What is the Jie Lu star?

The name Jie Lu (Road Block) is easy to picture: you're halfway down the road and someone stops you. In the palace it lands in, things often go smoothly at first and then stall at the last step, needing a detour before you arrive. Jie Lu isn't a star on its own. It forms a pair with Kong Wang in the next palace, which the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu) calls "Jie Lu Kong Wang," and today it's usually shortened to Jie Kong. To see which palace your Jie Lu is in, draw your chart.

What kind of star is Jie Lu

Jie Lu is one of the void stars and belongs to the minor stars. Xingge reads it as: that palace's affairs are less solid; the benefits are visible but hard to land in your pocket, and it takes one more step before they count. It weighs less than the main stars, the transformations and the Six Malefic Stars.

How Jie Lu is placed: by birth-year stem

The verse for placing Jie Lu Kong Wang in volume two of the Quan Shu is a single line:

Jia and Ji in Shen and You; Yi and Geng in Wu and Wei; Bing and Xin in Chen and Si; Ding and Ren in Yin and Mao; Wu and Gui in Zi and Chou.

Each pair of stems gets two neighboring palaces. Xingge's default chart marks the two separately: the yang-branch palace is marked "Jie Lu," and the yin-branch palace "Kong Wang." So Jie Lu only ever lands in Shen, Wu, Chen, Yin or Zi:

• Born in a Jia or Ji year: Jie Lu in Shen, Kong Wang in You.
• Born in a Yi or Geng year: Jie Lu in Wu, Kong Wang in Wei.
• Born in a Bing or Xin year: Jie Lu in Chen, Kong Wang in Si.
• Born in a Ding or Ren year: Jie Lu in Yin, Kong Wang in Mao.
• Born in a Wu or Gui year: Jie Lu in Zi, Kong Wang in Chou.

The year stem follows the lunar year. When judging chart patterns, both the Jie Lu and Kong Wang palaces count as Jie Kong.

Why the Zhongzhou school has no Jie Lu

If you choose the Zhongzhou school in the chart settings, Jie Lu and Kong Wang won't appear; instead there is a single Jie Kong: in the Jie Lu palace for people born in a yang year, and in the Kong Wang palace for people born in a yin year. The difference between the two methods is "count both palaces" versus "take only one"; the Quan Shu's verse itself gives two. Wang Tingzhi's view sits in between: both palaces count, but the one matching the year stem's yin or yang is the "true void" and carries the most force, while the other is the "side void" with very little force.

What the classics say, and how to read it today

The expanded Tai Wei Fu in volume one of the Quan Shu:

A broken bridge, a blocked road: hard going in both the major and minor periods.

A broken bridge and a blocked road both mean the way through is cut off: when the Decade Luck or Minor Luck reaches here, things are harder to push forward. Discussing Tian Ma, volume two also says "Tian Ma is fire; it most loves meeting Lu Cun, and most dreads Jie Lu Kong Wang": the traveling horse fears running into Jie Kong most, running a lot and arriving less.

Read for today, Jie Lu often looks like a last-minute change of plan, an agreed deal being postponed, or needing one more trip to get something done. Wang Tingzhi says Jie Kong's hallmark is "sudden interference," like being stopped out of nowhere while walking down the street.

Jie Lu in key palaces

• Life Palace: getting things done often takes a detour; the start goes smoothly and the finish stalls. Make a habit of thinking through the last step of each task first.
• Spouse Palace: a relationship's progress tends to get interrupted by outside events. Double-check plans you've agreed on.
• Wealth Palace: agreed money sometimes arrives late or comes out smaller. Keep records when signing and collecting payment.
• Career Palace: projects tend to be halted or redirected at short notice. Leave buffer when planning timelines.
• Travel Palace: travel plans tend to change at short notice. Keep a backup for important trips.

Reading Jie Lu with Lu and Ma, transformations and luck periods

• Tian Ma in Jie Lu: the combination the ancients cared about most. You run around a lot, and the gains don't necessarily follow. See Ma Feng Jie Kong.
• Lu Cun or Hua Lu in Jie Lu: the benefits are visible but hard to land in your pocket. See Lu Feng Jie Kong. For people born in a Bing year, Jie Lu is in Chen and Lu Cun in Si, so Lu Cun falls in the neighboring Kong Wang; both palaces count as Jie Kong.
• Hua Ji in Jie Lu: what you care about gets stuck at the last step. Finish the parts you can be sure of first.
• The Decade Luck or Annual Luck reaching the Jie Lu palace: practitioners often read it as a period when plans need one more round of confirmation.

The Lu Cun and Tian Ma pages also explain why these two fear meeting a void the most.