Where Zi Wei sits decides the whole chart

Why Zi Wei decides the whole chart

The first step in placing the stars is to find Zi Wei from your Five Elements Bureau and lunar birth day. Then the Zi Wei group runs counterclockwise: the very next cell is Tian Ji, then skip one for Tai Yang, then Wu Qu and Tian Tong, then skip two more for Lian Zhen. Tian Fu's position mirrors Zi Wei's across the Yin-Shen axis, and the Tian Fu group runs clockwise: Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang, Qi Sha, then skip three for Po Jun.

The intervals are all fixed, so once you know where Zi Wei is, the positions of the other thirteen main stars are fully determined. Practitioners call these twelve arrangements of the main stars the base charts, sometimes "the twelve Zi Wei charts".

Lay one out yourself

Try Zi Wei in Zi. The Zi Wei group goes counterclockwise: Tian Ji in Hai, skip Xu, Tai Yang in You, Wu Qu in Shen, Tian Tong in Wei, skip Wu and Si, Lian Zhen in Chen. The mirror of Zi is Chen, so Tian Fu is also in Chen; going clockwise: Tai Yin in Si, Tan Lang in Wu, Ju Men in Wei, Tian Xiang in Shen, Tian Liang in You, Qi Sha in Xu, skip Hai, Zi and Chou, Po Jun in Yin.

Once it's laid out: Lian Zhen and Tian Fu in Chen, Tian Tong and Ju Men in Wei, Wu Qu and Tian Xiang in Shen, Tai Yang and Tian Liang in You, and no main star in Chou or Mao. You can work your own chart out from Zi Wei the same way. Do it once and the star groups and chart patterns coming up will be much easier to follow.

Six pairs, each in two directions

• Zi Wei in Zi or Wu: Zi Wei alone, with Tan Lang opposite.
• Zi Wei in Chou or Wei: Zi Wei shares with Po Jun, with Tian Xiang opposite.
• Zi Wei in Yin or Shen: Zi Wei shares with Tian Fu, with Qi Sha opposite. This is the only layout with no Empty Palace.
• Zi Wei in Mao or You: Zi Wei shares with Tan Lang, with an Empty Palace opposite that borrows Zi Wei and Tan Lang.
• Zi Wei in Chen or Xu: Zi Wei shares with Tian Xiang, with Po Jun opposite.
• Zi Wei in Si or Hai: Zi Wei shares with Qi Sha, with Tian Fu opposite. This pair has the most Empty Palaces: four.

The other pairs have two Empty Palaces each. The two charts in a pair have exactly the same stars living together; the whole chart just turns halfway round. Volume two of the *Quan Shu* lists Zi Wei cell by cell in the same way: "in Mao and You it shares with Tan Lang", "in Yin and Shen, at Wang, it shares with Tian Fu", "in Si and Hai, at Wang, it shares with Qi Sha", matching the table above.

Empty isn't blank

An Empty Palace is a cell with no main star, not a cell with no content. When reading one, practitioners borrow the main stars of the opposite palace, which is called borrowed stars; the auxiliary stars and transformations in the cell still count. Borrowed stars are somewhat weaker, like staying at a friend's place: you can use their things, but it's never quite as easy as at home.

What the base chart tells you

Many people share the same base chart, so it only describes "how the main stars are combined"; it isn't you yet. Twelve base charts times twelve possible cells for the Life Palace already gives 144 combinations of main stars alone. What truly makes each chart different also includes which stars your birth-year transformations land on, and where the auxiliary and challenging stars sit.

A common misconception: a friend has the same base chart as you, so the two of you must be alike. In fact, with your Life Palaces in different cells, you're looking at different corners of the same map.

The base chart is great for training your eye, though. Once it's familiar, you can see at a glance which line the Sha Po Lang runs along, which cells are empty, and that Qi Sha always faces Tian Fu. The star groups and chart patterns in Chapter 5 all grow out of this fixed structure.

When you read

Find Zi Wei first, then see who it lives with. The *Quan Shu*'s song of Zi Wei says "with ministers it is of use, without ministers it is a lonely ruler": whether the emperor star has support around it is the first clue to reading the whole chart.