Plum Blossom Time Casting: Calendar Inputs
Last updated 10/7/2026
This lesson identifies the time values used by the course’s formal calendar cast. It does not teach Chinese calendar conversion from first principles.
Prerequisite: know the modulo-8 trigram and modulo-6 line keys. Your output is a time-input record naming the local date and time, location or time zone, calendar values, numbering table, and formula.
A received year-month-day-hour calculation and a raw clock-number exercise are different procedures. Do not present them as identical.
Two Procedures for Using Time
| Procedure | Input | Status in this course |
|---|---|---|
| Raw clock exercise | 14:27, 8:05, 21:13 | UAYA training procedure when the visible clock is the selected cue. |
| Received calendar formula | year branch value, lunar month, lunar day, hour branch value | Formal time-casting procedure taught in the received text and this course. |
The important rule is simple: name which procedure you are using.
The Traditional Calendar Frame
The received formula numbers the year and hour through the twelve Earthly Branches, the first month as 1, and the lunar day by its day number. It uses:
- Year branch number.
- Lunar month number.
- Lunar day number.
- Hour branch number.
The received year-month-day-hour formula is:
| Component | Operation |
|---|---|
| Upper trigram | year branch + lunar month + lunar day, divided by 8 |
| Lower trigram | year branch + lunar month + lunar day + hour branch, divided by 8 |
| Moving line | year branch + lunar month + lunar day + hour branch, divided by 6 |
Remainder 0 is read as 8 for trigrams and 6 for lines.
Claim source: received Meihua Yishu, vol. 1, “Casting from Year, Month, Day, and Hour,” states that the year count begins with Zi as 1, months with the first month as 1, days with the first day as 1, and hours with Zi as 1; it gives year+month+day for the upper trigram and adds the hour for the lower trigram and moving line. Wen, ch. 7, Table 7-7, is the modern cross-check used by this course.
Hour Branches
The branch-hour convention divides the day into twelve double-hours. The civil-clock ranges below are approximate conventions for recording inputs, not a complete calendar-conversion system.
| Branch | Approximate time | Number |
|---|---|---|
| Zi | 23:00-00:59 | 1 |
| Chou | 01:00-02:59 | 2 |
| Yin | 03:00-04:59 | 3 |
| Mao | 05:00-06:59 | 4 |
| Chen | 07:00-08:59 | 5 |
| Si | 09:00-10:59 | 6 |
| Wu | 11:00-12:59 | 7 |
| Wei | 13:00-14:59 | 8 |
| Shen | 15:00-16:59 | 9 |
| You | 17:00-18:59 | 10 |
| Xu | 19:00-20:59 | 11 |
| Hai | 21:00-22:59 | 12 |
Record local time, location or time zone, and the conversion source. Do not quietly mix a local clock, a converted lunar date, and a different time zone. If two converters disagree at a day or hour boundary, stop and resolve the calendar input before casting.
Modern Shortcuts
UAYA also uses visible clock digits as a training method when the clock itself is the selected cue.
But call it what it is:
- Received calendar formula: uses branch, lunar-month, and lunar-day values.
- UAYA raw-number exercise: uses the numbers as they appear.
Neither should be disguised as the other.
Course Case
Example type: invented teaching case. No outcome is claimed.
In the workshop proposal case, the visible time 14:27 is the cue. We are not pretending to run a formal lunisolar conversion. We are using the raw clock because the clock was part of the moment-image.
That gives us a clean teaching rule:
| Cue | Rule |
|---|---|
| Three messages | event count for upper trigram |
| 14:27 | raw clock digits summed for lower trigram |
| Event count plus clock sum | moving line |
If we wanted a formal horary reading instead, we would convert the date into lunar month, lunar day, and hour branch first. That would be a different reading object.
Practical Standard
For every time-based Plum Blossom reading, write this in your notes:
- Date and local time.
- Location or time zone.
- Calendar system used.
- Formula used.
- Reason this moment was selected.
If a calendar value cannot be verified, record input unresolved and do not calculate.
Next, learn the symbolic frameworks that turn the calculation into a reading. Continue to Trigrams, Ti/Yong, and Five Phases.