This lesson uses the recorded time at which a question becomes clear enough to ask. In this course, “horary” names a Plum Blossom time cast; it does not import Western horary astrology.

Prerequisite: complete the calendar-input lesson and verify the local calendar values. Your output is a dated, time-zoned calculation record with the exact formula.

When the Moment Counts

Use horary Plum Blossom when:

  • The question arrives clearly at a particular moment.
  • There is no separate external event cue.
  • The time itself feels like the cleanest input.
  • You can record date, time, and place.

Do not use it for vague ongoing worries. If the question has been circling for three weeks, choose the moment it becomes precise enough to ask.

Formal Calendar Formula

A common traditional-style formula:

Hexagram partFormula
Upper trigramyear branch number + lunar month + lunar day, divided by 8
Lower trigramyear branch number + lunar month + lunar day + hour branch, divided by 8
Moving lineyear branch number + lunar month + lunar day + hour branch, divided by 6

The hour branch is the two-hour Chinese time period. Remainder 0 means Kun for trigrams and line 6 for moving lines.

This course uses the year-branch number, 1–12, because that is the convention stated in the received year-month-day-hour passage. A different year-number system requires a separate sourced lesson; do not blend it into this calculation.

Claim source: received Meihua Yishu, vol. 1, “Casting from Year, Month, Day, and Hour,” for year+month+day as the upper trigram, the same sum plus hour as the lower trigram, and the full sum modulo 6 as the moving line. Wen, ch. 7, Table 7-7, is the modern cross-check.

Worked Example

Example type: invented calculation exercise. No outcome is reported.

Suppose a question is asked in:

  • Yin year branch: 3.
  • Eighth lunar month: 8.
  • Twenty-first lunar day: 21.
  • Shen hour branch: 9.

Calculation:

StepMathResult
Upper trigram3 + 8 + 21 = 32; divided by 8 leaves 0Kun, Earth
Lower trigram32 + 9 = 41; divided by 8 leaves 1Qian, Heaven
Moving line41 divided by 6 leaves 5line 5

Primary hexagram: Earth over Heaven, Hexagram 11, Peace.

Changing line 5 changes the upper trigram from Kun to Kan, producing Water over Heaven, Hexagram 5, Waiting. These are deterministic construction facts. Any practical interpretation comes later and must remain conditional.

Modern Raw-Time Version

For a separate UAYA training exercise, you may use visible clock numbers:

InputFormula
Hourdivided by 8 for upper trigram
Minutedivided by 8 for lower trigram
Hour + minutedivided by 6 for moving line

This is not the received calendar formula. It is a UAYA raw-number exercise using the clock as the cue.

Quality Standard

Before using a horary Plum Blossom reading, write:

  1. Exact question.
  2. Time recorded.
  3. Location or time zone.
  4. Calendar method used.
  5. Formula used.

Do not rely on an unexamined converter. Check its time zone, day boundary, lunar-month convention, and branch values. If the inputs cannot be reconciled, record input unresolved and stop.

Also avoid a common English-language mistake: do not add the Gregorian year as a raw number to a formal horary formula unless the lesson is explicitly teaching a modern raw-number method. Formal calendar work needs a converted calendar value.

Course Case

Example type: invented teaching case. No outcome is claimed.

The course case is not a formal horary case. It uses the visible clock because the clock was part of the event.

That difference matters:

Case typeInput
External event casethree messages plus visible clock
Horary casecalendar value of the asking moment

They are not the same calculation. Complete only the procedure selected before the arithmetic; do not compare both and keep the preferred answer.

Next, learn a tactile count method that trains the same principle with physical objects. Continue to The Rice Grain Method.