The Twelve Life Stages

A plant's life cycle

The Twelve Life Stages are twelve stage names: Chang Sheng, Mu Yu, Guan Dai, Lin Guan, Di Wang, Shuai, Bing, Si, Mu, Jue, Tai and Yang. The ancients borrowed the course of a life, from birth through growth and old age to being conceived anew, to describe which stage the "energy" of a given cell has reached.

• Chang Sheng (Birth): a seed sprouts; a new beginning.
• Mu Yu (Bathing): just emerging, still exploring, changeable and especially charming. The classics call this cell the "ground of defeat".
• Guan Dai (Capping): taking shape and starting to be seen.
• Lin Guan (Taking Office): in the right position; things come easily.
• Di Wang (Peak): in full bloom, with the most drive and conviction.
• Shuai (Decline): the momentum starts to draw back; a time to consolidate.
• Bing (literally "illness"): a little short of force; slow the pace.
• Si (literally the end of a life): quiet and still, a stage for gathering strength.
• Mu (Tomb): put into storage; building up without show.
• Jue (Severance): the old is cut off so the new can come in.
• Tai (Womb): still brewing; ideas not yet formed.
• Yang (Nurture): looked after and slowly developed, with plenty in reserve.

Every chart has Bing and Jue

The twelve stages fill the twelve cells exactly, so everyone's chart has Bing, Si and Jue, and everyone's has Di Wang too. Seeing Si in some cell doesn't mean you're unluckier than others; it only means your pace in that area is quieter. For example, Si in the Friends Palace might mean you don't often reach out, so your circle changes slowly; Di Wang in the Career Palace means work is where you're boldest.

These words sound heavy, but in this system they're just stops on a cycle, describing pace and force, with nothing to do with health or lifespan. And Di Wang isn't "the more, the better" either: with too much drive, you sometimes stop listening to others.

How they're placed

The rhyme in volume two of the *Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu*: "Fire Bureau: Chang Sheng starts at Yin. Wood Bureau: at Hai. Water Bureau: at Shen. Metal Bureau: at Si. Earth Bureau: at Shen." The starting point depends on your Five Elements Bureau, with Earth starting at Shen like Water.

There are two views on direction. The heading of this section in the *Quan Shu* notes "men count forward, women count backward"; today's common method (Xingge's too) follows yin-yang male and female, like the Decade Luck: yang men and yin women go forward, yin men and yang women go backward. For people born in yang years the two give the same result; they differ only for those born in yin years. So if another app shows the order reversed, this is usually why.

How the classics used them

The "Tai Wei Fu" says:

Born into the ground of defeat, even what blooms is empty flowers. Meeting life in the place of severance, the flowers do not fade.

Volume three of the *Quan Shu* gives an example for each line. "Born into the ground of defeat": for Water and Earth Bureaus, Chang Sheng is in Shen, and the next cell, You, is Mu Yu, the ground of defeat; with the Life Palace in You and challenging stars like Qing Yang and Tuo Luo, it blooms fast and fades fast; with Lu Cun, the ancients said it turns good. "Meeting life in the place of severance": for Water and Earth Bureaus, Jue is in Si; a Life Palace in Si is in severance ground, but if that cell has a metal star, metal feeds water and the energy reconnects, and the ancients said flowers grown this way don't fade.

Another line of the "Tai Wei Fu", "if it meets the ground of defeat, support brings great merit", says the same: in a weak stage, a helpful star's support shows especially clearly.

In everyday life, this is a good way to look at low periods. Something that goes smoothly right from the start doesn't necessarily go far; something that seems cut off and then reconnects is often steadier.

Tips for reading them

• First see which stage your Life Palace is in: that's the rhythm of your own energy.
• Then find which cells have Di Wang and Lin Guan; that's usually where you're surest of yourself.
• The Twelve Life Stages are very light. They add a sense of rhythm to a cell and never override the main stars.