OK, today I did an I Ching reading. The question I put was "How could I convince Iavas that the I Ching effect is real?
I threw the three coins, six times and noted the fall each time. The first five times I got 2 tails and a head, which in itself is pretty improbable. You'd have to get someone who understands statistics to figure the odds on that. Then I got 2 tails and a head, which, when you look it up on the chart, takes you to hexagram 43. That just means section 43 in the book. I haven't read the whole thing and didn't know what to expect, but when I got to the appropriate section, the title itself was an answer: "Break through". The only way you will ever believe in this stuff is with some kind of break through.
Now, what you ought to understand about the I Ching is that there are 64 different sections to the book, each one describing a different sort of change that people go through in their lives. The various sections have titles ranging from "youthful folly" to "conflict" to "peace" to "modesty" to "retreat" to "revolution". Here's a link to a site with them all if you are interested.
http://www.akirarabelais.com/i/i.html
You should also keep in mind that this is a translation of a 5000 year old Chinese book, so there are cultural metaphors that will not make sense to us in this era, as well as the translation process itself. The "lines" listed on the website do not apply this time, according to the coin toss, but here's the text. I've read it several times now, and find much of value in it that is applicable to the whole situation of this thread.
Of course, there's plenty I don't understand, but not having the poetry gene, I'm just handicapped that way.
43. Kuai / Break-through (Resoluteness)
above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE
below CH'IEN THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN
This hexagram signifies on the one hand a break-through after a long
accumulation of tension, as a swollen river breaks through its dikes, or in the
manner of a cloudburst. On the other hand, applied to human conditions, it
refers to the time when inferior people gradually begin to disappear. Their
influence is on the wane; as a result of resolute action, a change in conditions
occurs, a break-through. The hexagram is linked with the third month
[April-May].
THE JUDGMENT
BREAK-THROUGH.
One must resolutely make the matter known
At the court of the king.
It must be announced truthfully. Danger.
It is necessary to notify one's own city.
It does not further to resort to arms.
It furthers one to undertake something.
Even if only one inferior man is occupying a ruling position in a city, he is
able to oppress superior men. Even a single passion still lurking in the heart
has power to obscure reason. Passion and reason cannot exist side by side-
therefore fight without quarter is necessary if the good is to prevail.
In a resolute struggle of the good against evil, there are, however, definite
rules that must not be disregarded, if it is to succeed. First, resolution must be
based on a union of strength and friendliness. Second, a compromise with
evil is not possible; evil must under all circumstances be openly discredited.
Nor must our own passions and shortcomings be glossed over. Third, the
struggle must not be carried on directly by force. If evil is branded, it thinks of
weapons, and if we do it the favor of fighting against it blow for blow, we lose
in the end because thus we ourselves get entangled in hatred and passion.
Therefore it is important to begin at home, to be on guard in our own persons
against the faults we have branded. In this way, finding no opponent, the
sharp edges of the weapons of evil becomes dulled. For the same reasons we
should not combat our own faults directly. As long as we wrestle with them,
they continue victorious. Finally, the best way to fight evil is to make
energetic progress in the good.
THE IMAGE
The lake has risen up to heaven:
The image of BREAK-THROUGH.
Thus the superior man
Dispenses riches downward
And refrains from resting on his virtue.
When the water of a lake has risen up to heaven, there is reason to fear a
cloudburst. Taking this as a warning, the superior man forestalls a violent
collapse. If a man were to pile up riches for himself alone, without
considering others, he would certainly experience a collapse. For all gathering is followed by dispersion.
Therefore the superior man begins to distribute while he is accumulating. In
the same way, in developing his character he takes care not to become
hardened in obstinacy but to remain receptive to impressions by help of strict
and continuous self-examination.
This book is connecting into something wise, and there is a specific formula of unlikely behavior that gets you right to an appropriate answer. It's uncanny. Unlikely. There are 64 possible sections of the book, and yet in this last cast, a highly improbable coin toss took me to a section that in addition to answernig my question, contained an admonishment for me:
If a man were to pile up riches for himself alone, without
considering others, he would certainly experience a collapse. For all gathering is followed by dispersion.
Therefore the superior man begins to distribute while he is accumulating.
Remember what I started out saying in this thread? "Why should I tell you?" I was wrong to start on that path, and I will continue to try to impart what I know. In a quiet, anonymous messageboard format, though!
Runes- My parents weren't into that sort of thing, and at the age I'm talking about, I hadn't read much fantasy yet, either, not even Tolkien. Nor had I been exposed to any Celtic influences. I lived in the backwoods of the Ozarks. Cultural influences from outside were few and far between.
About Ted Owens, if you read the book, you can see all the proofs that were offered: predictions published in newspapers, televised incidents as well. IF the author is legit, and it looks like most of his proofs could be looked up in public records, then Ted Owens was a bona fide phenomenon. Scary, even. I don't agree with all his ideas, and think his methods of visualization that accomplished these deeds were downright silly, but they seemed to work for him. That book is a collection of the sorts of proofs you've been asking for.
And, if you read it, I ask that you give consideration to the fact that when you see unnatural cloud formations-- that maybe, just maybe-- they might be there because you want them to be. That yes, you might have caused that weird cloud to form in just such a way.
Today's Unnatural Event:
We sell hay. One of our neighbors buys from us, and she paid for a 500 bales in the fall but hadn't picked any up more since September. This morning about 9:30, my husband wondered aloud, "I wonder when Rosy is going to get some of that hay?" "We ought to move the tractor out of there, so she can get to it (the hay) when we are gone." We dropped the subject, but it was the first time we've spoken about it all winter. Two hours later, she called and asked if we could bring her some hay today.
Of all the days since when she paid for it, 4 months worth, about 120 days, we spoke of the issue and she called within 2 hours. I figure she either felt us talking about her, or we felt her thinking about the hay- or talking to someone else about the issue. She didn't call right then because no one calls anyone that early on a Saturday morning- at least not around here!
Rosy is a friend, but not a close one. We see her a couple of times a year, mostly in the context of buying hay.
Stuff like this happens all the time nowadays. You can call it coincidence, but the circumstances are pushing the bounds of probability.