Free tool
Cast a hexagram
Three coins thrown six times give a primary hexagram, and any moving lines turn it into a second one. How many lines move decides which text to read, and this is where the tradition left several methods: read the line text, read the hexagram text, depending on whether one, two, or three or more lines move. One throw therefore admits several readings.
A recreation of the three-coin casting rite, read on the spot: which classical rule applies for this number of changing lines, whether each changing line is correctly placed and central, whether it resonates with its partner, and where the changed hexagram points. No question asked, no history kept.
Learn more
The three-coin rite: how it is counted, and why this page never asks your question
Casting with three coins became the common method from the Tang dynasty onward, replacing the far more laborious yarrow-stalk count. Three coins are thrown six times, each throw giving one line from the bottom up. The counting convention: heads count 3, tails count 2. The total of three coins therefore always falls on 6, 7, 8 or 9.
Those four numbers do two jobs. A total of 7 or 9 gives a yang line, 6 or 8 a yin line, that builds the primary hexagram. But 6 and 9 are also CHANGING lines: they are taken to have reached their extreme and to be turning into their opposite, so they flip to build a second hexagram, the resulting figure. If none of the six throws produces a changing line there is no second hexagram, which is perfectly ordinary.
The probabilities are uneven, and that belongs to the rite rather than being a flaw: three coins give eight outcomes, of which 1 totals 6, 3 total 7, 3 total 8, and 1 totals 9. Changing lines are therefore rarer than static ones, and a cast with many changing lines is uncommon. The page shows all six throws with each total so the construction can be rechecked, instead of presenting only the final figure.
One design decision matters especially: the page deliberately does NOT ask what you want to ask, and keeps no record of casts. Taking a question and returning a hexagram would turn randomness into a pronouncement aimed at your private affairs, precisely what a page that cannot take responsibility should not do. Keeping no history also means nobody returns to check whether "that cast turned out right", which is how randomness comes to be mistaken for prophecy.
The caution sits BEFORE the cast button rather than after the result, and that too is intentional. A note read after the figure has appeared arrives once it has already been taken as a prediction; placed first, the reader enters in the frame of examining a cultural rite.
The result links through to the sixty-four-hexagram reference for the full image and counsel. The cast itself generates no advice: everything readable is the classical text for that hexagram, identical to what you would get by choosing it yourself on the reference page.
| Total | Heads/tails mix | Outcomes out of 8 | Line produced | Changing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | All three tails | 1 | Yin (broken line) | Changing, flips to yang |
| 7 | One head, two tails | 3 | Yang (solid line) | Static |
| 8 | Two heads, one tail | 3 | Yin (broken line) | Static |
| 9 | All three heads | 1 | Yang (solid line) | Changing, flips to yin |
Frequently asked questions
Why does the page not ask what my question is?
Because taking a question and returning a hexagram turns a random outcome into a pronouncement about your private affairs. This page recreates a cultural rite for study and takes no responsibility for advising on real matters, so it deliberately avoids making that link. The hexagram you cast is still fully readable as a classical text.
What do heads and tails count for?
By the convention used here, heads count 3 and tails 2, so three coins always total 6, 7, 8 or 9. Totals of 7 and 9 give yang lines, 6 and 8 give yin. Some texts assign the faces the other way round, but since the convention only names the two sides, the set of four totals and their proportions are unchanged.
What is a changing line, and why is there a second hexagram?
A changing line is one whose total is 6 or 9, the extremes of the count, taken as having reached their limit and turning. It flips to build the resulting hexagram. The traditional reading treats the first figure as the present situation and the second as the direction it is moving in. With no changing lines there is no second hexagram, and that is a normal result.
Why are changing lines rarer than static ones?
Because three coins give eight outcomes: only 1 totals 6 and 1 totals 9, while 3 total 7 and 3 total 8. Each throw therefore has just 2 chances in 8 of a changing line. That is inherent to the three-coin rite, not a setting of this page.
Can I cast again several times?
Yes, the button has no limit. But it is worth knowing in advance that casting until a pleasing figure appears is the surest way of turning randomness into what you wanted to hear. The page keeps no history of casts, partly for that reason.
Are cast results saved?
No. The page deliberately stores no casts, including on your own device. Without a history nobody returns to check whether "that cast turned out right", which is how a random outcome comes to be read as prophecy.
Should a cast be used to decide real matters?
No. The outcome is random and there is no scientific basis for using it to predict anything. Treat it as a way of exploring an old cultural rite and a way of reading the I Ching; serious decisions need real information and qualified advice.