The Pukwudgie

A real, buildable set for casting an I Ching hexagram the traditional way — the slower, more ritualistic stalk-counting method, as opposed to the fast 3-coin method most people learn first (covered on the I Ching study guide over on Common Ground; this is that guide's physical companion piece, not a replacement for reading it). Traditional sets use real dried yarrow (Achillea millefolium) stalks — cedar is a practical substitute here for buildability and durability, not a claim that cedar carries the same traditional significance. The method's actual requirement is 50 straight, uniform, evenly-weighted rods that divide and count cleanly by hand; that's a milling spec, not a botanical one.

Materials

• Western red cedar, clear (knot-free) straight-grained stock — enough to mill 60+ stalks (you need 50; mill extra, some will split or come out uneven)
• Hemp cord, natural/undyed, ~4mm — one length for bundling, more if building the storage tube
• 180 and 220 grit sandpaper, or a sanding block
• (Tier 2 only) Cedar stock for a lidded storage tube sized to the bundle

The Build

1. Rip clear cedar into 3/16" x 3/16" strips on a table saw, or start from 3/16" cedar dowel stock if it's available pre-milled — either way you're aiming for a consistent cross-section across all 50+ stalks.
2. Cross-cut every strip to 12" — a real, handleable length that divides and counts quickly without stalks tangling or overlapping awkwardly during a cast.
3. Round over each stalk's cross-section with a block plane and sandpaper, or a sanding block alone if working from dowel stock — square strips work mechanically, but round stalks slide through the hands more smoothly during the counting steps, and that matters over a six-line cast.
4. Sand every stalk smooth end to end, 180 then 220 grit. This step isn't cosmetic — the whole method depends on stalks that divide into two random heaps and count off in fours without catching or snagging.
5. Select the 50 most uniform stalks from the batch; set the rest aside as spares (breakage and loss are real over years of use).
6. Bundle the 50 with a single length of hemp cord, tied off with a simple constrictor or square knot and a hanging loop.
7. Tier 2: turn or miter a lidded cedar tube sized to the bundle, with the hemp cord doubling as the closure wrap.

How the Cast Works

The classical procedure, unchanged from tradition — this build just supplies the stalks. Set 1 stalk aside for the whole process (it represents unity, and isn't divided or counted again); the remaining 49 are what actually gets worked. Divide the 49 in one motion into two heaps, without counting. Take 1 stalk from the right-hand heap and hold it aside. Count the left-hand heap off in groups of 4 and set the remainder (1-4 stalks) aside; do the same with the right-hand heap. The remainder stalks plus the 1 held-aside stalk always total either 5 or 9 — that's the first of three "changes." Set that total out of play, gather everything else from the 49 back into one pool, and repeat the whole divide-and-count process on the smaller remaining pool twice more (each of these two changes totals either 4 or 8). After three changes, what's left of the original 49 will be 24, 28, 32, or 36 stalks; divide that count by 4 to get a value of 6, 7, 8, or 9 — the first (bottom) line of the hexagram. 6 and 9 are changing lines; 7 and 8 are stable. Return all 49 stalks to the pool and repeat the full three-change process five more times to build the remaining five lines, bottom to top. A complete cast is six lines, eighteen changes total — the reason this method takes real time compared to three coin tosses, and, per most people who practice it, exactly the point.

Open Items

• No prototype built yet — stalk length, cross-section, and the 12" spec above are a real, buildable starting point, not a field-tested final dimension.
• Storage tube (Tier 2) has no finalized dimensions or joinery method — pending an actual prototype of the stalk bundle to size it against.
• Real yarrow vs. cedar is a deliberate, disclosed substitution here, not an oversight — if a future build wants to grow and dry actual yarrow instead, that's a different, plant-based project with its own timeline (yarrow is a real perennial, easy to grow in most of WV, but drying stalks to the right stiffness takes a full season).