What is Kui Yue Jia (Flanked by the Nobles)?

Tian Kui and Tian Yue are the two noble stars of Zi Wei Dou Shu: Tian Kui is the daytime noble, older and promoting you in public; Tian Yue is the nighttime noble, low-key and helping in private. Kui Yue Jia (Tian Kui and Tian Yue flanking) is the two nobles standing one on each side of a palace, so someone often steps in on that palace's affairs. To check whether you have it, draw your chart.

How Kui Yue Jia forms

Tian Kui and Tian Yue are placed by the birth-year stem, each stem with fixed positions. Only four stems put them exactly on either side of a palace:

• Bing and Ding years: Tian Kui in Hai, Tian Yue in You, flanking Xu.
• Ren and Gui years: Tian Kui in Mao, Tian Yue in Si, flanking Chen.

For the other six stems, Tian Kui and Tian Yue are spread further apart and don't flank any palace. So Kui Yue Jia only appears in Chen and Xu, and only people born in Bing, Ding, Ren or Gui years can have it.

Then it matters whether the flanked palace is important. Xingge's detection only looks at the Life, Wealth, Career and Spouse Palaces and the palace holding the Body Palace. By this count, about 1 chart in 7 has Kui Yue Jia; with the Life Palace flanked, about 1 in 30.

What the classics say

Volume three of the Quan Shu says:

Tian Kui and Tian Yue flanking the Life Palace is a remarkable pattern: for example, the Life Palace placed in Chen, Tian Kui in Mao, Tian Yue in Si.

The original's example has the Life Palace in Chen, Tian Kui in Mao and Tian Yue in Si, exactly someone born in a Ren or Gui year. The classics speak of flanking the Life Palace; Xingge extends the same reading to the Wealth, Career and Spouse Palaces and the Body Palace.

The Tai Wei Fu in volume one also has the line "Tian Kui and Tian Yue traveling together: a seat among the chief ministers," about the two shining on the Life Palace together, which the ancients said could lead to a chief minister's post. Read it together with Zuo Gui Xiang Gui, where one sits in the Life Palace and the other opposite.

How to read it today

The palace flanked by Tian Kui and Tian Yue is like having two nobles guarding the door:

• Opportunities are often handed to you. Recommendations, introductions and promotions come more often than things you have to fight for.
• Two kinds of noble helper. The Tian Kui side is a public elder or boss; the Tian Yue side is private introductions and help from people you might be drawn to.
• It pays to be visible. Your helpers need to know what you are doing before they can help.

Xingge's reading: Tian Kui and Tian Yue flank this palace: noble helpers often step in here, and opportunities are handed to you.

In the Life Palace, you personally meet helpers easily; in the Career Palace, people often take you under their wing at work; in the Wealth Palace, earning opportunities often come through your network; in the Spouse Palace, your relationship or partner brings helpers into your life.

Making the most of Kui Yue Jia

The upside of noble stars is "being given," but what you are given you also have to be able to catch. A few practical directions:

• Stay in touch. Kui Yue helpers are mostly elders and mentors; an occasional hello is more natural than only appearing when you need something.
• Let people know what you are doing. If your helpers can't see you, they won't know how to help.
• Do well once you've caught it. Being recommended once is easy; being recommended a second time depends on how you did the first time.

What weakens it

• Hua Ji or challenging stars in the middle palace. The helpers are beside you, but things are stuck on your side, so the opportunity is hard to catch.
• Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Di Kong or Di Jie in the flanking palaces too. The helpers bring trouble with them, and the help comes with conditions.

The Six Auspicious Stars lesson covers Tian Kui and Tian Yue themselves, and the flanking palaces lesson the kinds of flanking.

Common questions

What does Kui Yue Jia Ming mean?

Tian Kui and Tian Yue sit one on each side of the Life Palace. Both are noble stars, and the Quan Shu says "Tian Kui and Tian Yue flanking the Life Palace is a remarkable pattern." The modern reading: noble helpers often step in here, and opportunities are often handed to you.

Who has Kui Yue Jia?

Only people born in Bing or Ding years (flanking Xu) or Ren or Gui years (flanking Chen) can have it. The stem follows the lunar year. Then check whether the flanked Chen or Xu palace is your Life, Wealth, Career or Spouse Palace, or your Body Palace.

How does Kui Yue Jia differ from Tian Kui and Tian Yue in the same palace?

Tian Kui and Tian Yue are placed by the stem and never land in the same palace, so there is no "Kui Yue in the same palace." Their good combinations are flanking, both shining into the San Fang Si Zheng, and Zuo Gui Xiang Gui, with one in the Life Palace and one opposite.