This article was downloaded by: [DTU Library]

On: 06 May 2014, At: 01:46

Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered
office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Contemporary Religion

Publication details, including instructions for authors and
subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjcr20

Magic and science in the modern

western tradition of the i ching
a b
Roderick Main
a
Research Fellow at the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies ,
University of Essex ,
b
Associate Lecturer in the Arts , Open University ,
Published online: 25 Jun 2008.

To cite this article: Roderick Main (1999) Magic and science in the modern western tradition of
the i ching , Journal of Contemporary Religion, 14:2, 263-275, DOI: 10.1080/13537909908580866

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537909908580866

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the
“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,
our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to
the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions
and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,
and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content
should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources
of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,
proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever
or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or
arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any
substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,
systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms
& Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/
terms-and-conditions
 Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 14, No. 2, 1999 263

Magic and Science

1
in the Modern Western Tradition
of the I Ching

RODERICK MAIN

ABSTRACT At various periods throughout the roughly two and a half millennia of its
history in China, the I Ching or Book of Changes, while generally remaining
grounded in a fundamentally spiritual world-view, served as a foundational text for both
magical and scientific thinking. This bivalence is reflected in some of the responses which
this divinatory and philosophical system has received following its introduction to the
West in the present century. The present paper looks at two such related, but contrasting
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

responses, one emphasizing the more conspicuously magical dimension of the I Ching,
the other emphasizing some of its suggested scientific implications. Both approaches take
their primary inspiration from the psychological theories of C. G. Jung who was deeply
engaged with the I Ching. It is suggested that part of the contemporary appeal of the
I Ching in the West may derive from its serving as a symbol for the integration of
scientific, magical, and spiritual thinking.

Introduction
Fifty years ago, with the exception of a few specialists, hardly anyone in this
country, or anywhere else in the West, would have been likely even to have
heard of the ancient Chinese divinatory system of the 7 Ching or Book of Changes.
Today, literally dozens of English translations of this work are available, as are
scores of other studies and treatments. Some of these are unashamedly popular-
izing and of little intrinsic merit; but others, which have benefited from the
profound interest now taken in the 7 Ching by western sinologists, undoubtedly
represent substantial contributions to scholarship and culture.2 The key event in
bringing about this reversal from obscurity to popularity and prestige—a
reversal which I think can fairly be characterized as the emergence of
a distinctive western tradition of work on and with the 7 Ching—was the
publication in 1950 of the famous Wilhelm-Baynes translation with the foreword
by C. G. Jung (Wilhelm, 1980). Not least, it was Jung's championing of the 7
Ching in his foreword, together with his attempt at explicating its principle of
operation in terms of his theory of synchronicity, which gave to the work, in the
new context of the West, an aura of respectability and great potential
significance.3
In ancient China, the system of the 7 Ching, although integral to many styles
of religious thinking, was not in itself generally regarded as a religion, nor has
it emerged as such in the modern West. However, as a cultural phenomenon, the
7 Ching is clearly very relevant to some of the major themes of contemporary and
New Age spirituality. It is relevant, for example, to the question of how, and
with what likely success, eastern spiritual beliefs and practices might be trans-

1353-7903/99/020263-13 © 1999 Taylor & Francis Ltd

 264 R. Main

planted to the West (see e.g. Clarke, 1997). It is relevant also to the question
regarding the reassimilation of knowledge and wisdom traditions from the
ancient past (see e.g. Segal et al, 1995). Again, much of the contemporary appeal
of the I Ching undoubtedly derives from its emphasis on the now very salient
preoccupations with self-spirituality and freedom from institutional control:
"If I understand anything of the 7 Ching", Jung once had occasion to remark,
"then I should say it is the book that teaches you your own way and the
all-importance of it" (Jung, 1973: 201; see also Heelas, 1996: 18-28).
In the present paper, however, I wish to look at the / Citing's relation to yet
another of the notable features of the contemporary spiritual scene in the West,
namely the increasing willingness which appears to be on the part of many
religiously or spiritually oriented individuals and groups to engage in creative
dialogue with the world-views of magic and science. For example, it is now not
uncommon to find contemporary spiritual systems incorporating quasi-magical
techniques of creative visualization and occult healing (e.g. Kelsey, 1997), or
again, looking for fresh inspiration in the paradoxical findings and extravagant
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

theorizing of quantum physics, astrophysics, and other 'hard' sciences

(e.g. Mansfield, 1995). The possible interest of the 1 Ching in this respect is that,
at various periods throughout its long history in China, it has also served as a
foundational text for both magical and scientific thinking, while generally
remaining grounded in a fundamentally spiritual world-view. In what follows I
will show that this bivalence and spiritual grounding are also very much in
evidence within the recently emerged western tradition of work on the 7 Ching.
I shall look at two related but contrasting lines of such work. Both take their
primary inspiration from the psychological theories of Jung, but while one
emphasizes the more conspicuously magical dimension of the 7 Ching, the other
emphasizes some of its suggested scientific implications. A question worth
bearing in mind is whether the contemporary appeal of the 7 Ching in the West
might not also in part derive from its serving as the symbol, if not exactly the
realization, of a seemingly much-wanted integration of spiritual, magical, and
scientific thinking.4

