Fixed and Event Signals in Plum Blossom
Last updated 10/7/2026
This lesson separates fixed inputs from events arising in the question moment. Some modern Plum Blossom teaching calls these prenatal and postnatal methods. The labels are lineage terminology, not claims about genetics, predestination, or universal doctrine.
Prerequisite: complete one signal record from the previous lesson. Your output here is three classified cues, each marked use or leave alone.
Two Signal Families
| Course label | What it uses | Record it as |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed / “prenatal” in Sun’s modern presentation | date, formal calendar values, supplied or already-existing numbers | fixed input present before calculation |
| Event / “postnatal” in Sun’s modern presentation | sound, direction, movement, color, count, or interruption arising in the moment | observed event selected as the cue |
Do not treat these labels as rigid dogma. UAYA uses them only as a provenance check.
A fixed input asks, “Which recorded calendar or number value am I converting?”
An event input asks, “Which new observation did I select, and why?”
Claim source: Sun's 2006 article, p. 42, uses “prenatal” for date/time inputs and “postnatal” for environmental phenomena. Its claims about genetics, predetermined programs, and predictive accuracy are not adopted here. The received Meihua Yishu, vol. 1, independently supplies time, sound, object, and event examples without requiring UAYA's two-label teaching table.
Why This Matters
The mistake is mixing signal types without noticing.
If you ask a horary question using lunar month, lunar day, and hour branch, you are doing a calendar-style reading. If three knocks happen while the question is spoken, you are doing an event-style reading. If you combine them, say exactly how and why.
The student should always be able to answer:
- Was my input fixed data or a spontaneous event?
- Did the cue exist before the question, or did it appear during the question?
- Did I choose the rule before seeing the hexagram?
- Could someone else reproduce my calculation from my notes?
Examples
| Situation | Signal family | Good use |
|---|---|---|
| A question is recorded at Shen hour on the twenty-first lunar day | Fixed / calendar | Use a stated calendar formula. |
| A glass breaks as the question is spoken | Event / observed | Record what happened; choose count or image before calculating. |
| A person supplies two three-digit entries with the question | Fixed / supplied number | Use the direct-number worksheet only if its digit-sum rule is chosen first. |
| A bird calls five times from the east | Event / observed | Use count, direction, or both only under a declared rule. |
| You open a book at random and use the page number | Event / selected count | Treat the opening action as the casting event. |
The Rule of Significance
Postnatal readings need restraint.
UAYA’s event-selection filter is new change, new movement, or a new event. This is a practice control, not a verified quotation from Shao Yong. A candidate cue should arrive, interrupt, shift, appear, sound, fall, open, close, or otherwise become distinct.
Do not turn background conditions into omens after the fact. If the lamp was already on, the lamp is not automatically the signal. If it flickers at the moment of the question, it may be.
Course Case
Example type: invented teaching case. It has no claimed outcome.
The workshop proposal case uses an event cue:
As the question is asked, three messages arrive in a group chat and the wall clock reads 14:27.
The three messages are the new event. The visible clock supports the event by giving a number in the same moment. The reading is not a formal calendar horary reading because we are not converting lunar month, lunar day, or hour branch.
That distinction keeps the method honest.
Practice
For one day, keep an observer’s log without casting.
Record three possible signals:
- What happened.
- Whether it was fixed data or a new event.
- Why it drew attention.
- How it could become a number, direction, trigram, or moving line.
- Whether you would actually use it, or leave it alone.
At least one entry must be leave alone. A good observer’s log does not turn every observation into a cast.
This trains selection discipline before arithmetic begins.
Next, learn the number grammar. Continue to The Language of Numbers.