象Mantic arts dossier · Divination and correlative foundations
蓍筮与《周易》
Shīshì yǔ Zhōuyì·Yarrow divination and the Zhou Changes
A method producing a six-line hexagram and changing lines with counting stalks, interpreted through line statements and later correlative reasoning; it became a canonical hub for Yijing studies and many later arts.
- Aliases
- yarrow-stalk divination, Zhouyi divination
- Formation
- Layered formation from Western Zhou through the Warring States
- Evidence status
01Core principles
Core principles
Translate formulas into structure: what enters, how the model is arranged, and which relations drive interpretation.
The received yarrow procedure repeatedly divides, sets aside, counts by fours and collects remainders to obtain line values six through nine. The primary hexagram, changing lines and resulting hexagram form the interpretive object.
Key concepts
- sixty-four hexagrams
- hexagram and line statements
- changing line
- yarrow stalks
02Origins and historical development
Origins and historical development
Keep traditional accounts, surviving evidence and later transformations distinct.
Shang-Zhou numerical hexagrams and Warring States manuals show that early milfoil methods were plural. The Zhouyi core and Wings are layered texts; the work entered the canon in the Han, and Zhu Xi reconstructed a yarrow procedure in the Song. Coin casting later became more common.
03Evidence limits and research debates
Evidence limits and research debates
Mystery belongs to the unknown—not to presenting uncertainty as fact.
The lineage of Fuxi, King Wen, the Duke of Zhou and Confucius is an influential traditional genealogy, not a straightforward conclusion of modern textual history.
This dossier supports historical, textual and methodological study. Internal traditional explanations are not modern empirical validation and do not replace medical, legal, financial or other professional advice.
04Core texts and materials
Core texts and materials
- 01Zhou Changes and its Wings
- 02Divination accounts in the Zuo Tradition and Discourses of the States
- 03Tsinghua bamboo manuscript Shifa