The I Ching
The 7 Ching consists of a collection of 64 six-line figures called "kua" or
"hexagrams": all possible combinations of whole yang lines (—) and divided yin
lines (- -). Each hexagram has a name and is related to various textual matter.
When using the 7 Ching as an oracle, one first frames a question and then, by the
random division of 49 yarrow stalks or the equally random throwing of three
coins, one arrives at a response in the form of one (and not infrequently two) of
the 64 hexagrams. These hexagrams with their appended texts comment, some-
times explicitly and sometimes symbolically, on the situation contained within
one's question.
A good example of an explicit response is the following case involving one of
Jung's patients whom he describes as "a young man with a strong mother
complex" (Jung, 1963.- 342). As Jung relates:
He wanted to marry and had made the acquaintance of a seemingly
suitable girl. However, he felt uncertain, fearing that under the
 Magic and Science and the I Ching 265

influence of his complex he might once more find himself in the power
of an overwhelming mother. I conducted the experiment [of casting the
I Ching] with him. The text of his hexagram read: "The maiden is
powerful. One should not marry such a maiden." (Jung, 1963: 342-43)5

Synchronicity
Jung himself, as already indicated, was deeply impressed with the I Ching. He
experimented with it extensively on a personal level, often used it with his
patients as a therapeutic tool, and was able to discuss its philosophy in depth
through his friendship with the work's translator and commentator Richard
Wilhelm (Jung, 1963: 343). Above all, however, the 7 Ching was significant to
Jung in relation to his theory of synchronicity. The oracle not only served as one
of the major influences leading to his conception of the synchronicity principle,
but also provided some of the main contexts in which he eventually gave public
expression to it (see Jung, 1930: 51-62; Jung, 1950: 589-608).
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

In simple terms, synchronicity can be defined as "meaningful coincidence"

(Jung, 1952: 426) or as an "acausal parallelism" between inner psychic and outer
physical events (Jung, 1963: 342).6 Thus, in the case of the young man with the
mother complex (see Figure 1), there was a meaningful coincidence or acausal
parallelism between (1) his psychic state of doubt concerning the advisability of
marrying a particular woman who might prove to be domineering and (2) the
physical event of obtaining a hexagram reading which specifically emphasized
the powerfulness of the woman in question and advised against marrying her.
Neither of these events—the inner state of doubt or the outer event of obtaining
the particular hexagram reading—caused the other in any 'normal' sense, yet
their co-occurrence, their coincidence, was clearly meaningful.

SYNCHRONICITY

N causal
PSYCHIC STATE 1 ° PHYSICAL EVENT
(e.g. doubt about I M (e.g. obtaining
marrying a but an / Ching text
particular person) I parallel advising not to
meaning marry)

Figure 1. A schematic representation of synchronicity.

In the light of this important connection for Jung between the I Ching and
synchronicity, we can note, before moving on to consider magic and science in
relation to the / Ching, that both magic and science are conspicuously implicated
in the concept of synchronicity. This is evident, for example, from the fact that
all of the other major influences, in addition to the I Ching, which contributed to
Jung's formulation of the principle of synchronicity, can readily be related either
to the world of magic or to the world of science. On the one hand, Jung was
profoundly influenced by frequently witnessing paranormal phenomena him-
self, by his deep knowledge of western occult traditions, and by his extensive
studies in the newly developing disciplines of psychical research and parapsy-
chology (see Jung, 1952: 489-198, 506-510, 432-437; see also Charet, 1993; Main,
1997a). On the other hand, he was no less profoundly influenced by his
awareness of recent developments in relativity and quantum physics and by his
 266 R. Main

long collaborative friendship with the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang

Pauli (see Jung, 1952: 421, 511-512, 514-519; Jung, 1976: 108-109; van Erkelens,
1991; Meier, 1992; Hinshaw, 1995; Zabriskie, 1995; Lindorff, 1995a; Lindorff,
1995b).

Magic
Magical thinking, as I wish to understand it for the purposes of this paper, is the
presupposition that one can bring about change, in oneself and in the environ-
ment, through interaction with spirits or occult forces of nature.7 The presence
of such thinking was undoubtedly involved both in the original composition of
the 1 Ching and during many of the key periods of its subsequent elaboration
and explication.8 This fact has been specifically and unapologetically highlighted
by the first of the two strands of recent western work on the I Ching which I will
consider.
Since 1933, the Éranos Foundation, based in Ascona in the Italian part of
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

