Studies of the I Ching: I. A replication

L. Storm and M. A. Thalbourne (1998-1999) carried out an experiment (N = 93 ) with the Chinese book of divination, the I Ching (J. Blofeld, 1968), whic h contains 64 hexagrams (g-line structures) and associated readings. Three coins are thrown 6 times to generate 1 of these hexagrams. Participants sel ected 16 of 64 hexagram-descriptor pairs, based on their emotional and/or c ognitive states of mind. It was predicted that 1 of the 16 choices would co me up as a "hit" (P-MCE = .25). The proportion of hits was marginally signi ficant. Transliminality and 6 factors on R. B. Cattell's 16 Personality Fac tor Questionnaire (16PF; R. B. Cattell, H. W. Eber, ge M. M. Tatsuoka, 1970 ) correlated significantly with hitting success. Number of changing lines ( given by throwing 3 heads or 3 tails) was not significantly different from chance, but number of changing lines did correlate significantly with trans liminality. Number of changing lines also correlated with 5 factors on the 16PF. Finally, transliminality correlated with 5 factors on the 16PF. A rep lication experiment (N = 107) was conducted in 1999. Hexagram hitting was s ignificant, but the transliminality-hitting correlation and the 6 hitting-1 6PF correlations were not significant. Also, the transliminality-changing l ines correlation and the 5 changing-lines-16PF correlations were not signif icant. However, 4 transliminality-16PF correlations were significant. The s uccessful parapsychological outcomes were interpreted according to the theo ry of psychopraxia (L. Storm ge M. A. Thalbourne, 2000; M. A. Thalbourne, 1 982, in press-a).