L.01MANTIC ARTS LIBRARY
Thirty-four core dossiers across nine families. Explore principles, formation, primary texts, school differences and the limits of evidence.
Guībǔ yǔ gǔbǔ · Pyromantic shell and bone divination
A pyromantic decision system using prepared turtle shell or animal bone whose cracks were interpreted; it is the earliest Chinese divinatory institution documented by a large surviving archive.
Shīshì yǔ Zhōuyì · Yarrow divination and the Zhou Changes
A method producing a six-line hexagram and changing lines with counting stalks, interpreted through line statements and later correlative reasoning; it became a canonical hub for Yijing studies and many later arts.
Shùzì guà yǔ Xiān-Qín shìfǎ · Numerical hexagrams and pre-imperial divination
Excavated traditions in which numbers such as one, four, five, six, eight and nine directly formed line positions, revealing a plurality of methods before and alongside standardized yin-yang lines.
Hétú, Luòshū yǔ Jiǔgōng · River Chart, Luo Writing and the Nine Palaces
Spatial-numerical models of parity, generative numbers, center, cardinal and corner positions; a foundational node for the Three Boards, fengshui, date selection and Song correlative Yijing studies.
Guàqì, Nàjiǎ yǔ Bāgōng · Hexagram qi, Najia and the Eight Palaces
Correlations of hexagrams and lines with months, seasonal nodes, stems, branches, phases, pitch and waxing-waning cycles; a technical substrate for Six Lines, fate calculation and some fengshui systems.
Jiāoshì Yìlín · The Forest of Changes
A corpus of more than four thousand rhymed oracles indexed by primary and resulting hexagrams, valuable as divination manual, poetry, folklore and Han social evidence.
Yáng Xióng Tàixuán · Yang Xiong's Canon of Supreme Mystery
Yang Xiong's ternary symbolic cosmology of eighty-one tetragrams and 729 appraisals, coordinated with calendar, seasons and phases: modeled on the Changes yet independent.
Nàjiǎ Liùyáo · Six-Line Najia divination
A hexagram method assigning branches, phases, six relations, host-response positions and six spirits, then reading season, day, change and strength; one of the most active Yijing divination systems today.
Méihuā Yìshù · Plum Blossom Numerology
A flexible method taking hexagrams from time, numbers, sound, direction, characters or encountered images and interpreting change through body-function roles, phase relations, nuclear hexagrams and external correspondences.
Huángjí Jīngshì · Supreme Principles Governing the World
A model of cosmic and historical time using pre-celestial hexagram orders and nested yuan-hui-yun-shi cycles, connecting correlative number, sound, history and political change.
Héluò Lǐshù · Hetu-Luoshu Principle and Number
A Ming-Qing system converting birth stems and branches into heaven-earth numbers and pre/post-celestial natal hexagrams, then using an original line and temporal changes to interpret life stages.
Língqí Jīng · Classic of Spirit Tokens
Twelve marked tokens are cast into upper, middle and lower groups to form one of 125 figures with an attached oracle; an independent compact method widely transmitted in medieval times.
Tàiyǐ · Taiyi cosmic-board calculation
One of the Three Boards, arranging Taiyi and associated agents through accumulated years, epochs, nine palaces and configurations, traditionally for state affairs, warfare, disasters and long-term cycles.
Qímén Dùnjiǎ · Qimen Dunjia
A nine-palace system placing the Three Wonders, Six Instruments, Eight Gates, Nine Stars and spirits according to season, date and yin-yang rotation to analyze timing, direction and action.
Dà Liùrén · Great Liuren
A heaven-earth board places the monthly general over the divination hour; Four Lessons are built from the day stem-branch, followed by Three Transmissions, generals and lesson patterns, interpreted within the tradition as a matter's origin, development and resolution.
Dà Liùrén Jīnkǒujué · Liuren Golden Formula
A compact lesson built from the ground division, general, noble spirit and human origin, interpreted through phase relations, strength and agents.
Xiǎo Liùrén · Lesser Liuren
A quick hand mnemonic cycling month, day and hour through six states: Great Peace, Lingering, Swift Joy, Red Mouth, Small Fortune and Emptiness.
Sìzhù Zǐpíng Mìnglǐ · Four Pillars / Bazi fate calculation
Birth year, month, day and hour are each expressed as a stem-branch pillar; the day stem anchors analysis of ten relations, phases, patterns, seasonal adjustment, major cycles and years.
Zǐwēi Dǒushù · Ziwei Doushu
A natal chart assigns life and body palaces from lunar birth data and places symbolic stars, auxiliaries and four transformations across twelve palaces to interpret themes and periods.
Qīzhèng Sìyú yǔ Wǔxīng Xīngmìng · Seven Governors, Four Auxiliaries and planetary nativities
A natal system using the Sun, Moon, five visible planets and four auxiliary points with twelve houses, lunar lodges, degrees and time-lord techniques.
Yǎnqín Shù · Lunar-lodge animal calculation
A system pairing the twenty-eight lunar lodges with animal symbols, birth data and dates, combined with the five phases for nativities, selection or topical divination.
Tiěbǎn Shénshù · Iron-Plate Divine Calculation
A family of methods encoding birth stems-branches, minute divisions, Hetu-Luoshu hexagram numbers and kin data to retrieve numbered life statements, known for calibrating the birth time.
Shàozǐ Shénshù · Shaozi and numbered-oracle calculation families
A textual family mapping birth data, hexagram numbers, phonology or keys to numbered life statements rather than one fully unified algorithmic school.