Switzerland, has sponsored conferences and published yearbooks on many

aspects of the world's spiritual traditions and myths.9 From 1988 to 1994, the
Foundation's work was exclusively dedicated to a special 7 Ching Project which
climaxed in the publication of a radical new translation of the oracle by the
Project's directors, Rudolf Ritsema and Stephen Karcher (Ritsema & Karcher,
1994).10
The stated aim of Ritsema and Karcher's translation is "to go behind historical,
philological and philosophical analysis to revive the divinatory core, the psycho-
logical root of the [I Ching] as a living practise [sic]" (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994:
15). They emphasize that the book is "made up of omens, images and magic
spells from an oral shamanistic, divinatory tradition" (ibid: 12). Its function now
should be as "a tool used in the care of the soul, a tool through which hidden
parts of modern culture, East and West, might be re-activated" (ibid: 16).
The approach of Ritsema and Karcher represents an interesting attempt to
revalídate certain aspects of ancient thought through presenting them as virtu-
ally equivalent to concepts of modern depth psychology. On the traditional side,
they attach great importance to the Chinese concept of shen, which is understood
to encompass the meanings of "spirit, spirits, what is numinous or spiritually
potent" (Karcher, 1994: 95). The 7 Chmg, as they see it, "gives voice to a spirit
concerned with how we can best live as individuals in contact with both inner
and outer worlds" (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 8). Proper use of the oracle brings
about "an intuitive clarity traditionally called shen ming or the light of the gods.
It is a bright spirit that is creative, clear-seeing and connected" (ibid: 8). Contact
with this "bright spirit" enables one to "grasp the seeds,... penetrate the wills of
all the beings under heaven" (ibid: 9)11 and thereby participate, as though
magically, in the unfolding of events. As Ritsema and Karcher put it:
Like the shamans and sages of old, this tradition maintains, the person
who uses [the 7 Ching's] symbols to connect with 7 [i.e. change or
versatility] will have access to the numinous world and acquire a
helping-spirit, a shen. The 7 Ching ... puts its users in a position to create
and experience their own spirit as a point of connection with the forces
that govern the world. (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 14)
 Magic and Science and the I Ching 267

The modern psychological elements in their understanding of the / Ching are

also made explicit. After describing the I Ching as "a particular kind of imagin-
ative space set off for a dialogue with the gods or spirits", they immediately
qualify the phrase "gods or spirits" as "the creative basis of experience now
called the unconscious" (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 14). Likewise, the shen ming
or "light of the gods" is glossed as "the unconscious forces creating what you
experience" (ibid: 9).
In essence, for Ritsema and Karcher, the "magic" of the I Ching consists in
seeing the oracle's divinatory hexagrams and accompanying textual images as
symbols or spells capable, if duly pondered, of connecting one to an imaginat-
ive—or "imaginai"12—dimension from which one's reality can be re-shaped.
Within this dimension, one is liable to encounter various seemingly autonomous
centres of intelligibility and power ("spirits" or "archetypes"—Ritsema &
Karcher, 1994: 15). Like a magician, one has to relate appropriately to these
powers in order to be benefited rather than obstructed or overwhelmed by them.
A particularly important role is played in this 'magic' by the oracular lan-
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

guage of the I Ching. This language differs in important respects from the normal
language of discursive thought. Whereas the latter operates primarily in terms
of concepts, the ancient Chinese oracular texts "[allow] images and concepts to
join in single words as well as in the sentences of the 7 Ching" (Ritsema, 1976:
191; see also H. Wilhelm, 1977). "In the Chinese text", we are told,
the elements of meaning are interrelated in a way peculiar to images
and the logic is that of the archetypal or imaginai. In the realm of the
imaginai the links of association between the elements of meaning are
not determined temporally or causally. No element of an image is prior
to or the cause of another element any more than its consequence
or result. Instead, the linkage of imaginai elements with each other
emphasizes qualitative association. (Ritsema, 1976: 192)
It is a language "made up of symbols with no rigid subject-verb, noun-adjective,
pronoun or person distinctions. They combine and interact the way dream-
images do" (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 16). The attempt of Ritsema and Karcher's
translation to preserve this oracular quality of language involves, above all,
providing a list of "Associated Contexts", which gives a range of additional
meanings and nuances for each of the translated terms. For example, the section
of text appearing in Wilhelm-Baynes as "The maiden is powerful" is translated
by Ritsema and Karcher as "womanhood invigorating" for which the following
further associations are given:
Woman(hood), NÜ: a woman; what is inherently female.
Invigorate, CHUANG: inspirit, animate; strong, robust; full grown,
flourishing, abundant; attain manhood (at 30); damage through unre-
strained strength. The ideogram: strength and scholar, intellectual
impact. Image of Hexagram 34. (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 483)
It is then left to the individual user of the oracle to allow the meanings to
combine in a way that resonates with his or her situation. Doing this, we are
told, "is a living process. The images interact with, re-form and clarify the
situation in your psyche" (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 23).
The emphasis in this use of language on multi-valence and qualitative associ-
ation rather than on pre-set meanings and causality points back to the fact that
 268 R. Main

ultimately, the "magic" of the I Ching depends upon its grounding in acausal or
synchronistic thinking.13 That is to say, the symbolic, ultimately archetypal
nature of the oracular language allows for the emergence within it of patterns of
meaning based on connections that transgress the usual boundaries of linear
causal thinking. This implicit synchronistic background to their understanding
of the I Ching is further indicated in Ritsema and Karcher's account by the
importance they attach to the element of meaningful chance. After noting that
"[tjhe act of consultation is based upon chance", they explain that "[t]his chance
event empowers a spirit beyond conscious control. It gives the forces behind
your situation the chance to speak by singling out one or more of the book's
symbols" (Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 9).14

