Ask the coins
Choose what you want to ask about, such as money, work, love or property, then cast. The hexagram is laid out the Six Lines (Lục Hào) way, read through the line that governs that matter, and closes with whether things lean favourable or not. No birth date needed.
Where this comes from
The Lục Hào method, also called Na Jia. Tradition credits Na Jia to Jing Fang of the Han dynasty; the system was filled out over time in the Huozhulin of the Song dynasty and the Bushi Zhengzong and Zengshan Buyi of the Qing. The Shi and Ying lines, eight palaces and Na Jia of the 64 hexagrams are machine-checked against the mnemonic verses.
What are you asking about?
How the reading works
Three coins cast six times give a six-line hexagram, each line fitted with a stem and branch.
Unlike a plain casting, only the line governing your question is read; the other five are context.
Pick a matter on the left and cast. Writing the question down keeps the reading to one matter.
This tool is part of I Ching. See every tool and article on I Ching.
Next
The 64 hexagrams
Want to read the hexagram you cast in depth? The 64-hexagram lookup has the judgment, the lines and related hexagrams.
Open The 64 hexagramsWhat no one has shown
No study has shown that a Lục Hào hexagram foretells how a matter unfolds. The machine only guarantees that the school's rules are applied correctly; the reading is how the books read it, not advice.
Read on
Ask Nhật Nguyệt AI
Learn more
What is Lục Hào casting for a specific question, and how is it read?
Lục Hào (Six Lines), also called nạp giáp (Na Jia), uses the same 64 hexagrams as the I Ching but reads them differently. The hexagram is still cast with three coins six times; then each line is assigned a heavenly stem and an earthly branch by the Na Jia rules. The branch gives the line an element, and the reading weighs how that element supports or overcomes the hexagram's palace, the month and the day of casting. So the same hexagram cast on two different days can read differently.
Tradition credits the Na Jia method to Jing Fang (Kinh Phòng) of the Han dynasty. The system was filled out over time in books such as the Huo Zhu Lin of the Song dynasty and the Bu Shi Zheng Zong and Zeng Shan Bu Yi of the Qing. The 64 hexagrams are divided into eight palaces of eight hexagrams each, and the palace's element stands for "self".
Measured against the palace element, every line falls into one of five types known together as the Six Relatives (Lục Thân). A line of the same element is Sibling (Huynh Đệ), one that produces the palace element is Parent (Phụ Mẫu), one the palace produces is Offspring (Tử Tôn), one that overcomes the palace is Officer/Ghost (Quan Quỷ), and one the palace overcomes is Wealth (Thê Tài). Whatever you ask about, you read the matching line, called the useful god (dụng thần); the other five lines are background.
Each hexagram has a World line (Thế), where the person asking stands, and a Response line (Ứng) three lines away, the other side. The useful god is judged strong or weak first by the month of casting, counted by solar terms, through five grades: prosperous, growing, resting, confined and dead; then by the day. The Six Beasts (Lục Thú), from Azure Dragon to Dark Warrior, are placed by the day's stem and only add colour to a line; on their own they decide nothing good or bad.
Each ten-day week in the 60-day stem-branch cycle leaves two branches without a stem; a line carrying one of them falls into the void (tuần không) and is read as not yet time. If no line in the hexagram carries the useful god, the month and day branches are checked first: if one of them carries it, it serves as the useful god; otherwise a hidden spirit (phục thần) is sought in the pure hexagram of the same palace. If several lines carry it, the books take a moving line over a still one, then one not broken by the month, then one not in the void; if still tied, the one holding the World line.
Books do not all choose the useful god the same way. For love it depends on who asks: a man looks at Wealth, a woman at Officer/Ghost; for exams this tool looks at Parent, the papers and documents, while many books also look at Officer/Ghost for passing. The list deliberately leaves out two matters the old books cover, missing persons and illness, because a wrong reading could make someone slower to call the police or see a doctor.
| You ask about | Useful god | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Money and income | Wealth | Wealth stands for money and property |
| Business and trade | Wealth | What you are after is profit, that is, money |
| Work and advancement | Officer/Ghost | Officer/Ghost stands for rank and career |
| Exams and documents | Parent | Parent stands for papers and qualifications |
| Home, land, vehicles | Parent | Parent stands for house, vehicle, whatever shelters you |
| Love and marriage | Wealth if a man asks, Officer/Ghost if a woman asks | A wife corresponds to Wealth, a husband to Officer/Ghost |
| Children | Offspring | Offspring stands for children and descendants |
| Family and elders | Parent | Parent stands for parents and elders |
| Disputes and lawsuits | Officer/Ghost, with winning and losing read from the World and Response lines | Officer/Ghost is the one who hears the case; the World line is you, the Response line the other side |
| A lost object | Wealth | Wealth stands for possessions |
| Travel and moving | World line | The one travelling is you |
| Partnership | Response line | The Response line is the other side |
Frequently asked questions
How is Lục Hào different from an ordinary I Ching cast?
An ordinary cast reads the set hexagram and line texts, which fit every question and so stay general. Lục Hào picks the kind of matter first, then reads the line that belongs to it, taking the month and day of casting into account.
Why choose the kind of question before casting?
Because the kind of question decides which line is the useful god. In the same hexagram, a money question reads Wealth and a work question reads Officer/Ghost; pick the wrong kind and you read the wrong line.
Is a line in the void a bad sign?
No. The void is read as not yet time, the matter not yet formed; on a Giáp Tý day, for example, the branches Tuất and Hợi are void. The old books add that a void line which is still strong comes alive once the week passes or a clashing day arrives.
What if the hexagram has no line for my question?
Then the month and day branches are checked first: if one of them carries the relative you need, it serves as the useful god. Otherwise the useful god is sought in the pure hexagram of the same palace; it is called the hidden spirit and hides under the line in the same position of your hexagram, while the visible line above it is the flying spirit. The reading says whether the hidden spirit can come out, judged by its own strength and by whether the flying spirit feeds or overcomes it.
Can I cast again and again for the same question?
You can, but the Lục Hào books hold that asking the same thing over and over makes the later casts worthless. Casting until you get the answer you want means the cast no longer tells you anything.
Is my result saved?
If you are signed in, each cast is saved to your account page. If not, nothing is kept.
Should I base a big decision on the result?
No. The hexagram comes out at random, and nothing scientific links it to what you asked. Its value lies in making you state your question clearly and giving you another angle to compare against.