About IChing Oracle

By Richard Davis ·

IChing Oracle is an independent, ad-supported tool for consulting the Yijing — the I Ching, or Book of Changes — using a small set of practices that have worked for three thousand years, plus a careful helping of modern language-model interpretation. The aim is not to predict your future. The aim is to give you a thoughtful, well-sourced prompt to reflect on a real question, in less time than it takes to make coffee.

Who builds it

IChing Oracle is built and run by Richard Davis, an independent software developer based in Australia. I have consulted the I Ching as a daily practice for over a decade, mostly using Richard Wilhelm's German translation (in Cary Baynes's English) alongside James Legge's 1882 English edition. I am not a credentialed sinologist. I have read a lot of secondary scholarship and I take editorial care; that is the honest version. The methodology section below explains exactly which sources feed which parts of the site.

For business details, ABN, registered address, or anything else not on this page, email [email protected] or use our contact page.

What the site does

You ask a question. You cast a hexagram — either using a quantum random number source (free tier uses a regular generator, paid tiers use the Australian National University's quantum random number service), or by tossing real coins yourself and entering the result. The site returns:

  • The hexagram's traditional name, image, and judgment text;
  • An interpretation of any changing lines you cast;
  • If you cast changing lines, the resulting second hexagram;
  • A short AI-written reading that ties the above to the specific question you asked;
  • An optional follow-up conversation, where you can press the AI on what it said.

Methodology and sources

The hexagram texts and line texts on every hexagram page are drawn from a hand-curated dataset compiled from public-domain translations (primarily Legge 1882, with cross-reference to Wilhelm / Baynes 1950 and to the modern Cleary 1992 translation). Editorial rewriting is mine, aiming for clarity and consistency across the 64 entries. Where a line is genuinely ambiguous between traditional commentaries, the page errs on the side of the most widely accepted reading and notes the disagreement.

AI-written readings are produced by current large language models (currently DeepSeek-Chat; this changes as models improve, with the change noted on this page). The model is given the question, the hexagram and changing-line data, and a system prompt instructing it to ground its reading in the supplied texts and to refuse to predict outcomes. It is not given access to the public internet at read time. The reading is generated fresh for each consultation and is not cached.

Three reading styles are available: Modern (the AI synthesises a single contemporary reading), Chu Hsi (the AI follows the Song-dynasty Neo-Confucian rule for selecting which line text applies when there are multiple changing lines), and Master Yin (the AI consults all changing-line texts as a sequence). See our casting guide for what each of these means in practice.

What this site is not

IChing Oracle is for reflection. It is not a substitute for medical, psychological, legal, financial, or any other kind of professional advice. If you are in crisis, please contact a local crisis line — our contact page lists a few. The AI does not predict the future; treat any reading as a structured prompt to think with, not a verdict to obey.

Editorial policy and corrections

I want the hexagram texts and guides on this site to be more accurate than the median English-language I Ching resource on the web. If you spot an error — a mistranslation, a line text that contradicts the classical sources, a guide that misrepresents a well-known interpretive school, a typo — please write to [email protected] with a pointer to the page and a short note. I read every message and post corrections with a "Last updated" date on the affected page.

How we make money

The free tier is supported by ads (Google AdSense). Paid tiers (Basic at $3.99/month, Premium at $9.99/month) remove the ads, use the ANU quantum random number source for casting, and unlock longer AI interpretations and conversation. See the subscription page for details. We accept payments through Stripe; we do not store card data.

Open about AI

Any text on this site labelled as an AI interpretation is exactly that — generated by a language model from the question and the underlying hexagram data. Static editorial content (this page, the history page, every guide, every per-hexagram editorial section) is written by a human (me). If that ever stops being true, this paragraph will say so first.