The YiJing Oracle: An Android App for Divination
What is the YiJing?
Goals
Several years ago I was inspired to create an app dealing with the YiJing after learning how to use it. There were several things I wanted to accomplish with the app to make the YiJing easier and more accessible, yet insightful, to the uninitiated.- Make casting the lines easier, quicker and more convenientAlthough casting the lines using three coins is the quickest and most convenient, splitting the yarrow is the older of the two. I enjoy the time I spend counting and splitting the stalks, but it would take more than 10 minutes to cast all the lines. In addition, if you were not careful you could miss a stalk or two and it would throw off a reading and you would have to either restart or try to see where you made a mistake.
- The app eliminates any miscounts or other mistakes that can be made when manipulating coins or stalks. The user just chooses a method, taps the screen to get their “input” into the reading, and a hexagram results all within a very short period of time. But, an option exists in the app where the user can input the values of lines they cast after tossing coins or splitting yarrow stalks or some other method that the find useful. At that point, the app becomes more of a log of readings.
- Faithfully emulate the two most popular methods
In order to make casting lines convenient, it behooved me to emulate the probabilities of both the three-coin method and the yarrow-stalk method. If the app were to be compared to a real-world reading, it would produce similar results.
I researched statistics and found others’ finding on the probabilities of the methods, especially the probabilities for the yarrow-stalk method. This way whether the user chose to use the yarrow-stalk or the three-coin method, they would cast lines in a way that was similar to both, but quicker and more convenient.
- Make hexagram lookup quickerThe method I use when consulting the YiJing differs from the usual way of consulting the YiJing. Normally, if there are changing lines in your first hexagram, you change them all to produce a result hexagram. In his book The I Ching Handbook Mondo Secter proposes that only the first changing line is flipped to produce a “transitional” hexagram. And then, from that hexagram its first changing line is “changed” or “flipped” or turned into its opposite value. The process repeats with each subsequent hexagram until there are no more changing lines. Therefore, the maximum number of hexagrams that you would need to look up would be seven: The hexagram that resulted from casting the lines and each hexagram produced from each of the six lines. But, in addition, the texts of the changing lines needed to be considered since the line might completely alter the interpretation of the hexagram. That is a lot of texts to look for read and digest just for one question!
Once all the lines are cast and a hexagram results that starts the response to your question, the app will already have the sequence of hexagrams, their interpretations and their details, their changing lines and their texts ready.
- Write more succinct and focused textsOnce I came across a book on the Tarot that had card interpretations for some area of life, such as “relationship”, “money” or “business”. So, I envisioned that something similar for the YiJing could be done. Many of the on-line YiJing applications that I have encountered might have specific interpretations with a focus on “love”, but there were no interpretations for other areas. Even when consulting books for interpretations, you have to sift and read a lot of texts to get an understanding. But, even when you’ve done the reading, you can get so caught up in just sorting through all that information that you can forget what it is that you asked.
The interpretations in the app have been redacted to keep them short and adapted for a particular category. Nevertheless, some hexagrams intrinsically lend themselves to one of the areas in life and do not need to be adapted. This idea extends to the interpretations of the changing lines as well.
Development
Because The YiJing Oracle is an Android app, it was written in Java using the Android SDK (Android System Development Kit) and the Eclipse IDE (Integrated Development Environment) – I was not familiar with the programming language, the SDK nor the IDE. But, after using them in concert, I’ve grown accustomed to them all and have learned a great deal about the Android platform.
At first, I wrote what would be the “core” or the “heart” of the app in C# (which continues to be my preferred programming language along with .NET being my preferred platform) several years ago with the idea that I could create a Windows desktop application. I had programmed most of the core components and tested them. It was working well, but soon I discovered that it was difficult to “hook” it up with other components. So, I rewrote and refactored many aspects of the core parts over the past few years.
In June of 2012, I bought a new smartphone. My previous smartphones were Windows Phone-based, but when I bought my new phone, I chose a Samsung Galaxy III. As I explored my new phone and grew accustomed to the latest Android version at that time (4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich), I grew more and more curious about creating an app for it.
At first I was reluctant to write an app because 1) I had never owned an Android-based phone nor had I used one for an extensive period of time; 2) although I was “familiar” with Java, I had never written anything in that programming language; and 3) I was not familiar with the tools needed to write an app for Android.
I can write an entirely new blog entry just on my experiences, so I will leave that for later. I will focus more on this app in this entry instead.
Another App
I’ve installed many of the free apps and “played” with them. Since I’m already familiar with the YiJing, I knew immediately how to use many of the apps. But, the initial screen of one of the apps, did not easily lend itself to easy interpretation; it was I Ching, oracle, book and aid. There was not text nor any other indication of where I could start a reading. After a bit more exploring, I finally understood how to enter a question and consult the app. In my opinion, the thousands of installs each month are because people are curious and it is free. In general, you get what you don’t pay for with many of them. Some of them, should charge because it was written and laid out very well!
Of the paid apps, I have installed only a small handful. They all are well designed and well written.
But, one was not worth buying after using its free version. I Ching by Design in its free version and its paid versions have various problems. First, it does not have an intuitive user interface. I started the app and had no clue as to where to start. After playing around with it, I found out that you must tap Query first and you must enter a question to continue. Secondly, it was also difficult to close. Pressing the device’s Back button gets you nowhere. When I tapped the ? button, I discovered how to gracefully exit the app. The texts are English translations of Helmut Wilhelm’s interpretations. There are 12 reviews of the free app, but most of them are one-star reviews! I would not want to spend any money on this one. I have noted what the issues and hope that my app does not suffer from the same problems I Ching by Design has.Availability
Beta Testing
Releases
Below is a summary of what is planned with each release.Version 1.0
- English only
- Stable functionality
- All texts written for all categories
Version 1.1
- Updated and expanded texts
- Minor issues fixed
Version 1.2
- Additional categories
- Spanish user interface
- Spanish texts
Future versions and ideas
- Background music
- Ability to send readings via e-mail
- Share reading on social networking sites
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