I Ching of the Goddess Paperback – January 1, 1986

It was to my considerable delight that I found an immediate and powerful connection to the Goddess I-Ching; for you see while I have for the last seven years of my life, spent most of my own creative energies studying various means of Divination, Tarot, Runes, and Omens; developing an appropriate level of skill, perhaps even some expertise.The I Ching, has always been singularly impenetrable to me,So for me Barbara's work has been a very rare gift, an entry into, and a road map of an previous undiscovered, and undiscoverable country. In the Book of Runes, Ralph Bloom quotes his Friend Buckminster Fuller concerning his own efforts, "No easy task - to midwife the return of an ancient Oracle."Barbara can honestly lay claim to similar Rebirthing of this Ancient Oracle; pointedly discarding centuries of Confucian, and Patriarchal overlay, she returns the I-Ching to a contemplation on the interaction of Eight basic Elements; Air, Sea, Fire, Thunder, Breath, Water, Mountain, Earth. So we are reintroduced to the Union of Earth and Sky, and the interaction of Earth Mother, Sky Father, and their children.The Dance of these elements is explored anew, firstly through a collection of Images, akin to Tarot Cards; the stark, beautiful images used to present this re-envisioning of the I-Ching, are among the most profound you will ever find. Each "Card", each image and pairing of the elements deserves its own time for mediation. For that reason alone this presentation is well worth your time.But Barbara goes far beyond that ... while showing due respect for the ancient sages where it is appropriate, she is not hesitant to slay some sacred cows, ... This from the Text accompanying Hex 49 Retreat. Air over Mountain;This Hexagram advises one not to try to compete with superior powers but to fall back, and concentrate on small internal reinforcements. One must retreat "in a Noble Way," saving face. Encountering this apparently ignominious bit of advice, Confucian court seers insisted that it really meant "successful progress," like nearly every other hexagram they interpreted to please a ruler. Such self-contradiction is one of the Major signs of the second hand nature of the courtly canon, pointing to an older, underlying tradition that was more direct and did not try to express two opposite ideas at once.And here I would add, and I feel sure Barbara would support me; "That did not deny the full circle of nature, in its desire to present the ruler with a false vision of perpetual progress."It must be remembered, that the world view of those practicing the Confucian I-Ching was one in which if the Emperor conducted the Rituals it was his duty to perform, with Firm Correctness; he would there-by assure the proper, and harmonious functioning of the Universe itself; clearly with all due respect to that ancient tradition; few today even among the Magickally inclined could embrace such a world view.And so Barbara discards the Confucian overlay in order to return to the original, balanced, Taoist oracle she sees underpinning the efforts of the Confucian Seers, who she takes to task several times in the book; and while she does so; she does not waste time, text, and space on this - pointing out where her vision differs from theirs, then moving on to and exposition of the important points. Such as her discarding the confused King Wen Arrangement of the Hexagrams, in favor of the Elegant Fu Hsi arrangement.If I may be allowed one last point, I have noticed both here at Amazon, and on the wider web, that the most consistent criticism of this work is that it does not address interpretation of the changing lines found in the Confucian I-Ching; it somehow seems to escape the reviewers that this must be a purposeful departure from the Confucian Canon.The Goddess I-Ching presents us with a Holistic, Pagan vision of the Hexagrams, rather then a deconstructionist Patriarchal one. It is not that different between a poets approach to a flower, and that of Scientist. The poet approaches the flower as a whole, presents you a vision of the flower as a whole; the scientist dissects the flower; and while he might at the end of the day be able to expound in great detail on the anatomy, cell structure, and pigments of the flower; that made it a thing of beauty, he has destroyed it in the process. Barbara is asking us to envision the Hexagrams as a Dance of the Elements, not as things to be deconstructed into their individual lines; and yes this is a radically different vision, but I find it a very beautiful one.I do concede to the Traditionalist this small point, I much prefer the method for interpreting coins tossed into lines provided in A Guide to the I Ching by Carol K. Anthony to that provided in this text; which to my mind produces too many transitions, and gives a far more chaotic result; however even here, in these chaotic times, perhaps Barbara has the greater insight.So the I-Ching of the Goddess is not a traditional rendering of the I-Ching, but is in fact often a critical response to it, and its fascination with Status, Hierarchy and Correctness; that I feel contains insights both for those who have found the Confucian vision impenetrable and those who having found insight in that Oracle; remain open minded enough to consider this opportunity to broaden their horizons.Blessings, BB

The book arrived swiftly and was in even better condition than I expected. Thanks!

This woman author highlights the Hexagram sequence in the I-Ching by using the Fu Hsi sequence (rather than the received text, known as the King Wen sequence). She also adds commentary from mythology from ancient to modern times, as well has having an artist add very special illustrations on the themes of each hexagram. Very good female perspective and excellent use of the Fu Hsi sequence of the I-Ching.

Interesting book but I was disappointed this used copy does not come with cards.

Actually, it was not, like it says "As New", it has orange marker underlining in several pages.

Eh. So much mostly unconnected goddess rah-rah. I don't get a good sense of what these "interpreted" hexagram meanings mean in relation to the original / traditional offerings. I'm a feminist; I like women, and still I want direct answers and guidance. I'd prefer not to filter out the author's personal interpretations of what femininity is, or feminine power, or ....I think I'll be happier searching online databases for specific hexagrams than subject myself to this. I'll stick to "oracle-of-love.info" for now. That site has "its head on" -- it delivers good content and approaches I Ching as oracle appropriately and respectfully. Something one of its intro paragraph says is: "You will recognize its wisdom when you see it." Straight up. That's much better than this.

Nice tarrot cards, quality art and production, detailed card interpretation by Walker in accompanying manual, however no citations or references for basis of allegory or interpretation. Enjoy this work for what it is; not to be considered a source for scholarly study or interpretation of the I-Ching.

Complicated but interesting and informative reading a few pages at a time.

Ho acquistato il libro usato. È in buone condizioni, ma purtroppo mancano le carte. Tuttavia è davvero interessante e sono felice di averlo acquistato, perché getta una nuova luce sul sistema millenario degli I Ching.

As one who has consulted the I Ching on and off these past few years I only bought this book to read on how to construct and use a chessboard for the I Ching with a 6 sided die. I often find it confusing trying to cast using coins to obtain the lines. Yet the instructions contained within a couple of pages from this book, makes it easier for me to apply the I Ching using a 64 square wooden chessboard. The book does come with a large set of I Ching cards, which I haven't used or intend to. A six sided die on chessboard is much easier and quicker. I rate the book a 4 out of 5.

In the general introduction about the I-Ging and its history Walker introduces some really interesting ideas and concepts, particularly the alternative very logical charting of the hexagrammes. The technique of using 2 hexagrammes instead of reading the evolving lines makes also total sense to me. The individual chapters about each hexagramme are quite disappointing, though and those high-school art course new agey pictures are just awful!