Science
In the ancient Chinese world where the / Ching arose, the distinction between
magic and science was much less clear-cut and polarized than it is in the modern
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

West. In fact, according to Joseph Needham, it is generally agreed among

scholars that in such ancient contexts "magic ... nourished science, and the
earliest scientists were magicians" (Needham, 1962: 280, citing Hubert & Mauss,
1904: 56). The influence of the Í Ching in this respect is evident from Needham's
own extensive consideration of the oracle in the course of his discussion of
fundamental ideas in Chinese science (Needham, 1962: 304-345), where he
mentions, selectively, the role of the I Ching's symbolic hexagrams in the
development of Chinese chemistry, acoustics, biology, physiology, and medicine
(ibid: 329).15 With a somewhat different slant on the question, Jung felt justified
in describing the / Ching as actually being the "standard text-book" of Chinese
science, adding, however, that "the principle of this science, like so much
else in China, was altogether different from the principle of our science"
(Jung, 1930: 55).
The second strand of modern western work on the 7 Ching that I wish to
consider is that of the Jungian analyst Marie-Louise von Franz. She agrees with
all of the above statements concerning the possible relationship of the / Ching to
science, but elaborates on a further possibility: that the / Ching may embody
certain principles not currently recognized by contemporary science, but which,
if recognized, could lead to further significant developments within science.
These developments, moreover, would be in a direction which would take
science closer again to the world-views of both magic and spirituality.
Von Franz's comments on the I Ching almost all occur in the context of
discussions of the concepts of number, time, and synchronicity. Her preoccu-
pation with these concepts is in turn part of her ambitious concern, inherited
from Jung, to point the way towards a unification—or, more modestly, a
significant rapprochement—of depth psychology and physics (see von Franz,
1974; 1992).16
The key factor in von Franz's discussions is number. In essence, she develops
a point made earlier by Jung (Jung, 1952: 456-458), that the natural numbers
(1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) are archetypes and as such are capable of ordering processes both
in the physical world and in the psyche. The fact that number can order physical
processes is evident enough from the extraordinarily successful application of
mathematics within the natural sciences. According to von Franz, however, this
 Magic and Science and the I Ching 269

2 + 2 = 6 - x - (transforming)
Yin 2 +
13 + 3 = 8 (stable)

Yang 3 + '{ 2+ 2=7

3 + 3=9
(stable)

(transforming)

Figure 2. Numbers involved in generating the hexagram lines.

quantitative use of number, based on counting, measurement, and calculation, is

only half the picture, for numbers also have a qualitative aspect. Traditionally,
this qualitative dimension has been elaborated within the various systems of
number symbolism—Pythagoreanism being a notable western example (see von
Franz, 1974: 30-32). To set the claim on an empirical footing, von Franz points
to the frequent occurrence of number motifs in dreams, visions, fairy tales,
myths, and other products of the imagination, where—according to the analyses
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

of Jung, herself, and others—the particular numbers generally perform fairly

consistent functions of ordering psychic contents.
Von Franz's distinctive contribution to the study of number is to have brought
together these disparate approaches of quantitative mathematics and qualitative
symbolism and to have examined in detail, for the first four natural numbers,
numerous parallels or isomorphisms between their qualitative and quantitative
aspects. She considers this work to have demonstrated "that the natural num-
bers in fact do possess in exactly the same way in the world of psychic
representations all the qualities that they possess mathematically and that they
have in physics and in the hereditary code" (von Franz, 1992: 37).17 To reflect this
bivalence she attempts to express the ordering properties of numbers in lan-
guage which is neutral and might apply equally to the domains of matter and
of psyche. In summary: "One comprises wholeness, two divides, repeats, and
engenders symmetries, three centers the symmetries and initiates linear succes-
sion, four acts as a stabilizer by turning back to the one as well as bringing forth
observables by creating boundaries, and so on" (von Franz, 1974: 74).
In modern western science, the quantitative aspect of number has been
emphasized almost exclusively. In ancient Chinese thinking, the qualitative
aspect generally had precedence. The surprising extent to which this was so is
amusingly illustrated by the following episode from early Chinese history:
There were once eleven generals, and they had to vote if they should
attack or retreat. They voted, and eight were for attacking and three
were for going back. Therefore, they retreated. The three had won out
because three is the number of harmony; three [in this respect] is a
better number, qualitatively, than eight. So the people who hit the three
won out. (von Franz, 1992: 164, drawing on Granet, 1950: 298-299)18
Returning to the 7 Ching, there is no doubt that many aspects of this system
are based on the qualitative understanding of number. In particular, both of the
traditional methods of consultation, the yarrow-stalk method and the three-coin
method, derive the hexagram lines from the attribution of numerical values (see
Figure 2)—even numbers (most fundamentally two, but also six or eight)
representing the structuring quality of yin and forming the basis of the divided
 270 R. Main

Situation -> Number set > Hexagram—> Texts

Situation or 3+2+2=7 .44. Kou,

moment (both 3+2+2=7 . COMING TO MEET.
physical and 3+2+2=7 -The maiden is
psychic 3+2+2=7 powerful.
aspects) 3+2+2=7 . One should not
2 + 3 + 3 = 8. marry such a
maiden.

