The I Ching has been consulted for roughly three thousand years. Emperors used it. Confucius reportedly studied it so intensely that the leather binding of his copy wore through three times. Carl Jung used it and wrote about it at length. None of them had a smartphone app or an online calculator. What they had was a method for generating a hexagram from randomness — and the discipline to sit with what emerged.
The three coin method is the most widely used approach to casting the I Ching today. It’s faster than the traditional yarrow stalk method and more accessible for people beginning a practice. It’s also entirely sufficient — the debate about whether coins or yarrow stalks produce different probability distributions is real (they do), but the meaningful difference in practice is smaller than the difference between consulting the I Ching with genuine attention and consulting it distractedly. The method matters less than the quality of the question and the quality of the attention brought to the reading.
This guide takes you through the complete casting process: how to formulate a question, how to throw the coins, how to build a hexagram from the results, how to identify changing lines, and how to derive the relating hexagram. By the end, you’ll have everything you need to cast and read a complete I Ching consultation.
Before You Cast: The Question
The quality of an I Ching consultation begins before you touch the coins. The question is the frame through which the hexagram will be read, and a poorly formed question produces a reading that’s genuinely harder to interpret — not because the I Ching fails, but because an ambiguous question generates an ambiguous context for whatever hexagram emerges.
A few principles for forming a good I Ching question:
Ask about your situation, not about what will happen. The I Ching is not a prediction machine — it’s a mirror of the present conditions surrounding a situation. Questions framed as “what is the quality of this situation?” or “what should I be paying attention to?” tend to produce more usable readings than “will X happen?” When you ask about the future, you often get a reading about the present conditions that are generating the future — which is exactly the right information, but can feel oblique if you were expecting a simple yes or no.
Ask one thing. The I Ching can hold a complex question, but not two questions simultaneously. If you’re considering whether to change jobs and whether to move to a new city, those are two readings, not one. Pick the thing you most need to understand right now.
Ask something you’re genuinely uncertain about. The I Ching is most useful when you’re at an actual threshold — when you don’t already know what to do and you’re looking for a perspective you haven’t been able to generate yourself. If you already know your answer and you’re consulting the I Ching for validation, you’ll get a reading that may be technically accurate about your situation but that you won’t be able to hear clearly because you’ve already decided.
Write your question down before you cast. This forces specificity. The act of writing the question often reveals whether it’s a good question — vague questions that seemed coherent become clearly vague when you try to commit them to paper.
Once your question is written, hold it in mind. Some practitioners speak the question aloud. Some hold the coins while focusing on the question for a moment before the first throw. The specific ritual matters less than the focused attention. You’re bringing the question into the space of the consultation before the randomness introduces what the I Ching will show you.
What You Need
Three coins of the same denomination. Any coins work — the traditional method used Chinese coins with a square hole (the head/tails distinction was replaced by the yin/yang sides of the traditional coin), but three regular coins function perfectly well. Establish which side is yang (value = 3) and which is yin (value = 2) before you begin. Convention: heads = yang (3), tails = yin (2). Use this consistently.
A piece of paper and pen to record results. You’ll be making six throws, and keeping track of the results as you go is much easier than trying to remember them.
A copy of the I Ching — either a book or a reliable digital version. You’ll need it to look up the hexagram you build.
The Six Throws: Building the Hexagram
A hexagram is a figure of six horizontal lines, each line either broken (yin) or unbroken (yang). You build the hexagram from the bottom up — the first throw produces the bottom line, the sixth throw produces the top line. This bottom-to-top construction is the standard in all Chinese divination traditions.
For each throw:
Hold all three coins in cupped hands. Focus on your question. Shake the coins and let them fall onto a flat surface. Count the total value.
- Three heads (yang + yang + yang) = 9. This is old yang — a moving yang line, written as an unbroken line with a circle or X to mark it as changing.
- Two heads, one tails (yang + yang + yin) = 8. This is young yin — a stable yin line, written as a broken line.
