How the method works

The ring

Six palaces sit in a fixed order and the count always runs forwards through them, wrapping from the sixth back to the first. On the hand they occupy the joints of three fingers, which is why the tradition calls them palm positions rather than symbols.

1. 大安 Great Peace — Everything stays as it is — and that is the good news.
2. 留连 Lingering — It is not finished, and it is not moving — it is waiting on something.
3. 速喜 Swift Joy — News is already on its way, and it is better than you expected.
4. 赤口 Red Mouth — Words are the danger here — yours and theirs.
5. 小吉 Small Fortune — Modest, real, and helped along by people who like you.
6. 空亡 Empty Void — The thing you are asking about is not really there.

The three walks

You begin at Great Peace and walk the ring three times, and each walk starts from wherever the previous one stopped.

1. To the month

The first lunar month sits on Great Peace. Count one palace per month until you reach the month you are asking in. Because the first month is itself Great Peace, month three lands on Swift Joy — not on the third palace after Great Peace.

2. To the day

From that palace, count one palace per day. The day you are asking about is the destination, and the palace you are standing on counts as the first day.

3. To the hour

From the day's palace, count one palace per double-hour. 子 (23:00–00:59) counts as the first step, 丑 as the second, and so on through 亥.

Every step is inclusive. Off-by-one errors here are the difference between a correct cast and a plausible-looking wrong one, which is why the implementation is covered by tests over all 4,320 possible lunar-month, day and hour combinations.

Reading the three transmissions

The three landings are called transmissions (三传) and each describes a different tense of the same matter:

• Month — origin. How the matter came to be, or what it is really about.
• Day — course. How it is moving right now.
• Hour — outcome. Where it lands. This is the palace that answers the question.

Two shapes are worth recognising. When all three land on the same palace, the situation is exactly what it appears to be and nothing is hidden. When the first and third agree while the middle differs, the matter is returning to where it started and the middle was a detour.

The three-number variant

Instead of a calendar, three numbers can set the walks: the first places the starting palace, the second counts on, the third finishes. Practitioners use numbers that occur to them, or count out something in front of them three times. Because the ring has six positions, numbers that differ by six behave identically.

What the method is not

It is not a forecast of a fixed future, and it does not know anything you do not know. It is a very old way of making yourself state a question plainly and then look at it from three angles. Treat the answer as a prompt for reflection, and never as a basis for medical, legal or financial decisions.