Six Spirits: adding character to each line

The Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Gou Chen, Flying Serpent, White Tiger and Black Tortoise are assigned to the six lines according to the casting day’s stem. They describe a matter’s character and atmosphere, rather than independently determining a favorable or unfavorable outcome.

How to assign them

Use the Heavenly Stem of the casting day to select the spirit for the first line:

Heavenly Stem of the casting daySpirit at the first line
Jia and Yi (甲、乙)Azure Dragon
Bing and Ding (丙、丁)Vermilion Bird
WuGou Chen
JiSoaring Snake
Geng and Xin (庚、辛)White Tiger
Ren and Gui (壬、癸)Xuanwu

Then work upward in the repeating order Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Gou Chen, Flying Serpent, White Tiger and Black Tortoise. On a Bing (丙) day, for example: Vermilion Bird at line 1, Gou Chen at line 2, Flying Serpent at line 3, White Tiger at line 4, Black Tortoise at line 5 and Azure Dragon at the top.

What the six spirits suggest

Six SpiritsCommon warnings
Azure DragonCelebration, ease, food and drink, and legitimate positive matters
Vermilion BirdSpeech, news and documents; also disputes and gossip
Gou ChenDelay, entanglement, land, property and old matters
Soaring SnakeFalse alarms, unusual events, confusion and unease
White TigerInjury or illness, severity, fierceness and swift developments
XuanwuSecrecy, private matters, loss and ambiguity

How to use them

The Six Spirits work like adjectives: they qualify what a line represents without changing the underlying assessment. White Tiger on an Officer/Ghost line, for example, traditionally suggests illness, injury or severe pressure; Vermilion Bird on a Parents line suggests documents, news or a verbal agreement.

The traditional assessment still depends on the Six Relations’ strength and elemental interactions. Drawing a conclusion from the Six Spirits alone is a common beginner’s mistake.

This page introduces traditional culture knowledge for reference only; it makes no predictions or guarantees about fate, health, relationships or wealth.

All 27 entries
Six LinesSix Relations: people and matters in a hexagram

Parents, Siblings, Descendants, Wife/Wealth and Officer/Ghost are Liu Yao’s five categories for people and matters. Selecting the category relevant to the question is called choosing the focal significator (取用神).

Six LinesSelf and Response lines: “me” and “the other”

The Self line represents the querent; the Response line represents the other party or the matter asked about. Their positions follow the hexagram’s place within its palace, and their elemental relationship provides the framework for many readings.

Six LinesCasting a Liu Yao hexagram with three coins

The most common Liu Yao casting method uses three coins tossed six times. Record the two sides after each toss and draw six lines from bottom to top to form a hexagram. This article walks through a complete example.

Six Spirits: adding character to each line · bazitao