Guanyin fortune stick
4
Upper stick
A thousand-year-old mirror is round and whole again.
The woman finds a husband, the man marries again.
From now on the household takes on a new face,
and more fortune and rank pass down to the children.
jadealmanac.com
Behind the mended mirror stands one of the best-loved reunion plays, The Thorn Hairpin. Wang Shipeng, a poor Southern Song scholar who really did top the imperial examinations, was betrothed to Qian Yulian with a simple thorn hairpin as the token. While he was away at the capital, a rich rival, Sun Ruquan, schemed to marry her; she threw herself into the river rather than accept and was rescued. Wang, now first in the exams, refused the chancellor's daughter and was sent to a lesser post for it. After years of separation and false reports, husband and wife met again. A broken mirror made whole is the old emblem of exactly this, a parted couple restored, which is why the stick ranks upper and favors remarriage and reconciliation.
Bronze mirrors were polished discs, and a broken one made whole is the classic sign of a separated couple reunited. A thousand years old adds weight: an old bond restored, not a new one formed.
A woman seeking a husband again and a man marrying again describes second unions or restored ones. Temple readers apply it to remarriage, reconciliation, and partnerships renewed after a break.
The gate and courtyard stand for the household and its standing among neighbors. Changing them means a family's fortunes visibly turning, often after a move, a marriage or a recovery.
Fortune and official rank are two of the three classic household blessings, alongside long life. Passing them to children and grandchildren means the good result outlasts your own generation.
千年古镜复重圆
女再求夫男再婚
自此门庭重改换
更添福禄在儿孙
Seven characters a line, as printed in the BW Monastery edition.
Sources for the story: https://www.k366.com/guanyin/28773.htm; https://services.shen88.cn/chouqian/guanyin-4.html; https://www.masterseanchan.com/guanyin-oracle/lot-4/; https://www.fatekeep.com/blog/3640.
Optional: the temple way
At a temple the stick is not yours until two moon blocks agree: one flat side up and one round side up, a holy cup.
Stick 4, "The Ancient Mirror Made Whole", is a upper stick, a favorable stick. Panning sand, you find gold, riding dragons and treading tigers; it costs you effort, but there is reward inside it.
Success; the match is made.
Picks up in the second half of the year.
Hold to your aim and it comes good; study pays.
Draw another stick , or for a straight yes or no, throw the moon blocks
The verse follows the BW Monastery edition of the Guanyin set; the English rendering and reading are Jade Almanac's own. A drawn stick is a tradition and a prompt for reflection, not advice about health, money or the law.
