Destiny reading (the destiny hexagram)

The lifetime hexagram (the destiny hexagram) is taken in the same way as a hexagram from the time, at the year, month, day and hour of birth, differing only in the year branch, which is replaced by the year stem — for example Bing Wu: Bing is number 3 in the order, and we do not take Wu, which is number 7.

From here on is the supplementary part, the extension, and the linking of what has been written before.

How the lifetime hexagram is read

For a whole life, the reading is a reading of several Target lines, but not at the same time: each of the Six Relations has its meaning, and each is read as though it were the Target line, with the Self–Target relation and the moving lines used to settle each field — except in the special case where an Officer frame or a Wealth frame has formed.

The Wealth frame — a person who prospers in money

A Wealth frame means a person who prospers greatly in money when Wealth and Offspring both appear, Wealth is Prosperous, and Offspring should be Prosperous too. Why should Offspring be Prosperous too? Because it signifies that the person can keep the money. Many Premier League or NBA players end their lives with no kin to turn to, sleeping on the pavement, though at their peak they earned in a month what others earn in a lifetime; that is an example of Offspring Weak with Wealth Prosperous. But most important, it has to generate the Self line, or combine with the Self line, or the Self line generates Wealth. From each position we know what this person is like with money.

Suppose Wealth sits on the Self line: even if it is Prosperous along with Offspring, the person is obsessed with money all their life, however rich they are; and for a man, he is afraid of his wife besides, since in the Six Relations of a destiny hexagram Wealth also stands for the wife. Wealth on the Self line, for a man, means fear of his wife whichever way it goes, Prosperous or Weak; in all these years it has not been wrong once. Offspring Prosperous and Wealth Prosperous, both still, is the sign of a life spent at play with money, and there is money; only, if Wealth moves, then the money carries one along, which is nothing good either — though from that person's own point of view, playing with money will seem fun. If Wealth is Prosperous and Offspring Weak, with Offspring on the Self line and still, it is the image of having money but of the person being too poor a vessel; if Rootless they will not live long, and if Wealth moves then, without restraint, they will die of money carrying them away. Offspring Prosperous and Wealth Weak, with Offspring on the Self line: is money important? The trouble is a moving Siblings line — all their life they will be cheated by people and lose money; and if everything is merely still, with nothing moving to generate or control, they simply drift along, because even an official post they would give up themselves. If Wealth moves, then now and then money carries them along too; and if Officer moves they are often weary of life, because the Hostile line moves. Offspring moving with Wealth Weak and Wealth on the Self line counts as a life often helped by others; according to outer or inner one knows whether it is within the house or beyond the gate, but at the end of life they are loved by their children, and inner or outer tells whether the children are near or far. A person with Wealth on the Self line has their own misfortunes: if Parents and Siblings both appear, their life is lonely within their own family, since they control Parents and Siblings controls them. What does not appear is not counted.

A destiny hexagram has this interesting point: only what appears is counted, and otherwise it passes by in life. As with some people whose brothers are like their own hands and feet, while for others they are like clouds passing across their life, and it does not matter. Moving lines are to be noted too: as with Siblings generating the Self line — although one is close to one's brothers, it is also the line that controls Wealth, so the person who helps one is also the person who harms one. Be on guard. Another case worth noting is a line combining with the Self line. For example in the hexagram Limitation (Jie), the Self line controls Parents but also combines with Parents, which counts as being busy about one's parents early and late while still having things one is not happy about. No one is perfect in all ten respects; everyone is wrong at some time, no one is right for ever, not even a sage, let alone one's father and mother. If human beings were never wrong they would have been masters of the universe long ago. If Offspring is Prosperous with the Green Dragon added and sits on the Self line, then money is only an axis for referring other notions to, and need not be attended to. Following it through to matters of husband and wife: Offspring generating the Self line, if it is a man, means that although he fears his wife he is also much loved — perhaps because he is rich, perhaps for this or that — but he is a charmer too. If Offspring is hidden under the Self line, which coincides with Wealth, the person calculates before and after; according to the Strength of Offspring one knows whether they plan far or near. And if the Officer line is hidden, which is draining, the person worries more than they think. If Wealth is Prosperous of itself and sits on the Self line, they build their fortune single-handed, owing nothing to anyone — but they will be lonely. For social relations, read the Response line and you will see: the Strength of the Response line says whether friends are many or few, and whether it generates or controls the Self line tells whether this world likes one or dislikes one. A person with Wealth and Offspring Prosperous should go into business, or, if they have not the means yet, should learn business — in their own way, following no one.

