How to cast a Meihua Yishu hexagram from numbers

Numbers or time: which way should you cast?

The free tool casts in two ways: from three numbers, or from a moment in time that you confirm before the result is fixed. The two follow different input rules, so they are separate calculations, not two views of one hexagram. This guide follows the number method.

• By three numbers: three whole numbers from 1 to 99, kept in the order you entered them, because order matters.
• By a moment in time: a cast from the exact minute you confirm. Its rules differ, so do not check it against a number cast.

How do three numbers cast a Meihua Yishu hexagram?

Each number has one job. The first and second are divided by 8, and their remainders pick the upper and lower trigrams; a remainder of 0 counts as 8. The third is divided by 6, and its remainder picks the moving line, where 0 means line 6.

Some tutorials and calculators add the numbers together before choosing the moving line. That is a different rule, not an arithmetic slip, so compare methods before you suspect a mistake. To try the rule on your own numbers, use the free Meihua Yishu calculator.

Which number is which trigram?

Each remainder from 1 to 8 names one of the eight trigrams, in the traditional Earlier Heaven (Xiantian) order below. Keep an eye on the element column: it matters later, when the reading compares the two trigrams.

A worked example, one step at a time

Take the numbers 3, 5 and 6, in that order.

1. Find the upper trigram

   3 divided by 8 leaves 3: Li, the trigram of fire, goes on top.

2. Find the lower trigram

   5 divided by 8 leaves 5: Xun, the trigram of wind, goes underneath.

3. Find the moving line

   6 divided by 6 leaves 0, which counts as 6, so line 6, the top line, moves.

4. Name the primary hexagram

   Li over Xun is the primary hexagram Ding 火风鼎, the Cauldron.

5. Name the changed hexagram

   Flipping line 6 turns the upper Li into Zhen 震, thunder, so the changed hexagram is Heng 雷风恒, Duration.

Change the third number to 1 and the bottom line moves instead: the lower Xun becomes Qian 乾, and the changed hexagram is Da You 火天大有, Great Possession. The example shows order and line numbering only. It is not a reading of anyone's circumstances.

How to read the primary, mutual and changed hexagrams

The six lines are counted from the bottom. Lines 1 to 3 form the lower trigram and lines 4 to 6 the upper one, so a highlighted line 6 is the top line. The moving line flips between broken and unbroken; it is not a seventh line.

Primary hexagram

The hexagram your numbers produce: the upper trigram stacked on the lower one.

Moving line

The line the third number picks. It is a position in the primary hexagram, not another hexagram.

Changed hexagram

Also called: Resulting hexagram

The primary hexagram with only the moving line flipped. The other five lines stay as they are.

Mutual hexagram

Also called: Nuclear hexagram

Lines 2 to 4 of the primary form its lower trigram and lines 3 to 5 its upper. No line is flipped.

Ti and yong

Also called: Body and use, Self and situation

Roles for the two trigrams: the one holding the moving line is yong, the other is ti. The display names how their elements relate.

In the example, the primary hexagram is Ding, and its mutual hexagram is Guai 泽天夬, Breakthrough. Ti and yong are decided on the primary hexagram, not the mutual one: the moving line sits in its upper trigram, so Li, Fire, is yong and Xun, Wood, is ti.

Wood feeds Fire, so ti generates yong. The tool labels that relation mildly unfavourable, traditionally a drain on the self, which is a classification and not a forecast. For the generating and controlling cycles behind this, see BaZi five elements.

Why does another site give a different hexagram?

When two casts from the same numbers disagree, check these points in order before blaming the arithmetic.

1. Order, range and method

   Same three numbers, same order, each from 1 to 99, cast by numbers rather than by time?

2. Trigram numbering

   Are the trigrams numbered from 1 for Qian to 8 for Kun, as in the table above?

3. Moving line rule

   Does the moving line come from the third number alone, or from a sum of the numbers?

4. Line counting

   Is line 1 the bottom line? A source that counts from the top marks a different line.

The same valid numbers under the same rules always give the same hexagram. The wording of an AI interpretation can vary between requests, and a fixed calculation does not make every interpretation sound or turn it into a prediction.

Bring one question to the cast

For example, if you are preparing for a difficult conversation, ask which part of it the primary and changed hexagrams help you think through. Keep what the cast contains apart from the facts you already know about that conversation. Good follow-up questions:

• What does the change at this line add to the primary hexagram?
• Which part of my description does that change relate to?
• Which claim in the answer relates to neither the cast nor my question?

Cast your own numbers with the free Meihua Yishu calculator, or read the Meihua Yishu guide for an overview of the method. If you would rather work through a question with cards, see how to read a three-card tarot spread.