(more abstract) (more concrete)

Representations of the archetype

underlying the situation
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

Figure 3. Number mediating between situation and hexagram.

lines, and odd numbers (most fundamentally three, but also seven and nine)
representing the active quality of yang and forming the basis of the whole lines.19
The possibility which von Franz elaborates from this is that the I Ching's
ability to work as an oracle, that is to reveal synchronistic correlations between
inner psychic and outer physical events, may actually derive from its being
based on number.20 The divinatory procedure generates a hexagram which, as
just indicated, is fundamentally built up from even and odd numbers. On the
one hand, the quantitative aspect of these numbers relates them to the
configurations of energy underlying outer physical events. On the other hand,
their qualitative aspect relates them to the configurations of energy underlying
inner psychic events. As Jung expresses it, these even and odd numbers "as
representatives of Yin and Yang, are found both in the unconscious and in
nature in the characteristic form of opposites, as the 'mother' and 'father' of
everything that happens, and they therefore form the tertium comparationis [third
term of comparison] between the psychic inner world and the physical outer
world" (Jung, 1952: 452).
To summarize the whole process (see Figure 3): each situation or moment of
time about which one wishes to gain information through the oracle has as a
whole a particular quality. This quality, in both its physical and its psychic
aspects, is considered to stem from the active presence of an archetype whose
particular nature can best be expressed in terms of number—the number set
which 'happens' to turn up as a result of the consultation procedure. This
number set can then be more graphically expressed in terms of one of the
hexagrams of the 7 Ching and the abstract meaning of the hexagram can in turn
be further explicated and concretized through the verbal statements of its
appended oracular texts.
There are several things to note about this clearly quite speculative work of
von Franz's. Firstly, if it turns out that there is an important element of truth in
her suggestions, the implications for science could indeed be profound. It might
not quite lead to von Franz's hoped-for unification of psychology and physics
(and, let us add loosely, of magic and science), but it might at least suggest new
 Magic and Science and the I Ching 271

ways of exploring the interaction between these fields. Secondly, inasmuch as

number is—according to Jung and von Franz—"the most primitive form of the
spirit" (von Franz, 1974: 213)—witness, for example, the "sacred" character, the
"numinosity and mystery", regularly attributed to the numbers one to nine
(Jung, 1952: 456)—there may also be the possibility of bringing science closer to
religion. And thirdly, we can note the central role played by synchronicity in
von Franz's relating of the 7 Ching to science. It will be remembered that
synchronicity also played an important, if more tacit, role in Ritsema and
Karcher's relating of the I Ching to magic. In their case, the specific carrier of the
synchronistic relationship was language; in von Franz's case, it is number. In
both cases, however, the carriers—language and number—are understood in an
expanded sense as more than usually multivalent, symbolic, and qualitative—in
a word, as archetypal.

Conclusion
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

In conclusion, we have seen that just as traditionally the I Ching was regularly
invoked as a seminal resource for both magical and scientific thinking, so the
influence of the system has extended in both of these directions within the
recently emerged western tradition of 7 Ching work. The system can accommo-
date and respond suggestively to such diverse approaches, because—as has been
noted by Wayne McEvilly—it "includes both rigor and mystery, both mechanics
and poetry, both mathematical structure and illusive beauty, both transparent
clarity and profound, pregnant darkness, both Yang and Yin" (McEvilly, 1968:
148). Whether or not the 7 Ching ever contributes practically towards establishing
quite the kind of stable integration of spirituality, magic, and science that some
people might wish to exist, it nevertheless seems to me—to answer the question
posed at the beginning of this paper—that it is at the very least a paramount and
inspiring symbol of such integration. The implicit recognition of this may
indeed partly account for the system's contemporary—and, for that matter,
traditional—appeal.

Dr Roderick Main is Research Fellow at the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies at the
University of Essex and an Associate Lecturer in the Arts with the Open University.
He is the editor of Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal (1997; 1998).
Correspondence: Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, Wivenhoe
Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, U.K.

