Yue Lao Oracle Lot 84 · Good, steady

勸君莫惜金縷衣，勸君惜取少年時。花開堪折直須折，莫待無花空折枝。 Do not treasure a gown of golden thread; treasure instead the days when you are young. When a flower is ready to pick, then pick it, or you will wait and snap a bare branch.

The lot

Text notes (in Chinese): 流通本作「直需折」，依原詩改「直須折」.

Background: what the original says

The song says not to prize fine clothes but to value your youth: pick the flower while it blooms, instead of waiting until it falls and there is only an empty branch left.

In Three Hundred Tang Poems this quatrain is credited to Du Qiuniang, but its story comes from Du Mu's longer "Ballad of Du Qiu." In his preface Du Mu explains that Du Qiu, a girl from Jinling (today's Nanjing), became at fifteen a concubine of the regional governor Li Qi. At his banquets she raised a jade cup and sang "The Gold-Threaded Robe," a song Li Qi himself often sang. She made the song famous; who first wrote it is uncertain.

Li Qi later rebelled and was destroyed. Du Qiu was taken into the palace, won Emperor Xianzong's favour, and under the next emperor became nurse to a young prince. When the prince fell in a court intrigue, she was sent home. Du Mu later found her in Jinling, old and poor, and wrote his ballad.

A song urging people to cherish their youth, sung by a woman whose life rose and fell so sharply: the lot keeps its call to pick the flower while it blooms.

What it means

Make the most of your youth and the connection in front of you. When it is time to act, act.

Reminder: Do not wait until it has passed you by to feel regret.

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 83; next: Lot 85.