Unlock the secrets of ancient Chinese I Ching Divination by understanding its core principle: a dynamic system of universal energy.

Unlock the secrets of ancient Chinese I Ching Divination by understanding its core principle: a dynamic system of universal energy.

Have you ever cast an I-Ching reading and been left staring at a cryptic set of lines, wondering what it all means? While the I-Ching offers profound wisdom, a specific method known as Six Lines Divination (六爻, Liuyao) provides a remarkably precise and logical system for getting clear answers.

But to unlock its power, you must first understand its foundational language.

That language is the Five Elements (五行, Wuxing).

Forget everything you think you know about elements as static, physical things. In the Daoist framework that underpins this practice, the Five Elements are a dynamic map of energy in motion. Understanding this system is the single most important step to moving beyond confusion and toward true insight in your readings.

The Core Concept: Five Elements are Phases of Energy, Not Just Physical Objects

The first and most crucial shift in perspective is this: Wuxing is not about literal wood, fire, or metal. It describes five fundamental phases or qualities of energy (气, Qi) as it transforms and cycles through the universe.

Think of them as a cosmic process:

• Wood (木, mù): The energy of birth, growth, and outward expansion.
• Fire (火, huǒ): The energy of peaking, passion, radiance, and maximum expression.
• Earth (土, tǔ): The energy of stability, nourishment, and transformation.
• Metal (金, jīn): The energy of contraction, structure, harvesting, and decline.
• Water (水, shuǐ): The energy of stillness, storage, hibernation, and wisdom.

These five energy phases are in a perpetual dance, governed by two fundamental relationships.

The Two Cycles: Generation and Overcoming

Every interaction in a Six Lines Divination reading is dictated by these two cycles.

The Generation Cycle (相生, xiāng shēng)

This is the cycle of creation and support, where one phase generates and nurtures the next, like a mother and child.

Wood generates Fire → Fire generates Earth → Earth generates Metal → Metal generates Water → Water generates Wood

The Overcoming Cycle (相克, xiāng kè)

This is the cycle of control and balance, where one phase overcomes and restricts another. This isn’t necessarily “bad”; it’s a vital function that prevents any single energy from growing out of control.

Metal overcomes Wood → Wood overcomes Earth → Earth overcomes Water → Water overcomes Fire → Fire overcomes Metal

Putting It All Together: How Energy Interacts in a Reading

To determine the outcome of your question, you first identify the Significator God (用神, yòngshén) — the line that represents the subject of your inquiry.

The entire reading hinges on the answer to a single question:

Is the energy of the Significator God being generated or overcome?

Here are the key “Relatives” you’ll be working with:

• Parents Line (父母爻, fùmǔ yáo): Represents elders, protection, documents, or things that shelter you (like a house or car).
• Siblings Line (兄弟爻, xiōngdì yáo): Represents peers, competitors, partners, and the expenditure of wealth.
• Wife and Wealth Line (妻财爻, qīcái yáo): Represents one’s partner, wealth, and assets.
• Descendants Line (子孙爻, zǐsūn yáo): Represents children, happiness, creativity, and the force that overcomes anxiety.
• Officials and Ghosts Line (官鬼爻, guānguǐ yáo): Represents career and status, but also sickness, trouble, and anxiety.

Seeing the Theory in Action: Practical Examples

Good Omen: When the Significator’s Energy is Generated

Imagine you ask a question about your finances. Your Significator is the Wife and Wealth line. Let’s say its energy is Metal. In your hexagram, the Descendants line (representing joy and creativity) is activated, and its energy is Earth.

• The Rule: Earth generates Metal.
• The Reading: This is a fantastic sign. The energy of blessings and creativity is actively generating the energy of your wealth. It suggests that profit will come easily and your ventures will be fruitful.
• This would be a sign of “robbing wealth”, indicating that money will be lost or hard to get.

Bad Omen: When the Significator’s Energy is Overcome

Now, imagine you ask about your health. Your Significator is the Self line (世爻, shì yáo), which represents you. Its energy is Wood. In the hexagram, the Officials and Ghosts line (representing sickness) is activated, and its energy is Metal.

• The Rule: Metal overcomes Wood.
• The Reading: This is a clear warning. The energy of sickness and trouble is actively suppressing your personal life-force energy. It’s a signal that your health may be at risk or that a difficult situation could be taking a toll on your vitality.

Your Journey Starts Here

Six Lines Divination is not about memorizing mysterious meanings. It is a logical and elegant system of energy analysis. By seeing the Five Elements as dynamic forces and their interactions as the grammar of the universe, you can transform a set of cryptic lines into a living map of any situation.

Coming Up Next…

We’ve covered the Five Elements, but their strength fluctuates over time. In my next article, we’ll explore [Six Lines Divination Basics: The Heavenly Stems & Earthly Branches]. We’ll discuss how the specific date and time of your divination impact the power of the elements in your reading, adding a powerful layer of precision to your insights. Follow me to stay updated!

