Six-line I Ching · Liu Yao coin casting

BaZi and Zi Wei use birth details to explore longer-term patterns. Six-line I Ching explores one current situation using the hexagram cast at that moment. Choose a question with a clear decision, context, and time frame.

A useful principle is:One situation per hexagram. Combining unrelated questions makes it hard to connect the lines to a clear situation and encourages vague generalities.

Be specific about your role, the time frame, and an action you can choose. A concrete situation gives the interpretation clearer context than an open-ended prediction.

• Relationships: “What should I consider about inviting them to dinner this month?” gives clearer action and timing than “Do they love me?”
• Work: “What should I consider about Friday's interview?” or “How might moving to company A compare with staying over the next six months?” Keep promotions, pay, and job changes as separate questions.
• Waiting for a reply: “What should I consider while awaiting a reply to this application this month?” State what you are waiting for and the period involved.

Avoid repeatedly casting before the situation changes. Cast again when there is meaningful new context.

Traditionally, three coins are held while focusing on a question and cast six times. Three heads make changing yang; three tails make changing yin; one head and two tails make stable yang; two heads and one tail make stable yin. The six lines are placed from bottom to top.

Changing yang and changing yin are calledchanging lines. They switch to the opposite line type. The six lines after those changes form theResulting hexagram. The primary hexagram offers a view of the present; the resulting hexagram suggests a direction of change. A hexagram without changing lines is called stable.

Online coin casts use the same probabilities as three physical coins: one-eighth each for changing yang and yin, and three-eighths each for stable yang and yin. No weighting is applied.

Choose “Enter my own coin casts” above. After each cast, choose three heads, two heads and one tail, one head and two tails, or three tails. The first cast is the bottom line. You can remove the previous line to correct it. A casting uses one method throughout.

Choose which side counts as heads before starting and keep it consistent. The sixth entry records the casting moment. Enter promptly after casting so the recorded month and day reflect that moment.

Before interpretation, each line receives an earthly branch. This is calledAssigned branches 納甲. The assignment follows the traditional rules in Bu Shi Zheng Zong. Each branch has an element, which is compared with the element of thehexagram palace to determine itsRelationships 六親: a matching element is Siblings; an element produced by the palace is Children; one restrained by the palace is Wealth; one restraining the palace is Authority; one producing the palace is Parents.

A central step is choosing thefocus line according to the question. Wealth questions use Wealth; work and status use Authority; well-being traditionally uses Children; relationship questions use the traditional sex-dependent rule. Decisions and other questions use the host line. Its strength and movement are interpreted in relation to the casting month and day.

Also consider thehost and guest lines. The host represents the person asking; the guest represents the other party or external situation. Their positions follow the palace's transformation rules, which also identify the hexagram stage.

The same six lines can be interpreted differently in another month because their strength is considered relative to themonth branch 月建 and theday marker 日辰. The focus line's branch stays the same, while its supporting or restraining relationships depend on the casting date.

The Six Spirits — Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Curved Array, Flying Serpent, White Tiger, and Dark Warrior — follow the day stem. They add traditional descriptive context, rather than determining the outcome by themselves.

The calculator records the moment the sixth line is completed. Chart calculation and reading use that moment, rather than the time you press Submit.

This example shows all six casts and the calculated chart, using the category “ Career ” and a Male person asking. Branches, relationships, and Six Spirits are calculated by the same engine. Repeating the same casts at the same recorded moment reproduces the chart. No interpretation is included here.

Everything above follows calculation rules. Interpretation comes next: Authority 官鬼 's strength depends on the month branch 戊戌 and day marker 癸亥 and how changing lines affect the whole. Interpretations can differ. This service generates a reading from the calculated structure. For a reading sequence, see Introduction to I Ching casting. For selecting the focus line, see Choosing a Liu Yao focus line. For host and guest lines, see Host and guest lines explained。

For the reasoning behind the focus category, host and guest positions, and branch assignments, browse Learn Six-line I Ching. Each article distinguishes traditional sources, this calculator's implementation, and known limits. First-time users can start with Introduction to I Ching casting: how to ask, cast, and read the chart.

To learn about an individual hexagram or examine its structure after casting, open the Hexagram library. Each published entry shows its trigrams, palace, host and guest positions, assigned branches, relationships, absent relationship types, and combinations or clashes, calculated by the same engine. It also describes common question themes.

The chart includes both hexagram names, palace, line branches and elements, relationships, Six Spirits, host and guest positions, stage, changing lines, and casting day and month markers. The question category selects the focus relationship.

Not calculated:hidden spirits 伏神, which supply an absent relationship from the palace's base hexagram, andmechanical date forecasts. Hidden-spirit interpretation depends on additional traditional rules. Timing is explored within the reading through line strength and the casting date, rather than presented as an automatic guaranteed date.

An outer-trigram branch assignment error was corrected on 29 August 2026 after checks against Bu Shi Zheng Zong and regression tests. Earlier records are marked separately and are not treated as using the corrected calculation.

For how such errors are found, the scope of our checks, and remaining limits, see Methods and accuracy, including critical discussion of this calculator.

Use readings for reflection, not medical, legal, or financial advice. The hexagram is fixed by the calculated casts; the reading does not change any line.

There are two separate questions.Chart calculation can be checked.Coin probabilities, assigned branches, and host and guest positions follow rules that can be tested. All sixty-four hexagrams have automated checks. Casting time is recorded at the sixth line, including manual input. The outer-line branch error corrected on 29 August 2026 is described in Methods and accuracy。

Predicted outcomes are not guaranteed.Our published reading experiment used birth-chart readings, rather than a comparable Six-line I Ching study. We therefore claim no accuracy rate for this method. Reader ratings help gather feedback; you can also save your question, casting time, and hexagram to compare with later events. For the scope of these checks, see What does “accurate” mean here?.