NOTES
1. The paper was first presented to the conference on "Magic and Science in Contemporary and
New Age Religions" at Bath College of Higher Education (now Bath University College), 11th
May, 1996.
2. Good recent examples of combined scholarship and accessibility are Lynn (1994), Rutt (1996),
and Shaughnessy (1997). Recent western scholarship has approached the / Ching from a variety
of methodological perspectives: philological (Kunst, 1985), historical-cultural (Smith et al., 1990),
and historical-sociological (Smith, 1991), among others. The emphasis of the present paper is on
a depth psychological approach, which has been particularly influential within western culture.
3. Wilhelm's translation of the work into German originally appeared in 1924 (Wilhelm, 1924) and
its significance was immediately recognized by sinologists, such as Iulian Shchutskii (1980:
 272 R. Main

37-49). Nor was this the first respectable translation into a European language. James Legge
produced an English version in 1882 (Legge, 1882) which also met with Shchutskii's qualified
approval (Shchutskii, 1980: 28-35). This was the translation used by Jung before Wilhelm's
version appeared (Jung, 1930: 54). For an account of other early translations of the / Ching in
Europe, see Shchutskii, 1980:13-55. None of these works had, however, any cultural impact that
could even remotely be compared with that of Baynes's 1950 rendering of Wilhelm into English,
with the foreword by Jung.
4. My intention is to report on and clarify some influential and indicative views that are held about
the / Ching, and to relate these views to the broader context of some contemporary spiritual
concerns. I should stress that I am neither endorsing these views nor claiming to subject them
to the kind of detailed critical evaluation that would be appropriate in another context.
5. The hexagram was number 44, = = , Kou, Coming to Meet.
6. For a fuller discussion of Jung's difinitions of synchronicity, including various problems relating
to them, see Main, 1997a: 20-29. For a further discussion of synchronicity in relation to the
I Ching, see Main, 1997b.
7. I have deliberately omitted from this definition any notion of 'willing' change or of 'compelling'
spirits; this would not have suited my purposes in a discussion of the I Ching, since the
underlying ethic of this system is usually presented as stressing precisely that one should not
act on the basis of wilful intention, but in accordance with tao ('the way', 'meaning'). See e.g.
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

Ritsema & Karcher, 1994: 29.

8. Kunst writes that 'The Yi occupies that period where magico-religious ideas dominated"
(Kunst, 1985: 13) and again that "The other world of the spirits which is the object of the
entreaties of divination, sacrifice, and prayer is always present implicitly in the text" (ibid:
15). R. Smith notes the connection between the practices of diviners (shih) and shamans (wu)
both in the Warring States period (453-221 C. E.) and later (Smith, 1991:16,23). For an ancient
characterization of the shamanic nature of the oracle, see Peterson, 1982: 107-110. For an
interesting, although less scholarly argument for the shamanic origins of the oracle, see
Palmer et al., 1995, especially 32-35. On a key period of its later development Richard
Wilhelm remarks (not without a tone of disapproval): "After the Book of Changes had
become firmly established as a book of divination and magic in the time of the Ch'in Shih
Huang Ti, the entire school of magicians (fang shih) of the Ch'in and Han dynasties made it
their prey" (Wilhelm, 1980: lx). In the modern period, Jung reports that the book was
described to him by an eminent Chinese philosopher as "nothing but an old collection of
magic spells" (Jung, 1963: 343).
9. Participants have included Martin Buber, Joseph Campbell, Henry Corbin, Mircea Eliade, James
Hillman, Carl Jung, Karl Kerényi, Erich Neumann, Gilles Quispel, Herbert Read, Gershom
Scholem, Erwin Schrödinger, D. T. Suzuki, Paul Tillich, Victor White, Hellmut Wilhelm, and
Heinrich Zimmer—to mention only some of the most illustrious.
10. Karcher has also published two shorter and more readily accessible translations (Karcher, 1995;
1997), based however on the larger work. For some aspects of the work that formed the
background to these translations, see Ritsema, 1970; 1971; 1972; 1973; 1976; 1977; 1978; 1979;
1982; 1984, and Karcher, 1992a; 1992b; 1994.
11. Based on passages in the "Great Treatise", one of the ancient commentaries attached to the
I Ching. See Wilhelm, 1980: 315.
12. For the origin of the special Jungian use of this term, see Corbin, 1972.
13. I am aware that Jung, and von Franz following him, specifically repudiated the suggestion that
synchronicity was a form of magical thinking (see e.g. Jung, 1952: 483; von Franz, 1992: 231).
However, as explained above, I am deliberately operating here with an understanding of magic
that does not necessarily entail the kind of paranormally causal willing to which they objected.
14. In fact, there is a blend here between thinking in terms of synchronicity and thinking in terms
of spiritual agencies. This illustrates the double nature, at once modern and traditional, of the
Ritsema-Karcher approach.
15. Although Needham considers that the overall influence of the Í Ching was inhibitory to the
development of observation-based science—because it encouraged a contented pigeon-holing of
phenomena rather than their experimental investigation (Needham, 1962: 335-440)—he never-
theless acknowledges that the intrinsically organicist world-view of the system prefigured
certain recent and necessary developments in the modern scientific world-view (ibid: 339-440).
He even suggests that, via the German philosopher Leibniz, who was one of the first westerners
 Magic and Science and the I Ching 273