If you have any questions about the Liuyao method, please feel free to ask in the comments!

An I Ching Divination Series: This article explores the core conflict between digital tools and ancient coins, and reveals why your mindset…

If you’ve been seeking a genuine path to mastering I Ching divination, welcome — you’re in the right place.

Before we can explore the complexities of interpretation, we must first build a solid foundation.

While we will explore interpretation in great detail later, our journey must begin here, with the first pillar. Follow us as we build your practice from the ground up.

This article focuses on the first and most fundamental step: How do we obtain an accurate hexagram?

However, under this grand principle of sincerity, modern people face a new choice:

Is digital divination a shortcut to wisdom, or is it a soulless imitation?

The Tools of Inquiry: An Introduction to Divination Methods

To understand this debate, we first need to look at the main ways of casting a hexagram:

1. The Yarrow Stalk Method (大衍筮法, Dàyǎn Shìfǎ)

This is the most ancient and ritualistic method of casting.

2. The Three-Coin Method (六爻/纳甲法, Liù Yáo / Nàjiǎ Fǎ)

As the most mainstream traditional method today, this practice is also commonly known as Liu Yao (“Six Lines Divination”). It greatly simplifies the complex procedure of the yarrow stalk method.

Crucially, and in stark contrast to the older Yarrow Stalk method, time is of the essence in the Najia system.

3. The Time-Based Method (梅花易数, Méihuā Yìshù)

This information can then be converted into a hexagram through a numerical algorithm.

· Step 1: Obtain the Time-Based Numbers You need the details from the Chinese Lunar Calendar for the moment of your inquiry (the importance of time in the Liu Yao / Najia method will also be discussed in a future article), including the Earthly Branch of the year, the lunar month, the lunar day, and the Earthly Branch of the hour. You can find this using a perpetual calendar, for example, by visiting ichingstream.com.

o Earthly Branch Numbers: Zi=1, Chou=2, Yin=3, Mao=4, Chen=5, Si=6, Wu=7, Wei=8, Shen=9, You=10, Xu=11, Hai=12.

o Trigram Numbers (Later Heaven Bagua): Qian=1, Dui=2, Li=3, Zhen=4, Xun=5, Kan=6, Gen=7, Kun=8.

· Step 2: Calculate the Trigrams and the Acitve Line

o Upper Trigram: (Year Branch # + Lunar Month # + Lunar Day #) ÷ 8. The remainder is your upper trigram.

o Lower Trigram: (Year Branch # + Lunar Month # + Lunar Day # + Hour Branch #) ÷ 8. The remainder is your lower trigram.

o Active Line: (Year Branch # + Lunar Month # + Lunar Day # + Hour Branch #) ÷ 6. The remainder is the position of the moving line (from the bottom up).

o Important Rule: If the numbers divide evenly and the remainder is 0, you take the divisor itself as the result (i.e., 8 for a trigram, 6 for the active line).

4. The Computer/Smartphone App Method

This is a product of the digital age. On various apps and websites, a single tap is all it takes to instantly complete the complex casting process.

However, the core controversy of this convenient method lies in the nature of its “randomness.” Unlike the physical events of a coin toss or sorting yarrow stalks, a computer program cannot create true randomness.

The Heart of the Matter: It Works If You Believe It

Many people are skeptical of digital divination, and for good reason. Compared to traditional methods validated over millennia, computer programs are brand new. More importantly, their “randomness” is merely a pseudo-random result based on an algorithm. How can a program connect with the mysterious order of the universe?

Perhaps the key lies not in the tool itself, but in the inner state of the user.

“信则有，不信则无” (xìn zé yǒu, bù xìn zé wú) — “It exists if you believe in it; it does not exist if you do not.” This ancient saying reveals the secret.

Here, “belief” is not blind superstition, but a state of profound focus, sincerity, and complete trust.

From this perspective:

· The Logic of Digital Divination: Although a computer program is pre-determined, the universe we inhabit is itself a vast, interconnected whole. Every event — including your decision to click a button at a precise microsecond — can be understood as part of this grand cosmic arrangement. Therefore, the result that appears to be generated by a program can equally be the universe’s response to your query. Its accuracy depends on whether you believe this connection exists.

· The Logic of Traditional Divination: The same principle applies here.

The Echo of Doubt: Why the First Cast is Key

“To question repeatedly is to show disrespect.”

The core of the answer lies in “motive.”

This shift in mindset instantly shatters the states of “sincerity” and “stillness” required for divination. Every repetition reinforces your doubt, causing your thoughts and energy field to become more chaotic.

So, what should you do if you truly can’t let go of a question? The advice of the ancients is to “wait.” Because the time and space have changed, the corresponding “image” (the divination result) will naturally change as well.

The Pink Elephant in the Room: Battling the Subconscious

However, achieving a state of “true belief” is a process, and it is far more difficult than we imagine.

