YouTube videos on topics such as tarot, Taoist practice, and Jungian archetypes are similarly heavily researched. In this book on the I Ching, Wen blends her strengths as a researcher and magical practitioner to present a detailed overview of the context of the Book of Changes across cultures, interspersed with practical divination and magical exercises, and provides her own translation and commentary of the Oracle. Reading this text cover-to-cover as a total newbie to the I Ching, I was somewhat overwhelmed, but at the same time fascinated and eager to dig in more slowly over time.
Going far beyond the I Ching itself, this book covers a broad swathe of East Asian worldviews, history, and mystical and scholarly context. I can’t compare it to other works or evaluate the accuracy of the material, as this is my first book on the topic, but I was impressed with the coverage, which at least seemed relatively objective, surveying different theories, schools of practice, uses, divination methods, and cultural / religious adaptations of the text. As a non-Asian reader, I both came away with a sense of why the I Ching is so important to the Asian worldview and a better understanding of the appropriateness of using this tool in Western practices.
What really struck me about the I Ching from Wen’s accounting is how it is both universal and supportive of a variety of specific views and approaches to practice. As someone with a general orientation to spirit as a force of change, connection, and truth that is constantly evolving and rediscovering itself, I’m drawn to the central principle of change that the Oracle revolves around. At the same time I’m somewhat turned off, for example, by specific interpretations of virtue that emphasize discipline and individual will, which is how I read some of the language that derives from the Confucian Ten Wings. But as Wen explains, the core of the I Ching is such that different translators can take it in radically different directions—Taoist, Buddhist, Confucian, secular, and even Christian.
Some use it for mystical practice, others for highly rational questions of statecraft. Some lean into the poetry of the various versions of the text and commune with the words, while others get into the cosmology and numbers and the mathematical patterns that emerge. There’s something in it for everyone, but that also means that we all have to find our own way and personally evaluate how others interpret the I Ching. It may not be incorrect for a Westerner to work with the tool, for example, but when someone starts using it to justify a particular Christian worldview or anti-semitic interpretation of Kabbalah (looking at you, Crowley), anyone else can turn around and say “hey, here’s how the Oracle says that you’re fucking shit up.”
Wen is balancing quite a lot in this book: giving fair coverage to all these schools of thought, explaining fundamental principles such as the trigrams and Wu Xing phases of change, presenting the reader with accessible ways to work with the I Ching themselves, and of course translating and annotating the text. Parts of the book will be more relevant to readers with Asian ancestry or a Taoist magical practice, and though the general message is one of universal accessibility, it’s clear that to get to know this tool, you’re looking at a lifetime of study, practice, and ideally reading lots of different translations and perspectives.
I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have read this book just “for fun,” as I really digested the material through taking copious notes. I found Wen’s style relatively accessible, but it’s just naturally tough to structure such dense content—I found myself wanting a giant whiteboard and markers to create a Venn Diagram so I could keep track of Meaning and Principle vs. Image and Number, Taoist vs. Confucianist, Rationalist vs. Originalist, and other distinctions, not to mention the trigrams, hexagrams, and Wu Xing phases. Coming from a totally different tradition, there’s a lot to learn: the Ba Gua, the Lo Shu magic square, the basics of a five-element system, the actual divination methods, the principles of yin and yang, the history of the Zhou dynasty, lunisolar astrology, and the list goes on. If you really want to get into this book without existing knowledge, you’re going to want to read through once, then at least a second time so that you can digest the material in the context of the whole.
Of course, there’s also a lot of translation involved. My initial understanding of the I Ching was that there was no point in a non-Chinese speaker even attempting to use it for divination with integrity, since we couldn’t possibly understand the nuance and the cultural references. After reading Wen’s book, my impression is more that no one could possibly have a “complete” understanding of the I Ching, given the form of the language it was originally written down in and all the ways those texts came down over the years—though there is a lot in the text that is probably much more intuitive and familiar to those who grew up in an East Asian culture understanding at least one East Asian cosmology / mythology. Readers with this familiarity and cultural connection will also benefit most from some of the mystical practices suggested, which are grounded in specific traditions and beliefs.