The other matters within Wealth and Fortune can all be worked out from that.

Career in the destiny hexagram

Money is the first, Career the second; a human life is only that much. For a person to prosper in Name, one must have both frames, that is three factors, to count as perfect in the field of Career, namely:

• Either Officer, Parents and the Self line all Prosperous
• Or Wealth, Officer and the Self line all Prosperous

In both these cases, the Opposing line sitting on the Self line is absolutely to be avoided. Suppose Offspring is on the Self line with a great Officer line: then the person will keep jumping from job to job, although the career is great, the reason being weariness with the work — if the Self line is Prosperous, out of weariness at having it too good, and if the Self line is Weak, out of weariness from discouragement. To people with Offspring on the Self line and Officer Prosperous, one advises the road of career only if Offspring coincides with the Black Tortoise and Wealth is Weak; if Offspring coincides with the Green Dragon they should withdraw from the world; and if Wealth is Prosperous it falls into the frame of Wealth Prosperous, Self Prosperous, Offspring Prosperous, and business will certainly give them enough to play with life.

The first case is usually a person who rises on their own two feet; there Parents stands for the amount of professional knowledge, Officer for the size of the post in that person's eyes — to know the position, look further at the position of the line, as line 5 is a big figure in that body — and the Self line for the comfort felt in the work. If the Self line coincides with Officer, then as the entry on Self–Target said, that person will be obsessed with career. But what is more particular about the destiny hexagram is that every factor is judged: a person with Officer on the Self line is controlled by Offspring, so there will be discord with their children, or the children will not be happy with them; and it also controls Siblings, so brothers will not be in harmony; but since it generates Parents, they are filial and respectful to their parents (depending on Strength). These factors, however, are judged only when the lines appear; if they do not appear, then either the appearance of the people shown there is faint in the asker's life, or the matter of Name is so extreme that the other factors are passed over. Parents Prosperous and Officer Prosperous, with Officer at line 5, means a career one need not think about all one's life; and if the Self line is Prosperous besides, with the Green Dragon, life simply goes forward. But if the Self line is Weak they are still not satisfied; if the Self line is Rootless, "who stands on tiptoe does not stand firm"; and if the Self line is Weak with the Black Tortoise added, then "wanting, wanting more, wanting always" — a person like the Taotie, wanting to swallow heaven and earth whole. If Parents is Prosperous, Officer Weak and the Self line Prosperous, the person was born out of their time: a belly full of learning but a petty post all their life. Whether they are happy or not has to be read from the Self line; and if the Self line is at Wealth, then all their life they refuse what they know, or rather revise it, and that too is only for money. And if it is at Offspring, then Parents controls Offspring and one is pressed down by what one knows: old knowledge is the pieces that make up each person's own world — don't take it for the whole world. There is a saying: "Books are the spittle of the sages", in the Lü Shi Chun Qiu; note it. As those who have met me will understand, the Yi is the first gate to meeting oneself, since after that nobody needs the Yi any more to play with life. Officer Prosperous with Parents Weak is clearly a person who lives all their life on luck, meeting good fortune in everything; and if the Self line is Water with the Vermilion Bird, the person is one whose "mouth spares the hands and feet". And if it is generated by line 5 besides, it is the image of one who can talk and is liked by the boss. Since Parents is Weak, the knowledge does not match the position. And to know whether that person is happy with it, one still has to read the Self line. With the Self line Weak and Officer Prosperous, the Self line generating Officer, they are dragged by career all their life; if Officer moves, they are worn to the bone by career. If the Self line is Prosperous they are still worn out but will finish, effort giving a result; while if Officer is Rootless and a Prosperous Self line moves and generates it, how is it different from the sand crab rolling sand on the Eastern Sea? If Officer and the Self line are Weak while Parents is Prosperous and moving, it counts as being sunk in study with no joy in life. "Books are the spittle of the sages" — remember that; if one does not create a world of one's own, then life counts only as living on someone else's behalf, or worse, living on behalf of people long dead.