It’s like the famous psychological experiment: “Don’t think of a pink elephant.” The moment you are told not to think about it, a pink elephant immediately appears in your mind.

This internal conflict and struggle will continue to affect the quality of your connection with the I Ching.

Conclusion: Your Inner State is the Final Answer

So, let’s return to the original question: computer, time-based algorithm, or traditional coins — which is better?

The answer is: whichever tool best helps you enter a state of focus, sincerity, and trust is the best tool for you.

The tool, in the end, is just a raft. Its purpose is to carry us to the shores of wisdom.

I. Foundations

Part 2: Five Elements

2.4. Prosperity and Decline of the Five Elements in Liu Yao Readings

(seasonal strength and weakness)

In Chinese metaphysics, each season has a ruling element. One element is prosperous, one is supportive, and the others are increasingly weaker. If you ignore this, you may overestimate a weak line. Or, underestimate a strong one, which easily leads to inaccurate readings.

A classic summary looks like this:

• Spring: wood is prosperous, fire is supportive, water is in rest, metal is in constraint, earth is dead
• Summer: fire is prosperous, earth is supportive, wood is in rest, water is in constraint, metal is dead
• Autumn: metal is prosperous, water is supportive, earth is in rest, fire is in constraint, wood is dead
• Winter: water is prosperous, wood is supportive, metal is in rest, earth is in constraint, fire is dead

This matches the traditional states of the Five Elements. In the states of prosperous and supportive, an element has strong life force and influence; in the states of rest and constraint, it weakens. When it is “dead”, its influence is very low. This is the basic language we use to talk about the rise and fall of qi in a chart.

The strength of the hexagram follows the strength of its element. When you say a line is strong or weak, you are really saying the element behind that line is strong in the current time. A line with prosperous qi can move things in the real world. A line that is dead often struggles to help you or to harm you, even if the relationship looks intense.

Here are some simple examples:

• Asking about career in summer. If a strong fire line represents your job (Officials and ghosts line), that line is prosperous and has a lot of power over your situation.
• Asking about money in autumn. Metal wealth lines are prosperous, so money-related opportunities and pressures are at their peak influence.

A line that is dead and being overcome is weak and easily suppressed. A ghosts line in prosperous state can bring strong pressure or decisive action. A wealth line in dead state may show money that exists in theory but is hard to access in reality.

This is how the Five Elements stop being abstract theory and become a practical language for reading change. Seasonal prosperity and decline tell you who is loud and who is quiet inside the hexagram. When you combine this with generation, overcoming, and peer harmony, Liu Yao readings become much more precise and much more lifelike.

🎁 Bonus for readers: Month-by-month prosperity from “I Ching Divination – Complete and Restored (Zengshan Buyi)”

First Month (C): C Wood is prosperous, and D Wood is secondary.
Second Month (D): D Wood is prosperous, and C Wood is secondary.
• In the first and second months, Wood is prosperous and generates Fire. Fire is supportive. Meanwhile, Metal, Water, and Earth are in a state of rest and constraint.

Third Month (E): E Earth is prosperous, and B and H Earth are secondary.
• Earth generates Metal, which is supportive. Wood is not prosperous but retains some residual energy. Water and Fire are in a state of rest and constraint.

Fourth Month (F): F Fire is prosperous, and G Fire is secondary.
Fifth Month (G): G Fire is prosperous, and F Fire is secondary.
• In the fourth and fifth months, Fire is prosperous and generates Earth. Earth is supportive. However, Metal, Wood, and Water are in a state of rest and constraint.

Sixth Month (H): H Earth is prosperous, and E and L Earth are secondary.
• Earth generates Metal, which is supportive. Fire is in decline but retains some residual energy. Wood and Water are in a state of rest and constraint.

Seventh Month (J): J Metal is prosperous, and K Metal is secondary.
Eighth Month (K): K Metal is prosperous, and J Metal is secondary.
• In the seventh and eighth months, Metal is prosperous and generates Water. Water is supportive. Meanwhile, Wood, Fire, and Earth are in a state of rest and decline.

Ninth Month (L): L Earth is prosperous, and B and H Earth are secondary.
• Earth generates Metal, which is supportive. Wood, Fire, and Water are in a state of rest and constraint.

Tenth Month (M): M Water is prosperous, and A Water is secondary.
Eleventh Month (A): A Water is prosperous, and M Water is secondary.
• In the tenth and eleventh months, Water is prosperous and generates Wood. Wood is supportive. However, Metal, Earth, and Fire are in a state of rest and constraint.

Twelfth Month (B): B Earth is prosperous, and E and L Earth are secondary.
• Earth generates Metal, which is supportive. Water is in decline but retains some residual energy. Wood and Fire are in a state of rest and constraint.

You can use this month-by-month structure when you want very precise timing. Or, when you are reading charts that cover several lunar months.