What is the Po Sui star?

Po Sui (Shattering) sounds like something smashed on the floor, but what it describes is mostly small stuff: a plan interrupted halfway, money spent in bits and pieces, one task split into several rounds before it's done. It is a very light minor star. In whichever palace it sits, that palace's affairs tend to be more fragmented and less complete. To see where Po Sui is on your chart, draw your chart.

What kind of star is Po Sui

First, where it comes from: neither the star-placement verses nor the Zhu Xing Wen Da Lun chapter of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu) includes Po Sui. It was added to chart-making later. The common view files it among the challenging stars, governing wear, damage and things not turning out whole. Bazi books have it too: the San Ming Tong Hui, a Ming-dynasty classic of Bazi (Four Pillars), lists the same positions in its chapter on the An Jin Di Sha, and says of Po Sui that "whatever meets it, there is nothing it does not break." Wang Tingzhi of the Zhongzhou school says Po Sui governs drains on money and also disappointment, and that its main effect is on mood.

Xingge reads it this way: in the palace holding Po Sui, that palace's affairs tend to get cut into pieces. You often start a lot of things, and finishing is harder. The reminder is to put in a little more effort in that palace to "piece things back together." As the stars with heavy names lesson says, stars like this are read as reminders, not predictions.

How Po Sui is placed

Po Sui goes by the branch of your birth year, in three groups:

• Born in a Zi, Wu, Mao or You year: in Si
• Born in a Yin, Shen, Si or Hai year: in You
• Born in a Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei year: in Chou

So Po Sui only ever appears in Si, You or Chou, and these three palaces form a trine. The Quan Shu doesn't include this star, but the San Ming Tong Hui's chapter on the An Jin Di Sha gives the same table: "Zi, Wu, Mao and You in Si; Yin, Shen, Si and Hai in You; Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei in Chou."

Po Sui is not Po Jun

Both names start with "Po" (break), but their weight is very different. Po Jun is one of the fourteen main stars, about tearing down and starting over, pioneering and change, a central thread in someone's personality. Po Sui is only a minor star, about fragmentation and wear in the details. If you see both on a chart, read Po Jun first; Po Sui just adds a note on the side: "take care with the finishing."

Po Sui in key palaces

• Life Palace: wide interests and plenty of ideas, often juggling several things at once. Where you tend to get stuck is switching direction halfway; a rule of "finish before you switch" helps a lot.
• Wealth Palace: money tends to go on small things, like subscriptions, delivery and little impulse buys. Look at your accounts once a month and add up the small spending, and you'll see where the money went.
• Career Palace: work often gets cut into many pieces, with interruptions and rush jobs jumping the queue. It suits breaking big projects into small goals and wrapping up each one as you go.
• Spouse Palace: small things in the relationship tend to pile up. Rather than waiting to sort everything out at once, say things early, so small fragments don't stack up into a big problem.
• Fortune Palace: your thoughts jump quickly, and it's hard to focus on one thing for long. A fixed rhythm of breaks and a hobby you can sink into work better than forcing yourself to concentrate.

Reading Po Sui with transformations and luck periods

• With emotional main stars: Wang Tingzhi says that when Po Sui shares a palace with stars that already carry emotional swings, such as Tian Tong or Ju Men with Hua Ji, it is most likely to break things apart in a moment of impulse; he also says it only shows clearly when challenging stars are present too. When you're angry, sleep on it before deciding. That's the most practical approach.
• With the transformations: with Hua Lu in the same palace, there are often many sources of income, each of them small. With Hua Ji in the same palace, you tend to keep patching the same thing over and over; the Hua Ji lesson explains how to read it.
• With luck periods: when the Decade Luck or Annual Luck reaches the palace with Po Sui, that palace's affairs are more fiddly for a while. It's a good time for sorting, finishing and completing old things, and no need to rush into opening several new fronts at once.