While Wen does an admirable job of trying to explain some of the nuances of the Chinese, it is a little difficult to follow, particularly in the commentary on the Oracle itself, if you don’t read Chinese. She provides a helpful introductory section to some of the more common phrases you’ll encounter in the translation and what they mean, as well as various sidebars that point out important references in the hexagrams, mythological associations, and groupings of hexagrams, but as I was reading I found myself getting mixed up on what she’s referring to when discussing specific ideograms, because I couldn’t always figure out what part of the translation would be altered based on how you interpret that ideogram.
There’s a lot of bouncing around between meaning derived from the visual appearance of ideograms, etymology, history, and other translations, that can sometimes be confusing. I almost wanted the book to be two volumes, so that the commentary could actually be longer and presented in a more instructional and structured way, with more clarity on where Wen’s making a particular ideological choice in interpretation based on her own cosmology, where she deploys words in the commentary more for the poetry of the language, etc. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if a word choice or repetition was significant and derived from the text, or more about Wen wanting to offer her own language that would resonate in the same way the Oracle itself does. That said, you do get quite a lot of rich specifics around symbology and differing translations from Wen’s commentary.
At first, as I read, I was pretty sure I wasn’t personally going to be trying any of the exercises. I came to this book for some more context about a popular system, not to practice it. Wen’s description of I Ching scholarship also gave me the initial impression that using the Oracle would be a huge commitment, not a tool I could possibly just practice as one alongside others. While I have been philosophically drawn to Taoism given my own heavily change-based understanding of spirituality, I’ve generally seen it as a black and white thing: that it would be disrespectful to engage with anything Taoist as an adult without fully initiating into the tradition in some way. (I actually grew up reading the Book of Tao occasionally, as it was a favorite of my Mom’s, but without any context.) I quickly realized that I’ve perhaps been wrong about that, but even Wen’s accessible approach gave me pause. The kinds of ritualized practices she suggests are very much not how I approach divination (intentionally preparing the space, only ever storing tools a certain way, etc.), so even the simplest methods described made me think “oh, there’s no way I’d manage this more than once.”
As I continued to read, though, I kept being drawn back to the idea of working with the Oracle, wondering if I was being called to do so. Once I finished the book, I actually did end up consulting the Oracle for the first time in my own way, using the coin-toss method with my usual simple ritual for connecting with divine and deciding to assume that Spirit would not be too offended by my tossing standard quarters on a dirty rug, since that’s what was accessible to me. And I was pleasantly surprised both by the meaningful nature of the result in a familiar, intuitive sort of way, and by how it worked in a very literal sense—I’m currently being forced to live away from my home for months due to mold-related health complications, and the Oracle statement for the hexagram I drew actually had a sentence about not letting mold fester!
As a tarot reader and astrologer, but also someone who is naturally inclined to the written word, I found using the I Ching refreshing because it’s much more natural to me to interpret poetry than it is a visual image. Wen’s commentary is helpful to understand the text, especially where there are specific references to unfamiliar symbolism, but I also loved just reading the Oracle statement alone like a message from a friend. It’s striking just how much there is there—between the oracle statement, the additional image description, the line statements, changing lines, transformed hexagrams, and all the correspondences, you could literally spend years with a single hexagram.
On the other hand, that volume of information can be daunting. Given my resistance, for example, to the Confucian ideas of virtue that are present in places Wen’s translation, I’d theoretically like to consult a translation that’s a little less moralistic, but I’m not really sure where to find that, and if I did, whether I would be able to understand the interpretive choices the author was making. I personally am a little more drawn to the Image & Number tradition than to Meaning & Principle, but since this is less popular, I’m not sure that I could make my way through it without a guide.
Ultimately, I think this book a fantastic reference for folks who are looking for a comprehensive overview of the I Ching, particularly those who want to understand at a high level the different schools of thought, methods, and cultural applications. Those who are more drawn to ceremonial magic, occult studies, and ritualized practice may especially love the exercises Wen offers, which include practice in divining but also other magical practices and reflections. Wen intended this both as a scholarly work and as a grimoire, and it definitely makes good on that promise. English-speaking East Asian readers who are interested in re-connecting with their roots and don’t already have a bunch of I Ching study under their belt might be especially served by this volume.
Going far beyond the I Ching itself, this book covers a broad swathe of East Asian worldviews, history, and mystical and scholarly context. I can’t compare it to other works or evaluate the accuracy of the material, as this is my first book on the topic, but I was impressed with the coverage, which at least seemed relatively objective, surveying different theories, schools of practice, uses, divination methods, and cultural / religious adaptations of the text. As a non-Asian reader, I both came away with a sense of why the I Ching is so important to the Asian worldview and a better understanding of the appropriateness of using this tool in Western practices.
