学 · learn · 周易
What is a hexagram?
A hexagram is six lines, read from the bottom up. There are exactly sixty-four of them, and between them they cover every position a person can be in.
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Why sixty-four
Six lines, each of which can be broken (yin) or solid (yang), gives 2×2×2×2×2×2 combinations: sixty-four. Stack two eight-trigrams and you get the same number the other way.
It is a complete set. Whatever your situation, one of the sixty-four is describing it — which is why this is a system rather than a list of advice.
How they are named
Most names are two trigram images: 雷天大壮, thunder over heaven. Others name the shape of the situation itself — 需 waiting, 讼 conflict, 困 confinement, 复 return.
The name is not the reading. It is the doorway into it.
Reading one without training
Three questions get you most of the way. What is rising and what is underneath it — that is the two trigrams. What stage is this — beginning, middle or end. And which line moved: that is where the change is coming from.
Everything more elaborate than that is commentary on those three answers.
Why people keep coming back
Because a situation with a shape is easier to bear than a situation with none. The sixty-four give your fog a name, and a named fog is something you can walk through.
Try it tonight
Ask about the thing you keep circling, and read the hexagram as a description of where you are — not where you will end up.
Read one hexagramQuestions people ask
How many hexagrams are there?
Sixty-four. It is a complete set: every combination of six broken or solid lines.
Is one hexagram better than another?
No. Some describe holding still and some describe great movement, but none is 'good luck' in the fortune-cookie sense. The reading is about fit, not luck.
Do I need to know the names?
No. We show the figure together with a plain-language reading, so the name is atmosphere rather than homework.
Keep reading
Last updated 3 November 2026
An ancient Chinese divination. If today is heavier than words, findahelpline.com lists real helplines near you.