Mei Hua Yi Shu (梅花易数): a Plum Blossom way to read change

What is Mei Hua Yi Shu?

Mei Hua Yi Shu (梅花易数, also written 梅花易數 or romanized Meihua Yishu) is a traditional way of forming and interpreting I Ching hexagrams through numbers, timing and observed images. English names include Plum Blossom Numerology and Plum Blossom Divination; you may also see the shorthand Plum Blossom I Ching. Here, “numerology” names a symbolic calculation tradition; it does not mean a measured probability of a future event.

Its useful starting question is: how does the subject relate to the situation? The trigrams and their Five Phases provide a language for support, harmony, effort, depletion and constraint. A reading gives you a traditional judgment to consider alongside the actual facts.

How does Mei Hua Yi Shu relate to the I Ching?

The methods share the eight trigrams and 64 six-line hexagrams. Mei Hua places particular emphasis on images, numbers and relationships between trigrams. The I Ching’s judgments and line texts offer another way to study a situation’s stages and changes.

On YiPhase these are two levels of one reading. You cast once. First, the site calculates a Mei Hua body/use judgment without AI. Then you can explore that same primary hexagram, its actual moving lines and its relating hexagram through the classical text. You do not need a second cast.

Compare YiPhase’s casting methods · Explore the trigrams and I Ching hexagrams

Time, numbers and observation

Capture this moment

YiPhase records the moment you press the casting button and the selected device time zone. The lunar year-branch number, month and day determine the upper trigram; adding the traditional two-hour period determines the lower trigram and one moving line. Returning to the reading does not recast it with a new time.

Choose two numbers

Enter two integers from 1 to 9999. The first selects the upper trigram, the second the lower; their sum selects one moving line. Trigrams use remainders of eight, and lines use remainders of six, with a zero remainder counted as eight or six. This edition adds no hour number to the two-number method.

Example: 17 and 26. The remainders are 1 and 2: Qian (Heaven) above Dui (Lake), Hexagram 10, Lü / Treading. Their sum, 43, leaves remainder 1 when divided by six. Changing the bottom line gives Hexagram 6, Song / Conflict. See Treading’s six-line pattern and original text.

Observe before interpreting

The classical text also describes forming readings from things, sounds and encounters. YiPhase’s guided observation exercises help you notice an image and its context; they are not a camera-based casting feature. Explore observation in Mei Hua Yi Shu.

Ti and Yong, and the Five Phases

Ti / 體 / 体 (body) represents the subject of the reading. Yong / 用 (use) represents what the subject encounters. For a single moving line, the trigram containing it is use; the opposite trigram is body. Qian and Dui are Metal; Li is Fire; Zhen and Xun are Wood; Kan is Water; Gen and Kun are Earth.

The five relationships give the initial judgment in YiPhase’s stated convention:

• Same phase: harmony, broadly favourable.
• Use generates body: favourable support.
• Body generates use: adverse depletion; consider what you can afford to give.
• Use controls body: adverse constraint; address the limiting condition.
• Body controls use: favourable through active effort.

Where the rule calls for an after-change comparison, body stays fixed and use becomes the trigram on its original side in the relating hexagram. In the 17-and-26 example, body is upper Qian, Metal. Use is lower Dui, also Metal: harmony. After line one changes, use becomes Kan, Water. Metal generates Water: body generates use, a shift towards depletion. The diagrams in your result show the lines, roles and this reasoning.

Time and number casts have one moving line. Coins can have zero to six. YiPhase applies its published Guanbian edition convention to select body/use in those cases; this is an edition rule, rather than a claim that every historical school uses one universal multi-line rule. With no moving line, no relating hexagram is invented. Classical passage selection is explained separately from the Five Phase judgment.

Read the illustrated Ti and Yong guide · Understand changing lines

How to start a free reading on YiPhase

1. Name one real situation. Keep identifying or sensitive information out. See useful I Ching question examples.
2. Choose an input. Capture this moment, choose two numbers, or cast three coins six times. Coins build the lines directly; time and numbers select the trigrams and one moving line.
3. Read the judgment and its reasons. See the primary and, when present, relating hexagrams, labelled body/use roles and Five Phase comparison. This initial calculation needs no AI, account or payment.
4. Follow the same cast into learning. Open the classical passages and consider conditions, choices and a practical next step. A question-specific AI explanation is optional and sends your question and cast to the AI service only when you request it.

See how the two reading levels work · Walk through your first reading · Compare the three casting inputs

Mei Hua Yi Shu: common questions

Sources and the scope of this guide

Mei Hua Yi Shu, volume 1 includes trigram numbers, Five Phases and calendar, number and observation examples. Volume 2 discusses body/use relationships. These are public transcriptions of the classical Chinese text, not evidence that its predictions are verified.

The English explanations, examples and the Guanbian edition’s implementation choices are YiPhase educational material. The website’s observation guide and body/use guide go further; this page is the starting map.

For cultural learning and reference. Not guaranteed fortune-telling or medical, legal or financial advice. Important decisions need real evidence and qualified help where appropriate.