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Daoist temples usually prepare divinatory sticks ( 籤筒 Qiantong ), which are put in divinatory stick holders ( 籤條 Qiantiao ). Divinatory sticks are usually made of bamboo. Believers one randomly by shaking a container of sticks until one falls out. They then judge the implications and the god's intention by interpreting the sentences on the stick. For simple operations, divinatory sticks in modern Daoist temples are separated into two parts. After people get a divinatory stick, they get a corresponding divinatory paper with poems on it. To get a divinatory stick, people should hold the stick holder, pray in front of the deities, and then shake the holder until one divinatory stick falls out. This one is thought to be bestowed by god. People like to cast divinatory sticks to predict their fortune in Daoist temples. This is a very common activity.

The origin of the appearance of casting divinatory sticks in Daoist temples was at the end of the Tang Dynasty. It soon spread to all shrines, temples and monasteries.

It is hard to ascertain the exact beginning of casting divinatory sticks, but their earliest appearance can be dated to the end of the Tang Dynasty. During the Five Dynasties, the child Lu Duoxun, was brought to Yunyang temple by his father to study with other kids. There were some divinatory sticks on a discarded altar. The kids got the sticks and played with them. At that time, Lu couldn't read many words, so he took a stick home and showed it to his father. The poem on it read: "One will get the position of prime minister, will ascend to immortality at fifty-two, and turn out to be a guest at Penglai." His father thought it was an auspicious sign and was very glad about it, so he kept that divinatory stick. Lu did become a prime minister. He once asked his subordinate to connect with Qin emperor Ting Mei. After this event was revealed, he was sent into exile in the South and died at Zhu Ya at the age of fifty-two. His life experience fit the poem exactly (Please refer to Shi Wenyin's the ''Pure Talk of the Jade Kettle'', vol.3.) ( 玉壺清話 Yuhu Qinghua ) The Five Dynasties didn't last long, and Lu Duoxun lived at the end of the Tang Dynasty. He found the divinatory stick holder when he was a child, so we can conclude that divinatory sticks must have appeared before that time.