What really struck me about the I Ching from Wen’s accounting is how it is both universal and supportive of a variety of specific views and approaches to practice. As someone with a general orientation to spirit as a force of change, connection, and truth that is constantly evolving and rediscovering itself, I’m drawn to the central principle of change that the Oracle revolves around. At the same time I’m somewhat turned off, for example, by specific interpretations of virtue that emphasize discipline and individual will, which is how I read some of the language that derives from the Confucian Ten Wings. But as Wen explains, the core of the I Ching is such that different translators can take it in radically different directions—Taoist, Buddhist, Confucian, secular, and even Christian.
Some use it for mystical practice, others for highly rational questions of statecraft. Some lean into the poetry of the various versions of the text and commune with the words, while others get into the cosmology and numbers and the mathematical patterns that emerge. There’s something in it for everyone, but that also means that we all have to find our own way and personally evaluate how others interpret the I Ching. It may not be incorrect for a Westerner to work with the tool, for example, but when someone starts using it to justify a particular Christian worldview or anti-semitic interpretation of Kabbalah (looking at you, Crowley), anyone else can turn around and say “hey, here’s how the Oracle says that you’re fucking shit up.”
Wen is balancing quite a lot in this book: giving fair coverage to all these schools of thought, explaining fundamental principles such as the trigrams and Wu Xing phases of change, presenting the reader with accessible ways to work with the I Ching themselves, and of course translating and annotating the text. Parts of the book will be more relevant to readers with Asian ancestry or a Taoist magical practice, and though the general message is one of universal accessibility, it’s clear that to get to know this tool, you’re looking at a lifetime of study, practice, and ideally reading lots of different translations and perspectives.
I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have read this book just “for fun,” as I really digested the material through taking copious notes. I found Wen’s style relatively accessible, but it’s just naturally tough to structure such dense content—I found myself wanting a giant whiteboard and markers to create a Venn Diagram so I could keep track of Meaning and Principle vs. Image and Number, Taoist vs. Confucianist, Rationalist vs. Originalist, and other distinctions, not to mention the trigrams, hexagrams, and Wu Xing phases. Coming from a totally different tradition, there’s a lot to learn: the Ba Gua, the Lo Shu magic square, the basics of a five-element system, the actual divination methods, the principles of yin and yang, the history of the Zhou dynasty, lunisolar astrology, and the list goes on. If you really want to get into this book without existing knowledge, you’re going to want to read through once, then at least a second time so that you can digest the material in the context of the whole.
Of course, there’s also a lot of translation involved. My initial understanding of the I Ching was that there was no point in a non-Chinese speaker even attempting to use it for divination with integrity, since we couldn’t possibly understand the nuance and the cultural references. After reading Wen’s book, my impression is more that no one could possibly have a “complete” understanding of the I Ching, given the form of the language it was originally written down in and all the ways those texts came down over the years—though there is a lot in the text that is probably much more intuitive and familiar to those who grew up in an East Asian culture understanding at least one East Asian cosmology / mythology. Readers with this familiarity and cultural connection will also benefit most from some of the mystical practices suggested, which are grounded in specific traditions and beliefs.
While Wen does an admirable job of trying to explain some of the nuances of the Chinese, it is a little difficult to follow, particularly in the commentary on the Oracle itself, if you don’t read Chinese. She provides a helpful introductory section to some of the more common phrases you’ll encounter in the translation and what they mean, as well as various sidebars that point out important references in the hexagrams, mythological associations, and groupings of hexagrams, but as I was reading I found myself getting mixed up on what she’s referring to when discussing specific ideograms, because I couldn’t always figure out what part of the translation would be altered based on how you interpret that ideogram.
There’s a lot of bouncing around between meaning derived from the visual appearance of ideograms, etymology, history, and other translations, that can sometimes be confusing. I almost wanted the book to be two volumes, so that the commentary could actually be longer and presented in a more instructional and structured way, with more clarity on where Wen’s making a particular ideological choice in interpretation based on her own cosmology, where she deploys words in the commentary more for the poetry of the language, etc. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if a word choice or repetition was significant and derived from the text, or more about Wen wanting to offer her own language that would resonate in the same way the Oracle itself does. That said, you do get quite a lot of rich specifics around symbology and differing translations from Wen’s commentary.
