Divination

1910 · rif. 23777 — 1910. Chinese astral divination and fate calculation in four illustrated thread bound woodblock reprints dating from early twentieth century preserving yanqin 演禽 methods that coordinate the twenty eight lunar mansions with animal correspondences the twelve palaces calendrical calculation and Five Phases cosmology in order to interpret individual destiny. Titled 演禽相法秘笈 Yanqin xiangfa miji "Secret Manual of Yanqin Physiognomic Divination" the work belongs to a technical divinatory tradition in which the twenty eight lunar mansions are assigned animals including dragon rabbit fox tiger leopard ox mouse swallow pig wolf dog pheasant monkey sheep deer horse snake and others and their positions are calculated against the circumstances of an individual birth. The present set gives this system a compact visual form through numerical tables cosmological diagrams celestial and terrestrial classifications Five Phases correspondences and illustrated figures showing how astronomical categories were converted into a practical technology for reading the course of a human life. Four Chinese thread bound illustrated woodblock booklets approximately 4.5 x 8 inches early twentieth century printed in Chinese and illustrated throughout the original title labels reading 演禽相法秘笈 Yanqin xiangfa miji with the imprint éŒ¦ç« åœ–æ›¸å±€å°è¡Œ Jinzhang Book Bureau and individually designated å·ä¸€ through å·å››. 1 å·ä¸€ Juan I. Opens the sequence of calculations with densely printed tables arranging numbers and characters within a ruled field including material headed 精詳考正演禽三世相é‡å¤©å°º establishing the computational character of the work through tabular correspondences used to locate and interpret a subject within the divinatory system. 2 å·äºŒ Juan II. Continues the system through illustrated cosmological and prognostic material including a full page composition in which textual instructions are surrounded by landscape mountains trees birds and other natural imagery. The combination of written calculation and pictorial environment places human fortune within a larger ordered cosmos rather than treating prediction as an isolated numerical operation. 3 å·ä¸‰ Juan III. Includes ruled diagrams organizing 天 heaven and 地 earth with celestial bodies stars cyclical characters calendrical terms and other correspondences distributed around the central divisions. Such tables provided a visual means of coordinating multiple categories required by the practitioner when converting birth and calendrical information into a prognostic reading. 4 å·å›› Juan IV. Includes an illustrated 五行 Five Phases table headed 金木水ç«åœŸ metal wood water fire and earth combining numerical correspondences with small narrative figures set in landscape compartments. The illustrations place human types and circumstances directly beneath the cosmological categories governing their interpretation making visible the movement from abstract correspondence to predictions concerning individual lives. Yanqin belongs to the wider history of Chinese astral and calendrical divination in which the twenty eight lunar mansions served simultaneously as divisions of the heavens and as components of systems for choosing times and calculating fortune. In the yanqin method each lodge receives an animal identity among them å°¾ç«è™Ž "Tail Fire Tiger" 箕水豹 "Winnowing Basket Water Leopard" å¿ƒæœˆç‹ "Heart Moon Fox" 鬼金羊 "Ghost Metal Sheep" and 翼ç«è›‡ "Wings Fire Snake." A surviving table of contents for Yanqin sanshi xiangfa proceeds from yin and yang classifications of the heavenly stems and earthly branches and time conversion to a natal palace reference table the twenty eight animal lodges their distribution among the twelve palaces and calculations concerning offspring spouses yearly misfortune official rank and other aspects of destiny. The method therefore joins observational categories inherited from Chinese astronomy to the practical concerns of popular fate calculation translating heaven calendar animal classification Five Phases theory and the circumstances of birth into a single interpretive apparatus. Traditional post-Qing method of artificial aging to covers edge and corner wear and wear at the thread bound spines; interiors artificially aged and the printed text diagrams and illustrations remaining strong and legible. Overall good condition. Four compact manuals preserving the printed transmission of a Chinese divinatory system in which the twenty eight lunar mansions animal identities twelve palaces Five Phases and calendrical calculation provided a structured vocabulary for interpreting individual fate. unknown books