What is the Tian Xu star?

The "Xu" in Tian Xu (Heavenly Hollow) describes a sense of emptiness that's hard to put into words: you've done the thing, yet it still doesn't feel solid inside; you have plenty of plans, but fewer of them land than you'd imagined. It is a very light minor star, almost always discussed together with Tian Ku, the pair called "Ku Xu." To see which palace Tian Xu is in on your chart, draw your chart first.

What kind of star is Tian Xu

Xingge reads Tian Ku and Tian Xu as two sides of the same thing: Tian Ku leans toward emotion, Tian Xu toward emptiness and overthinking. In whichever palace Tian Xu sits, you often think more about that palace's matters than you act on them, and more easily feel that "something's missing." It isn't a prediction; it's a reminder to take one more step to make that palace's matters real. The heavy-named stars lesson covers it in full.

How Tian Xu is placed

Tian Xu goes by the branch of your birth year, using the same verse as Tian Ku. The An Tian Ku Tian Xu Xing Jue in volume two of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu) says:

Tian Ku and Tian Xu start at the Wu palace; from Wu, Zi starts and the two part ways. Ku goes backward to Si, Xu forward to Wei; count to your birth year and there it sits.

Treat the Wu palace as the Zi year, and Tian Xu counts forward: a Zi year in Wu, Chou year in Wei, Yin year in Shen. Counted this way, there's an easy pattern to remember: Tian Xu always sits in the palace opposite your birth-year branch. Born in a Zi year, it's in Wu; a Mao year, in You; a Shen year, in Yin.

What the classics say, and how to read it now

The Zhu Xing Wen Da Lun in volume one of the Quan Shu discusses Tian Ku and Tian Xu in one passage. It opens with "Ku and Xu are harsh stars; facing the Life Palace, they are most unusual," and in the middle has two lines that sound especially like Tian Xu:

Planning in the east, nothing comes of it in the west; the mind is always rushing and busy.

Trying one idea over here and another path over there, the mind keeps busy but the harvest doesn't come easily. Read for today, this is the picture of many ideas and scattered execution. The same passage ends by saying "in the Chou, Mao and Shen palaces, auspicious; meeting Lu, one's name is made known": in the Chou, Mao or Shen palace, or meeting a Lu star, the ancients actually read it as making a name. People who think a lot are often very creative, as long as they have somewhere to land their ideas.

Tian Xu in key palaces

• Life Palace: you're easily moved to sadness, think a lot, and often feel you haven't done enough. Write your ideas down and put them in order, and your mind will settle a lot.
• Spouse Palace: in close relationships you tend to overthink. Put your feelings into words so your partner can understand, and don't let guesswork stand in for conversation.
• Children Palace: you often worry about your children or younger people. Loosen up a little, and they'll grow into who they are.
• Health Palace: emotions easily affect your energy and sleep. Deal with what's on your mind first, and your body will relax along with it.
• Fortune Palace: a fine-grained mind that often thinks a lot on its own. Find a regular outlet, such as exercise or writing.

The classics don't specifically discuss Tian Xu in the Wealth or Career Palace, and Xingge doesn't add a line of its own; for these two palaces, go mainly by the main star and transformations.

Tian Xu with other stars, transformations and luck periods

• With the emptiness stars: Tian Kong and Xun Kong say that palace's matters are more insubstantial and need more grounding. When Tian Xu shares their palace, this "not solid" feeling is more pronounced, but it also makes it easier to step outside reality and think, which actually suits research, writing and design.
• With Tian Shang: the Quan Shu says Tian Shang is "the spirit of heaven's drain and depletion," close in meaning to Tian Xu's "void." But Tian Shang is fixed in the Friends Palace and is read for luck periods, while Tian Xu is read in its natal palace.
• With the four transformations: meeting Hua Lu or Lu Cun is what the classics call "meeting Lu, one's name is made known"; meeting Hua Ji, your thoughts tend to get stuck on the same thing, and the Hua Ji lesson covers how to read it.
• With luck periods: when the Decade Luck or Annual Luck reaches Tian Xu's palace, it is often a stretch with many ideas and no settled direction yet. It's a good time to narrow down to one or two things first, and finish one before starting the next.