What is the Feng Gao star?

When the imperial court in old China honored someone, it issued a document stating the title being conferred on them; that document was called a "gao," an imperial patent. The Feng Gao star borrows this idea: it is a minor star of honors and formal recognition. Read for today, it is more like a certificate of merit, a diploma, a letter of appointment, or a carefully written letter of recommendation. To see which palace your Feng Gao is in, draw your chart first.

What kind of star is Feng Gao

Feng Gao is an auspicious minor star, paired with Tai Fu; together they are called "Tai Fu Feng Gao." Xingge reads this pair as standing and titles: do well, and you get formal recognition. If you had to split them, Tai Fu leans toward position and job title, Feng Gao toward honors and being commended; the two are usually read together.

The talent and prestige stars lesson puts them in the "prestige group," which also includes En Guang and Tian Gui (being appreciated) and San Tai and Ba Zuo (being put forward).

How Feng Gao is placed

Feng Gao goes only by your birth hour. The An Feng Gao Jue in volume two of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu) says:

Start the Zi hour at the Yin palace, count forward to your birth hour, and place it there.

Treat the Yin palace as the Zi hour and count forward to your birth hour. The Zi hour is in Yin, the Chou hour in Mao, and so on to the Hai hour in Chou.

Compared with two other hour-based stars, the positions are fixed: Wen Qu is in Chen for the Zi hour, so Feng Gao is always two palaces back from Wen Qu; Tai Fu is in Wu for the Zi hour, always four palaces from Feng Gao, so the two always sit in a trine. So for people with Feng Gao in the Life Palace, Tai Fu is always in the Career Palace, and standing and work are often one and the same.

What the classics say

What the Quan Shu leaves for Feng Gao is mainly the placement verse above, with no passage on its nature. Still, the phrase "feng zeng" (conferred honors) appears many times in the Quan Shu, usually following auspicious stars converging on a palace, as a glory in the eyes of the ancients; you can see it in the passages on Tian Xiang and Tai Yang. The Feng Gao star's name comes from this kind of official honor. Read for today, it means your efforts readily earn a formal acknowledgment.

Feng Gao in key palaces

• Life Palace: you have chances to receive titles and standing, and doing well gets formal recognition. When the title comes, your ability needs to keep up.
• Career Palace: at school or work you have chances to win awards, earn certifications and receive job titles; your efforts get formally recorded.
• Parents Palace: elders or teachers readily give you formal affirmation, such as a letter of recommendation or a title. Make the most of the chances they give you.
• Children Palace: children or younger people have chances to earn titles or honors and make you proud. Encourage them more, and don't pile on pressure.
• Friends Palace: you are easily put forward as an officer or representative in a group. Before you lead, look after people's goodwill first.

In the Spouse, Wealth and Fortune Palaces, Feng Gao doesn't have much independent meaning; look mainly at the main star and the transformations.

Feng Gao with main stars, transformations and luck periods

Feng Gao can't carry a palace by itself. If the main star is bright and the trines hold Hua Ke, or Wen Chang and Wen Qu, Feng Gao makes the sense of "being commended" more concrete; in an Empty Palace, it is just a little background color.

Since Feng Gao's position is tied to Wen Qu, Wen Qu's transformations are worth watching. For people born in a Xin year, Wen Qu takes Hua Ke, and reputation and honors often come together; for people born in a Ji year, Wen Qu takes Hua Ji (see Wen Qu Hua Ji), often read as getting the certificate while the standards expected of you rise too.

When a luck period reaches Feng Gao's palace, for example when the Decade or Annual Luck Life Palace falls here, practitioners often read that stretch as having chances to earn certifications, win awards or be commended. The Annual Luck lesson explains how to find the annual Life Palace.