While many people use a set of 3 coins when they consult the ancient Chinese oracle, the I Ching, the traditional method was to use yarrow sticks. With the stalks it takes about 15 minutes to find the hexagram. This longer period gives one time to collect oneself and become more open to what the oracle will mirror to you. Back in the 1970's, my late husband, Gia-fu Feng, gave me these instructions on how to use the yarrow stalks.

There is a lot of I Ching information on a website in Great Britain, including book reviews that can help you find a translation you resonate with -- some of the older European translations have a rather patriarchal perspective.

When I first started making sets of yarrow stalks I used yarrow that grew in my yard at the foot of Mount Shasta in far northern California. Now I harvest some yarrow near my new home in Vermont and receive some from my herbalist friends at Healing Spirits Herb Farm in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York. Each set of 50 stalks was gathered and trimmed by hand. I weave the ties on an inkle loom and sew the pouches on my machine.

The stalks, ties and pouches are not mass-produced and vary somewhat.
Please contact Jane by email jane@eheart.com to make your order.

Indicate your preferences for:

1 - extra sturdy or regular sticks (extra sturdy for big hands -- my own stalks are lighter than the regular and have lasted 29 years so far). The stalks are about 8 inches long. While some are green for the first year or so, they all age to a warm wood-color.

2 - wild-harvested Vermont stalks or cultivated upstate NY herb farm stalks - see photo

3 - three or four of your favorite colors, both for the hand-woven stalk tie and for the pouch (include tan, brown, grey, black, and white as possible choices), as well as colors you don't want me to use.
Or let me surprise you with the colors!

The cost is $38.50 for stalks with woven tie, pouch, and instruction card - includes priority mail shipping in the USA
Add $4.50 for international priority mail to Canada and Mexico
Add $6.50 for international priority mail to most other countries

Send check or money order to Jane English, PO Box 185, Calais, VT 05648.
or
Make a Paypal payment to jane@eheart.com

The stalk sets are hand crafted and I enjoy completing these sales myself. I do not take credit cards directly, but a personal check or a money order will suit me fine. The leisurely pace of ordering by mail goes along with how using the yarrow stalks is more leisurely than the I Ching coin method of a few quick tosses!

Please remember to give me your mailing address.

Thank you for your order.