What is Ma Feng Jie Kong (Horse Meets Jie Kong)?

Tian Ma is the traveling horse: movement, going away and switching tracks, with opportunity coming once you move. Ma Feng Jie Kong (the horse meeting Jie Kong) is this horse running into Jie Kong: the road is cut off, so you run a lot without the reward necessarily following. Tian Ma's and Jie Kong's positions are both set by the birth year, but the ancients only took it seriously in the Life and Body Palaces, so among people born in the same year it still depends on which palace Tian Ma sits in. To check, draw your chart.

How Ma Feng Jie Kong forms

Both positions come from the birth year:

• Tian Ma by the year branch: in Yin for Shen, Zi and Chen years; in Shen for Yin, Wu and Xu years; in Hai for Si, You and Chou years; in Si for Hai, Mao and Wei years.
• Jie Kong by the year stem: the verse in volume two of the Quan Shu says "Jia and Ji: Shen and You. Yi and Geng: Wu and Wei. Bing and Xin: Chen and Si. Ding and Ren: Yin and Mao. Wu and Gui: Zi and Chou."

The condition is: Tian Ma sits in the Life or Body Palace, and that palace is within Jie Kong.

First, the years: Tian Ma and Jie Kong only meet in nine years out of sixty:

• Ren Shen, Ren Zi and Ren Chen years: Tian Ma in Yin, Jie Kong in Yin and Mao.
• Jia Yin, Jia Wu and Jia Xu years: Tian Ma in Shen, Jie Kong in Shen and You.
• Xin Hai, Xin Mao and Xin Wei years: Tian Ma in Si, Jie Kong in Chen and Si.

The most recent are people born in 1991, 1992, 1994, 2011, 2012 and 2014 (by lunar year), and the next round is 2031, 2032 and 2034. In Si, You and Chou years Tian Ma is in Hai, and Jie Kong never lands in Xu or Hai, so people born in those years can't have Ma Feng Jie Kong.

People born in these nine years all have Tian Ma in Jie Kong, but Tian Ma's palace still has to be the Life or Body Palace for the pattern to form. Altogether, about 1 chart in 40 has it.

What the classics say

The Tai Wei Fu in volume one of the Quan Shu says:

The horse meeting voidness runs about all its life.

Volume one's list of patterns also has "the horse falling into voidness," with the commentary:

Once the horse has fallen into voidness, even Lu clashing or meeting it is of no use; it means rushing about.

Meaning once Tian Ma falls into voidness, even a Lu star shining in can't be used; what it mainly brings is rushing about. The Tan Xing Yao Lun in volume three adds:

In reading the Body and Life, Lu and Ma should not fall into voidness; Tian Kong and Jie Kong matter most, Xun Kong less.

That line speaks of the "Body" and "Life," and in the ancients' ranking, Tian Ma falling into Jie Kong matters more than falling into Xun Kong. For Lu stars there is also volume one's "sources of wealth fear voidness," so Lu Feng Jie Kong also looks at the Wealth Palace; for Tian Ma the classics name no other palace. So Xingge only detects Ma Feng Jie Kong in the Life and Body Palaces; Tian Ma in Jie Kong in other palaces isn't marked as a pattern, since reporting it everywhere would lose the point.

How to read it today

Tian Ma is a good star in itself; Lu Ma Jiao Chi is about "the more you move, the more you gain." What Jie Kong cuts off is the "gain" part, not the movement itself. So common signs of Ma Feng Jie Kong are:

• Great at running, but not always in the right direction. Business trips, moves, job changes, field sales: you move more than others without the reward growing in proportion.
• Plans often change halfway. What was agreed before you set off turns out, on arrival, to have different terms.
• Only after a full circle do you know what you want. Many people travel widely when young and only later find the place that truly suits them.

Xingge reads Ma Feng Jie Kong as: you run a lot, and the reward doesn't necessarily follow; work out what you want before you set off, so the trip isn't wasted.

In the Life or Body Palace, it means you as a whole are often on the road and often switching tracks. Tian Ma falling into voidness in other palaces isn't marked, but it is worth confirming one more step on changes in that area (the Travel Palace for going away, the Career Palace for work).

What loosens it

• Age. Many practitioners hold that Jie Kong acts more clearly in youth and weakens from middle age. This is later experience that the Quan Shu doesn't state.
• Hua Quan, Hua Ke or auspicious stars with Tian Ma. When you move, you have a method and people to help, so you are less likely to run for nothing.
• The period's Tian Ma lands on solid ground. The Decade and Annual Luck have their own Tian Ma; in years when it isn't in voidness, going away tends to pay off.

How to check whether you have Ma Feng Jie Kong

First check the nine years above; if you weren't born in one of them, you won't have it. If you were, draw your chart and see which palace Tian Ma sits in: if it is the Life or Body Palace, and that palace is marked "Jie Lu" or "Kong Wang," you have Ma Feng Jie Kong. If you aren't sure of your lunar year, use the birth-year transformations lookup to confirm your birth year's stem-branch.

If you do have it, a practical habit: before each big move, write down three things you want to bring back from it. Tian Ma gives you the drive to act; Jie Kong reminds you to set a payoff for the action. The Lu Cun and Tian Ma lesson reads Tian Ma itself more fully.

Common questions

What does Ma Feng Jie Kong mean?

Tian Ma sits in the Life or Body Palace, and that palace happens to be Jie Kong (Jie Lu Kong Wang). Tian Ma stands for movement and going away, and Jie Kong for a road cut off; together, a lot of rushing about without the reward necessarily matching. The Quan Shu says "the horse meeting voidness runs about all its life"; today it reads as working out your goal before you set off.

Which birth years have Ma Feng Jie Kong?

Tian Ma and Jie Kong only meet in nine years: Ren Shen, Ren Zi, Ren Chen, Jia Yin, Jia Wu, Jia Xu, Xin Hai, Xin Mao and Xin Wei, most recently 1991, 1992, 1994, 2011, 2012 and 2014 (lunar years). People born in these years still need Tian Ma in the Life or Body Palace; no other year can have it.

What is the difference between Ma Feng Jie Kong and Ma Feng Xun Kong?

Both are Tian Ma falling into voidness, placed differently: Jie Kong by the birth-year stem, Xun Kong by which ten-year cycle the birth year's stem-branch belongs to. Volume three of the Quan Shu says "Tian Kong and Jie Kong matter most, Xun Kong less," so the ancients considered Jie Kong heavier.