The second case is the frame of Wealth, Officer and the Self line all Prosperous: a person who rises by money, and who also profits by office through money. Is that right or not? The business of office is at root for the benefit of those below; if a person in high place benefits themselves and harms the common good, it is worthless as judged by society; but if they benefit themselves and benefit others too, what harm is there? This image is often seen with Wealth on the Self line and Officer Prosperous: money first, as the entry on Self–Target mentioned. And in truth people with Wealth on the Self line are rather to be pitied: Siblings controls them and they control Parents. But in a human life, who is ever perfect on both sides? If, however, Officer sits on the Self line and is generated by Wealth, then the control means only passing or failing an examination, while in life they can do whatever they like — Wealth or Name, they can play at either, black or red, they will play at anything, and money comes easily too. But only when Officer has the Green Dragon added does it count as perfect in a human life, because then the work one does is what makes one happy. If the Flying Serpent is added, then the contention and the struggle are too tense, oh dear, and the suffering has to be kept inside until a sickness of the heart is born. People with Wealth on the Self line are usually people who dislike study — money and study: money is the fun; while people with Officer on the Self line love study, because it generates Parents. Dear parents, note this point too: a monkey can swim, but making a monkey swim all its life is a strain. If your child has Wealth on the Self line, don't force them to study but let them play early with knowledge of finance and economics, and it will be more use to their future. What is around us — how does it matter beside those children's future? This case has an interesting exception: Wealth moving and changing into Officer, or Officer moving and changing into Wealth, both report a situation in which money will be used to buy a post; and if it does not harm, control or drain the Self line, that is a springboard for the person.

Besides, there are such matters as Offspring sitting on the Self line, a life often lucky; the Officer line on the Self line, often unlucky; the Officer line on the Self line changing into Offspring, meeting misfortune but getting through; or Siblings at the changed line, meaning there is a half-brother or half-sister — go home and ask your father (not once has it missed). Offspring at the changed line is an adopted child; Offspring changing into the Officer line means a child will be lost; Parents on the Self line means one should not keep money all one's life; with Parents on the Self line, if one thinks about money one will feel unfortunate; Wealth clashing the Self line, money often falls on one's head…. But those are not the crux of a human life, only phenomena.

The core of the destiny hexagram

The very core of the destiny hexagram is to know what a child of ours will need in the future to feel happy, so that the parents can prepare for the child from the first step of life. Children, sometimes, need only that much.

As to the general question "where will the child go", as said in earlier entries, one need only read the group Self – 1 – 2, namely Offspring – Wealth, Officer – Parents, Parents – Siblings, Siblings – Offspring, and know where a person's optimum lies, so as to avoid making a fish climb a tree. With long days and wide months a fish can climb after all, but that wastes the "long days and wide months", and the fish is not happy either. But life is not often perfect on both sides, and a human life is not necessarily whole in every part. Yesterday someone asked about the destiny hexagram of a woman born in a Wu Wu year, in the Wei month: Decrease (Sun) changing into Nourishment (Yi), the Self line in Break, Officer Retreating, Wealth Weak and clashed by the Day. Alas, Wealth and Name are both spoilt, health is poor as well, brothers are scattered and out of harmony, and the husband is spoilt too. Not everyone is luckier than others.

Decrease (Sun) changes to Nourishment (Yi) Mountain (Gen) Palace · Earth

Officer line	Yin Wood	Resp.
Wealth	Zi Water
Siblings	Xu Earth
Siblings	Chou Earth	Self
Officer line	Mao Wood			○		Officer line · Yin Wood
Parents	Si Fire

The method of reading a whole life reads all 6 lines, and these 6 lines show forth the notable things that the person attends to in life. As with Siblings on the Self line, brothers will matter, and the bond of brothers is what they will think about; while for someone where Siblings does not appear, it is not necessarily that they have no brothers, but that the brothers may be as if invisible. The principle of reading a destiny hexagram attends to the appearance of a line and to the appearance of the line that generates the Self line, otherwise called the Source line of the Self line. Reading Six Lines for a destiny is, first, convenient, and second, a way of knowing what is tangible: ten children who are useless are much the same as none. The method of reading a relation, if it exists: if the Day or the Month clashes it, then setting Strength aside for the moment, it reports separation — and separation need not be outward; separation in the heart is also parting. Parents clashed is one's father and mother, Siblings clashed is one's brothers, Offspring clashed is one's children, Wealth clashed is one's wife, Officer clashed is one's husband; judge it so. Note above all that the Hidden line is not judged — if it isn't there, don't try to force it. Life need not be so unfortunate: if the group is not complete, one can go by a branch, and a branch that is sound, if it generates or combines with the Self line, may be taken as the saving grace of a life. As with the person above, the advice is to invest in study; if she likes to draw, then let her draw — anything, and drawing need not be on paper — because Parents is Prosperous and the Day generates the Self line at drawing. With such skill, to go and do something trivial would be a great waste. No one is useless; talent put in the right place is what we call luck, and if one is not lucky in that way, it rests with oneself.

