Tao Stones: Chinese Meditations for Every Day

I was not quite sure what to make of this set when I decided to order it. The deciding factor was seeing Martin Palmer's name associated with it- I knew how he felt about shallow "new age" exploitation of the Tao and of Chinese culture. My trust in his integrity was rewarded. Before I received this oracle I was familiar the most of the other methods used through the centuries in China: tortoise shell, yarrow stalk, coin, flipping randomly through the classics- but I was not familiar with any fired clay tiles. The text, however, points out that such a method was first used some 5000 years ago. That is what this modern system is based upon- 16 tiles chosen at random. There are two duplicate sets of pieces, one in black and one in slate. The first three in each set are incised with the symbols for Tao, Ying, and Yang- the remaining five are marked with the symbols for water, fire, earth, metal, and wood. All sixty-four possible combinations are indexed with interpretations (meditations, really) in the included booklet. The quality of manufacture is excellent- the stones appear to be made of a high quality ceramic material (no crumbling or flaking), the included booklet is a quality printed hardcover- tastefully designed and illustrated, the bag for the stones feels like red silk (though it isn't) and is covered with gold embroidered dragons, and the black lacquered case appears to be well done.