Plum Blossom Numerology for Interpersonal Relationships: Reading the True Inner State of Both Parties Through Hexagrams

Using Plum Blossom Numerology (Meihua Yishu) for Interpersonal Readings: First, Be Clear About What You Are Actually Asking

Many people cast a hexagram with Plum Blossom Numerology (Meihua Yishu) to read a relationship, then flip through the hexagram text, piece together a rough interpretation, and land on a verdict of "auspicious" or "inauspicious" — done. This is the single biggest misuse of Plum Blossom Numerology (Meihua Yishu).

At its core, Plum Blossom Numerology (Meihua Yishu) reads the dynamic tendency of a given matter at a specific moment in time, not a static verdict on destiny. When applied to interpersonal relationships, what it actually shows is: the directional energy between two people at this moment, along with each person's psychological state and willingness to act.

Shao Yong's hexagram-casting method has several common paths. For interpersonal readings, the most frequently used is "time-based casting" — the year, month, day, and hour at the moment of the inquiry are converted into numbers; dividing by eight and taking the remainder yields the upper trigram; adding the hour number gives the lower trigram; and the sum of both divided by six gives the moving line. The mechanics are straightforward enough, but interpreting what emerges is where the real difficulty lies.

A second path is "number-based casting": the instant a matter comes to mind, you take a number that appears to you, or use whatever number triggered the impulse to consult the hexagram. Tradition holds that this "feeling that immediately connects" approach is actually more accurate, because that number is itself an outward expression of the thought present in that exact moment.

The Ti Hexagram and Yong Hexagram: This Relationship Is the Core

Once the hexagram is cast, the first step is not to look up the hexagram text — it is to distinguish the Ti (ti gua, Body Hexagram) from the Yong (yong gua, Use Hexagram).

The Ti hexagram represents the person asking the question. The Yong hexagram represents the other party or the matter being asked about. The standard way to distinguish them: whichever trigram — upper or lower — contains the moving line is the Yong hexagram; the one without a moving line is the Ti hexagram. If moving lines appear in both trigrams, look at which side has more; the side with more moving lines is the Yong hexagram.

The generating and overcoming relationship between Ti and Yong is the backbone of the reading:

• Yong generates Ti: the other party is willing to give and has a tendency to move closer to you.
• Ti generates Yong: you are investing more in this relationship; you are the active party.
• Yong overcomes Ti: the situation is relatively complex — tradition holds that the other party has a suppressing or unfavorable effect on you, though in practice this sometimes simply reflects the other person's dominant, assertive manner rather than any malicious intent.
• Ti overcomes Yong: you hold the controlling position in this relationship; the initiative is yours.
• Ti and Yong in harmony (same Five Elements [Wu Xing]): the energies of both parties are close; mutual understanding comes easily.

After the moving line transforms into a new hexagram, you must also examine that changed hexagram's generating/overcoming relationship with the Ti hexagram — this layer represents how things will develop going forward and cannot be ignored.

Working from Ti-Yong dynamics alone to establish the general direction already yields a reading with real reference value. Many beginners want to jump straight to "does he/she like me" at this stage, but the right question to ask first is: right now, who is the active party and who is waiting?

Reading Inner Intentions from the Specific Hexagram Images

Once the generating/overcoming relationship has set the direction, the symbolic meaning of the hexagram images themselves comes into play. This does not mean memorizing hexagram texts by rote — it means applying the basic symbolic meanings of the Eight Trigrams.

Each of the eight trigrams carries its own temperament:

• Qian (Heaven): strong, self-directed, opinionated — when reading the other party's state of mind, Qian often signals active initiative or self-protective behavior.
• Kun (Earth): accommodating, passive, waiting — a person in the Kun position tends toward withdrawal or compliance.
• Zhen (Thunder): urgent, impulsive, strong capacity for action, though not sustained.
• Xun (Wind): flexible, yielding — also carries a sense of indecision.
• Kan (Water): inner anxiety or hidden matters — when the other party is in the Kan position, there is often something left unsaid.
• Li (Fire): outwardly warm, but Li carries the concept of being "hollow at the center" — in folk interpretation this sometimes suggests a gap between appearance and inner reality.
• Gen (Mountain): stagnation, stubbornness — also represents conservative waiting.
• Dui (Lake): joy, willingness to communicate — also carries the image of gossip and disputes.

A concrete example: someone asks whether a friendship can deepen. The hexagram comes out with Kan as the lower trigram and Li as the upper, with the moving line in the first line of the upper Li trigram, which transforms into Qian. The Ti hexagram is Kan (no moving line); the Yong hexagram is Li (moving line present, transforming to Qian).

Kan Water overcomes Li Fire: Ti overcomes Yong, so the person asking holds the dominant or leading position in this relationship. However, Li itself carries the "hollow center" image — the other party presents as warm and enthusiastic, but whether that is genuinely stable inside is open to question. The transformed hexagram is Qian; Qian Metal overcomes Kan Water, meaning the transformed hexagram overcomes Ti, suggesting pressure or a shift toward passivity for the questioner as the relationship deepens. Taken together: right now you are the active party, the other person's attitude is positive but hard to read clearly, and as the relationship develops further you may find yourself feeling less in control or more pressured.

This kind of reading is not fortune-telling — it is a tendency assessment based on symbolic meaning, offered as a reference for the person involved.

Common Mistakes in Hexagram Interpretation

First mistake: treating the hexagram text as a verdict. The hexagram texts of the sixty-four hexagrams are written records of Zhou-dynasty divination, many of which have drifted far from their original context. Applying them directly to modern interpersonal situations often produces a complete mismatch. The interpretive core of Plum Blossom Numerology (Meihua Yishu) lies in Ti-Yong dynamics and the symbolic meanings of the trigrams; the hexagram text is only supplementary reference, and even then you need a rough sense of its original background.

Second mistake: asking two questions in one hexagram. Some people cast a single hexagram and expect it to answer whether the other person likes them, whether the relationship has a future, and when the right moment to confess is — all at once. One hexagram, one question. An unfocused mind at casting produces a scattered hexagram.

Third mistake: recasting until you get the answer you want. In folk practice this is called "playing tricks on the spirits" (xi shen) — traditionally considered disrespectful toward the act of casting, and practically speaking, the more obvious problem is that out of a dozen casts you will simply pick whichever result you prefer, which makes the whole exercise meaningless.

Fourth mistake: ignoring the specific position of the moving line. A moving line in the first position (lowest) versus the sixth position (highest) carries very different symbolic weight. The first line represents the beginning stage of a matter; the sixth line represents its conclusion or overextension. The same Yong-overcomes-Ti pattern means something quite different depending on position: a moving line in the first line suggests suppression from the very start, while a moving line in the sixth signals that tension only emerges in the later stages of the relationship.

One more point worth making: Plum Blossom Numerology (Meihua Yishu) applied to interpersonal relationships gives you a snapshot of conditions at the moment of casting — and people's feelings change. The hexagram cannot read someone's thoughts "forever," only the tendency present at the moment the question was asked. If circumstances shift after a few days, there is a reasonable case for casting again, but do not treat it as a mood tracker you refresh daily.