At first, as I read, I was pretty sure I wasn’t personally going to be trying any of the exercises. I came to this book for some more context about a popular system, not to practice it. Wen’s description of I Ching scholarship also gave me the initial impression that using the Oracle would be a huge commitment, not a tool I could possibly just practice as one alongside others. While I have been philosophically drawn to Taoism given my own heavily change-based understanding of spirituality, I’ve generally seen it as a black and white thing: that it would be disrespectful to engage with anything Taoist as an adult without fully initiating into the tradition in some way. (I actually grew up reading the Book of Tao occasionally, as it was a favorite of my Mom’s, but without any context.) I quickly realized that I’ve perhaps been wrong about that, but even Wen’s accessible approach gave me pause. The kinds of ritualized practices she suggests are very much not how I approach divination (intentionally preparing the space, only ever storing tools a certain way, etc.), so even the simplest methods described made me think “oh, there’s no way I’d manage this more than once.”
As I continued to read, though, I kept being drawn back to the idea of working with the Oracle, wondering if I was being called to do so. Once I finished the book, I actually did end up consulting the Oracle for the first time in my own way, using the coin-toss method with my usual simple ritual for connecting with divine and deciding to assume that Spirit would not be too offended by my tossing standard quarters on a dirty rug, since that’s what was accessible to me. And I was pleasantly surprised both by the meaningful nature of the result in a familiar, intuitive sort of way, and by how it worked in a very literal sense—I’m currently being forced to live away from my home for months due to mold-related health complications, and the Oracle statement for the hexagram I drew actually had a sentence about not letting mold fester!
As a tarot reader and astrologer, but also someone who is naturally inclined to the written word, I found using the I Ching refreshing because it’s much more natural to me to interpret poetry than it is a visual image. Wen’s commentary is helpful to understand the text, especially where there are specific references to unfamiliar symbolism, but I also loved just reading the Oracle statement alone like a message from a friend. It’s striking just how much there is there—between the oracle statement, the additional image description, the line statements, changing lines, transformed hexagrams, and all the correspondences, you could literally spend years with a single hexagram.
On the other hand, that volume of information can be daunting. Given my resistance, for example, to the Confucian ideas of virtue that are present in places Wen’s translation, I’d theoretically like to consult a translation that’s a little less moralistic, but I’m not really sure where to find that, and if I did, whether I would be able to understand the interpretive choices the author was making. I personally am a little more drawn to the Image & Number tradition than to Meaning & Principle, but since this is less popular, I’m not sure that I could make my way through it without a guide.
Ultimately, I think this book a fantastic reference for folks who are looking for a comprehensive overview of the I Ching, particularly those who want to understand at a high level the different schools of thought, methods, and cultural applications. Those who are more drawn to ceremonial magic, occult studies, and ritualized practice may especially love the exercises Wen offers, which include practice in divining but also other magical practices and reflections. Wen intended this both as a scholarly work and as a grimoire, and it definitely makes good on that promise. English-speaking East Asian readers who are interested in re-connecting with their roots and don’t already have a bunch of I Ching study under their belt might be especially served by this volume.
May 31, 2023
The best I Ching book I have ever read. Regardless of whether you are new to I Ching or have been practicing for a while, there is definitely something for everyone here. The book covers the history, practice, and magical aspects of I Ching in a very detailed way.
I really enjoyed the aspects about reading the I Ching as a grimoire and working with the Gods and spirits connected to its history. I have experience with the I Ching and still found plenty of useful information that I will incorporate into my readings and practice in the future.
I really enjoyed the aspects about reading the I Ching as a grimoire and working with the Gods and spirits connected to its history. I have experience with the I Ching and still found plenty of useful information that I will incorporate into my readings and practice in the future.
April 12, 2023
The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is an ancient Chinese divination text and an important part of Chinese religion and philosophy. It dates back to the Shang dynasty, at least 3000 years ago. The I Ching is a practical guide to life and the universe, offering advice on how to make decisions, find success, and gain insight into how things will unfold.
The I Ching is based on eight trigrams, which are symbols made up of three lines, either solid or broken. This system of symbols is used to form 64 hexagrams, which correspond to different aspects of life, such as health, relationships, work, and travel. Each hexagram is associated with a unique set of advice, which can be interpreted as advice for making decisions or gaining insight into the future.
