The Coin Method, in Full
The coin method — the classic way to cast in the Wilhelm-lineage six-line tradition — is the one most people learn first. Three coins, six throws, and the shape of this moment becomes a hexagram you can read. Here is the whole thing, from setup to notation.
Why three coins
One coin has two faces — heads and tails, yin and yang. But a full line needs more than a polarity. It needs to know whether it is still or in motion: a young line that holds, or an old line already turning into its opposite. Three coins thrown together sort all four of those states in a single toss. That is why the tradition settled on three, and never one or two.
Any coins will do. Purists like old square-holed Qing cash for the heft and the patina, but three quarters cast a hexagram just as well. What matters is not the bronze — it is the attention you bring to the shake. The coins are only a way to let a thought land somewhere you can read it.
First, settle
Wash your hands. Put the phone face-down. Take fifteen seconds to fix the question in your mind and say it once, silently — something like, "This position I'm holding, where does it go over the next week?" The more specific the question, the more legible the hexagram.
If you are scattered or wound up, don't force a cast. The old phrase is "sincerity gets an answer" — not superstition, just the plain fact that the reading is only as clear as your focus when you shake. For the full pre-cast routine, see Before You Cast.
Reading the faces
| Three-coin result | Count | Line | Mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three backs (all yang) | 3+3+3=9 | Old yang · moving | ○ → yin |
| Three faces (all yin) | 2+2+2=6 | Old yin · moving | × → yang |
| Two backs, one face | 3+3+2=8 | Young yin · still | ▬ holds |
| One back, two faces | 3+2+2=7 | Young yang · still | ▬ holds |
Score each coin: the inscribed face is yin (2), the blank back is yang (3). Add the three for 6, 7, 8, or 9. A 9 (old yang) or a 6 (old yin) is a moving line — marked ○ or × — and changes into the transformed hexagram; 7 and 8 hold still. A quick rule: when two coins match and one doesn't, the odd coin names the young line — an odd back (yang) gives young yang, an odd face (yin) gives young yin. (Some books call the inscribed side the "front" and flip the labels; what actually decides yin from yang is the sum, not the name.)
Six throws, from the bottom up
Cup the three coins, keep the question in mind, shake, and let them fall. Read the result and record it with the table above — this is the bottom line, the first line of the hexagram.
Throw six times in all, recording from the bottom up: first line, second, third, fourth, fifth, top. The first throw sits at the bottom, the last at the top — never reverse the order. The six lines together are your primary hexagram; any line marked ○ or × moves, producing the transformed hexagram.
Then cast and read
Once the six lines are down, the work of laying out the chart begins — assigning stems and branches, the six relatives, the self-and-other lines, the six spirits, then weighing the strength of the useful god. Doing that by hand is slow. HexaEdge does it automatically the moment you enter your six lines.
All you supply is the sequence — bottom to top, each line old yang, old yin, young yang, or young yin. The engine handles the layout and the strength analysis. To start right now, tap Cast a hexagram below.