Fire Pearl Forest

麻衣相士Jul 2025

3.3

Word count: 21K words
Chapters: 65

Summary

Huo Zhu Lin is an ancient divination book that uses coins in place of yarrow stalks for divination. It forms hexagrams based on the six lines and predicts good or ill fortune through interpretation of hexagram images and line texts. It is a widely circulated folk divination method and is of great significance for the study of ancient divination culture.

Editor's review

Huo Zhu Lin is an important ancient text of the six-line najia divination method. Its technique of using coins instead of yarrow stalks makes it simpler to perform than the traditional yarrow-stalk method, which is also why it circulated widely among the people. Centered on the framework of forming hexagrams from six lines, the book shows how to judge good or ill fortune through combinations of hexagram images and line texts, offering direct help in understanding the operating logic and symbolic system of ancient divination. It is best read as a cultural and historical source: on one hand, one can observe how the ancients established correspondences between symbols and human affairs; on the other, one can appreciate how divinatory language was expressed in folk life. The book's system of judgment bears clear marks of its era, and readers need a degree of critical awareness to distinguish the text's historical context from present-day practical application. For readers studying folklore, occult culture, or the social psychology of antiquity, the book provides firsthand material for reference; for general readers, it is better suited as an introductory work for understanding traditional divination culture than as a basis for decision-making.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Traditional culture enthusiasts interested in ancient occult arts and six-line divination
Students and researchers studying folk beliefs and folk divination culture
Beginning readers who want to understand the coin-in-place-of-yarrow method of forming hexagrams
Practitioners who collect or organize traditional divination texts

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting divination results to directly guide real-life decisions
People wholly opposed to occult content who seek only scientific explanations
Readers lacking patience for classical Chinese who want quick conclusions

Reading tips

Read through once to understand the basic process of forming six-line hexagrams, then return to examine the correspondence between hexagram images and line texts.
Keep paper and pen to draw hexagrams as you read, personally rehearsing the steps of casting and setting up the hexagram; this is easier to understand than reading alone.
While reading, distinguish the text's historical context from personal belief, and observe the divination system as a cultural phenomenon.
Read alongside overview works on folklore or the history of occult arts to avoid understanding the book's terminology in isolation.

版权信息
1.易中明义
2.六亲根源
3.财官辅助
4.独发乱动
5.世应相克
6.公私用事
7.出现伏藏
8.占财伏鬼
9.占财伏兄
10.财伏父子
11.占鬼伏兄
12.占鬼伏财
13.官伏父母
14.官伏子孙
15.官鬼伏官
16.出现重迭
17.子孙独发
18.兄弟独发
19.父母独发
20.官鬼独发
21.妻财独发
22.占身命
23.占形性
24.占运限
25.占婚姻
26.占孕产
27.占科举
28.占谒贵
29.占买卖
30.占求财
31.占博戏
32.占出行
33.占行人
34.占逃亡
35.占逃亡方位
36.占失物鬼祟
37.占贼盗
38.占鬼神
39.占词讼
40.占脱事散忧
41.占疾病
42.病忌官鬼
43.病忌父兄
44.占医药
45.占家宅
46.占人口
47.占起造迁移附：阳宅
48.占耕种
49.占蚕桑
50.占畜养
51.占渔猎
52.占坟墓
53.占朝国
54.占征战
55.占天时
56.占天道晴雨
57.占射覆
58.覆射物色（节录）
59.占来情
60.达人事
61.占姓字
62.占法卦数（节录）
63.易道心性
64.邵尧夫诗

FAQ

What does 'using coins in place of yarrow' in Huo Zhu Lin mean?

Traditional divination mostly used yarrow stalks to form hexagrams, a cumbersome procedure. The method recorded in Huo Zhu Lin uses tossed copper coins to generate line images, simplifying the steps of forming hexagrams and making six-line divination easier to perform in daily life. This is also an important reason the book circulated widely among the people.

Can readers with no background in occult arts understand this book?

They can, but patience is needed. The book involves terms such as hexagram images, line positions, and the six relatives. Beginners can first master the basic framework of forming six-line hexagrams, then gradually understand how hexagram images and line texts are interpreted, using reference works as needed.

Is this book suitable for guiding decisions in real life?

Not recommended. This book is an ancient divination text whose system of judgment carries a specific historical background. It is better read as cultural and historical material and as an object of folklore study than as a basis for real-life decisions.

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About the author

麻衣相士 Author

Very little public information is available about Maiyi Xiangshi: his style name, birthplace, and dates of birth and death remain unknown. All that is currently known is that a single work attributed to him, Huozhulin (The Fire Pearl Grove), has come down to us, classified in common catalogues under culture. Judging from the form of the name, "Maiyi Xiangshi" (roughly, "the hemp-robed diviner") looks more like a sobriquet with a divinatory flavor than a verifiable personal name, so his true identity and historical period remain unsettled in scholarship. As it stands, Huozhulin belongs to the traditional literature of divination, dealing with hexagram images, coin casting, and related methods. Its style is typical of old popular divination works: dense with technical terms and highly formulaic. Such texts circulated widely among the people over a long period, influenced the compilation and format of later divination books, and remain important sources for the study of traditional divinatory culture. Given the scarcity of historical records, further study of Maiyi Xiangshi and his work awaits new documentary evidence.