How to Cast the I Ching with Coins
Cast six bottom-up lines with three coins, read the four possible totals, and derive the resulting hexagram without hidden steps.
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Assign the two faces
Use three coins that can be read consistently. Decide which face counts as yin, worth two, and which counts as yang, worth three. Keep that assignment for all six throws.
Build from the bottom
Throw all three coins together and add their values. Record the first total as Line 1 at the bottom, then build upward through Line 6. A total of 6 is moving yin, 7 is stable yang, 8 is stable yin, and 9 is moving yang.
- 2 + 2 + 26
- Moving yinBroken → solid
- 2 + 2 + 37
- Stable yangStays solid
- 2 + 3 + 38
- Stable yinStays broken
- 3 + 3 + 39
- Moving yangSolid → broken
Know the distribution
With fair independent coins, 6, 7, 8, and 9 occur with probabilities 1/8, 3/8, 3/8, and 1/8 respectively. IChingAsk uses the same distribution. Timing chooses when the random draw resolves, not its meaning or odds.
Form the changed state
Draw 6 as broken and 9 as solid in the present hexagram, marking both as moving. In the resulting hexagram, change moving yin to yang and moving yang to yin; leave 7 and 8 unchanged. The reading protocol then decides which text leads.
Sources 1
What this guide rests on
- On Consulting the Oracle — Kenyon College course resource hosted by Joseph A. Adler. The three-coin values, six bottom-up throws, and moving-line construction.
Continue reading
What Changing Lines MeanUnderstand how moving lines connect a present hexagram to a resulting one and how one named protocol chooses the reading focus.
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