Yue Lao Oracle Lot 80 · Good

悲莫悲兮生別離，樂莫樂兮新相知。 No sorrow is deeper than parting from the living; no joy is greater than finding a new kindred heart.

The lot

Background: what the original says

The poem says the saddest thing is to be separated from someone while both are still alive, and the happiest is to meet someone new who truly understands you.

The "Nine Songs" are eleven ritual hymns in the Chu Ci (Songs of the South). The Eastern Han scholar Wang Yi wrote that Qu Yuan, in exile, found the local hymns crude and rewrote them; others see them as Chu ritual songs he reworked. "The Lesser Master of Fate" honors a deity usually understood to watch over children.

Autumn orchids grow thick below the hall. The hall is full of beautiful people, yet the god exchanges a silent, knowing glance with the speaker alone. Then the god comes without a word and leaves without farewell, riding a whirlwind under cloud banners. The two lines fall at that moment of departure: no sorrow is greater than parting in life, no joy greater than finding a new kindred heart. Newly known and already gone, joy and grief arrive together. Who is speaking has long been debated, some say the officiating shaman, others the god. The couplet became a classic line on meeting and parting.

What it means

There is the pain of parting and also the joy of new connection. The old goes, and the new arrives.

Reminder: Treasure the people you are just getting to know.

This is a plain reading of the words and their source. How it applies to your own question is best settled with the interpreter at the temple where you drew it.

How to ask Yue Lao for a lot

1. Yue Lao, the Old Man under the Moon, usually has a side shrine inside a larger temple, such as a City God temple or a Mazu temple. Follow the temple's route: pay respects to the main deity first, then go to Yue Lao.
2. Tell Yue Lao your name, birth date and address, describe where you are in love right now, and state the one question you want to ask (for example, "Will this relationship last?" or "When will I meet someone?").
3. Cast the moon blocks (jiaobei, two crescent-shaped wooden blocks) to ask whether you may draw. One face up and one face down means yes; then pull one stick and cast again to confirm it. Many temples ask for three yeses in a row; if not, draw again.
4. Collect the slip with the matching number. Yue Lao lots are quotations from old books, so the meaning often depends on the original passage. If it is unclear, ask the temple's interpreter.

Ask about one thing at a time; the more specific the question, the easier the lot is to apply. Yue Lao lots are for love and marriage only; for other matters, use the temple's general fortune poems.

Common misunderstandings

Previous: Lot 79; next: Lot 81.