- One head, two tails (yang + yin + yin) = 7. This is young yang — a stable yang line, written as an unbroken line.
- Three tails (yin + yin + yin) = 6. This is old yin — a moving yin line, written as a broken line with a circle or X.
Values 7 and 8 are stable lines. Values 6 and 9 are changing lines — lines in the process of becoming their opposite. A changing yang line (9) will become yin in the derived hexagram; a changing yin line (6) will become yang.
Record the result of each throw. A simple notation: write the line number (1–6), the value (6, 7, 8, or 9), and whether it’s yin or yang and stable or changing.
After six throws, you have your primary hexagram.
Building the Primary Hexagram
The six results, read from first throw (bottom) to sixth throw (top), give you the six lines of the primary hexagram. Write them out as a stack of six lines, noting which are changing:
Line 6 (top): ——— (yang, stable) Line 5: — — (yin, changing) Line 4: ——— (yang, stable) Line 3: ——— (yang, stable) Line 2: — — (yin, stable) Line 1 (bottom): ——— (yang, changing)
This stack of six lines is your hexagram. Now you need to identify which hexagram it is.
Identifying the Hexagram: Upper and Lower Trigrams
Every hexagram is composed of two trigrams — the lower trigram (lines 1–3) and the upper trigram (lines 4–6). There are eight trigrams, each a combination of three yin and yang lines. You identify your hexagram by finding which two trigrams it contains, then looking up the hexagram in the I Ching’s reference table.
The eight trigrams (memorizing these makes hexagram identification fast):
Qian (☰): Three solid lines (yang yang yang). Heaven, creative force, strength. Kun (☷): Three broken lines (yin yin yin). Earth, receptive, yielding. Zhen (☳): Broken-broken-solid (yin yin yang, bottom to top). Thunder, arousing, movement. Kan (☵): Solid-broken-solid (yang yin yang). Water, the abysmal, danger. Gen (☶): Broken-solid-solid (yin yang yang). Mountain, keeping still. Xun (☴): Solid-solid-broken (yang yang yin). Wind/Wood, the gentle, penetrating. Li (☲): Broken-solid-broken (yin yang yin). Fire, the clinging, clarity. Dui (☱): Solid-broken-broken (yang yin yin). Lake, the joyous, openness.
Identify your lower trigram (lines 1–3) and upper trigram (lines 4–6). For the example above:
Lower trigram (lines 1–3): yang, yin, yang = ☵ Kan (Water) Upper trigram (lines 4–6): yang, yin, yang = ☵ Kan (Water)
Kan over Kan = Hexagram 29, Kan / The Abysmal (Water).
Every I Ching translation includes a hexagram lookup table organized by lower and upper trigram. Find your hexagram in that table and turn to the hexagram’s entry.
Reading the Primary Hexagram
The primary hexagram is the foundation of your reading. Its text — the hexagram name, the Judgment (彖辭, Tuàncí), the Image (象辭, Xiàngcí), and the individual line texts — is the main content of your I Ching consultation.
Read the Judgment and Image for the overall character of the hexagram. Then read only the texts for the lines that are marked as changing (if any). If you have no changing lines, the hexagram is stable — the Judgment and Image alone constitute your reading.
If you have changing lines, read those line texts in addition to the Judgment and Image. The changing line texts are the part of the reading that addresses the specific movement in your situation — what’s in flux, what’s transforming. Interpreting changing lines is its own practice, described in detail in the companion article.
Deriving the Relating Hexagram
When you have changing lines, those lines transform into their opposite to produce a second hexagram — the relating hexagram (sometimes called the derived hexagram or the future hexagram). Each changing yang line (9) becomes a yin line; each changing yin line (6) becomes a yang line. All stable lines remain as they are.
The relating hexagram shows where the situation is moving — the condition that emerges after the transformation indicated by the changing lines. Together, the primary hexagram and the relating hexagram form a two-hexagram reading: present conditions (primary) and direction of movement (relating).
A reading with no changing lines has no relating hexagram. The situation is stable; the primary hexagram is complete.
