MOON BLOCKS FOR DIVINATION

Moon blocks showing mediocre results: yang and yang

Should a petitioner get such a result in his/her throw, then this indicates that the request is not clear and that the deities are undecided. One should then cast the wooden blocks again.

"Moon blocks" below are used for divination by the Taoists when they seek to "communicate" with the deities at the temples or in their homes. They just need to throw the blocks which are shaped in the form of a half moon to get a reply. The moon blocks must come in a pair.

"Moon blocks" are also used alongside divination slips in the form of sticks carved from bamboo. These sticks would have numbers or characters written on them. The believers would usually visit the temples for divination. When the prophecies are accurate, the divination slips are described as being efficacious.

At the temple each petitioner (the person who wishes to ask oracle a question) chooses at random a long bamboo stick from a tall container, sets it on the altar, and then kneels down to cast the wooden moon blocks. If the moon blocks give an unsatisfactory response, where both are yin and yin, the first bamboo stick is rejected and another drawn from the vase. When the blocks fall so that one is facing up and the other is facing down three times in succession, that means that that is the correct divination. He or she then reads the number carved on the bamboo stick and selects the corresponding fortune slip from a frame hanging on the temple wall or gets the slip from the counter. These fortune slips are usually cryptic and hard for the ordinary person to fathom, and the worshipper often seeks aid from a temple overseer to interpret their relevance to his/her particular query.

Best results: Yang and Yin

When one block is with the concave side up and the convex side down or vice versa, that symbolises yin and yang and would indicate auspiciousness.

Poor result: Yin and Yin side up
When two of the convex sides up, this indicates that the response is negative and that the request could not be granted. The oracle blocks must be thrown three times.