r/Divination

Are you interested in Chinese fortune-telling / divination?

I feel like in English-speaking spaces, most people only know the I Ching, or maybe Chinese zodiac animals.

But in Chinese-speaking communities, there are actually a lot of different systems and schools. They don’t all do the same thing.

This is my rough map, so correct me if I’m missing anything.

For asking about specific things, there is Liu Yao (六爻).

Liu Yao (六爻) is usually used when you have a clear question, like:

“Will I hear back from this person?”
“Will this job interview go well?”
“Should I keep waiting?”
“Can this project move forward?”

So it’s more about one situation or one event, not your whole life path.

Then there is Xiao Liu Ren (小六壬), which is probaly one of the simplest systems for beginners.

It has six basic signs:

Da’an (大安) = stable / calm
Liulian (留连) = delay / stuck
Suxi (速喜) = fast good news
Chikou (赤口) = conflict / arguments
Xiaoji (小吉) = small luck
Kongwang (空亡) = empty / unclear

It’s used for quick short-term questions. Not like “what is my destiny,” more like “is this thing moving soon?” or “should I act today?”

That’s why I think Xiao Liu Ren (小六壬) is actually a pretty good entry point for people who are new to Chinese divination.

Then BaZi (八字) and Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗数) are more like natal chart systems.

BaZi (八字), also called Four Pillars, uses your birth year, month, day, and hour. It looks at your life structure, personality, timing, career tendencies, relationship patterns, etc.

Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗数) also uses birth data, but it feels more like a big life map with different palaces for career, relationships, money, family, health, travel, and so on.

So to me, BaZi (八字) and Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗数) are kind of in the same “life chart” category. They’re not mainly for quick questions. They’re more for reading a person’s overall pattern.

And then at the higher / more advanced level, there are systems like Da Liu Ren (大六壬), Qi Men Dun Jia (奇门遁甲), and Tai Yi Shen Shu (太乙神数).

These are much more complex.

Da Liu Ren (大六壬) is a very advanced event-divination system.
Qi Men Dun Jia (奇门遁甲) is often used for strategy, timing, direction, decision-making, business, movement, and complex situations.
Tai Yi Shen Shu (太乙神数) is even more rare, and from what I understand, it was historically used more for big-picture timing, state-level events, or larger cycles.

But honestly, people who can really read these well are pretty rare.

A lot of people may talk about Qi Men (奇门) or Da Liu Ren (大六壬) online, but actually mastering them is a totally different thing.

So my rough structure is:

Xiao Liu Ren (小六壬) = easiest quick divination
Liu Yao (六爻) = specific event/question divination
BaZi (八字) / Zi Wei Dou Shu (紫微斗数) = life chart / natal chart systems
Da Liu Ren (大六壬) / Qi Men Dun Jia (奇门遁甲) / Tai Yi Shen Shu (太乙神数) = advanced classical systems, but real experts are rare

I’m still learning how to explain these in English, but I think this framework makes more sense than putting all “Chinese divination” into one box.

If people are interested, I can share some very basic Xiao Liu Ren (小六壬) methods, simple BaZi (八字) reading ideas, or maybe even some Da Liu Ren (大六壬) case examples later.

Curious if anyone here has studied any of these besides the I Ching?

I was wondering how easy it is to predict timing of things happening with tarot… has anyone here been able to do it successfully? I’ve heard plenty of people say it’s very tricky to do so.. What are your thoughts?

I’m definitely not the most spiritual person and tend to lean towards skepticism. I used to do spirit box and emf sessions without any sort of protection because I wasn’t convinced it was real. Now I’m slightly more convinced and I’ve had a weird string of horrible luck after my Buddhist friends prayer beads broke in my hand. All this weird stuff has been happening lately and some of my super spiritual friends are saying it’s because I’m torn between skepticism and belief. They recommended using a pendulum to do some self work. I’m just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience or have any advice. I’m super clueless when it comes to this stuff.

You know when you’re driving down a country road on a hot summer day and you see the air like kind of rippling above the road? It looks like that, and I see it near the ends of my rods when I use them. Has anyone else experienced this?

