USING THREE COMMON COINS TO CONSULT THE I CHING


When consulting the I Ching oracle, a hexagram is built one line at a 
time, from the bottom up, by throwing three coins, and drawing the
corresponding lines on a piece of paper or in a journal to form a
hexagram. No special coins are necessary -- you can use any three coins 
of the same denomination. Designate one side as yin, the other as yang.
	
Throwing three coins at once makes four combinations possible:

yin-yin-yin, which is represented by a broken (yin) line with a dot 
after it (__ __ .);

yang-yang-yang, which is represented by a solid (yang) line with a dot 
after it (_____ .);

2 yangs and 1 yin, which is represented by a broken (yin) line (__ __);

or 2 yins and 1 yang, which is represented by a solid (yang) line (_____).

Six throws give you six lines, which form a hexagram.

Remember to build the hexagram from the bottom up.  The first coin
throw designates the bottom line, which is Line One, etc.  After the
six lines have been drawn, check the hexagram chart at this website
for the number of the hexagram formed.  The top row of trigrams
represent the upper trigram.  The vertical column of trigrams on the
left of the chart represent the lower trigram. Clicking on the number
of the hexagram on the chart will open the corresponding hexagram.


The dot after the 3-yin and 3-yang lines indicates that these are 
changing lines, pointing to supplemental readings below the main
hexagram in the text files.  If you have a dot after the first line,
then read the entry for Line One, and so on.  Only the entries that
correspond to changing lines in your hexagram are relevant to your
reading.

In addition, once these lines have been read, a second hexagram should 
now be drawn, converting the changing lines (with dots) into their 
opposites (yin becomes yang, yang yin). Now, return to the hexagram 
chart, and locate this new hexagram. Click on it to read the Tranformed 
Hexagram of your consultation.  Only the hexagram itself is relevant. 
None of the individual line readings need to be read.

If the hexagram formed by your coin throws has no changing lines, then
your consultation consists of just the hexagram formed, with no lines
or transformed hexagram to read.