Essential Course on Six Yao Judgment: The Law of Yao's Prosperity and Decline

Preface

In the Six Yao hexagram, the prosperity or decline of each yao directly determines the development trend of the matter being divined. The strength of a yao mainly depends on the influence of the Day, Month, and Moving Yao. Among them, the Day and Month have the greatest power. The Day and Month, like heaven and earth, can generate or control any yao and its changing yao in the hexagram, while the yao in the hexagram, even if its five elements can overcome the Day or Month, cannot act back on them.

• Month Building governs the authority of the month and is the guiding principle of Six Yao:

  • For weak yao, the Month Building can support and assist;

  • For overly strong yao, the Month Building can clash, overcome, or punish to balance excess.

In practical application:

• If there is a yao favorable to the Use God, we hope the Month Building will assist it.

• If there is a yao unfavorable to the Use God, we hope the Month Building will subdue it.

• When a changing yao overcomes the moving yao, the Month Building can subdue the changing yao;

• When a moving yao overcomes a static yao, the Month Building can subdue the moving yao.

• If the Use God is hidden and suppressed by the Flying Yao, the Month Building can clash and overcome the Flying Yao, and assist the Hidden Yao.

• When a yao meets the Month Combination, it is called "Combined Prosperity" and should be considered prosperous;

• When a yao meets the Month Clash, it is called "Month Break" and should be considered declining.

Thus, the Day and Month act as the guiding principles, governing the strength and weakness of yao in the hexagram, and are key to understanding the prosperity and decline in Six Yao.

Section 1: Month Building

In Six Yao, the division of months is not based on the lunar or solar calendar, but on the 24 Solar Terms as dividing points, dividing the year into twelve "Month Buildings." Therefore, the so-called "Month Building" takes the current solar term as the starting point of the month.

In comparison, the months in Six Yao are closest to the Western calendar, roughly corresponding as follows:

However, it is important to note: Six Yao uses the transition of solar terms as the boundary, not the first day of the lunar month or the first day of the Gregorian month.

Solar Terms and Month Building Correspondence 🌿

• Start of Spring → Yin Month begins

• Awakening of Insects → Mao Month begins

• Clear and Bright → Chen Month begins

• Start of Summer → Si Month begins

• Grain in Ear → Wu Month begins

• Minor Heat → Wei Month begins

• Start of Autumn → Shen Month begins

• White Dew → You Month begins

• Cold Dew → Xu Month begins

• Start of Winter → Hai Month begins

• Major Snow → Zi Month begins

• Minor Cold → Chou Month begins

📌 Key Points

• The starting point of the Six Yao year is Start of Spring (Yin Month), not the first day of the first lunar month.

• The moment of solar term transition is precise to the minute and second; before the transition, it still belongs to the previous month; once the solar term arrives, it enters the next month, with no ambiguity.

Section 2: Month Break in Month Building

In Six Yao, if a hexagram yao is clashed by the Month Building, it is called Month Break.

I. Correspondence of Month Break

• Yin Month → Shen Break

• Mao Month → You Break

• Chen Month → Xu Break

• Si Month → Hai Break

• Wu Month → Zi Break

• Wei Month → Chou Break

• Shen Month → Yin Break

• You Month → Mao Break

• Xu Month → Chen Break

• Hai Month → Si Break

• Zi Month → Wu Break

• Chou Month → Wei Break

II. Effects of Month Break ⚖️

1. Weak Yao Meets Month Break

   • If the yao itself is declining and static, or empty, entering tomb, or encountering death → its power is weakened, almost ineffective.

   • If the Use God encounters it → unfavorable; if the Taboo God encounters it → favorable instead.

2. Strong Yao Meets Month Break

   • If the yao is prosperous and moving, or supported by the Day, Month, or moving yao → it still has power and can function.

   • If the Use God encounters it → it is actually auspicious; if the Taboo God encounters it → it is ominous.

3. Time Factor

   • Month Break is only effective within the current month; after the month passes, it is no longer broken.

   • Encountering the same earthly branch as the Month Break on the Day, Month, or Year → it is Actual Break.

   • Encountering a combination with the Month Break on the Day, Month, or Year → it is Combined Break.

   • Actual Break and Combined Break often serve as the basis for response periods:

     • Near response: day or hour

     • Far response: year or month

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III. Summary ✍️

• Month Break is a "temporal restraint", effective within the month, disappearing after the month passes.

• Use God meets Month Break → mostly unfavorable, but if prosperous or supported, it can turn auspicious.

• Taboo God meets Month Break → mostly favorable, but if supported or transformed into advancing spirit, it becomes ominous.

• Actual Break and Combined Break are often important references for auspicious or ominous response periods.

Section 3: Role of the Day Stem

In the Six Yao system, the Day Stem holds an extremely important position. It is not only a daily time marker but also a highly influential factor in the hexagram.

I. Significance of the Day Stem

• Cyclical Pattern: The ancients paired the ten Heavenly Stems with the twelve Earthly Branches to form the Sixty Jiazi, cycling every sixty days.

• Dominant Role: The Day Stem is called the "Master of Six Yao," with the same function as the Month Building, capable of affecting any yao in the hexagram.

• Difference from Month Building:

  • The Month Building is only effective within the current month and changes with the solar terms.

  • The Day Stem changes daily, is prosperous in all four seasons, and holds the power of life and death.

II. Modes of Action of the Day Stem ⚖️

1. Relationship with Month Building

   • If a yao is harmed by the Month Building → if supported by the Day Stem, it can become balanced.

