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Bushi Zhengzong · The Orthodox Tradition of Divination
Golden Counsels · Weather
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
Weather
Heaven's Way is dark and remote: how could thought alone measure drought and flood? The lines of the Changes are subtle and minute: they can verify overcast or clear conditions. Examine Parents and Wealth; do not rely on Water and Fire alone.
Wife and Wealth moving makes all eight directions look up to clear light. Parents rising makes all within the four seas share rain's moisture. Response is the great void of the sky: if empty, rain or clearing is hard to infer. Self is the great mass of Earth: if controlled, the weather changes unusually.
The day governs the overcast or clear conditions of one day. Descendants governs sun and moon in the nine heavens. For wind and clouds, rely on Brothers. To know thunder and lightning, examine Officer.
Reading note: “Parents rising” reads the supplied 與隆 through the parallel moving-line clause. The weather claims remain those of the verse.
Infer further according to the four seasons, matching the Five Phases to reach a judgment. If clear weather meets Officer, there is smoke or fog. If rain meets Blessing, there is lightning or a rainbow.
If Descendants occupies Response, the blue sky has not the slightest blemish.
If an Earth Ghost occupies Self, yellow sand scatters widely across a thousand villages.
A threefold combination forming Wealth is unwelcome in a question about rain. The five categories link with Parents; in seeking clear weather, falling into Void is troubling.
Reading note: “Five categories” renders the technical 五鄉 through the traditional Wealth/Officer/Parents/Brothers/Descendants list. The compact final clause remains about encountering Void; no rain or clear-weather exception is supplied.
Wealth changing into Ghost leaves overcast or clear unsettled. Parents changing into Brothers makes wind and rain inconstant.
Parents changing into Descendants hangs a long rainbow after rain. Brothers joined to Blessing and Virtue brings sun and moon from the clouds, with toad-and-spider imagery.
Reading note: The unusual 蟾蛛 wording is retained as toad and spider imagery, without silently substituting a different creature.
Parents holding the Month Commander must bring overcast rain for successive ten-day cycles. Brothers seated at Birth predicts fierce winds for many days.
With neither Parents nor Wealth assisted, drought and flood have their regular course. If Blessing and Virtue carries penalty, sun or moon must be eclipsed.
Rain dislikes the Wife position meeting Clash; clearing benefits when the Parents line enters the Tomb.
Descendants hidden and Wealth Flying: beneath the eaves, the person waiting to dry things in the sun remains dejected. Parents declining and Officer strong: the traveler at the gate still hesitates.
Blessing combines with Response and Wood moves as a crossing line: fine floating threads spread across the fields. Ghost clashes with the Body position and Metal stars gather: dark fog obscures the sky.
A hexagram meeting hidden Clash has hope even in Void. A line bound by combination achieves nothing even if moving.
Combined Parents is opened by Ghost’s Clash: with thunder, there is rain. Combined Wealth is broken by Brothers’ control: without wind, there is no clearing.
Kan and Xun intercross: today snowflakes fly with six points. Yin and yang each occupy half: this morning sustained rain comforts the farmers.
Wood Brothers rises as Xun wind: how fiercely Fengyi wreaks havoc!
Wife and Wealth moves as Qian yang: how violently the drought demon works harm!
Six dragons drive through Heaven because of Snake and the Zhen hexagram. Five thunders drive lightning because Ghost moves in the Li Palace.
An Earth star accompanying Parents means clouds moving and rain falling. Wood Virtue supporting the Body means warm sun and a gentle breeze.
Half clear, half rain: Wealth and Parents rise together in the hexagram. Much fog and smoke: Wealth and Officer both move among the lines.
Reading note: The supplied 宮 in the second pair is read as 官, Officer, following the corresponding Chinese verse and its earlier fog/Officer pairing. The Chinese text is unchanged.
Body with Brothers: though clear, the sun’s disc conceals its radiance. Self holds Blessing and Virtue: even in rain, the thunder drum hides its sound.
Reading note: 同人 is read here in the relational sense of Brothers, as explained by the corresponding old commentary; it is not substituted with the named hexagram Tong Ren.
Parents empty and Wealth hidden: examine the supporting lines. To select the day and determine the time, understand the method of divination.
To know the detail, distinguish yin and yang to infer clear or rainy weather. To know the fine distinctions, understand decline and strength to decide severity.
If one can fathom the refined subtleties of the Changes, one naturally accords with Heaven’s mechanism.
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