When Not to Cast: A Wen Wang Gua Intake Screen
Last updated 10/7/2026
Your task is to make an intake decision before casting: cast, narrow, delay, redirect, or refuse.
The stable URL retains the familiar “non-divination” topic, but this lesson does not claim that one source supplies a fixed numbered list of six universal rules. The five-outcome screen below is a UAYA safety and record-keeping workflow.
The five outcomes
| Outcome | Use it when | Required record |
|---|---|---|
| Cast | The question is singular, owned, specific, low enough in consequence, and open to an uncertain answer | Exact question, scope, and review date |
| Narrow | The prompt combines several outcomes, people, or time windows | The one question retained and the parts removed |
| Delay | The facts are changing so quickly that the question has no stable object, or the asker is recasting only to replace an unwanted result | What must materially change before reconsidering |
| Redirect | Another authority, source, or decision-maker owns the answer | The external authority or person to contact |
| Refuse | The prompt seeks to override another person’s agency, test or perform the oracle, obtain certainty, or support harm | A plain reason; do not create a chart |
Refusal is not a negative prediction. It is a decision that a chart is not an appropriate tool for this task.
Run the screen in order
- Name the decision. What will the asker do differently after receiving an answer?
- Reduce to one matter. Remove unrelated outcomes and hidden second questions.
- Check ownership. Is the question about the asker’s decision or an attempt to control another person’s private choice?
- Check authority. Would the reading substitute for a qualified decision-maker or authoritative source?
- Accept uncertainty. Can the record end as ambiguous, missed, unresolved, or do-not-read without recasting for comfort?
If another authority owns the decision, redirect before casting.
Worked intake control
Invented exercise: “When will the document arrive, and when will an unrelated application be processed?”
This prompt combines two unrelated administrative questions. Do not cast it as written.
| Screen field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Decision | Unclear: receipt and processing are different events |
| Scope | Compound prompt |
| Ownership | Unknown for the application decision |
| Authority | Processing status belongs to the issuing organization |
| Outcome | Narrow the receipt question if it is genuinely low consequence; redirect processing status to the issuing organization |
There is no chart and no invented outcome. The exercise succeeds when the learner refuses to manufacture one.
Three common errors
Answer shopping
A second cast is not justified merely because the first answer was unwelcome. Record the first result and its uncertainty. Reconsider only when the underlying facts or decision have materially changed.
Proxy control
Rephrase “What will this person decide?” into an owned question such as “What information do I need before making my own decision?” If the rephrasing still invades privacy or seeks control, refuse.
Authority substitution
Do not use a cast to replace an answer owned by an external authority, a direct observation, or another person’s decision. Redirect first. A later low-stakes reflective question must remain separate from that external answer.
Source note: The five-outcome workflow above is a UAYA intake and safety model, not a back-projected classical quotation.
Practice artifact
Create an intake record with these fields:
Question as asked:
Decision it informs:
One matter and time window:
Whose agency is involved:
External authority:
Uncertainty accepted: yes / no
Decision: cast / narrow / delay / redirect / refuse
Reason:Complete it for one low-stakes question and one refusal example. Do not cast either during this exercise.
Once a question passes the screen, the next task is purely visual: How to Read a Wen Wang Gua Cast Table.