Calendar and timing
Month Break (Yue Po)
By Vi Nhật Sơn · Updated
Nguyệt phá
Month Break (Yue Po) — what is it? 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.
As a concept, Month Break is the case where the Month clashes a line; that line then counts as Month Break whether it is still or moving, Prosperous or Weak. The difference lies in this: a still line in Month Break counts as Rootless, while a moving line in Month Break counts as an ordinary line, and the moment of timing for a moving line or a changed line in Month Break is when the line in Month Break meets its own branch, or a branch that combines with it.
A still line in Month Break
Example: on a Bing Wu day, in the Chen month:
| Parents | Xu Earth | |||
| Siblings | Shen Metal | |||
| Officer line | Wu Fire | Resp. | ||
| Siblings | You Metal | |||
| Offspring | Hai Water | |||
| Parents | Chou Earth | Self |
In this hexagram the Parents line at Xu Earth both coincides with the Month and is generated by the Day, but because it is clashed by the Month and so becomes Month Break, it counts as Rootless. Suppose there were a moving Wu Fire line generating it — it still could not generate for the Parents line at Xu Earth.
A still line in Month Break counts as Rootless; if it falls on the Target line then whatever is asked comes to nothing, even when it is generated by a moving line or by the Day. The one exception is that if the day of asking is the day of that line's own branch, or a day that combines with the Month Break line, then it no longer counts as a line in Month Break and is judged as an ordinary line.
If the question is about a fixed matter, then Month Break while still is certainly spoilt; if the question is about a matter where one can choose the moment of carrying it out or beginning it, then where the Target line or the Self line is still and in Month Break, one need only choose a month or a year of the Month Break line's own branch, or one that combines with it, to go ahead, and it will succeed (on condition that the Month Break line is Prosperous by nature).
Example: on a Jia Yin day, in the Chen month:
| Parents | Xu Earth | Self | ||
| Siblings | Shen Metal | |||
| Officer line | Wu Fire | |||
| Parents | Chen Earth | Resp. | ||
| Wealth | Yin Wood | |||
| Offspring | Zi Water |
The Self line coincides with the Month but is in Month Break. In this case, if the question is about a fixed matter such as an examination, it is certain to be spoilt, because Month Break is Rootless. But if the question is about travelling far, then setting out at once is dangerous, while going in the Xu month will pass without incident, because Xu is the Month Break line's own branch.
In the case of a still line in Month Break that is generated by a moving line, the moment when that moving line is clashed away is the moment the matter asked about fails. On the same Jia Yin day in the Chen month, with the hexagram The Creative above: if the Officer line at Wu Fire moves it will not be able to generate for Xu Earth in Month Break (note that a Rootless line cannot be generated by a moving line). The timing for the failure of the Xu Earth line in Month Break is at the branch Zi Water, because Zi Water clashes away Wu Fire.
A moving line in Month Break
Example: on a Bing Wu day, in the Chen month:
| Parents | Xu Earth | ○ | Parents · Wei Earth | |||
| Siblings | Shen Metal | |||||
| Officer line | Wu Fire | Resp. | ||||
| Siblings | You Metal | |||||
| Offspring | Hai Water | |||||
| Parents | Chou Earth | Self |
In this case the Parents line at Xu Earth will not count as Month Break but basically as an ordinary moving line. It will differ from other ordinary lines only in the matter of timing.
In the case of Month Break while moving, it is not read as Rootless but as an ordinary line, usable from the time of the combination or the own branch of the Month Break line. For example: on a Jia Yin day, in the Chen month:
| Parents | Xu Earth | Self | ○ | Parents · Wei Earth | ||
| Siblings | Shen Metal | |||||
| Officer line | Wu Fire | |||||
| Parents | Chen Earth | Resp. | ||||
| Wealth | Yin Wood | |||||
| Offspring | Zi Water |
With this hexagram, the Parents line sitting on the Self line does not count as Rootless the way a still Month Break line would, but as an ordinary moving line whose timing is at Mao and Xu, that is, the combination and the own branch of the Month Break line.
Month Break moving and changing into Extinction
Besides, if a Month Break line moves and changes into Extinction, then this Month Break line counts as lost; if it is the Target line, the matter to be read counts as spoilt.
Example: on a Yi Hai day, in the Wu month:
| Siblings | Yin Wood | |||||
| Parents | Zi Water | × | Offspring · Si Fire | |||
| Wealth | Xu Earth | Self | ||||
| Wealth | Chen Earth | |||||
| Siblings | Yin Wood | |||||
| Parents | Zi Water | Resp. |
In this situation the Zi Water line coincides with the Day, but because it is in Month Break and moreover moves and changes into Extinction, it counts as lost outright. Supposing the reading were about papers, this case counts as spoilt straight away; and supposing the reading were about Offspring, then this moving Parents line as the Opposing line counts as unusable.
But if this Month Break line is generated by another moving line, then this line becomes usable, and the timing of the matter will lie at the point where this Month Break line is made real or is combined, by the principle of the clockwise point.
Example: on a Jia Shen day, in the Mao month:
| Offspring | You Metal | Self | × | Officer line · Yin Wood | ||
| Wealth | Hai Water | |||||
| Siblings | Chou Earth | |||||
| Officer line | Mao Wood | Resp. | ||||
| Parents | Si Fire | |||||
| Siblings | Wei Earth | × | Wealth · Zi Water |
The Offspring line at You Metal is in Month Break, moving and changing into Extinction; luckily the Siblings line at Wei Earth changes into Prosperous (Earth is Prosperous at Zi), so it counts as an ordinary line, with timing at Chen and You, that is, the combination and the own branch of the Month Break line.
Month Break meeting a combination
If a Month Break line moves and changes into a combination, or combines with the Day or the Month, or if the Flying line combines with a Hidden line in Month Break while the Flying line itself is not harmed or controlled, then the Month Break line is read as an ordinary line, and the combination does not count as tying the moving line up.
Example: in the Chen month, with the hexagram The Creative above — if it is read on a Mao day or a Xu day, the Xu line will not count as in Break but as an ordinary line. Likewise, if the Xu line moves and changes into Mao, the Xu line will not be read as in Break but as an ordinary line, and the moving Xu Earth line does not then count as tied up by the combination either.
The principle of time
A Month Break line, when it moves, no longer counts as carrying the nature of the state of Month Break, but is read as an ordinary line with a special timing. This special timing covers the own branch and the combination of this Break line. So what about the case of this Break line when reading events that happen once, at a determined moment? For that case we have the following principle for determining the time:
The principle of time: if a matter passes 12 double-hours, we take the Day as the frame; if it passes the next 11 days, we take the Month as the frame; if it passes all 12 Months, we take the Year as the frame. If all four frames are passed, that means it lies outside the scope of a hexagram of the Yi.
As to information, a clash by the Day or by the Month both report that the matter will be split up into many small matters, or simply that it is like earning small change: however much it adds up to, it is still many pieces. For example: selling a plot of land brings a profit of 100 million after a month, and a grocery shop also brings 100 million after a month, but the land is sold once, while the groceries are sold many times over.
See also
- Day Branch and Month Command (Ri Chen, Yue Ling), Strength
- Void, Hidden movement
- Life stages — Break fears Extinction
- Timing, Near and distant matters