Understand how a hexagram is read — free, in about ten minutes. From terminology to the Four Steps, master the essentials.
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The almanac's favourable/unfavourable column is not arbitrary — it follows two traditional rules. Understand these two points, and you will see why it is a rough direction, not a verdict.
1 · The twelve Jianchu stars. Compare the day branch with the month branch, and you rotate through twelve ruling stars: Establish, Remove, Full, Balance, Settle, Hold, Break, Danger, Success, Gather, Open, Close. Each carries traditionally favoured and avoided activities — "Success" and "Open" lean auspicious (good for opening a business or breaking ground); "Break" leans inauspicious (good for demolition, bad for weddings or launching). This site's do/don't column simply reads off that simplified table: find the day's Jianchu star, then take its list.
2 · The day deity (yellow/black path). A separate cycle of twelve deities — Azure Dragon, Bright Hall, Heavenly Punishment, Vermilion Bird, Golden Casket, Heavenly Virtue, White Tiger, Jade Hall, Heavenly Prison, Dark Warrior, Life Ruler, Hooked Chen — takes turns ruling each day. "Yellow path" days are mostly auspicious, "black path" days mostly inauspicious. This site assigns them by the classic rule that the month branch fixes where the Azure Dragon starts, adding a layer of tone to the day.
The page also lists the 28 lunar mansions (on a fixed 28-day cycle) and the Pengzu taboos. Schools differ on the details; this site uses a simplified version, and it is not equivalent to a printed Tong Shu or an almanac app — treat it as a rough direction.
| Trigram | Symbol | Direction | Season | Element | Emotion | Body |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qian | ☰ | Northwest | Autumn | Metal | Sorrow | Head / Lung |
| Dui | ☱ | West | Autumn | Metal | Sorrow | Mouth / Lung |
| Li | ☲ | South | Summer | Fire | Joy | Eyes / Heart |
| Zhen | ☳ | East | Spring | Wood | Anger | Feet / Liver |
| Xun | ☴ | Southeast | Spring | Wood | Anger | Thighs / Liver |
| Kan | ☵ | North | Winter | Water | Fear | Ears / Kidney |
| Gen | ☶ | Northeast | Late winter | Earth | Pensive | Hands / Spleen |
| Kun | ☷ | Southwest | Late summer | Earth | Pensive | Belly / Spleen |
Directions = Later Heaven; emotion/body = classic Wuxing–TCM pairs. Mnemonic: Qian ×3, Kun ×6, Zhen bowl-up, Gen bowl-down, Li empty mid, Kan full mid, Dui open-top, Xun broken below.
| Trigram | Symbol | Element | Image | Nature | Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qian | ☰ | Metal | heaven, father, head | sky | strong |
| Dui | ☱ | Metal | marsh, youngest daughter, mouth | marsh | joyful |
| Li | ☲ | Fire | fire, middle daughter, eye | fire | bright |
| Zhen | ☳ | Wood | thunder, eldest son, feet | thunder | arousing |
| Xun | ☴ | Wood | wind, eldest daughter, thighs | wind | gentle |
| Kan | ☵ | Water | water, middle son, ears | water | abysmal |
| Gen | ☶ | Earth | mountain, youngest son, hands | mountain | still |
| Kun | ☷ | Earth | earth, mother, belly | earth | receptive |
| Element | Symbol | Nature | Color | Season | Direction | Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | 木 | Growth | Green | Spring | East | Flexible |
| Fire | 火 | Warmth | Red | Summer | South | Passionate |
| Earth | 土 | Stability | Yellow | Late summer | Center | Steady |
| Metal | 金 | Contraction | White | Autumn | West | Decisive |
| Water | 水 | Flow | Black / Blue | Winter | North | Wise |
Nature / Color / Season / Direction = standard Wuxing pairs; “Character” labels are teaching aids only.
Still trigram = Body (you); moving-line trigram = Use (the matter). Their element relation frames the reading:
Set Body & Use: the trigram containing the moving line is Use; the other is Body.
Read the relation: generating, overcoming, or same element?
Three hexagrams: original = now, nuclear = the process, changed = the outcome.
Check the classics: confirm with the moving line's text and the hexagram statement.
Take number casting: enter A = 12 and B = 25. Here is how the four steps play out.
Numbers → trigrams. Upper = 12 mod 8 = 4 → Zhen (☳, wood); lower = 25 mod 8 = 1 → Qian (☰, metal). Together: upper Zhen, lower Qian = Great Power (雷天大壮). Moving line = (12 + 25) mod 6 = 1 — the bottom line moves.
Body & Use. The moving line sits in the lower trigram (Qian), so Use = Qian (metal) and the other, Body = Zhen (wood). Metal overcomes wood — a "Use overcomes Body" relation, traditionally read as pressure or constraint: better to hold than to push.
Three hexagrams. Origin: Great Power (the present). The nuclear hexagram, woven from the middle four lines, is Breakthrough (the process). Flipping the bottom yang line to yin turns lower Qian into Xun, giving the changed hexagram Duration (where it heads): from force, through decision, to steadiness.
Check the classics. The moving line reads "Power in the toes; advancing brings misfortune, yet there is sincerity" — eager to surge at the first step; hold, and keep good faith. This echoes the "Use overcomes Body" resistance: the moment favours gathering strength over charging ahead.
The fastest way to make it stick: cast three hexagrams, one by each method.
All are in the public domain; original texts are freely readable at ctext.org and similar open libraries. This site quotes the public-domain originals. Any plain-language explanations, English translations and reading wording here are our own (or machine-assisted) — not a modern scholar's or publisher's annotated edition; for citation, go back to the classical source.
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All 64 hexagram pages — cast first, or open a name to learn it.
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An answer-book experience game, with the I Ching, Plum Blossom Numerology and the Chinese almanac as its reference.
Hexagram and line texts follow the received Yijing (I Ching); casting follows Shao Yong's Plum Blossom Numerology.
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For cultural study and appreciation only — not a basis for any decision.