The cast: six strokes, the coins, and the changed hexagram
The cast does one job: turn six coin values into six strokes, place the hexagram in Jing Fang’s eight palaces, and let the moving lines open a changed hexagram. Stems, relatives, and the focus line are not written yet.
How a stroke is yin or yang
A yang line is one solid stroke. A yin line is broken in the middle. Every hexagram in the Zhouyi is made of these two. Liu Yao does not invent a third stroke. Old yang, young yang, old yin, and young yin name whether the stroke moves. They are not extra figures.
Read yin or yang first, then whether the line moves. Calling a line good or bad has not yet put yin and yang on the chart.
Six strokes, bottom to top
Count from the bottom. The lowest stroke is line one, then two, three, four, five, and the top line. Lines one to three are the inner trigram. Lines four to six are the outer trigram. The pair is one of the sixty-four hexagrams, and the name belongs to those six strokes.
Reverse the order and the inner and outer trigrams swap, so the name changes. Fix the order before any stem is written. This step has no focus line.
Eight palaces give the hexagram a home
The Jingshi Yizhuan line of transmission sorts the sixty-four hexagrams into eight palaces. Each palace has an element. Later relatives are taken from that element: the same element is Siblings, the element that generates the palace is Parents, the element the palace generates is Descendants, the element that controls the palace is Officer, and the element the palace controls is Wealth.
A palace is a class, not a lucky direction. The wrong palace shifts every relative. This site uses this set. If another school orders the palaces differently, match the palace before you match the sentence.
| Palaces | Element |
|---|---|
| Qian, Dui | Metal |
| Zhen, Xun | Wood |
| Kun, Gen | Earth |
| Li | Fire |
| Kan | Water |
Which face the three coins record
This site tosses three coins six times. The character face counts as 3, the back as 2. The sum is 6, 7, 8, or 9. The first toss is the bottom line. The sixth is the top line. The cast does not use the clock alone, a number you call out, or a name.
Young yin and young yang stay in the original hexagram. Old yin becomes young yang. Old yang becomes young yin. The lines that moved make the changed hexagram. If nothing moves, there is no changed hexagram.
| Three coins | Recorded as | Movement |
|---|---|---|
| All character faces, sum 9 | Old yang | Moves, becomes young yin |
| Character faces in the majority, sum 8 | Young yin | Stays |
| Backs in the majority, sum 7 | Young yang | Stays |
| All backs, sum 6 | Old yin | Moves, becomes young yang |
Only old yang and old yin open the changed hexagram
The original hexagram is these six strokes, moving and still. The changed hexagram rewrites only the moving lines: old yang becomes yin, old yin becomes yang, and the other four strokes are copied. It is the new condition after the move. It is not a second fate, and it does not rewrite what has already happened.
A hexagram with no moving line is quiet. It has no changed hexagram. Do not add a moving line so that it will look eventful. A moving line is not a date.
Illustration: one set of values becomes Shi He
The illustration freezes the inputs: 2024-01-11 10:30, Asia/Shanghai, and the six values from the bottom 7, 8, 6, 9, 8, 7. The same inputs rebuild the same hexagram. This is a structural illustration. It is not a result the matter has already reached.
7 is young yang, 8 is young yin, 6 is old yin, and 9 is old yang. Bottom to top the strokes are yang, yin, yin, yang, yin, yang. The inner trigram is Zhen, the outer is Li, and the name is Shi He. Shi He belongs to the Xun palace, whose element is wood, and it is the fifth generation of that palace.
Lines three and four move. Old yin on line three becomes yang. Old yang on line four becomes yin. The inner trigram is then Li, the outer is Gen, and the changed hexagram is Bi. Stems and relatives wait for the loading page.
For what Liu Yao is, see what Liu Yao is. When one matter is already stated, go to the the chart page.
Use it in fatequery
Liu Yao
Six tosses of three coins, then a najia chart with world and response lines, six relations and the useful god
Cast a Liu Yao chart →Frequently asked questions
Which trigram sits at the bottom?
The inner trigram is lines one to three, at the bottom. The outer trigram is lines four to six, at the top.
Can the hexagram name be the conclusion?
No. The name only labels the six strokes. The conclusion waits for the focus line, Shi and Ying, and any moving line.
Are the eight palaces eight directions?
No. They are Jing Fang’s eight classes. The relatives are taken from the palace element.
Sources and editorial basis
- 1. Zhouyi
Checked for the line figures, yin and yang, and the sixty-four names.
- 2. Jingshi Yizhuan
Checked for Jing Fang’s eight palaces and which palace a hexagram belongs to.
- 3. Zengshan Buyi
Checked for how the two faces become old yang, young yin, young yang, and old yin.
- 4. Huangjin Ce
Checked that only old yin and old yang change, and that the result is the changed hexagram.