How to Cast an I Ching Hexagram with Three Coins

The three-coin method is the most approachable way to cast an I Ching hexagram. All you need is the question, three coins and six tosses.

One toss, one line

Toss the three coins and count the “backs”: one back is a young yang, two backs a young yin, three backs an old yang, and no backs an old yin. Each toss builds one line, starting from the bottom. Six tosses, six lines — that is your hexagram.

Moving lines: where the story turns

Old yang and old yin are “moving lines” — they carry a mark and flip into their opposite. Flip them and you get the transformed hexagram: where the situation is heading. A hexagram without moving lines is read from its judgment alone.

How to read the result

The classical rule of thumb: the primary hexagram is the body of the matter, the moving line is the hinge, and the transformed hexagram is the destination. Read the judgment for the climate, the moving line’s statement for the pivot, and the transformed judgment for the direction.

No coins at hand? The I Ching cast tool performs the full ritual with a proper coin animation.