What is the Ba Zuo star?

"Ba Zuo" (Eight Seats) was originally a name for high officials in ancient China. In the Eastern Han, the Chief of the Secretariat, the Vice Director and the heads of the six ministries were together called the Eight Seats; whoever sat in one of them had a voice at court. The Ba Zuo star borrows this name. It is a minor star of nomination and appointment. It won't make you famous overnight; it's more like being regularly invited to a front-row seat in some area of your life. Draw your chart first and find which palace your Ba Zuo is in.

What kind of star is Ba Zuo

Ba Zuo is an auspicious minor star, paired with San Tai; together they are called "San Tai Ba Zuo." Xingge reads this pair as: easily put forward, with chances to be nominated and entrusted. The two have similar meanings; the difference is mainly the starting point: San Tai follows Zuo Fu, Ba Zuo follows You Bi. Some modern teachers follow the division of labor between Zuo Fu and You Bi, saying Zuo Fu is help in the open while You Bi leans toward favors behind the scenes, and read Ba Zuo as: when you're put forward, it's often because someone is speaking up for you behind the scenes. That is a later extension of the reading; the Quan Shu doesn't say so.

How Ba Zuo is placed

Ba Zuo goes by your birth month and birth day. The An San Tai Ba Zuo Er Xing Jue in volume two of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu) says:

For Ba Zuo, find You Bi; put the first day on You Bi's palace, count backward to your birth day, and place it there.

First find You Bi from your lunar birth month, treat You Bi's palace as the first day of the month, and count backward to your birth day: that is Ba Zuo. So for people born on the first day, Ba Zuo shares a palace with You Bi.

San Tai counts forward and Ba Zuo backward, so like Zuo Fu and You Bi the two mirror each other, and most people have San Tai and Ba Zuo in two separate palaces. Only when San Tai happens to land in Chou or Wei do the two share a palace, and then the sense of being nominated is concentrated in one palace. If you were born after 11 p.m. (the late Zi hour), some charts count your birth day as the next day, and Ba Zuo moves by one palace.

Another placement in the Daoist Canon edition: in the Daoist Canon edition of Zi Wei Dou Shu (attributed to Chen Tuan, in the Ming supplement to the Daoist Canon), Ba Zuo "starts at Chen, counts the first month forward, and stops at your birth month," then treats that palace as the first day and counts to your birth day. The Quan Shu's Ba Zuo starts from You Bi, and You Bi starts the first month at Xu and counts backward, so the starting point and direction both differ, and the Ba Zuo the two books produce often isn't in the same palace. The Xingge chart follows the Quan Shu and starts from You Bi.

What the classics say

In the Zhu Xing Wen Da Lun in volume one, on Tai Yang, the Quan Shu mentions Ba Zuo in the Children Palace (which the old books call the Sons and Daughters Palace):

The Children Palace gaining Ba Zuo, with auspicious stars in their home or strong palaces, brings children of high standing, with no small authority.

The old text reads it as children who do well. Read for today, it can mean that children or younger people are often nominated and entrusted with tasks, and you only need to back them up. The Cong Ming Lun and Wu Zhi Lun in volume one's piece on the ten grades of wealth and status also list "San Tai and Ba Zuo" among their conditions, as a plus when they come together with the main stars.

Ba Zuo in key palaces

• Life Palace: easily put forward, with chances to be nominated and entrusted. Once you're up there, holding steady matters more than standing out.
• Career Palace: at school or work you are often given important responsibilities; when the chance comes, take it.
• Children Palace: children or younger people are often nominated and entrusted with tasks. When they take on big responsibilities, you back them up.
• Friends Palace: in your circle of friends you're often put forward to speak for the group. Being trusted is a blessing, and also a responsibility.
• Travel Palace: away from home you're easily invited to the front and do well in public settings. Beyond the show, you also need real skill.

Ba Zuo with main stars, transformations and luck periods

Ba Zuo carries little weight, so look at the main star first. If the main star is steady and reliable, like Tian Liang or Tian Xiang, Ba Zuo makes the sense of "being entrusted" more pronounced; in an Empty Palace, it is a faint plus.

Ba Zuo is tied to You Bi, and You Bi takes Hua Ke in Wu years (see You Bi Hua Ke). For people born in a Wu year, if You Bi Hua Ke is in the same San Fang Si Zheng as Ba Zuo, practitioners say reputation comes along with the nomination. When San Tai, Ba Zuo, Zuo Fu and You Bi are all gathered in one set of trines, the sense of nomination and appointment is strongest.

When a Decade Luck period reaches Ba Zuo's palace, or a year's Annual Luck Life Palace falls here, it is often read as a stretch when you'll be invited to host or lead. The Annual Luck lesson covers how the annual chart layers onto the natal chart.

Another "Ba Zuo" in the classics

The Tan Xing Yao Lun in volume three of the Quan Shu has this line:

The Body, Life, Travel, Wealth, Career and Fortune, these six palaces are called the Eight Seats; if all receive converging light, gather auspicious stars and auspicious transformations, there is wealth, status and long life.

Here "Ba Zuo" refers to the six important positions of the Body, Life, Travel, Wealth, Career and Fortune Palaces, a way of naming the key points to read on a chart. It is different from the Ba Zuo star counted from You Bi. When you see "Ba Zuo" in the old books, first work out which one is meant.