Monday 30 May 2016

Cast a Hexagram online
As mentioned in a previous post, I've created an application to cast hexagrams online. A compact version of this app is visible in the "Cast a Hexagram" box on each page. The user interface is rather minimal so I thought of giving some explanation here on how to use it.

Quick reference



Cast a hexagram

The basic function is, not surprisingly, casting a hexagram. Each line is generated using random events caused by users moving the mouse, or clicking, on the small image. When the right amount of randomness is collected, a line is generated with the yarrow stalks probabilities. Moving lines are drawn in red, non-moving lines in black.

The line generation is not instantaneous: it requires the user to move the mouse (or click) a few times before a new line can be generated. This is done to avoid bias in the user behaviour (e.g. clicking always the same point in the image) that could destroy the randomness of the casting process.

Hitting on the Reset button (at the bottom left) clears all the enthropy collected up to that point and restart the process.

Record lines

You can also generate the hexagram yourself (e.g. by tossing coins) and record the outcome using this app: use the small buttons at the bottom right (6,7,8,9) to enter the lines one by one. The rightmost button (backspace) allows you to delete the last line in case you made a mistake.
This could be useful if you just want to read the response online but you don't like using software for casting the hexagram.

Get the reading

Once all the lines have been generated, the corresponding hexagram number appears. If there are moving lines, both the response and the relating hexagram numbers are shown (but not the relating hexagram itself).

To get the meaning of the hexagrams you can click on their numbers. You can choose which translation you want to be redirected to by selecting it in the combo box. By default you will get the Wikipedia definition of the hexagram.


Please send me any comment or suggestion you may have to make this little app more useful to you.

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