Heaven is seldom unkind to people. In the last resort, look at the lines that appear in the hexagram and see which is Prosperous, and change direction: Wealth Prosperous with Offspring Weak, do business to get by, or play at what belongs to the short wavelengths of money, and it counts as a comfortable life; Offspring Prosperous, work in medicine or in a life-saving trade; Officer Prosperous, don't play alone but live by relying on others; Parents, just study and do research to the end. As for Siblings in particular, it does not mean living off one's brothers or stealing, but Siblings is judged with the pairs that go with it, namely Parents or Offspring; at the outside one may take Officer, but it will be an honest Officer.

The state of the Self line and the mind of a whole life

With the situations of a Resting Self line, one can judge the leading state of mind of the asker's whole life, namely:

• Changing into Extinction: a person who often loses heart. If Prosperous, they often meet "life at the place of extinction", meaning there will be an achievement connected with the Self line (for example: Wealth is money, so if Wealth is Prosperous and changes into Extinction at the Self line, the person is always in the state of the money being nearly all gone and then full again), but before that achievement appears they will hit the bottom first
• Wandering Soul or Returning Soul: a life often hesitant and undecided
• The Self line coinciding with Yin: careful all their life, but unable to be decisive
• The Self line in the Tomb: often meeting dead ends in life; if Prosperous, in the year the Tomb is clashed it will be all right, and if Weak, they go round in circles for ever
• If the Self line is drained by a moving line, then whatever that moving line is, one will have to run after it for ever. For example: a moving Offspring line, likely a person of religious faith who must follow their children for ever; with Wealth, a person who toils for money and humours their wife — if Prosperous they are happy and the matter is happy too, and if Weak they follow it unwillingly
• If the Self line is Void, all their life they go round in circles without direction, until the year of the clash or the own branch of the Self line, when they will find a new road for their life; in between they only plod on in the dark
• Changing into Retreating: a person fierce at first but then going down and down. If Prosperous, the danger waits for the year of the clash — for example Zi changing into Hai fears the Wu year; and if Weak, the person's life is short
• Clashed by the Day or the Month: a person whose thinking stays in fragments all their life
• Besides, if the Self line is Weak, the asker will have an illness according to the element of the Self line — for example: Yin Wood at line 2 in a Yin position is pain in the right leg, or Wood Weak is a disease of the bones, the liver, or nerve conduction….
• Wherever a moving line controls the Self line also reports illness, and the misfortunes of a life will be connected with it — for example Wealth controlling is money. Besides, in the years of the timing of the moving line, one should avoid places belonging to inner or outer, going the opposite way to avoid the harm: if it is Earth in the outer trigram, in that year avoid travelling far and meeting a traffic accident; Wood in the inner trigram, avoid the trees near the house — Yin is a small tree, Mao a big one — and going into a reed thicket and being pricked by an HIV needle is much the same thing
• The character running through a life also lies in the element of the Self line, combined with the Six Spirits

The Six Spirits and the notable moments of a life

Besides, one can combine the Six Relations in the hexagram with the Six Spirits to know more about the character of the events in each year.

The moments of timing of the Six Relations are the notable moments of an event in a life. As with money, one always needs it; but at the timing with a Prosperous line it is a year of much, because in a human life the unusual moments are not many.

In bad cases, the moment of the filling of the Void, if the Self line is Void, is the moment the bad thing happens. For example: 13 April 1991, 1.30 p.m. by the solar calendar, a Gui Chou day in the Mao month:

Keeping Still (Gen) changes to Gradual Progress (Jian) Mountain (Gen) Palace · Earth

Officer line	Yin Wood	Self
Wealth	Zi Water			×		Parents · Si Fire
Siblings	Xu Earth
Offspring	Shen Metal	Resp.
Parents	Wu Fire
Siblings	Chen Earth

The Self line is Void while the Source line moves and changes into Extinction; in 2016, that is the Shen year, life went right down, because that year clashed the Void and filled the Self line, so that it had to bear the Source line changing into Extinction and became Weak.

• The Self line in Hidden movement: a person who travels much, whose thinking is in fragments
• The Self line moving: a person who travels much
• As to a match, if the Target line is clashed they all endure living apart from each other; if Prosperous it is only a separation and then a return, and if Weak they endure being far away

See also

• Casting a hexagram from the time
• Six Relations, Six Spirits, Reading people
• Career, Response line
• Void, Timing