Six Lines glossary
Forty-five terms. Two sentences each: what it is, and what it means for you.
The six relations: who, and what
- six relationsThe scheme that sorts the six lines into five roles: parent, sibling, officer, wealth, offspring.
- officer lineWhatever holds authority over you: a post, a boss, a lawsuit, an illness. In a question about romance, the man.
- wealth lineWhat you can spend or command: money, resources, capital, payment. In a question about romance, the woman.
- offspring lineWhat you can produce: skill, output, work, those younger than you. It also lifts worry.
- sibling linePeople at your own level: colleagues, peers, rivals, partners.
- parent lineWhat shelters you and also constrains you: elders, documents, contracts, credentials, property.
The six spirits: the texture of it
- six spiritsSix temperaments laid over the six lines: azure dragon, vermilion bird, hooked chen, soaring snake, white tiger, dark warrior.
- azure dragonUpright, dignified, celebratory — and also drink and desire.
- vermilion birdTalk, documents, news, argument.
- hooked chenEntanglement, delay, land, old business.
- soaring snakeTangles, false alarms, the strange, the repeating.
- white tigerForce, injury, urgency.
- dark warriorObscurity, private dealings, loss, things left unclear.
Position and movement
Which line to read
The state a line is in
- in the voidThe line is not currently in place.
- month-breakStruck head-on by the branch of the current month.
- entombedShut into a storehouse and unable to move.
- at extinctionSitting at the point in the cycle where the force runs out.
- hidden lineA relation that never appears openly in the hexagram, lying underneath one of the lines.
- covering lineThe line sitting on top of a hidden line.
Where strength comes from
After a line moves
- returning generationWhat a moving line turns into generates it back.
- returning controlWhat a moving line turns into controls it back.
- advancing branchThe branch it changes into is one step forward from the original.
- retreating branchThe branch it changes into is one step back from the original.
- reverse echoWhat it changes into clashes head-on with the original.
- still echoWhat it changes into is the same as the original.
Between the branches
Basic names
- najiaThe method of fitting the stems and branches onto the six lines. The whole school of reading is called the Najia method, or six lines.
- hexagram palaceWhich of the eight palaces a hexagram belongs to (Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen, Kun).
- primary hexagramThe hexagram as it was cast, before any line changes.
- resulting hexagramThe hexagram you get once the moving lines have changed.
- timing windowThe point at which the matter loosens or settles.