The Lo Shu grid

The Lo Shu grid is a 3×3 square with a remarkable property: each number from 1 to 9 sits in a fixed home, and every row, column and diagonal adds up to 15.

The Lo Shu grid: a three-by-three square holding the numbers one to nine, arranged so every row, column and diagonal adds up to fifteen.

492357816

The Lo Shu grid. Add any row, column or diagonal — always 15.

Placing a birth date

Take the digits of a birth date, drop the zeros, and write each remaining digit into its home cell — once for every time it appears. Using our 23 July 1986 (2 3 0 7 1 9 8 6), the digits present are 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9:

The Lo Shu grid: a three-by-three square holding the numbers one to nine, arranged so every row, column and diagonal adds up to fifteen.

4—9922335—77881166

23 July 1986 placed in the grid — 4 and 5 are missing.

Reading the pattern

• Present numbers are qualities you carry naturally.
• Repeated numbers (a digit that appears more than once) are pronounced — doubled or tripled strengths.
• Missing numbers point to qualities worth developing. Here, 4 (stability and hard work) and 5 (freedom and change) are absent.

That's the whole technique: place, then notice what's plentiful and what's absent. As with everything in this section, read it as a prompt for reflection, not a fixed judgement.

Try it before you reveal it

In the Lo Shu grid, what do the three numbers in any single row always add up to?

Your attemptI made the attempt mentally instead.

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Worked answer

15 — every row, column and diagonal of the magic square sums to 15.

A likely mix-up

Do not add the birth-date entries here; the question is about the fixed Lo Shu square itself.

Try a fresh case

Check a column or diagonal and confirm whether the same total holds.