What is Zuo You Jia (Flanked by the Assistants)?

Zuo Fu and You Bi are the pair among the Six Auspicious Stars devoted to "having help": Zuo Fu is steady support in the open, You Bi is goodwill and smoothing things over in private. Zuo You Jia (Zuo Fu and You Bi flanking) is the two not in the palace itself but standing one on each side, protecting the palace in the middle. The ancients valued this arrangement highly. To see whether you have it, draw your chart.

How Zuo You Jia forms

Zuo Fu starts the first month at Chen and counts forward to the birth month; You Bi starts the first month at Xu and counts backward. The two move symmetrically in opposite directions, so the palaces they can flank are very fixed: only Chou and Wei.

Working back, only people born in four lunar months have Zuo You Jia:

• Born in the third or fifth month: flanking Wei.
• Born in the ninth or eleventh month: flanking Chou.

Xingge's detection only looks at important palaces: the Life, Wealth, Career and Spouse Palaces, and the palace holding the Body Palace. Other palaces are flanked with a lighter effect and aren't specially marked. By this count, about 1 chart in 7 has Zuo You Jia; with the Life Palace flanked, about 1 in 36.

What the classics say

Volume three of the Quan Shu says:

Zuo Fu and You Bi flanking the Life Palace is a noble pattern: for example, the Life Palace in Chou, Zuo Fu in Zi, You Bi in Yin.

The commentary ends with "if not noble, then greatly wealthy." 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 original commentary also lists birth months, which don't match the months given by today's standard placement method; here we follow the method Xingge uses, with the third, fifth, ninth and eleventh months above.

The Tai Wei Fu in volume one also has the line "Zuo Fu and You Bi flanking the emperor is of the highest grade," about the two flanking Zi Wei, which you can read together with Jun Chen Qing Hui.

How to read it today

The flanked palace is like being supported from both sides:

• Someone catches things when they come up. Not necessarily the same person, but at every stage there is someone around willing to help.
• Help both visible and hidden. The Zuo Fu side is open support; the You Bi side is connections made in private.
• Better at working together than alone. In this palace's affairs, doing things with others usually goes better than carrying them alone.

Xingge's reading: Zuo Fu and You Bi flank this palace, one on each side: in this area, someone is always holding you up.

In the Life Palace, you personally often have helpers; in the Wealth Palace, someone helps take care of money matters; in the Career Palace, good colleagues and partners at work; in the Spouse Palace, family and friends support your relationship.

Zuo You Jia versus Zuo Fu and You Bi in the same palace

Zuo You Tong Gong is the two stars sitting in the same palace, with their strength concentrated right there. Zuo You Jia is the two protecting from outside, with strength coming from the sides. The ancients saw both as good; the difference is that sharing a palace is like helpers moving into your home, while flanking is like neighbors who look after you.

Zuo Fu and You Bi in the same palace also only happens in Chou and Wei (born in the fourth or tenth month), so people born in the third, fifth, ninth or eleventh month can have Zuo You Jia, and people born in the fourth or tenth month can have them in the same palace: the two never overlap.

What weakens it

• Hua Ji or challenging stars in the middle palace. There is help outside, but something inside is stuck, so the help is hard to use.
• Challenging stars in the flanking palaces too. The neighbors come to help, and bring trouble of their own.

The flanking palaces lesson compares all the kinds of flanking side by side; you can go on to read Chang Qu Jia and Kui Yue Jia.

Common questions

What does Zuo You Jia Ming mean?

Zuo Fu and You Bi sit one on each side of the Life Palace. The Quan Shu says "Zuo Fu and You Bi flanking the Life Palace is a noble pattern," meaning there is often someone supporting you. The modern reading: in this area, working with others goes better than carrying it alone.

Who has Zuo You Jia?

Zuo You Jia only flanks Chou or Wei, and only people born in the third or fifth lunar month (flanking Wei) or the ninth or eleventh month (flanking Chou) have it. Then check whether the flanked palace is the Life, Wealth, Career or Spouse Palace, or the Body Palace.

Which is better, Zuo You Jia or Zuo Fu and You Bi in the same palace?

Both are good. Sharing a palace concentrates the strength; flanking protects from the outside. The classics speak well of both; what matters most is still the stars and transformations in the palace itself.