to become aware of the system, the philosophy of the / Ching may have been the ultimate origin
of truly organicist thinking in the West (¡bid: 291).
16. Von Franz originally wrote about the possibilities for a unification of psychology and physics
(von Franz, 1974). Later, she came to the view that the factor of meaning, because of its
feeling component, would always keep psychology and physics separate (von Franz, 1981).
Nevertheless, she continued to hope for a close rapprochement.
17. Others besides von Franz have been intrigued by the possible isomorphism between the 64
hexagrams of the I Ching and the 64 codons of the genetic code. See e.g. Schönberger, 1979, and
Walter, 1996.
18. Elsewhere, von Franz relates the same anecdote but gets mixed up—or at any rate the person
who transcribed her lecture gets mixed up—as to which group of generals voted for what and
therefore also as to what decision was eventually made (see von Franz, 1980: 83).
19. Recent scholarship supports the view that the two kinds of hexagram line—whole and
divided—did in fact originally represent odd and even numbers (see Nielsen, 1995: 52-57).
20. As von Franz notes, a sophisticated philosophical version of this idea was articulated within the
Chinese tradition by Wang Fu-chih (1619-1692; see von Franz, 1974: 10; see also H. Wilhelm,
1975: 97-98).
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

REFERENCES
Charet, F. X. Spiritualism and the Foundations of C. G. Jung's Psychology. Albany: State University of
New York Press, 1993.
Clarke, J. J. Oriental Enlightenment: The Encounter between Asian and Western Thought. London/New
York: Routledge, 1997.
Corbin, H. "Mundus Imaginalis or the Imaginary and the Imaginai." Spring 1972: 1-19.
Granet, M. La Pensée Chinoise. Paris: Albin Michel, 1950.
Heelas, P. The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity. Oxford:
Blackwell, 1996.
Hinshaw, R. "Review of Wolfgang Pauli und C. G. Jung: Ein Briefwechsel." Psychological Perspectives 31,
1995: 125-130.
Hubert, H. & Mauss, M. "Esquisse d'une Théorie Générale de la Magie." Année Sociologique 7, 1904.
Jung, C. G. "Richard Wilhelm: In Memoriam." (1930) In Collected Works. Vol. 15. The Spirit in Man,
Art and Literature. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966: 53-62.
Jung, C. G. "Foreword to the 'I Ching'." (1950) In Collected Works. Vol. 11. Psychology and Religion:
West and East. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969, 2nd ed.: 589-608.
Jung, C. G. "Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle." (1952) In Collected Works. Vol. 8.
The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969, 2nd ed.:
417-519.
Jung, C. G. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Recorded and edited by Aniela Jaffé. Translated by Richard
and Clara Winston. London: Collins and Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1963.
Jung, C. G. Letters 1: 1906-50. Selected and edited by Gerhard Adler in collaboration with Aniela
Jaffé. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973.
Jung, C. G. Letters 2: 1951-61. Selected and edited by Gerhard Adler in collaboration with Aniela
Jaffé. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976.
Karcher, S. "Making Spirits Bright: Divination and the Demonic Image." Eranos 61, 1992a: 27-43.
Karcher, S. "Oracle's Contexts: Gods, Dreams, Shadow, Language." Spring 53, 1992b: 79-94.
Karcher, S. "Which Way I Fly is Hell: Divination and the Shadow of the West." Spring 55, 1994: 80-101.
Karcher, S., trans. The Elements of the 1 Ching. Shaftesbury: Element 1995.
Karcher, S., trans. How to Use the 1 Ching. Shaftesbury: Element, 1997.
Kelsey, M. The Other Side of Silence: Meditation for the 21st Century. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1997.
Kunst, R. A., trans. "The Original Yijing: A Text, Phonetic Transcription, Translation, and Indexes,
with Sample Glosses." Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1985.
Legge, J., trans. The Yi King; or Book of Changes. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882.
Lindorff, D. "One Thousand Dreams: The Spiritual Awakening of Wolfgang Pauli." Journal of
Analytical Psychology 40 (4), 1995a: 555-569.
Lindorff, D. "Psyche, Matter and Synchronicity: A Collaboration between C. G. Jung and Wolfgang
Pauli." Journal of Analytical Psychology 40 (4), 1995b: 571-586.
 274 R. Main