   • If a yao meets Month Break → if the Day Stem is present, it becomes Actual Break.

2. Influence on Yao

   • Prosperous static yao → if clashed by the Day Stem, it is Hidden Movement.

   • Declining yao → if clashed by the Day Stem, it is Day Break.

   • Empty yao → the Day Stem can fill or activate it.

   • Combined yao → the Day Stem can break the combination.

   • Clashed yao → the Day Stem can combine it.

3. Generating and Controlling Power

   • Weak yao → the Day Stem can support and combine.

   • Strong yao → the Day Stem can control, clash, punish, or even cause it to enter tomb or death.

   • Use God and Joy God → should be supported by the Day Stem.

   • Taboo God and Enemy God → should be controlled by the Day Stem.

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III. Summary ✍️

• The Day Stem is like a daily metronome, governing the flow of energy in the hexagram.

• It can assist the weak and restrain the strong, making it an indispensable reference in dynamic judgment.

• Used in conjunction with the Month Building, it provides a more accurate grasp of the strength and response periods of matters.

Section 4: Emptiness in Day Stem

In Six Yao prediction, the daily Day Stem is composed of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. There are ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches, cycling every sixty days. The ancients divided the sixty days into six periods (Xun), each lasting ten days. Since the ten Heavenly Stems cannot perfectly match the twelve Earthly Branches, each period inevitably has two Earthly Branches without corresponding Heavenly Stems. These two branches are called Xun Emptiness, also known as Liujia Emptiness.

I. Liujia Xun Emptiness Reference Table

The correspondence between the six periods and emptiness is as follows:

• Jiazi Period: Xu, Hai empty

• Jiaxu Period: Shen, You empty

• Jiashen Period: Wu, Wei empty

• Jiawu Period: Chen, Si empty

• Jiachen Period: Yin, Mao empty

• Jiayin Period: Zi, Chou empty

Xun Emptiness is only effective within the current period; once the period ends, the emptiness shifts to another two branches, and it is no longer empty.

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II. Auspicious and Ominous Effects of Emptiness

1. Use God Encounters Emptiness

   • Predicting illness:

     • Recent illness → on the day or month of actual filling or clashing, it often indicates recovery.

     • Chronic illness → on the day or month of actual filling or clashing, it is ominous.

   • Use God is declining, broken, and unsupported → ominous.

2. Original God or Taboo God Encounters Emptiness

   • Original God is empty → if moving, on the day or month of clashing or filling, it can instead generate the Use God, which is auspicious.

   • Taboo God is empty → if moving, on the day or month of filling or clashing, it often indicates the manifestation of ominous signs.

3. Empty Yao is Static and Not Moving

   • Empty but prosperous → if supported by the Day, Month, or moving yao, it still has power and is useful.

   • Empty and declining, dead or extinct → powerless, ineffective.

   • Taboo God encounters emptiness → instead auspicious.

   • Flying God is Taboo God → it is favorable to encounter emptiness, being overcome, or clashed.

4. Moving and Transforming into Emptiness, Hidden but Prosperous

   • Moving yao, though empty, can still participate in generating and controlling, and still has energy; it will not be "completely empty."

   • Only when broken and declining, or hidden and controlled, does emptiness render it completely powerless.

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III. Summary ✍️

• Xun Emptiness is like a shadow, losing power within the period, but regaining it outside the period.

• Use God encounters emptiness → mostly indicates difficulty in achieving matters, or something illusory.

• Taboo God encounters emptiness → instead auspicious, its ominous power is weakened.

• Moving and encountering emptiness → can still function, but its strength depends on generating and controlling and the Day and Month.

Section 5: Tai Sui and Time

1. Tai Sui (Year)

   Tai Sui is the ruler of the year. The ancients said, "The ruler governs the year's command, revered but not intimate." It does not directly generate or control the yao in the hexagram; the prosperity and decline of yao mainly depend on the Month Building and Day Stem.

   However, Tai Sui is not meaningless. When one of the Use God, Original God, Taboo God, or Enemy God is present in Tai Sui, it is called "entering the hexagram." Once it enters and moves, Tai Sui participates in generating and controlling, often becoming the basis for judging response periods.

   📌 Note: The year begins with Start of Spring, not the first day of the first lunar month.

2. Time

   Time refers to the specific time when the hexagram is cast. In Six Yao, judging the prosperity and decline of yao mainly relies on the Month and Day; time is generally not emphasized. However, if the matter is urgent or requires inferring response periods within a day, time can be referenced, and its usage is the same as the Day Stem and Month Building.

Summary | Essential Course on Six Yao Judgment: The Law of Yao's Prosperity and Decline

In learning Six Yao, the most crucial step is to clearly see the "strength" of yao. The prosperity and decline of yao are not based on feeling but are determined by time and solar terms:

• Month Building: Governs the order of the month, setting the overall tone;

• Month Break: Yao clashed by the Month Building loses much power;

• Day Stem: The daily Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch can clash, combine, assist, or weaken yao;

• Emptiness: Yao without support in the period temporarily loses power;

• Tai Sui and Time: The effects of year and time are often used to indicate response periods.

These can be understood as "time coordinates" and "energy environment." The changes in yao's prosperity and decline, like the seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, determine the rise and fall of matters.

👉 Mastering the prosperity and decline of yao is equivalent to learning the "underlying logic" of Six Yao.