What is the Kong Wang star?
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Draw your chart and see which palace Kong Wang falls in
When reading Zi Wei Dou Shu, you'll meet "Kong Wang" in two kinds of places. One is the Kong Wang (Void Emptiness) star marked in a cell of your chart. The other is the classics' "meeting a void" and "falling into a void," a general term for Di Kong, Xun Kong, Jie Kong and the other stars that make things hollow. The two meanings are related, but you can't simply treat them as equal. First draw your chart and find which cell Kong Wang is in.
What the Kong Wang on your chart is
The Kong Wang marked on the chart is a minor star. It forms a pair with Jie Lu next door, 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. Xingge reads it as: that palace's affairs are less solid; the benefits are visible but hard to land in your pocket.
How Kong Wang is placed: by birth-year stem
The verse for placing Jie Lu Kong Wang in volume two of the Quan Shu:
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 yang-branch palace as Jie Lu and the yin-branch palace as Kong Wang. So Kong Wang only ever lands in You, Wei, Si, Mao or Chou: in You for Jia and Ji years, Wei for Yi and Geng, Si for Bing and Xin, Mao for Ding and Ren, and Chou for Wu and Gui. The year stem follows the lunar year.
If you choose the Zhongzhou school in the chart settings, Jie Lu and Kong Wang won't appear, only a single Jie Kong; for people born in a yin year, Jie Kong goes in this Kong Wang palace.
The classics' "void" is a whole category
When the Quan Shu writes "Kong Wang," it usually doesn't mean one particular star, but the situation of falling into a void. The Tai Wei Fu in volume one:
When Ma meets the void, a lifetime of running about.
And the Xing Xing Fu in volume one says:
In judging stars by Miao and Wang, the greatest fear is the void; a killing star fallen into a void has no power at all.
The first half says helpful stars fear the void most, since their benefits get discounted; the second half says that when a challenging star falls into a void, its drive goes too. The same piece also has "a source of wealth fears meeting the void," which is why the ancients paid special attention to whether the Wealth Palace had a void in it.
When Xingge reads the classics, it maps this kind of "void" onto the Di Kong, Xun Kong, Jie Lu and Kong Wang stars on the chart. The chapter on the essentials of the stars in volume three ranks them: "Tian Kong and Jie Kong are the most pressing, Xun Kong next." The Tian Kong here is the hour-based one, which is today's Di Kong.
Kong Wang in key palaces
- Life Palace: you take many things lightly, and tend to put things down halfway through. Set yourself concrete goals and deadlines.
- Spouse Palace: relationships can have gaps where you "thought it was agreed." Spell out important things rather than relying on unspoken understanding.
- Wealth Palace: the position the classics cared about most. Income can be a little hollow at times; save a portion of what comes in first, and put promises in writing.
- Career Palace: plans tend to change at short notice. Record what you deliver, rather than leaving it at word of mouth.
- Fortune Palace: your mind leans toward the spiritual. Taking things in stride is a strength; also leave time to deal with practical matters.
Reading Kong Wang with main stars, transformations and luck periods
- Helpful stars or Hua Lu in Kong Wang: benefits take one more step to become real. See Lu Feng Jie Kong.
- Tian Ma in Kong Wang: running a lot and arriving less. See Ma Feng Jie Kong.
- Challenging stars in Kong Wang: by "a killing star fallen into a void has no power at all," the drive of stars like Qing Yang and Huo Xing shrinks, which isn't all bad.
- The Decade Luck or Annual Luck reaching the Kong Wang palace: practitioners often read it as a period when commitments need double-checking.
Some teachers (Ling Donglai, for example) say Jie Kong and Xun Kong have little effect on the natal chart, and only show more clearly when the Decade Luck or Annual Luck reaches them.
FAQ
What does Kong Wang mean?
The Kong Wang marked on the chart is the yin-branch half of the Quan Shu's Jie Lu Kong Wang, placed by birth-year stem, and read as that palace's affairs being less solid and needing one more step to make them real. The classics' "meeting a void" is a general term covering Di Kong, Xun Kong, Jie Kong and the like.
What is the difference between Kong Wang and Jie Lu?
In the Quan Shu they are one pair, called Jie Lu Kong Wang, occupying two neighboring palaces. Xingge's default chart marks the yang-branch palace as Jie Lu and the yin-branch palace as Kong Wang, and both count as Jie Kong when judging chart patterns.
Are Kong Wang and Xun Kong the same?
No. Kong Wang (Jie Kong) goes only by birth-year stem; Xun Kong goes by which cycle your birth year's stem-branch pair falls in, and the Quan Shu calls it Xun Zhong Kong Wang. Their positions often differ, and volume three of the Quan Shu says Jie Kong is heavier than Xun Kong.
Is having Kong Wang on my chart a bad sign?
Under the default method every chart has a Kong Wang; it isn't something only a few people have. It is read as that palace needing one more step to make things real, and it weighs less than the main stars and transformations. The classics also say challenging stars lose their drive when they fall into a void. Read Kong Wang together with the main stars and transformations.
Other Minor stars
This is the general reading. On your own chart it shifts with the stars' brightness, the San Fang Si Zheng and the year you are in.
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