A temple tradition, online
Fortune sticks
At the temple you kneel, hold a question in mind and shake a cylinder of numbered sticks until one works its way out. The number is your lot, and the lot has a verse. Shake here for one of our fifty, or look up the number you drew.
Think of your question, then shake
Hold one question in mind, the way you would at the temple. One stick rises; its number is your lot.
Tradition says one honest question per visit.
Drew a stick at the temple? Look up your number
- 1Great luck
- 2Take care
- 3Take care
- 4Fair
- 5Good luck
- 6Great luck
- 7Fair
- 8Good luck
- 9Fair
- 10Take care
- 11Good luck
- 12Fair
- 13Take care
- 14Great luck
- 15Fair
- 16Take care
- 17Good luck
- 18Fair
- 19Take care
- 20Great luck
- 21Fair
- 22Good luck
- 23Take care
- 24Fair
- 25Good luck
- 26Take care
- 27Great luck
- 28Fair
- 29Take care
- 30Good luck
- 31Fair
- 32Great luck
- 33Take care
- 34Good luck
- 35Fair
- 36Take care
- 37Good luck
- 38Fair
- 39Great luck
- 40Take care
- 41Great luck
- 42Good luck
- 43Fair
- 44Take care
- 45Good luck
- 46Fair
- 47Great luck
- 48Take care
- 49Good luck
- 50Great luck
The four grades
The top grade. The way is open; act.
Favourable. Things move your way with a little steering.
Neither for nor against. The outcome depends on what you do next.
A warning, not a sentence. Wait, check, or change course.
How it is done at the temple
You light incense, kneel in front of the altar and tell the deity, silently, who you are and what you are asking. Then you take the cylinder in both hands and tilt and shake it until a single stick slides out and falls. If two fall, you put them back and start again. Many temples then ask you to confirm the draw with a pair of crescent-shaped wooden blocks: throw them, and one up and one down means the answer stands.
The number on the stick matches a slip of paper, usually in a wall of small drawers or handed over by a temple keeper, with the verse and a short reading. At Lunar New Year the queues for this can wrap around the courtyard, because the first draw of the year is read as the shape of the year ahead.
Reading a lot
Every lot has a grade, a verse and a reading. The grade tells you the direction at a glance. The verse is an image: a boat, a mirror, a green plum. The reading explains the image and then says what it means for love, work, money, wellbeing and home. Read the verse twice; the image usually fits the question better than the reading does.
Questions
- What are fortune sticks?
- A temple tradition across China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the diaspora: a cylinder of numbered bamboo sticks, usually a hundred, is shaken with a question in mind until one falls out. The number points to a short verse and a reading. It is called kau cim in Cantonese, qiu qian in Mandarin and xin xăm in Vietnamese. Japanese omikuji is a cousin.
- Is it the same as the sticks at my temple?
- No. Temples use different sets, most often a hundred lots in the Guan Yin, Wong Tai Sin or Guan Di traditions, and Vietnamese temples have their own. Ours is a set of fifty, written in plain English rather than translated from any one temple. If your temple number is fifty or under, our lot of that number is a fair guide; if it is higher, read the verse on your slip, which is the real answer in any case.
- Can I shake more than once?
- You can shake as often as you like here. Tradition says one honest question per visit, and that asking again because you did not like the answer gets you the same answer in a worse mood.
- What do I do with a "Take care" lot?
- Read it as advice, not a verdict. Those lots say wait, check or change course. They are the useful ones; a great lot only tells you to carry on.
- Is this real?
- It is a cultural tradition and a bit of fun, the same way the rest of this site is. Nothing here predicts anything, and nothing here is legal, medical or financial advice.
More for the season: Lunar New Year 2027, the traditions day by day and the lucky colours and numbers of 2027.
A stick is one question. Your chart is all of them.
The Lucky Year app reads your full Purple Star chart and gives you lucky days for the whole year.