The I Ching is still widely practiced in China, and it has been translated into English and many other languages. It is often consulted as an Oracle – a source of divine guidance – and can be used to interpret situations and events, gain insight into relationships, and even answer specific questions. By consulting the I Ching, you can gain wisdom from the ancient Chinese tradition and tap into your own intuition and understanding.
The I Ching is an important part of Chinese culture, but it can be used by people of all backgrounds. Whether you're curious about what the future may hold or looking for guidance in making decisions, the I Ching can provide insight and clarity. With patience and practice, you can learn to interpret the I Ching and make use of its timeless advice.
I believe this edition is the best edition I have had opportunity to examine in advance publication thanks to Netgalley.
The I Ching is based on eight trigrams, which are symbols made up of three lines, either solid or broken. This system of symbols is used to form 64 hexagrams, which correspond to different aspects of life, such as health, relationships, work, and travel. Each hexagram is associated with a unique set of advice, which can be interpreted as advice for making decisions or gaining insight into the future.
The I Ching is still widely practiced in China, and it has been translated into English and many other languages. It is often consulted as an Oracle – a source of divine guidance – and can be used to interpret situations and events, gain insight into relationships, and even answer specific questions. By consulting the I Ching, you can gain wisdom from the ancient Chinese tradition and tap into your own intuition and understanding.
The I Ching is an important part of Chinese culture, but it can be used by people of all backgrounds. Whether you're curious about what the future may hold or looking for guidance in making decisions, the I Ching can provide insight and clarity. With patience and practice, you can learn to interpret the I Ching and make use of its timeless advice.
I believe this edition is the best edition I have had opportunity to examine in advance publication thanks to Netgalley.
February 1, 2025
It covers a lot of the history and background, some literature on the five elements, and the trigrams, it even combines tarot with it too. However, none of this is actually relevant in how to use it to read the hexagrams. To read the hexgarams she provides a few methods, yarrow sticks, coins and rice grains, which in the end it directs you to read the oracle which is quite useful and explained nicely. Unfortunately, it does not mention the wen weng gua method which is the method to read the interaction between lines. Although, the book is about the oracle, she covered a lot of background but skipped this one method. However, it is a nicely bound hard book and has a very nice feel to it. The pictures and explanations are interesting and intriguing, although not practical, it's a pretty addition to the book shelf.
June 10, 2023
I Ching means The changes and this is all about the oracle which from my understanding is almost like a Ouija board but more spiritual The book tells you about all the different versions the different people that wrote articles on the I Ching, from the important religious people from the ming dynasty on. We even get to hear a little about the author and her second guessing about writing this also interesting book. I 41 I’m glad she took the time over the past decade to gather this information and put it out in the world I had never heard these diagrams before and although I am blind and cannot see them her descriptions of them and what they do held my attention I also loved the personal stories what the oracle means and what parts of Asia use it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it if you were into the occult or just the religious aspects then you love I Ching The oracle by The Neville Win I certainly did! I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
September 23, 2023
I Ching, the Oracle, is a new translation of the original, I Ching, Book of Changes. The 3,000 year old text is updated with wonderful annotations, descriptive historical and cultural insights with some items never before translated into English. The original Chinese guide to wisdom and fortune telling is brought up to another level of magical and mystical practice in the modern day. What lies in Your future?
June 16, 2023
This is an extremely comprehensive book. I felt like I was taking a course in I Ching. I had a pencil and paper handy when reading to take notes so I could interpret symbols and personalize the information I was learning as I read the book. I learned a good deal and my interest was kept as I learned so much new information page by page.
April 25, 2025
Benebell Wen offers a brilliant translation of this ancient, sacred text. If you are familiar with the Wilhelm translation done in the early 50's, you will appreciate this fresh translation from Bell for whom this tradition was part and parcel of her upbringing.
August 16, 2023
I’ve long been fascinated by the I Ching and found this a great read giving info and also the background to this art. Highly recommended
October 17, 2023
Very well written, informative, intuitive and well researched. Useful for all levels of I-ching advocates. A must have.
December 30, 2023
Everything you could possibly want to know about I Ching! The definitive text on the subject.
March 3, 2024
A must-have resource for anyone who is interested in exploring the I Ching or the system of Human Design. I predict I will be reading and utilizing this resource for years to come!
April 2, 2024
Best translation I have encountered
April 26, 2025
I am not sure how to read this book.
April 29, 2025
An amazing resource- lots of cultural context that’s very helpful and very thorough.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews