Bốc Dịch Dictionary

Advancing line: the moving line and the changed line share an element while the branches differ in forward order, as Yin to Mao, Chou to Chen, Shen to You.

A Career reading attends to three things: the potential for promotion, position and relations with colleagues, and how one feels about the work.

Casting a hexagram: a correct result needs all three — the right asker, the right hexagram, the right reader — plus the yin and yang conventions for the coins.

Casting a hexagram from the time refers to the ordinal numbers of the Earthly Branches: add the lunar day, the lunar month and the year branch, then the hour.

A Changed line appears to match a moving line in the hexagram, and it acts only on the moving line that produced it, never on the other lines of the hexagram.

Combination and clash of lines: a combination is two branches symmetrical about an axis, a clash two branches opposed through the centre.

Day Branch and Month Command: the Day is the cycle of one day, the Month of one month, both counted by branch and acting directly on the lines.

Destiny reading: the lifetime hexagram is taken like an hour hexagram, at the birth date, with the year branch replaced by the year stem.

Double appearance is the case of two Target lines in one hexagram; priority goes to a moving line, then the Self line, then a line combining with it.

The Draining line drains the Target line; when it moves there is loss — a Prosperous Target line still succeeds, a Resting–Confined one is spoilt.

The Eight Trigrams are Heaven, Lake, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, Mountain and Earth. The Four Images split into the Eight Trigrams.

The Five Elements stand for the five components of nature: Metal, Fire, Water, Wood, Earth. Metal generates Water generates Wood generates Fire generates Earth.

The Flying line is the line at the same position as the Hidden line in the primary hexagram; it only holds the Target line down and cannot control it away.

Following the Officer into the Tomb is the case of an Officer line on the Self line entering the Tomb at one of the three Tombs: Day, moving line, changed line.

Hidden line: when a hexagram has no Target line we go by the Pure hexagram at the head of the palace; the line standing for the Target line is the Hidden line.

Hidden movement is a still, Prosperous line set moving by a clash from the Day; three things are needed at once: still, Prosperous or Excessive, and clashed.

The Hostile line is the line that controls away the Source line of the Target line; when it moves the matter has neither head nor tail and cannot last.

Inner and outer trigram: the 3 lines of the Upper trigram are the outer trigram, the 3 of the Lower are the inner. Inner is near matters, outer is outside ones.

Life stages in the Yi: apart from Conception, read only for pregnancy, only Birth, Peak, Tomb and Extinction affect Strength and the information.

Month Break is the Month clashing a line: a still line in Month Break counts as Rootless, a moving one as an ordinary line with a special timing.

A Moving line appears while casting or taking a hexagram; at each moving position a changed line appears, and the hexagram gets a changed hexagram.

Near and distant matters: in the Yi this is referred to four time axes — Hour, Day, Month, Year. Near goes by Hour and Day, distant by Month and Year.

The Opposing line is the line that controls the Target line; to control it, the Opposing line must both move and be Prosperous.

Principles of reading a hexagram: only 4 things give the result — Target, Self, moving line, changed line — judged in the order result, moment, information.

Reading people: those involved in the story are referred to the Five Elements and the Six Spirits together, to know their appearance and character.

Reading space: physical space and the space of relationships, shown by the order of the lines (career, Feng Shui) and by inner and outer.

The Response line is the particular delight of Six Lines: sometimes a secondary Target line, sometimes the Target line for someone with no dedicated one.

Retreating line: like the Advancing line but with the branches reversed, as Mao to Yin; in a distant matter what was there comes to nothing.

Reversed repetition is the changed line clashing the moving line — Xun into Kun, Kun into Xun. It reports an event repeating, inner or outer.

The Self line is marked (Self) and stands for you in the event; its relation to the Target line shows your ability, direction and the pressure you're under.

Several moving lines means 3 or more: the lines cancel themselves or each other into at most two element groups, and the result is referred to Target and Self.

A hexagram with a single moving line is the commonest case in Six Lines: judge whether the moving line is the Source, Target, Draining or Opposing line.

Six Clashes: every hexagram in which line 1 clashes line 4 is called a Six Clashes hexagram; the pairs 1 and 4, 2 and 5, 3 and 6 all clash by branch.

Six Harmonies: every hexagram in which line 1 combines with line 4 is a Six Harmonies hexagram. It isn't the opposite of Six Clashes; it only informs.

The Six Relations are the five roles Siblings, Offspring, Wealth, Officer and Parents; a hexagram refers them to the element of the palace it belongs to.

The Six Spirits carry supporting information in a hexagram and do not affect Strength; the information they add is of two kinds: people and events.

The Source line generates the Target line by the Five Elements; it's read only when it moves, sits on the Self line, or lies at the changed line.

Stagnant repetition is the changed line coinciding with the moving line — Zhen into Qian, Qian into Zhen. It reports tangle and weariness, inner or outer.

Stem-branch assignment is how a hexagram is laid out in Six Lines: the order of the hexagrams in a palace, the branches, and the Self and Response lines.

A Still hexagram is the simplest kind, with no moving line: refer the Self line to the Target line, then judge their Strength against Day and Month.

Strength: Prosperous, Weak, Rootless, Resting and Excessive strength make up the scale for a line's nature. A Prosperous line is simply one you can use.

Target line: once the chart is out, the next step is choosing the Target line; always focus on the Target line to know whether the matter will succeed.

The 64 hexagrams: a hexagram is two trigrams stacked together, an Upper and a Lower, and the name of the hexagram is formed from the Upper and the Lower.

The eight palaces and the 64 hexagrams: the Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen and Kun palaces, eight hexagrams to a palace, each with its line chart.

Three Harmonies frame: branches appearing under particular conditions form one group — Hai Mao Wei Wood, Yin Wu Xu Fire, Si You Chou Metal, Shen Zi Chen Water.

Three Punishments: a line is punished when the matching lines of a punishment group appear at a moving line, at the Day, or at the changed line.

Timing is the core of Six Lines: a still line answers at the clash or its own branch, a moving line at its own branch or its combination.

The Tomb (entering the Tomb) divides into two states, Prosperous and Weak; a Prosperous line in the Tomb becomes usable once the Tomb is clashed.

Void is the gap between the 10 Heavenly Stems and the 12 Earthly Branches: the 2 branches left without a stem are called Void. It divides into still and moving.

A Wealth and fortune hexagram attends to a few points: the Self line and the Target line, with no need to read the Response line.