What is the Tai Fu star?

Two people do the job equally well; one gets a "thanks for your hard work," the other gets a job title or a letter of appointment. When practitioners look for this kind of recognition that "gets written down," they go to the Tai Fu star. It is a minor star, light in weight, about standing and titles. To see which palace your Tai Fu is in, draw your chart first.

What kind of star is Tai Fu

Tai Fu is an auspicious minor star, paired with Feng Gao; together they are called "Tai Fu Feng Gao." Xingge reads this pair as standing and titles: do well, and you get formal recognition. It belongs to the "prestige group" along with En Guang and Tian Gui, and San Tai and Ba Zuo. Each pair has its own emphasis: being appreciated, being put forward, receiving a title. Tai Fu and Feng Gao are the last of these.

How Tai Fu is placed

Tai Fu goes only by your birth hour. The An Tai Fu Feng 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 Wu palace, count forward to your birth hour, and place it there.

Treat the Wu palace as the Zi hour and count forward to your birth hour. The Zi hour is in Wu, the Chou hour in Wei, and so on to the Hai hour in Si. (The old books usually write the first character of its name in its traditional form.)

This table has two handy patterns. First, Wen Qu also starts the Zi hour at Chen and counts forward, so Tai Fu is always two palaces forward of Wen Qu. Second, Feng Gao starts the Zi hour at Yin and counts forward, so it is always four palaces from Tai Fu, and the two always sit in a trine: for people with Tai Fu in the Life Palace, Feng Gao is in the Wealth Palace; for people with Feng Gao in the Life Palace, Tai Fu is in the Career Palace. So reading Tai Fu almost always means reading Feng Gao too.

What the classics say

In the Quan Shu, "Tai Fu" is mostly an official title, meaning a high office that assists in governing the court. The Tai Wei Fu in volume one says:

When Kui and Yue travel together, one's position reaches Tai Fu.

That is, when Tian Kui and Tian Yue (Heavenly Halberd) appear together, one can rise to a very high position. The Lun Zhu Xing Tong Yuan in volume three also says "with Zuo, You and Wen Chang, one's rank reaches Tai Fu." Both lines are about the office a chart pattern can reach, not about the Tai Fu star. Later people borrowed the title to name the minor star, which is how Tai Fu came to carry the sense of "standing." Read for today, it can mean a job title, a certification, or the kind of recognition that puts your name on the list.

Tai Fu 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 receive a position or title, and your efforts get written down. In school days, this is often being a class officer or receiving certificates of merit.
• Friends Palace: you are easily put forward as an officer or representative in a group. Before you lead, look after people's goodwill first.
• Travel Palace: in a new environment you easily gain a formal role or position; changing places actually makes recognition come more easily.
• Parents Palace: elders or teachers readily give you formal affirmation, such as a recommendation or a title.

In the Spouse, Wealth and Fortune Palaces, Tai Fu doesn't have much independent meaning; it mostly depends on the main star.

Tai Fu with main stars, transformations and luck periods

Tai Fu is a touch of color; the main star is the base. If the main star already puts weight on status, like Zi Wei or Tai Yang, Tai Fu makes the matter of standing more pronounced; in an Empty Palace, it is only a faint plus.

Since Tai Fu is tied to Wen Qu, Wen Qu's transformations affect it too. For people born in a Xin year, Wen Qu takes Hua Ke (see Wen Qu Hua Ke), adding reputation on top of the title; with Hua Ji, it is often read as the title arriving together with responsibility and scrutiny. When Tai Fu, Feng Gao and Kui and Yue are all in the same San Fang Si Zheng, the sense of formal promotion is strongest.

When a luck period reaches Tai Fu's palace, for example when the Decade or Annual Luck Life Palace falls here, practitioners often read that stretch as having chances for promotion, certification or appointment. The Annual Luck lesson teaches how to find each year's annual Life Palace.