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

Ma Feng Xun Kong (the horse meeting Xun Kong) is the lighter version of Ma Feng Jie Kong: Tian Ma, the traveling horse, runs into Xun Kong, so you do move, but sometimes come up empty. Like Ma Feng Jie Kong, the years are set by your birth year, but the ancients only looked at it in the Life and Body Palaces, so it still depends on which palace Tian Ma sits in. To check, draw your chart.

How Ma Feng Xun Kong forms

Tian Ma goes by the birth-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.

Xun Kong goes by which ten-year cycle the birth year's stem-branch belongs to. The verse in volume two of the Quan Shu reads:

In the Jia Zi cycle, Xu and Hai are void; in Jia Yin, Zi and Chou; in Jia Chen, Yin and Mao; in Jia Wu, Chen and Si; in Jia Shen, Wu and Wei; in Jia Xu, Shen and You.

Xingge's chart marks only one of these two palaces as "Xun Kong," the one whose yin-yang matches the birth-year branch; Tian Ma's position is always the matching one, so for Tian Ma both methods give the same result. Tian Ma in Xun Kong, in the Life or Body Palace, is Ma Feng Xun Kong; if that palace is also in Jie Kong, Xingge counts the heavier Ma Feng Jie Kong instead. Tian Ma and Xun Kong meet in ten years out of sixty:

• Jia Zi cycle (void in Xu and Hai): Yi Chou, Ji Si and Gui You years, with Tian Ma in Hai.
• Jia Xu cycle (void in Shen and You): Wu Yin and Ren Wu years, with Tian Ma in Shen.
• Jia Wu cycle (void in Chen and Si): Yi Wei, Ji Hai and Gui Mao years, with Tian Ma in Si.
• Jia Chen cycle (void in Yin and Mao): Jia Chen and Wu Shen years, with Tian Ma in Yin.

In calendar years, the most recent are 1985, 1989, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2015, 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2028 (by lunar year). People born in these ten years still need Tian Ma in the Life or Body Palace for the pattern to form; about 1 chart in 35 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.

The Tan Xing Yao Lun in volume three ranks the kinds of voidness:

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

So to the ancients, Ma Feng Xun Kong has an effect, but a lighter one than Jie Kong. The line speaks of the "Body" and "Life," and the classics name no other palace for Tian Ma, so Xingge only detects Ma Feng Xun Kong in the Life and Body Palaces; Xun Kong in other palaces isn't marked as a pattern.

How to read it today

The "void" in Xun Kong is hollowness, not quite solid. Common signs of Tian Ma in Xun Kong are:

• A higher chance of a wasted trip. A meeting cancelled at the last minute, a business trip that comes back without a deal, a move abandoned halfway because it doesn't fit.
• More urge to move than results from moving. You often want a change of scene, and when you do change it, find the problem didn't change with it.
• Overpacked schedules. Moving in too many directions at once, so everything is only half done.

Xingge reads Ma Feng Xun Kong as: travel and effort sometimes come to nothing; confirm once more before you move, and don't overpack your schedule.

In the Life or Body Palace, it means you as a whole often want a change of scene. Tian Ma in Xun Kong in other palaces isn't marked.

What loosens it

• Lu Cun or Hua Lu with Tian Ma. The classics say that once the horse falls into voidness, "even Lu clashing or meeting it is of no use," but modern readings usually hold that with a Lu star present, moving at least won't come to nothing entirely.
• Hua Quan, Hua Ke, Zuo Fu or You Bi in the same palace or the San Fang. When you move, you have people and methods, so things land more easily.
• The period's Tian Ma lands on solid ground. In years when the Decade or Annual Luck's Tian Ma moves to a palace not in voidness, going away tends to pay off.

How to check whether you have Ma Feng Xun Kong

First check the ten years above. If you were born in one, draw your chart and see which palace Tian Ma sits in: if it is the Life or Body Palace, and that palace is marked "Xun Kong," you have Ma Feng Xun Kong. If you aren't sure of your birth year's stem-branch, use the birth-year transformations lookup.

A practical habit: make one confirming call before you set off. It sounds small, but the place Xun Kong most often goes wrong is the part where you "thought it was agreed." The Lu Cun and Tian Ma lesson reads Tian Ma itself more fully.

Common questions

What does Ma Feng Xun Kong mean?

Tian Ma sits in the Life or Body Palace, and that palace is Xun Kong. Tian Ma stands for movement, going away and change, and Xun Kong for hollow, not quite solid; together, rushing about that sometimes comes to nothing. The modern reading: confirm once more before you move, and don't overpack your schedule.

Which birth years have Ma Feng Xun Kong?

Tian Ma and Xun Kong meet in ten years: Yi Chou, Ji Si, Gui You, Wu Yin, Ren Wu, Yi Wei, Ji Hai, Gui Mao, Jia Chen and Wu Shen, most recently 1985, 1989, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2015, 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2028 (lunar years). People born in these years still need Tian Ma in the Life or Body Palace.

Which is heavier, Ma Feng Xun Kong or Ma Feng Jie Kong?

Volume three of the Quan Shu says "Tian Kong and Jie Kong matter most, Xun Kong less," so Jie Kong is heavier. When Tian Ma's palace is in both Jie Kong and Xun Kong, Xingge counts it as Ma Feng Jie Kong.