What is the En Guang star?

Some people aren't the flashiest at what they do, yet they keep getting picked at the key moment: the manager remembers your last report, the teacher saves the opportunity for you. When practitioners look for this kind of "being remembered" on a chart, they often go to the En Guang star. It is a minor star, much lighter than the main stars and the Six Auspicious Stars, and it describes the layer of "easily appreciated" in a palace. To see which palace your En Guang is in, draw your chart first.

What kind of star is En Guang

En Guang is an auspicious minor star, paired with Tian Gui; together they are called "En Guang Tian Gui." Xingge reads this pair as: easily appreciated, with someone often giving you a hand at the key moment. The "En" in its name means being looked after, and "Guang" means being lit up; together, it means other people are willing to push you forward.

The talent and prestige stars lesson puts it in the "prestige group," together with San Tai and Ba Zuo, and Tai Fu and Feng Gao. Roughly, the three pairs differ like this: En Guang and Tian Gui are about being appreciated, San Tai and Ba Zuo about being put forward, Tai Fu and Feng Gao about receiving a formal title.

How En Guang is placed

En Guang goes by your birth hour and lunar birth day, in two steps. First find the position of Wen Chang from your birth hour. Then treat Wen Chang's palace as the first day of the month, count forward to your birth day, and step back one palace: that is En Guang.

So for people born on the second day, En Guang shares a palace with Wen Chang; for people born on the first day, En Guang is one palace back from Wen Chang. Since it starts from Wen Chang, En Guang carries some of Wen Chang's flavor, and is often linked with documents, exams and having your performance noticed.

Two things can shift En Guang. If your birth hour is uncertain, Wen Chang changes and so does En Guang. If you were born after 11 p.m. (the late Zi hour), some charts count your birth day as the next day, and En Guang moves by one palace.

What the classics say

En Guang can't be found in the placement verses of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu), and the Zhu Xing Wen Da Lun has no passage on it either. Xingge places it on the chart by today's common method. So when you read En Guang, there's no need to apply heavy verdicts; treat it as a detail that adds points in its palace.

En Guang in key palaces

• Life Palace: easily appreciated, with someone often giving you a hand at the key moment. When you are seen, have something to show.
• Career Palace: at school or work, teachers and managers notice you easily and you have more chances to be promoted. When the chance comes, be ready to take it.
• Wealth Palace: income often relates to being appreciated; opportunities are handed to you by others. Look after your credibility, and helpful people will want to come back.
• Spouse Palace: in close relationships, your partner often admires and values you. When you're cherished, remember to respond in kind.
• Fortune Palace: you often feel looked after and valued inside, and that confidence makes you bolder about moving forward.
• Travel Palace: away from home you tend to meet people who appreciate you; venturing out gets you noticed more than staying put.

En Guang with main stars, transformations and luck periods

En Guang can't carry a palace by itself, so look at the main star first. If the main star is bright and there is Hua Ke, En Guang makes "being seen" more pronounced; in an Empty Palace, it is only a faint plus.

• With Wen Chang Hua Ke: for people born in a Bing year, Wen Chang takes Hua Ke (see Wen Chang Hua Ke), and if En Guang is in the same San Fang Si Zheng, practitioners say exams, certifications and your work are readily recognized.
• With Tian Kui and Tian Yue (Heavenly Halberd): Kui and Yue are themselves noble-helper stars (see Tian Kui), and when they come together with En Guang, the flavor of being promoted is strongest.
• With Hua Ji: Hua Ji in the same palace is often read as more pressure once you're noticed; evaluations come fast, and you need to hold up under scrutiny.

When a luck period reaches En Guang's palace, for example when the Decade Life Palace or the Annual Luck Life Palace falls here, practitioners often read that stretch as a time when you're more likely to meet people who appreciate you. The Annual Luck lesson explains step by step how to find each year's annual Life Palace.