Sun and Moon in the sleeve (Tu Ly Nhat Nguyet)

Sun and Moon in the sleeve: the Earthly Branches are laid on the left hand as follows: the last crease of the ring finger is Zi, counting forward to the left one branch per crease, Chou, Yin, Mao... and so on.

On the palm

• The Void is counted on the palm: place the Heavenly Stem on the position of the Earthly Branch — for example, on a Geng Yin day place Geng on the position of Yin — and count forward as far as Gui; the two branches after Gui, that is Wu and Wei, will be the Void. Counting backwards to Jia, the two branches before Jia, Wei and Wu, are the Void.
• Paired combination: two branches symmetrical about the vertical axis are a paired combination, for example Xu and Mao, You and Chen
• Six Clashes: two branches symmetrical to each other through the centre are said to clash. For example: Yin and Shen, Mao and You.
• Six Harms: two branches symmetrical about the horizontal axis are a Six Harm, for example Yin and Si, Wu and Chou
• Triple combination: starting from one corner, along an isosceles triangle, with the positions up three across one, across three up one, is a triple combination. For example: Yin Wu Xu, Shen Zi Chen
• Birth, Peak, Tomb, Extinction: within a triple combination, the later branch of a pair is always the Peak branch. For example: Yin and Mao — Mao is the Prosperous branch, Mao is of the Wood element, so Hai Mao Wei is the Wood frame. The earlier branch of a pair will be the Birth for the element of the frame, and the remaining Earth branch is the Tomb of the frame. For example: Yin Wu Xu — Yin is the earlier branch in the Fire frame because Wu is the later branch, so Yin is the Birth of Fire, Fire is at the Peak, Xu is the Tomb of Fire. Extinction is the branch following the Tomb branch. For example: Hai is the branch after Xu, so by the example above, Fire is extinguished at Hai.

On the hexagram

• Six Clashes: two branches, 1 and 4, clashing each other is called a Six Clashes hexagram
• Six Harmonies: two branches, 1 and 4, combining with each other is called Six Harmonies
• Month Break: whichever line the Month clashes, that line is Month Break
• Hidden movement: a Prosperous line clashed by the Day is hidden movement, functioning as an ordinary moving line, but with no changed line
• Day Break: the Day clashing a Weak line
• Scattering: the Day clashing a Weak moving line is scattering. Besides, the case of a clash by the Day or by the Month also scatters, but this scattering is not the same as that one.
• Wandering Soul hexagram: the pairs 1-4 opposite, 2-5 alike, 3-6 opposite is a Wandering Soul hexagram
• Returning Soul hexagram: the pairs 1-4 alike, 2-5 opposite, 3-6 alike is a Returning Soul hexagram
• Stagnant repetition: a changed line the same as the moving line is called a Stagnant repetition hexagram
• Reversed repetition: a changed line clashing the moving line is called a Reversed repetition hexagram.
• Six Spirits: in the order Dragon, Sparrow, Hook, Serpent, Tiger, Warrior for the pair Jia and Yi, then dropping down as in a game of pulling bricks with: Bing and Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng and Xin, Ren and Gui.

See also

• Day Branch and Month Command (Ri Chen, Yue Ling)
• Void (Xun Kong)
• Five Elements (Wu Xing)
• Combination and clash of lines
• Life cycle (Chang Sheng)
• Six Spirits (Liu Shou)

— Bốc Dịch Đại Toàn, Vi Nhật Sơn · bocdichvotranh.com