Lynn, R. J., trans. The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the "I Ching" as Interpreted by Wang Bi.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
Main, R., ed. Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal. London: Routledge, 1997a.
Main, R. "Synchronicity and the Í Ching: Clarifying the Connections." Harvest: Journal for Jungian
Studies 43 (1), 1997b: 31-14.
McEvilly, W. "Synchronicity and the I Ching." Philosophy East and West 18 (3), 1968: 137-149.
Mansfield, V. Synchronicity, Science, and Soul-Making: Understanding Jungian Synchronicity through
Physics, Buddhism, and Philosophy. Chicago/La Salle, ILL: Open Court, 1995.
Meier, C. A., ed. Wolfgang Pauli und C. G. Jung: Ein Briefwechsel (1932-1958). Heidelberg: Springer-
Verlag, 1992.
Needham, J. Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962.
Nielsen, B. "The 'Qian zuo du': A Late Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220) Study of the 'Book of Changes', 'Yi
jing'." Ph.D dissertation, University of Copenhagen, 1995.
Palmer, M.; Ramsey, J., & Zhao, X., trans. I Ching: The Shamanic Oracle of Change. London/San
Francisco: Thorsons, 1995.
Peterson, W. "Making Connections: 'Commentary on the Attached Verbalizations' of the Book of
Change." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 42 (1), 1982: 67-112.
Ritsema, R. "Notes for Differentiating Some Terms in the / Ching." Spring 1970: 111-125.
Ritsema, R. "Notes for Differentiating Some Terms in the / Ching: Second Installment." Spring 1971:
141-152.
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014

Ritsema, R. "The Corrupted: A Study of the 18th Hexagram in the I Ching." Spring 1972: 90-109.
Ritsema, R. "The Pit and the Brilliance: A Study of the 29th and 30th Hexagrams in the I Ching."
Spring 1973: 142-170.
Ritsema, R. "The Quake and the Bound: A Study of the 51st and 52nd Hexagrams in the I Ching.
Part One." Spring 1976: 191-212.
Ritsema, R. 'The Quake and the Bound: A Study of the 51st and 52nd Hexagrams in the I Ching.
Part Two: Ken, The Bound." Spring 1977: 89-104.
Ritsema, R. "The Great's Vigour: A Study of the 34th Hexagram in the I Ching, with a Note on
Consulting the 1 Ching." Spring 1978: 183-206.
Ritsema, R. "The Hidden: A Study of the 4th Hexagram in the J Ching." Spring 1979: 165-188.
Ritsema, R. "Adorning: A Study of the 22nd Hexagram in the I Ching." Spring 1982: 39-69.
Ritsema, R. "Analyzing: A Study of the 40th Hexagram in the I Ching." Spring 1984: 77-104.
Ritsema, R. & Karcher, S., trans. I Ching: The Classic Chinese Oracle of Cliange. Shaftesbury: Element,
1994.
Rutt, R., trans. Zhouyi: The Book of Changes. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1996.
Schönberger, M. The I Ching and the Genetic Code: The Hidden Key to Life. New York: ASI Publishers,
1979.
Segal, R. A., with Singer, J. & Stein, M., eds. The Allure of Gnosticism: The Gnostic Experience in Jungian
Psychology and Contemporary Culture. Chicago/La Salle, ILL: Open Court, 1995.
Shaughnessy, E. L., trans. I Ching: The Classic of Changes. Translated, introduced, and with commen-
tary by E. L. Shaughnessy. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.
Shchutskii, I. K. Researches on the I Ching. Translated by William L. MacDonald and Tsuyoshi
Hasegawa, with H. Wilhelm; with an Introduction by Gerald W. Swanson. London/Henley:
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.
Smith, K.; Bol, P. K.; Adler, J. A., & Wyatt, D. J. Sung Dynasty Uses of the "I Ching." Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1990.
Smith, R. J. Fortune-tellers and Philosophers: Divination in Traditional Chinese Society. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press, 1991.
van Erkelens, H. "Wolfgang Pauli's Dialogue with the Spirit of Matter." Psychological Perspectives 24,
1991: 34-53.
von Franz, M.-L. Number and Time: Reflections Leading Towards a Unification of Psychology and Physics.
Translated by Andrea Dykes. London: Rider & Company, 1974.
von Franz, M.-L. On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance. Toronto:
Inner City Books, 1980.
von Franz, M.-L. "Meaning and Order: Concerning Meeting Points and Differences between Depth
Psychology and Physics." Quadrant 4 (1), 1981. Also published in von Franz, M.-L. Psyche and
Matter. Boston/London: Shambhala, 1992: 267-292.
von Franz, M.-L. Psyche and Matter. Boston/London: Shambhala, 1992.
Walter, K. Tao of Chaos: DNA and the 1 Ching: Unlocking the Code of the Universe. Shaftesbury: Element,
1996.
 Magic and Science and the I Ching 275

Wilhelm, H. Change: Eight Lectures on the "I Ching." Translated by Cary F. Baynes. London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1975.
Wilhelm, H. "The Interplay of Image and Concept." A Chapter in Wilhelm, H. Heaven, Earth and Man
in the Book of Changes: Seven Éranos Lectures. Seattle/London: University of Washington Press,
1977: 190-221.
Wilhelm, R., trans. I Ging: Das Buch der Wandlungen. 2 Vols. Jena, 1924.
Wilhelm, R., trans. The I Ching or Book of Changes. Rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes, with a
foreword by C. G. Jung. London/Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980, 3rd ed. Originally
published in two volumes: Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1950; London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1951.
Zabriskie, B. "Jung and Pauli: A Subtle Asymmetry." Journal of Analytical Psychology 40 (4), 1995:
531-553.
Downloaded by [DTU Library] at 01:46 06 May 2014