I Ching (Liu Yao) for Beginners: How a Cast Hexagram Works

Liu Yao is divination cast with three coins tossed six times, building a hexagram from the bottom up. Unlike BaZi, which reads a whole life, Liu Yao asks about one specific matter — quick and flexible, which is why it's so widely used.

1. Casting: from coins to six lines

Each toss of three coins records one line, working bottom to top across six tosses to form the primary hexagram.

• Three backs = Old Yang (moving, turns to yin)
• Two backs, one face = Young Yin
• One back, two faces = Young Yang
• Three faces = Old Yin (moving, turns to yang)

Any Old Yang or Old Yin is a moving line. Flipping the moving lines' polarity gives the changed hexagram. The primary shows the present; the changed shows where it heads.

2. Building: dressing the hexagram with information

Six bare lines aren't enough — the hexagram has to be "dressed" so it can speak:

• Najia — assign a stem and branch to each line by the Jing Fang method
• Six relatives — taking the palace element as "self," derive Parent, Sibling, Offspring, Wealth and Officer
• World / Response — the World line is you; the Response is the other party or far end of the matter
• Six gods — Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Hook Snake, Soaring Snake, White Tiger, Black Tortoise — set by the day stem to color the reading

3. The use-spirit: the heart of a reading

Reading Liu Yao hinges on the use-spirit — the line that represents your question:

Once you have the use-spirit, weigh its strength (is it in command and rooted?), whether moving lines generate or control it, and whether it meets void or clash — then judge whether the matter succeeds, and how soon.

Summary

Liu Yao's appeal is speed and focus: one matter, one hexagram, an answer in the moment. Get casting, building and the use-spirit down in order, then cast one and read along — the hexagram is more orderly than it first looks.