What is the Tian Chu star?

Some people can recharge with one good meal, and plan their trips around restaurants. Tian Chu (Heavenly Kitchen) on the chart is about exactly that: the blessing of good food, knowing how to eat, and often knowing how to cook. It is a very light minor star. It doesn't change a palace's personality; it just tells you that part of this person's happiness comes from food. To find out which palace Tian Chu sits in, draw your chart.

What kind of star is Tian Chu

Tian Chu is a small, mildly helpful star whose name means "the kitchen of heaven," governing the blessing of food and drink. There really is a group of stars in the sky called Tian Chu: the astronomical treatise of the Book of Jin places it northeast of the Purple Forbidden Enclosure, and says it "governs lavish feasts." When Wang Tingzhi of the Zhongzhou school looks at someone's taste in food, the minor star he checks is Tian Chu. Some teachers instead read Tian Chu as a star of salary, leaning toward "a steady livelihood"; both readings are about "having enough to eat." In whichever palace it sits, that palace's affairs often involve food: in the Wealth Palace, money spent on food or earned through food; in the Fortune Palace, eating is a pleasure in itself.

How Tian Chu is placed: by birth-year stem

Tian Chu goes only by your birth-year stem, so everyone born in the same year has Tian Chu in the same cell:

• Born in a Jia or Ding year: in Si
• Born in a Yi, Wu or Xin year: in Wu
• Born in a Bing year: in Zi
• Born in a Ji year: in Shen
• Born in a Geng year: in Yin
• Born in a Ren year: in You
• Born in a Gui year: in Hai

This table comes from later astrology books; Tian Chu can't be found in the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu), and Xingge places it on the chart by today's common method. The year stem follows the lunar year, so if you were born before Lunar New Year, you count as the previous year.

Tian Chu in key palaces

• Life Palace: you know how to eat and how to enjoy yourself, and a good meal lifts your mood. Sensitive to flavor, you're often the one in your circle who picks the restaurant.
• Spouse Palace: eating together is precious time in the relationship. When you can't think where to go on a date, a good restaurant is rarely the wrong answer.
• Wealth Palace: money tends to go on food, and you may also earn from food and dining. Enjoy your meals, and keep track of the spending too.
• Career Palace: work connected with food tends to hold your interest, such as restaurants, baking, food development or food content. You don't have to be a chef; knowing how to eat is a skill in itself.
• Fortune Palace: a lot of your happiness comes from food, and finding good places or cooking at home are ways to recharge. Knowing how to eat well is a blessing too.
• Property Palace: there's often something good to eat at home, and family meals are important time; the taste of home comforts you a lot.

Reading Tian Chu with main stars and transformations

• Huo Xing: Wang Tingzhi says that when Tian Chu and Huo Xing are together in the Life, Career or Wealth Palace, it's often someone who cooks for themselves, or even goes into the culinary trade; without Huo Xing, it's more about knowing and loving food.
• Po Jun: when the Zhongzhou school looks at taste in food, the main star it checks is Po Jun. Wang Tingzhi says Tian Chu meeting Po Jun makes for more creative cooking.
• Lu Cun and Hua Lu: when Tian Chu meets Lu Cun or Hua Lu, some teachers read it as earning more from food-related things, such as opening a shop or running food content.
• Feng Ge and Tian Cai: Wang Tingzhi says that when Tian Chu and Huo Xing also meet Feng Ge or Tian Cai, the cooking is often very refined. When the craft stars Long Chi and Feng Ge share a palace with Tian Chu, it's also often someone particular about plating and tableware. The talent and prestige stars lesson covers them together.

Tian Chu doesn't move with the Annual Luck. When the annual Life Palace reaches the Tian Chu cell, you can take it as a year with more meals out and more food-related opportunities. Read it lightly.

How the schools differ

Tian Chu isn't in the Quan Shu. The year-stem tables in different astrology books are much the same, but not every charting tool shows Tian Chu, so if you can't see it when comparing with another tool, it's usually just not displayed, not placed differently. Xingge reads Tian Chu as the blessing of good food and taste in daily life, and doesn't use it to talk about health.