One winter evening at home, Master Shao and his son were sitting by the fireplace trying to keep warm. They were having a discussion on - guess which topic - Plum Blossom Yi Jing. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Both fell silent. “Old man Shao, it’s me - your neighbour.”

Senior Shao said to his son, “Let’s use divination to tell what our dear neighbour wants.”

Junior Shao quipped, “Did you count the number of knocks on the door?”

“Yes. One short one, followed by five more.”

Hence, both of them acquired the following hexagram, in the Rooster hour:

Heaven & Wind Meeting

With the fourth line transformed, we get:

Qian as Heaven

Xun as Wind

The son proclaimed: “Xun is Wood, representing a long object. Qian is Metal - so it must be a hoe that our neighbour needs!”

Senior Shao shook his head, but smiled. “Let’s see if our neighbour needs a hoe, or an axe.”

Indeed, it turned out that the neighbour wanted to borrow an axe. Junior Shao was baffled. How could it be?

“Simple,” the father said. “It’s already near sunset. Why would anyone need a rake to tend the fields? Have some common sense, boy. Furthermore, we are sitting next to a fire - another indication that the subject matter would likely be seeking wood to start a fire.”

With that, Master Shao had demonstrated the use of the ‘3 Essentials’ when practicing Plum Blossom Yi Jing - hearing, visual, and mind. The environment plays an additional influence when casting and deciphering our Hexagrams. After all, each Hexagram can represent a myriad of things in the world!