
Part 1
The Taichu Reform: When China Rebuilt Its Calendar
In 104 BC, a historian and an astronomer from Sichuan won a competition to redesign how China measured time.
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Get a daily verse from Jiao's Forest of Changes — with glossary and classical references — delivered to your inbox.
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“Six lines trace the pattern —
broken and unbroken, ever-changing.”“Six lines reveal
the moment.”
The daily reference tool for people who take traditional timing seriously. Activity-specific almanac results, 64 hexagrams with original interpretive essays and Hatcher Matrix translations, and 4,096 Yilin verses — each with original ink brush artwork.
Six Lines evaluates days per-activity with transparent reasoning from the 1739 imperial Xieji Bianfang Shu — the way the classical tradition intended.
Describe your situation and cast with three-coin or authentic 49-stalk yarrow method. Procedural generative artwork creates a unique contemplative ritual each time.
The six-line analytical framework professional Chinese practitioners actually use. Najia branch mapping, Six Relatives, useful spirit identification, and Five Element dynamics — structural rigor alongside poetic depth.
The complete Jiao Yanshou Forest of Changes — every hexagram transformation illustrated with original Chinese ink brush art. Bilingual classical verses with English translations.
Gua provides deep consultation grounded in classical scholarship — honest when hexagrams are severe. Yao runs on-device for line study and translation. Both follow the source texts.
Original Chinese text, original interpretive essays connecting hexagrams to classical art and literature, and character-by-character Hatcher Matrix translations for deep study.
Goudy Old Style typography, warm ivory palette, generous whitespace. Designed to treat the tradition with the care it deserves.
One verse per day. Unsubscribe anytime. · See a sample
Every hexagram transformation in the Forest of Changes — illustrated with original Chinese ink brush art.

乾 → 小畜Creative → Small Taming
据斗運樞,順天無憂。與樂並居。
Grasping the Dipper's handle, the celestial pivot turns in accord with heaven — no worry, only shared joy.

坤 → 解Receptive → Deliverance
北辰紫宮,衣冠立中。 含和建德,常受天福。
The Purple Palace of the North Star — robed and crowned at the center. Embracing harmony and building virtue, forever blessed by heaven.

謙 → 井Modesty → The Well
華首山頭,仙道所遊; 利以居止,長無咎憂。
Atop Mount Huashou, where immortals roam — a good place to dwell, forever free of blame and worry.

蒙 → 復Youthful Folly → Return
獐鹿雉兔,群聚東囿。 盧黃白脊,俱往趨逐。 九齚十得,君子有喜。
Deer and pheasant and hare gather in the eastern park. Black, yellow, white-backed — all run and chase. Nine bitten, ten caught: the gentleman has cause for joy.

姤Coming to Meet
河伯大呼,津不可渡。 往復爾故,乃无大悔。
The River Lord cries out — the ford cannot be crossed. Go and return as before, and there will be no great regret.

中孚Inner Truth
烏鳥譆譆,天火將下。 燔我屋室,災及妃后。
Crows cry in alarm — heavenly fire is about to fall. It will burn my house; the disaster reaches even the queen.
Six of 4,096 original artworks from the Yilin (焦氏易林)
How astronomy, record-keeping, and divination became one tradition — and how Six Lines inherits it.

Part 1
In 104 BC, a historian and an astronomer from Sichuan won a competition to redesign how China measured time.

Part 2
The 太史 wasn't just a record-keeper. He was astronomer, diviner, and calendar-master — all at once.

Part 3
Two I-Ching scholars mapped all 64 hexagrams onto the calendar year. The system is still in use.