Divination Manual of the Mysterious Maiden 黄帝授三子玄女经

Author unknown.

The Book of Sui · Bibliography records "Essential Methods of the Mysterious Maiden's Classic of Diagrams, one volume"; Xiao Ji cited the "Mysterious Maiden's Classic of Diagrams" in his Five Elements Great Meaning, which is suspected to refer to this book.

The existing edition in The Daozang is one volume, included in the Divination category of the The Dongzhen Section.

Divination Manual of the Mysterious Maiden

In terms of content and phrasing, this book bears resemblance to The Yellow Emperor's Dragon Head Classic, and it is also an ancient divination text dating from the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties period. The classic elaborates on methods for divining the auspiciousness and inauspiciousness of specific days and hours, with a total of fourteen entries. Most of the divined matters are related to the selection of auspicious days for marriage. For example, the first entry divines the auspicious days and moments for appointments with others, the second for seeking betrothal gifts, and all subsequent entries divine the fortune of the days chosen for a daughter's marriage or a son's wedding. Judging from its content and wording, this classic appears to have missing parts.