Divination as a Form of Self Conversation

Cards of Chinese Animal Idioms: Legends in Human World knows how to catch your attention. The art installation by Mountain River Jump! (Huang Shang and Huang He) has a screen rapidly looping forty-nine cards, each with a QR code that links to a reading. This original divination system is based on animal-related idioms and proverbs in Chinese. It does not follow any prevalent school of divination, nor does it relate to any religious beliefs. Yet audience members still find its readings accurate. For Huang He, divination never offers a direct answer but, instead, provides another type of consideration. Ultimately, the answer can still come from the inquirer.

Before the 1990s, the young Huang sisters used to frequent the Chinese Folk Cultural Village, where their mother used to work. They developed a great interest in animism and later studied the I Ching from a Jungian perspective. According to Huang He’s understanding, the I Ching encourages open interpretation. Whether the reading is auspicious or not, it does not lead to a definite outcome, which then allows room for change. In this sense, divinations based on this text do not determine people’s decision making but remind them to think carefully, to make clear their truest desires, and to embrace more possibilities.

Inspired by the I Ching, the readings in Cards of Chinese Animal Idioms simply describe the state of people and things, prompting audiences to rethink their situation and to consider what they truly seek. Huang He sees this as a process of self-discovery. Once people clarify their innermost desires, the next course of action will come naturally. In divination, as in fortune-telling, a process of self-questioning and self-answering is often at play.