Changing lines and the resulting hexagram: what it means when a hexagram "moves"
Some lines "move" when you cast. How to read a moving line is the step that confuses people most in the coin method. In fact the rule is one small table; remember it, and understand what "moving" really means, and that is enough.
What a changing line is
A line that comes up 6 (old yin) or 9 (old yang) on the three coins is a changing line. Old yin turns into yang, old yang turns into yin, and the other lines stay still.
Turn over every changing line and you get a new hexagram, the resulting hexagram (also called the changed hexagram); the one you first cast is the original hexagram. For example, you cast Tai and the third line is old yang: it turns to yin, and the whole figure becomes Lin. Tai is the original hexagram, Lin the resulting one.
How many changing lines, and which sentence to read
The most widely used reading comes from Zhu Xi's Introduction to the Study of the Changes of the Southern Song, and we follow it:
No changing line: read the judgement of the original hexagram (and its image).
One changing line: read the line text of that line in the original hexagram.
Two changing lines: read both line texts in the original hexagram, the upper one as the main.
Three changing lines: read the judgements of the original and the resulting hexagram, and look at the two together.
Four changing lines: read the two unchanged line texts in the resulting hexagram, the lower one as the main.
Five changing lines: read the one unchanged line text in the resulting hexagram.
Six changing lines: read the judgement of the resulting hexagram; if Qian changes entirely, read "Using the nines", and if Kun changes entirely, read "Using the sixes".
Schools differ a little, and this is the most common way. Our game follows the same order and hands the sentences to read to the old reader.
"Moving" does not mean "something will happen"
Some people see a changing line and think something is about to go wrong. That misreads "moving". A changing line means the words at this place are worth reading a few more times. It marks where to look, not an event in the future.
The step from the original to the resulting hexagram need not be read as "this is how it is now, that is how it will be". A better reading is that the original hexagram is where you stand, the resulting hexagram is where you faintly lean in your heart, and the gap between them is the stretch of road you are on.
A hexagram with no changing line is cleaner
A hexagram with no changing lines turns up about once in five or six casts. It has one picture and no "direction", so it reads more simply: read the judgement and the image slowly and ask yourself which sentence moves you most.
Questions people ask
Why do I get so many changing lines?
Each line has a one-in-four chance of being old, so on average one and a half of the six will change, and three or four are not unusual. More changing lines do not mean "worse" or "more accurate". The sentences to read simply move to different places.
Is the resulting hexagram always more important than the original?
No. With three changing lines the two count equally, with two or fewer the original leads, with four or more the resulting hexagram leads. They are two stages of one story.