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Prologue: Please Read!

Sometimes the simplest is the best; in fact, the goal of the Taoist is wei wu wei—“Nothing Doing Nothing.” This translates as going with the flow, operating on such a calm, centered, instinctual level that things just work out, are easily accomplished, and the world works together in harmony. Unfortunately for me, I’m not naturally this type of person. Therefore I have written a long—and, I hope, interesting—introduction to this book to help explain the fundamentals of Taoism, the history and meaning of the I Ching, the trigrams and hexagrams, and, finally, how this all relates to the idea of natal I Ching readings.

Yet none of this information is really necessary for you to use this book.

If you just want to discover more about yourself or another person, simply turn to “Finding your Natal Hexagram," do the easy math using the person’s birthdate, then look up the hexagram, and read what it says.

There you have it, simple and, I hope, somewhat illuminating.

Then, if you want to know more about this whole cosmic system, go back and read the Introduction, but keep in mind that it is but the tip of the Taoist iceberg. The real sources of wisdom are the core texts of Taoism, which I cannot recommend highly enough: the I Ching and the Tao Teh Ching. After working with them for twenty-five years, I feel I have only barely scratched the surface!

A few notes:

There are two titles for each natal hexagram.

• The first title is from the Richard Wilhelm and C. F. Baynes translation of the I Ching (Bollingen Series, Princeton University Press)— still, to my mind, the definitive translation. I used these titles because they are the best known and so an easy reference.

• The second title of each hexagram is more in tune with people and personality traits. Each one is crafted by me, but many are influenced by new translation work, especially the new edition of the I Ching by Rudolph Ritsema and Stephen Karcher (Barnes & Noble Books).

The only other I Ching edition that I recommend one hundred percent is that by R. L.Wing (Doubleday and Co.). This is probably the best and most practical modern translation available.

There are numerous translations of the Tao Teh Ching available. I have several that I like, but feel free to choose your own—just be sure you get one of them!

Change is the only constant. Enjoy!

—Denny Sargent