Hey everyone! I’m the world’s only professional cheese fortune teller, a practice called tyromancy. I’ve been a tyromancer for six years, and I absolutely love it! I’ll be popping in for an AMA on July 1 at 3pm Central time. I’ll be on for a dedicated hour then but will continue answering questions as I see them afterwards! Feel free to start posting your Qs below so we can get some good initial conversation going. :-) Linking my website as well in case it sparks more questions!

(this post was supposed to be post on the Hellenism sub but moderation told me to ask somewhere else. If anyone's familiar with this religion, please help me)

I'm still kinda new to hellenic polytheism but after some weeks of research and practice, I wanted to know if divination with a dice (6) was okay. It's mainly because on the last post I made saying I had my first signs for the gods, someone told me in the comments that divination with dice wasn't reliable. From what I experienced, it felt pretty accurate but since I read that, I'm scared I'm doing something wrong..

Here's how I do it:

\-first I say my prayer and give offerings when I have one.

\-then I ask if the god(s) I was praying was around and if yes to announce their presence with a 2 or a 4.

\-after that, I ask if there are more gods around.

\-if yes, I ask if there's 1,2,3,4,5 more or to reroll(6).

\-then I tell names and see if it's a yes or a no.

\-1 is no, 2 is yes, 3 is hard no, 4 is hard yes, 5 is maybe, 6 is rerolled. If two 6 in a row I repeat the question. If still 6, I understand they didn't want to answer.

\-then I just do my business, I ask questions, I ask them if they have any messages. It always felt accurate.

Am I doing anything wrong?

i was showing my new dowsing rods to some extended family and let them play around with them. one of them immediately started asking about evil spirits and demons, so i shut it down and took the rods back. my lesson has been learned about letting others use my tools... but now i'm wondering how do i cleanse any nasty spiritual residue off them?

i took them home and quickly cleansed them and their bag with holy water and a bell, asked archangel michael for protection, and commanded any spirits that are not of my highest good to leave. i've had them charging on selenite with clear quartz and labradorite since last night. those were all just very quick cleanses, and i feel like i need to take a little more time to do it thoroughly. what are your suggestions to make sure they're safe to use?

last night at a ghost hunting event, i got to use dowsing rods for the first time ever! the rods kept touching me (like they were giving me a hug), and they weren't really responding to any of the questions people had for the spirits in the house, so the woman running this part of the event began asking if a spirit connected to me had followed me there. it turns out it was my dog 😭 we got a 13 minute video of him communicating with me, and a few other people were able to communicate with their pets too. it was honestly really sweet and mind blowing!

i know a lot of people say dowsing rods aren't real and are just the ideomotor effect, but all i can say for sure is that some of his answers genuinely surprised me and wouldn't have come from my own subconscious, and i was 100% not moving the rods consciously. so i'm curious who here has experience with them? and do you have any advice for using them (safely or practically)?

So, for daily one card readings in the morning you can ask how your day will go yeah? But that can be difficult to interpret throughout the day

Can you instead do daily readings at night? That way you can better reflect how your day went and connect it to the card after the fact?

I have tried tarot and it doesn’t really vibe well with me, I want to try other types of divination to see what feels right. Are there any Celtic specific types? As I am a Celtic polytheist? Or other nature types? If you have any recommendations, please share, as well as books if you can!

Hello Beautiful Souls! I hope all of you are doing well. I have been dabbling in photography to capture the birds I see. Going through my pictures I realized that the Cardinal has been making himself known the past few weeks. This is not an uncommon bird by any means, but it is not common for them to sit and pose while you awkwardly take pictures.

One big thing that the Cardinal represents is the Ancestors. It is common the southern United States for someone to connect seeing a Cardinal after a loved ones death, as that loved one coming to visit you. I have been focusing a lot on ancestor work and veneration along side my very folk magic based practice.

The Ancestors are letting you know that they are here and watching over you. You are not alone. They are on your side and the more that you honor and connect with them the stronger that relationship is.

Have you been seeing Cardinals? It could in your waking life, your dreams, or even in media. Let us know in the comments.

I have been practicing for years, I have done tarot, tea, palm, numerology and some astrology, are there any other unique forms of divination for me to lwarn?

When i was a kid i used to dream with future events and had a great intuition as well, never really cared bc i come from a family of witches from my mother's side so she acted like it was normal. I'm guessing divination is something you train because i lost it years ago, now i need it but i don't know how to get back on track. Any tips?