Guójiā Xīngzhān yǔ Tiānxiàng Zhànhòu · State astrology and celestial omenology
Observation of eclipses, comets, guest stars, planetary configurations and unusual celestial events, interpreted through star offices, terrestrial correspondences and political order.
Fēnyě Zhān · Terrestrial fields of the sky
A spatial technique mapping celestial regions, lunar lodges or Jupiter stations to terrestrial states and provinces so that an omen could be assigned to a political region.
Fēngjiǎo, Yúnqì yǔ Wùhòu Zázhān · Wind, cloud, phenological and animal omens
Reading winds, cloud forms and colors, rainbows, thunder, animal behavior and unusual phenology for war, weather and affairs, at the boundary between practical observation and symbolic omenology.
Kānyú yǔ Fēngshuǐ · Fengshui and Chinese geomantic traditions
A family of site-selection traditions combining landform, water, orientation, time, yin-yang, phases and compass layers for dwellings, settlements and burials.
Xiàngrén Shù · Chinese physiognomic traditions
Historical classification and analogy based on bone structure, features, complexion, voice, movement and proportion, formerly used for character, fortune, lifespan and personnel decisions.
Zérì yǔ Xuǎnzé Shù · Date selection and almanac arts
A widely enduring temporal technology matching stems-branches, month command, seasonal nodes, Twelve Officers and other factors to marriage, travel, construction, burial and daily activities.
Zhānmèng yǔ Jiěmèng Shū · Dream divination and dream manuals
Interpretation of dream people, animals, objects, actions, colors, directions or puns through symbol, inversion and analogy, spanning court office, religious experience and popular dictionaries.
Cèzì, Chāizì yǔ Xiàngzì · Chinese character divination
A contextual art beginning from a written, selected or encountered Chinese character and analyzing components, added or removed strokes, shape, sound and meaning.
Wǔzhào Bǔfǎ yǔ Dūnhuáng Shìxiàng Zhān · Five-omen methods and Dunhuang topical divination
A family preserved in Dunhuang fragments using five signs, phase-generative numbers, invocations and topical statements for illness, marriage, lost objects, travelers and other daily questions.
Qiúqiān, Qiānshī yǔ Jiǎobēi · Divination lots, oracle poems and moon blocks
A common temple and popular religious practice drawing numbered lots or casting crescent blocks. Within the relevant faith tradition, results are interpreted as divine responses through poems, allusions or affirmative-negative-laughing signs.
Chènwěi, Túchèn yǔ Yùyán Wénxiàn · Apocrypha, prophetic charts and prediction literature
Political prophecy through riddles, mandate tokens, images, scriptural correspondence and historical cycles; a major object for the study of legitimacy and textual rewriting.
CONNECTED KNOWLEDGE
Each path connects a family, shared questions and related fields for comparative reading, without claiming proven historical transmission.
02KNOWLEDGE FAMILIES
From oracle bones, yarrow and numerical hexagrams to Hetu-Luoshu and Najia: the symbolic, temporal and numerical languages shared by many later systems.
Distinct traditions of inference built around hexagrams, lines, correlative roles, oracular texts and large-scale models of time.
Taiyi, Qimen, Liuren and related methods organize time and space through nine-palace models, cosmic boards, agents and calendrical rules.
Traditional interpretive systems organizing life narratives through birth time, stems and branches, palaces or celestial positions.
From state astrology to winds, cloud forms and phenology: how observations became political and human interpretation.
Approaches to dwellings, graves, settlements and landscapes through form, orientation, timing and spatial order.
Historical systems of classification and analogy based on appearance, bones, voice and movement, studied together with their risks of bias.
Traditions matching activities with calendrical days, seasonal nodes, the Twelve Officers and other almanac factors.
Lots, moon blocks, character analysis, dream books and local quick methods reveal the diversity of divination in everyday life.
03Scope and classification
No closed, universally accepted list covers every Chinese mantic art. Names overlap, divide, disappear, acquire pseudonymous authors and are reinvented. This atlas centers identifiable texts, living systems and significant branches, with its scope and evidence levels made explicit.
Supported by datable material, catalogs, objects or verifiable text.
How a lineage or book tells its story; not automatically a modern historical finding.
A culturally meaningful origin narrative that does not establish a date.
Disagreement over author, composition, genealogy or algorithmic relationship.
04Branch index and extended dossiers
These names remain in a traceable branch index. They become independent dossiers only when rules, dates and relationships can be described with adequate evidence.
Six Lines: Huozhulin, Wenwangke, Huangjin Ce, hidden lines, advancing-retreating signs and timing schools
Qimen: rotating, flying, split-term, intercalary, Maoshan, hourly, daily and selection approaches
Liuren: lesson-pattern, correlative, case-based, Golden Formula and the genealogically uncertain Lesser Liuren
Fate calculation: nayin luming, Ziping pattern, strength, climatic adjustment, spirits, Taiyi natal methods, nine-palace annual movement and hand mnemonics
Astral nativities: Qintang, Guolao, celestial-office planets, Seven Governors and Four Auxiliaries, animal-star and lodge traditions
Fengshui: form, Sanhe, Sanyuan, Xuankong, Flying Stars, Eight Mansions, living and burial approaches and compass layers
Physiognomy: face, bone, hand, voice, gait, complexion and moles, with cross-cultural origins marked where needed
Miscellaneous methods: hidden-object guessing, inverse puncture, emptiness, animal calls, bodily signs, anomalies, board games, coins, dominoes and dice
