Dice for I Ching Divination: retailer Thuya Burl

These are three "long dice" (長  骰子) for consulting the I Ching.

Another use is for improvement of Feng Shui, simply by carrying them or placing in a particular Gua of your household. These Shaizi are cut from a rich, dark Gabon Ebony. Gabon Ebony has some attaractive variations in grain pattern and takes a wonderful polish. They are approx. 1 1/2" long and 3/4" by 3/4". The hand sewn, felt lined bag has a toggle to keep the bag closed.


Generally we think of dice as cubes, but these elongated shapes (棍 骰子 Stick Dice) each have just 4 pertinent sides instead of six. These are simple and primitive, but enjoyable tactile objects, easy to carry around and require less space to handle than yarrow stalks.

These items may now be found in a variety of exotic woods, that feel good and will last for centuries. The wood in this case is a burl collected in Greece, prized for its interesting grain, colors and scent. The scent is reminiscent of an exotic incense.

For the three "long dice", the rectangular sides are marked with 2 or 3 dots alternately. (One of the 3 has three sides marked with 3 dots or 'pips')

      
The dice are cast six times on a flat surface to obtain whole lines or broken lines in a pattern or set of six lines. A set of six lines is called a "gua" -or a 'hexagram' -in some translations of the Chinese. These correspond to the 64 interpretations in the Chinese Classic text.

When you cast the three dice, the possible sums are 6, 7, 8, or 9. Two sticks are marked with {3 retailer 2 3 2} dots on the sides. One stick is marked with {3 3 3 2} dots on the sides. This way, the probability of casting each number 6, 7, 8, or 9 are the same as the classic manipulation of yarrow stalks. You will want to cast them once for each line and count the dots. It is amazingly simple and elegant!
      
       In the I Ching interpretations, casts of 7 and 8 are broken or Yin (female) and whole Yang (male) 'stationary'  lines, while casts of 6 and 9 are whole or "Old" Yin (female) or "Old" Yang (male) 'moving' lines.