A reading with multiple changing lines can be complex — the transformation is substantial, and multiple aspects of the situation are in motion simultaneously. More on this in the changing lines interpretation guide.
A Complete Example
Question written: “What should I understand about taking this new role?”
Throw results (bottom to top):
- Heads, Heads, Tails = 8 = young yin (stable broken line)
- Heads, Tails, Tails = 7 = young yang (stable solid line)
- Heads, Heads, Heads = 9 = old yang (changing solid line — marks as changing)
- Tails, Tails, Tails = 6 = old yin (changing broken line — marks as changing)
- Heads, Tails, Tails = 7 = young yang (stable solid line)
- Tails, Tails, Tails = 6 = old yin (changing broken line — marks as changing)
Primary hexagram lines (bottom to top): Line 1: yin (broken) Line 2: yang (solid) Line 3: yang CHANGING (solid, marked) Line 4: yin CHANGING (broken, marked) Line 5: yang (solid) Line 6: yin CHANGING (broken, marked)
Lower trigram (lines 1–3): yin, yang, yang = ☶ Gen (Mountain) Upper trigram (lines 4–6): yin, yang, yin = ☲ Li (Fire)
Mountain below Fire = Hexagram 56, Lü / The Wanderer.
Read: Judgment and Image of Hexagram 56, plus line texts for lines 3, 4, and 6.
For the relating hexagram, transform changing lines: Line 3: yang → yin Line 4: yin → yang Line 6: yin → yang
Relating hexagram lines (bottom to top): Line 1: yin, Line 2: yang, Line 3: yin, Line 4: yang, Line 5: yang, Line 6: yang
Lower trigram: yin, yang, yin = ☲ Li (Fire) Upper trigram: yang, yang, yang = ☰ Qian (Heaven)
Fire below Heaven = Hexagram 14, Da You / Great Possession.
Full reading: The Wanderer (present) moving toward Great Possession (where this is heading), with three changing lines indicating active transformation.
After the Cast: Sitting with the Reading
The most common mistake in I Ching practice is reading the hexagram text once, deciding what it means, and moving on. The I Ching’s language is deliberately dense and allusive — it requires sitting with, not skimming. Read the Judgment and Image slowly. Let the imagery work before you try to apply it to your situation. The consultation isn’t complete when you’ve identified the hexagram; it’s complete when you’ve allowed the hexagram to do something to how you’re holding the question.
The I Ching as a daily oracle practice explores what a sustained practice looks like — the difference between occasional consulting and the deeper integration that comes from regular engagement. The casting method is the entry point. What happens after the cast is where the practice actually lives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it matter what kind of coins I use? Any three identical coins work. The tradition of using Chinese coins with a square hole (cash coins) is aesthetically resonant but not functionally required. What matters is that you establish head = yang (3) and tails = yin (2) consistently and that you use the same coins throughout a session. Some practitioners prefer coins with personal meaning; others use whatever is in their pocket. Neither approach is more valid.
What if I get no changing lines? A cast with no changing lines (all 7s and 8s) produces a stable hexagram with no relating hexagram. Read the Judgment and Image only — no line texts. The absence of changing lines means the situation is relatively stable: the primary hexagram describes the condition without active transformation in any particular line. Some people find stable readings frustrating (where’s the action?); in practice, they often describe situations where the most useful thing is to understand the current condition clearly rather than to anticipate movement.
Can I cast the I Ching digitally or does it need to be physical coins? Physical coins (or yarrow stalks) have a quality of deliberate ritual that apps and digital generators lack — the act of holding the coins, shaking them, and watching them fall creates a moment of genuine transition between your ordinary mental state and the consultation. That said, if physical casting isn’t practical in a given moment, a well-designed digital random generator is functionally equivalent in its probabilistic output. The question is whether the digital convenience tends to produce more casual consultations — the ease of asking can reduce the quality of the question. Many serious practitioners use both, reserving physical casting for questions of genuine weight.