Remember!  You have to convert to China's time zone (Beijing time).  If you live in Chicago, at 10 am of May 24th, China is already the beginning of May 25th.  So if you threw the coins after 10 am of May 24th, you must record it as the 25th of May.  If you don't convert to China's time zone, your prediction will not be accurate.  Click here for a time zone converter.

Click here for calendars up to year 2020.(ZIP File)

2007  (year h) begins on the first day of month y (Feb 4th)

Month c starts on Jan. 6th.
Month y starts on Feb. 4th.
Month m starts on Mar. 6th.
Month cn starts on Apr. 5th.
Month e starts on May 6th.
Month w starts on June 6th.

Let's say that I live in the west coast of USA.   7 am here is already the beginning of a new day in China.  So I will wait until 10 am to throw the coins.  I will not throw the coins at 7 am.   I also will not throw the coins after 3 am.   Why?   I want to avoid border conflict.  If I throw the coins just few hours before or after 7 am, I won't know which day I should record.  Did I throw the coins on 11.59 pm of May 24th?   Or was it 12.00 am of May 25?  That's exactly 1 day difference.  So please don't throw the coins at around the border.  Wait for a few hours until you are sure what day it is.

For example: One day, I threw the coins asking will a certain girl become my girlfriend.  I received [Touch] and [Rot].

 I threw the coins at 5:50 AM.  (I threw the coins at hour h, exactly 1 hour before the date shifts.)

The 5th line's strong woman star G t links to the self line K s because P e bounds to K s.  This means she will become my girlfriend.

Result:  She didn't become my girlfriend.  Then I realized that the date probably has already shifted from day yo to day sh when I threw the coins.   If the date has already shifted to day sh, the woman star G t is dead.  No wonder why she didn't become my girlfriend.  That's why you should not throw the coins a few hours before or after the date shift.  You should throw the coins when you are absolutely sure what date it is.  Which means, it's probably better for you to throw the coins in the middle of the day and not around the border of the day.

So my suggestion to you is:  Don't throw the coins between hour h and hour t.  Throw the coins before hour h or after hour t.

(Hour h starts at 9AM Beijing's time, and hour t starts at 11AM Beijing's time.) 

Why should you convert to Beijing time? 

One day, a guy has emailed me a question:

• Alex, I don't understand why you are converting to Beijing time?!   Beijing time has nothing to do with me where I live (East coast of USA).  To get the true local time, I just convert it to the real time by longitude adjustment, not Beijing time.

Here is my reply to this man:

• I have been practicing I-Ching for 5 years.   Based on what I know, you must convert to Beijing time or else your prediction won't be accurate.  Let's say someone tossed the coins asking when will he receive some money.  If you convert to Beijing time, the coins will show that he will receive the money on Friday.  If you don't convert to Beijing time, the coins will say that the money will come on Saturday.  So when exactly will the money arrive?  Friday or Saturday?  Guess what?  The money will come on Friday.  I have been doing this for 4 years.  Based on my knowledge, if you don't convert to Beijing time, when you tell someone that he will receive the money on Saturday, the money will definitely come on Friday.  If you don't convert to Beijing time, when you tell someone that he will die tomorrow, that person will definitely die today. 

For example:  I like a girl named Elsa a lot.  So I tossed the coins asking when will I meet Elsa again.  I got [Hide].  I expected to meet her within 10 days.

A strong G y hiding under the self line.  G y woman star produces the self line R.   On day y, G y will appear.  So Elsa will appear on day y!

Result:  She came over to my house on day y.  It was a Saturday.  If I did not convert to Beijing time, Saturday would have been day c.   But the hexagram indicates that Elsa will appear on day y.  You cannot find any indication showing you that Elsa will appear on day c.  That means if I didn't convert to Beijing time, I would have made a huge error.

Another example:  My web site has been shut down by my web host for sending out bulk email.  I immediately switched to a new web host, but the web site won't be up for probably another day or two.  So I tossed the coins asking when will my web site be up again, and I received [Extreme] and [Too much].

The self line has a strong K star.  That means my worries will soon disappear.  My web site should be back up sooner than I expected.  The 1st line G t moves turning into B c which produces the self line's powerful K star.   When a B star moves producing the self line's K star, I will become extremely happy.  The 1st line will move either at hour t or at hour c.  Therefore, my web site shall be up at hour t or at hour c.  In California of USA, hour t is from 7 am to 9 am.  Hour c is from 9 am to 11 am.

Result:  My web site went back up at around 10:30 am.   So my site went back up at hour c.  If I did not convert to China's time zone, everything would have been wrong.

My business partner owes me money.  I tossed the coins asking when will I speak to him about the money.  I got [Touch] and [Rot].

If the P star turns into the money star, I will speak to him about the money!  P represents a conversation.  If the conversation star turns into the money star, we will talk about money.  The 5th line P e moves and turns into the money star.  This means I will speak to him on day e.  The 2nd line P w also moves and turns into the money star.  This means I will also speak to him again on day w. 

Result:  My business partner phoned me on day e and on day w.  (Thursday and Friday)  He told me that he will send me the money right away.   If I didn't convert to Beijing time, day e and day w would have been Friday and Saturday.  But he phoned me on Thursday and on Friday.

China is just as wide as USA, but China has only one time zone while USA has 3 time zones.  When it's 3 PM in Xin-jiang (the far West of China), it's also 3 PM in Beijing (Eastern border of China).  China had this 'one time zone system' for many dynasties already.  That means if China invades all the way to England, England will also share the same time zone with Beijing.  The reason why the ancient Chinese persisted on this 'one time zone system' is because the ancient Chinese realized that there is only one time zone for I-Ching and for all other Chinese astrological divinations.

I have so many examples that I want to show you.  But I don't want to waste your time by going on and on.  I have been tossing the coins everyday for 5 years already.  I live in San Francisco, California.  Hundreds of my predictions concerning stuff like: 'On what day will I meet someone?' or 'On which day will I receive some money?' have already came true.  So don't argue with a person who has done this thousands of times.  If you screw up the timing, you screw up everything.  Just follow the instruction and I guarantee you that you won't be disappointed.

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