What Meihua Yishu is
Meihua Yishu (梅花易数), usually rendered Plum Blossom Numerology or Plum Blossom Divination, is a hexagram method traditionally attributed to the Song-dynasty scholar Shao Yong. Instead of tossing coins or yarrow stalks, it turns something at hand, such as the hour, a pair of numbers or an observed sign, into one of the sixty-four hexagrams and then reads how that figure changes.
It anchors to a different moment than BaZi does. A BaZi chart is fixed by a birth time; a Meihua cast is fixed by the moment you ask, so the same question asked at another time can give another figure. This page lays the arithmetic out so you can check it rather than take a verdict on trust.
Three ways to cast
Time casting adds the lunar year-branch number (Rat is 1, Pig is 12), the lunar month and the lunar day, divides by 8 and takes the remainder as the upper trigram. Adding the hour-branch number gives the lower trigram the same way, and that same total divided by 6 gives the moving line. A remainder of zero uses the divisor itself.
Number casting divides your first number by 8 for the upper trigram and your second by 8 for the lower one; their sum, optionally plus the current hour branch, divided by 6 picks the moving line. You can also choose both trigrams and the line by hand, or draw one at random. Trigrams follow the Earlier Heaven order: Heaven 1, Lake 2, Fire 3, Thunder 4, Wind 5, Water 6, Mountain 7, Earth 8.
Original, nuclear and changed hexagrams
The upper and lower trigrams make the original hexagram, the situation as it begins. Lines two to four form the lower trigram and lines three to five the upper trigram of the nuclear hexagram, which shows what lies in the middle. Flip the moving line, yang to yin or yin to yang, and you have the changed hexagram, the direction things turn toward.
For Heaven and Earth, the two pure hexagrams, the nuclear figure follows a separate convention that the conventions page explains. Every hexagram also has its own page in the library with its name, judgment and line texts.
Body, Use and the five phases
The trigram that holds the moving line is the Use (用); the other one is the Body (体). Think of the Body as yourself and the Use as the matter you asked about. The traditional first check is how the Use relates to the Body in the five phases: it nourishes the Body, matches it, is held in check by it, draws on it, or presses on it.
The nuclear and changed trigrams, and how strong each side is in the current lunar month, add supporting layers. The page lists each piece of evidence with its source. They point to a tendency, not a verdict.
Reading a cast
Pick a concrete matter before you cast, then read in order: the numbers taken, the original hexagram, the nuclear and changed figures, the Body-and-Use relation. Look at what each step contributed rather than only the good-or-bad label. The guides linked below go through it step by step.
After casting you can ask for an AI reading of that figure. Your question is sent only when you request a reading or choose to save, and a share link carries the cast parameters, never the question.
Why two calculators can disagree
When one moment gives different figures on different sites, the cause is usually convention rather than error: Gregorian or lunar numbers, lunar ordinal month or solar-term month, Lunar New Year or Start of Spring as the year change, whether the date turns at 23:00, and which time zone fixes the date.
We default to your local civil date mapped to the Chinese lunar calendar, with the year turning at Lunar New Year and the date at midnight. Three switches let you compare the solar-term month, the Start-of-Spring year and the 23:00 date change side by side.
FAQ
- Can a Meihua Yishu result be used to make a decision?
- Treat it as a symbolic thinking aid. The figure and the Body-and-Use relation give you an angle on the question; they do not guarantee an outcome and are no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice. A steadier use is to let it organise your thinking, then decide with real-world information.
- What is the difference between time casting and number casting?
- Time casting takes its numbers from the lunar year, month, day and hour of the moment you cast, so the same moment under the same convention always gives the same figure. Number casting uses two numbers you choose, so the result depends on them. Time casting stresses the moment; number casting stresses what is on your mind. The remainder rules are the same.
- How is Meihua Yishu different from Liu Yao?
- Both use the sixty-four hexagrams but cast and read them differently. Meihua Yishu takes one figure from the time, numbers or an observed sign, uses a single moving line, and reads Body and Use together with the nuclear and changed hexagrams. Liu Yao (六爻) commonly allows several moving lines and reads them with stem-branch and six-relation tables.
- Why can two calculators produce different figures for the same moment?
- Check their conventions: Gregorian or lunar numbers, lunar ordinal or solar-term month, Lunar New Year or Start of Spring, a date change at 23:00, and the time zone used for the date. We map your local civil date to the Chinese lunar calendar and let you compare three alternatives. Classical texts do not specify modern time zones; these are disclosed conventions, not a claim of exclusive correctness.
