How to Use the Finger-Counting Method: Counting Months, Days and Hours to a Palace
I learned the finger-counting method on the subway.
A friend messaged me about a small matter. I could not draw cards and could not cast coins, so I counted three rounds on my knee with my fingers and sent back a single sentence.
He asked whether that really worked. I told him he could do it too — thirty seconds to learn.
How the Three Numbers Are Counted
Here is how it goes: the six palaces (Da An, Liu Lian, Su Xi, Chi Kou, Xiao Ji, Kong Wang) form a loop. You count in order, and after the sixth you return to the first.
First, start from Da An and count the months, up to the current month, and stop on that palace.
Second, start from the palace you stopped on and count the days, up to today's date, and stop once more.
Third, start from the palace where the second count stopped and count the two-hour periods, up to the present one. The palace you finally stop on is the result of this cast.
Once the three counts are done, whichever palace you land on, you look at what that palace leans towards.
The Two Places Where Counting Goes Wrong Most Often
The first is the starting point. Each step starts from where the previous step stopped, not again from Da An. Get this wrong and everything after it is wrong.
The second is which calendar the month and the day are taken from. Lunar and Gregorian calendars differ, the day numbers differ, and so the result differs; the count uses the twelve two-hour periods, one period being two hours, and the Zi period straddles the change of day — the two hours at that boundary are handled differently by different schools. Before counting for someone else, say clearly which standard you are using.
What It Is Good For Asking
Xiao Liu Ren's structure is simple, so the questions it suits are simple too: whether today is a good day to raise that matter, whether to make this call now, whether this trip will go smoothly.
The names of the six outcomes can be traced back in old texts to the six-day cycle recorded in Shilin Guangji (《事林广记》) (Source 1); the method was always a light reference for small everyday matters.
Once I used it to ask whether to call a client right then, and it landed on Kong Wang. I called in the afternoon instead, and the matter was settled. I cannot prove that the two are connected — but my state that morning really was off, and it counts as one way of reminding yourself.
Something that takes thirty seconds to work out should only have to carry thirty seconds of weight.
The real cost of finger counting is not the counting but whether you put the question clearly in those thirty seconds. Count as fluently as you like: ask a muddled question and the palace you land on is just a palace. Once the three counts are done, the outcome is fixed; what you do with it afterwards is where this craft actually separates people.
Tools on this site (for entertainment)
This site offers an entertainment-oriented process: describe your situation clearly → get a method suggestion → read the chart and the interpretation → export the result if you want to keep it. The content is for entertainment and self-reflection only; it promises no prediction and is not decision advice.
This article was last checked on 19 September 2026. Traditional divination has many schools and a long history, and their formulas and versions do not fully agree; the text relies on publicly verifiable sources, and for dates and calendars please refer to the latest official publication.
Disclaimer: This article covers traditional culture and folk custom. It is for entertainment and self-reflection only, and does not constitute medical, psychological, investment, legal or marital decision advice. Please do not submit sensitive personal information such as ID numbers or detailed addresses. If you experience persistent insomnia, anxiety or physical discomfort, please consult a doctor or a qualified professional.
Sources
- "Rokuyo" (《六曜》) — Wikipedia entry ("Xiao Liu Ren" is a redirect here): https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/六曜 (accessed 19 September 2026)
- Method page on this site: Xiao Liu Ren: https://zhanbumizhi.top/en/methods/xiaoliuren (accessed 19 September 2026)