The Elven Book of Changes: A Magical Interpretation of the I Ching

The Elven Book of Changes: by the Silver Elves is a magical interpretation of the I Ching or Book of Changes, and is for magicians, elves, and magic wielders of all kinds. It is written without gender bias and serves both as an Oracle and as a book of instruction to help the magician find hir way through the maze of modern life, the mystical worlds of spirit, and the magical realms of Faerie. From the Introduction of The Elven Book of Changes: “We first learned how to do the I Ching from the Elf Queen’s Daughters. We had encountered it previously and had done it, but it was with the Elf Queen’s Daughters that we really learned how to do it effectively, and have since that time been doing it at least once a day for the last 35+ years. The I Ching is one of the oldest, most organized, and in the experience and opinion of these elves, the most accurate of oracles. Whenever we have a truly important question, we always consult the I Ching. While most experts say, and historical data seems to support, that the I Ching has been in use for at least three to four thousand years, the tradition among the Elves is that it is at least 8,000 years old. Why a New Version of the I Ching? There are many versions of the I Ching, the Wilhelm-Baynes translation being one of the best in our opinion. However, there are aspects of that great book that these elves found unsatisfactory. First, it bore with it the cultural prejudices concerning women that existed at the time it was created. We have tried to create a version that is non-sexist. Most versions of the I Ching speak of the “superior man”, which we find less than satisfactory to many of our sisters. Second, we wanted a version that spoke to elves, elfin magic, and magicians and magic workers overall. This version is created with that in mind. Third, while we believe the Wilhelm/Baynes version is a truly great translation, there were a few lines we simply couldn’t agree with. Also, some made no sense to us in terms of the line and then the hexagram it changed into, so we began again, line by line. While our interpretation is in some instances very similar to the original, in some cases we have altered the interpretation completely." Excerpt from the Elven Book of Changes: “HEXAGRAM 1: MAGIC” ”The first hexagram represents the primal power from which all things originate. It is conceived of as Magic in a pure undifferentiated state, and thus exists as absolute potentiality. It is energetic by it nature and of the Spirit, and thus represents the Divine. It has all solid lines indicating that it is strong and without weakness, therefore it represents power. It is purposeful, directed toward a goal that may be conceived of as Vision or Destiny. The first primal power is infinite in Being. It is, has always been, and always will be. It extends itself through Space, the second primal power, which exists by virtue of its nonexistence, which because of its receptivity allows the First Power to manifest within Space. This creates the idea of motion, or sequential development from which we derive the idea of Time. This sequential development creates the idea of evolution, by which the Magic realizes its Vision by way of stepby-step development through Space/Time. This sequential realization of the Divine represents a movement from Pure Conscious Being into the Mental Realm and from there into Materiality. This might also be conceived as a descent into the Angelic realm, the Deva realms and “downward” into the individualized material realm, where Divinely inspired Mages illuminate the lives of receptive individuals.”