How the three-coin method works
Three coins are tossed for each line. Heads count 3 and tails 2, so each toss adds up to 6, 7, 8 or 9:
- 7 — young yang, a solid line that stays as it is;
- 8 — young yin, a broken line that stays as it is;
- 9 — old yang, a solid line that is changing;
- 6 — old yin, a broken line that is changing.
The six lines, built from the bottom up, give the primary hexagram. If any lines are changing, flipping them gives a second, "relating" hexagram, traditionally read as where the situation is heading. The virtual coins here are random in the same proportions as real ones: a changing line comes up one time in four.
Trigrams
Each hexagram is a lower trigram (lines 1–3) under an upper trigram (lines 4–6). The eight trigrams are the same ones used in feng shui's bagua — see the eight trigrams for their directions and associations.