I Ching Coin Method: How to Cast and Record Six Lines

Prepare the coins and choose your convention

Use three coins whose sides you can distinguish, a clear flat surface, and somewhere to record the results. Similar coins in good condition are sufficient; no special currency is required to understand the procedure. Set the values before casting and record what actually lands.

This guide assigns heads a value of 3 and tails a value of 2, matching the website's convention. Labels vary between books, especially for coins with inscriptions. Identify the actual side receiving each value before the first toss. When comparing instructions, check the convention rather than assuming the word heads means the same physical face everywhere.

Add three values to make one line

Toss all three coins together. Their sum can only be 6, 7, 8, or 9. This number is the line's value, not its position. It tells you both yin or yang and whether the line is moving. Values 6 and 9 move; 7 and 8 remain static.

Two heads and one tail total 8, giving a static yin line. One head and two tails total 7, giving static yang. Three tails total 6, moving yin; three heads total 9, moving yang. Write the number beside the line so that its moving or static status is not lost.

• 6, old yin: broken in the primary hexagram, solid in the changed hexagram.
• 7, young yang: solid and unchanged.
• 8, young yin: broken and unchanged.
• 9, old yang: solid in the primary hexagram, broken in the changed hexagram.

Toss six times and build from the bottom

A hexagram has six positions, so make six tosses of all three coins. Put the first result at the bottom, the second immediately above it, and continue to the sixth at the top. This is the figure's ordering rule, not a technique for improving its effectiveness. Classical references to the first through top lines follow this order.

The bottom three lines form the lower trigram, and the top three the upper trigram. A full descriptive name often gives the upper image first, such as Water over Fire, even though you cast the lower lines first. Number six spaces in advance, with position 1 at the bottom, if that helps.

• Save a question with context, one issue, and a time frame.
• Toss three coins and record their sum at the bottom.
• Repeat five times using the same side values.
• Identify the two trigrams and mark every 6 or 9.
• Reverse only the moving lines to form a changed hexagram.

Worked example: 9, 8, 7, 8, 7, 8

Read these values from bottom to top. The lower lines are yang, yin, yang, forming Li (Fire). The upper lines are yin, yang, yin, forming Kan (Water). Together they make Jiji (After Completion), hexagram 63, Water over Fire. Only the first line, valued 9, moves.

Changing that first yang line to yin turns the lower trigram into yin, yin, yang, or Gen (Mountain). Water remains above, producing Jian (Obstruction), hexagram 39. The changed hexagram follows a defined operation; it is not another figure selected at will. Correct calculation still needs textual reading and context before any practical interpretation.

How common are moving lines?

With balanced coins, equally likely faces, and independent tosses, there are eight possible side combinations per line. One gives 6, one gives 9, three give 7, and three give 8. A moving line therefore has a theoretical probability of one quarter. This describes the data-generating method, not the prospects of the matter you asked about.

A valid cast may have no moving lines, one, or several. Their number is not a score for how favorable a reading is; it affects the changed figure and the rules for selecting texts. Yarrow stalks produce the same four line types with a different distribution, so the two methods are not statistically identical.

Common recording errors

Watch for forgetting the numerical values, changing a 7 or 8, reversing the figure, or redefining heads after seeing the result. Keep the original six numbers so you can check the structure later. Set a rule beforehand for a coin that falls out of sight or lands on edge, such as repeating that entire unrecorded three-coin toss.

Once a valid cast is complete, do not keep tossing in search of a more comfortable image. Read it, record questions it raises, and choose a small action to investigate. Understanding the arithmetic also helps you follow an online result. Keep an active role as a reader rather than treating the hexagram's name as a complete answer.