Why I'm Starting with Hatcher
"(And Why I'm Not Explaining Anything Yet)
When I started working on castiching.com, I didn't begin with theory.
I began with a question:
How should this be done honestly?
I chose the yarrow stalk method.
All 50 stalks.
Every step.
No shortcuts.
It is slow.
It is boring to some people.
But it is real.
While working on this, I discovered the work of Bradford Hatcher.
It stopped me.
The First Time I Read Hatcher
Hatcher did not treat the I Ching as a "symbol system."
He treated it as a text that was built carefully, step by step, over time.
He examined the Chinese characters one by one.
He did not rush to meaning.
He did not simplify.
And when he compared the I Ching with astrology, Tarot, or Qabalah, he did not say:
"This equals that."
He asked:
"Why do these systems create similar images?"
That difference matters.
A Small Detail That Changed Everything
In many English books, "天" is translated as Heaven.
Hatcher often uses Sky.
Not heaven as a holy place.
But sky as something you can see.
Something that moves.
Something alive.
He writes about the fifth line of Qian as:
"A dragon in flight across the sky."
That felt right to me.
Because when I divide the yarrow stalks, I do not think of gods.
I think of above and below.
Sky and earth.
Movement and rest.
That was the moment I trusted his work.
What I Am Doing Now (And What I Am Not Doing)
I am not here to explain Hatcher.
I am not here to improve him.
I am not here to mix systems or create new meanings.
For now, I am doing only one thing:
I am structuring his text.
Nothing more.
That means:
- Keeping his words
- Keeping his order
- Keeping his internal structure
- Making it searchable
- Making it readable outside of a PDF
I will start with the 64 hexagrams.
About 500 pages.
No commentary.
No interpretation.
No reductive AI summaries.
Just the text, clearly organized.
Why I Am Avoiding Interpretation (For Now)
Because explanation is easy.
Structure is not.
Once you explain too early, you cannot take it back.
You place yourself between the reader and the text.
Hatcher did not want that.
He shared his work freely so others could read it, not replace it.
So I will begin the same way.
About Astrology and Other Systems
Yes, Hatcher connects the I Ching with astrology, Tarot, and Qabalah.
That part fascinates me.
But I do not understand it well enough yet.
So I will not pretend that I do.
Those connections will come later—
slowly,
carefully,
or not at all.
This project is not a race.
Why I Am Sharing This Now
I am writing this to mark a beginning.
For myself.
And for anyone who is interested.
If you have read Hatcher, I would like to hear from you.
If you see problems in this approach, please say so.
If you think this is unnecessary work, that is also fair.
For now, I am choosing to keep the water clear.
