The romance star family

Romance as a kind of pull

What the ancients called "peach blossom" isn't only luck in love. It describes how much others want to come closer to someone: likability, charm, presence. Today it can also mean a following, a way with clients, a gift for the stage. Romance stars are mostly minor stars, lighter than the main stars and the Six Auspicious and Six Malefic Stars; what they do is add a layer of "easily liked" to a cell.

How the four small stars are placed

• Hong Luan: by your birth-year branch. The *Quan Shu* rhyme is "start Zi at Mao and count backward to the year of birth": treat the Mao cell as the Zi year and count counterclockwise to the year you were born.
• Tian Xi: not calculated separately; it's always opposite Hong Luan, the two at either end of the same axis.
• Tian Yao: by your birth month, starting the first month at Chou and counting forward to your birth month.
• Xian Chi: by your birth-year branch. For Yin, Wu and Xu years it's in Mao; Shen, Zi and Chen years in You; Si, You and Chou years in Wu; Hai, Mao and Wei years in Zi. The *Quan Shu* doesn't mention this star at all; later texts added it, and Xingge places it by today's common method.

The placement reveals something: everyone born in the same year has Hong Luan and Tian Xi in the same positions, and everyone born in the same month has Tian Yao in the same cell. So the small romance stars alone can't tell you whether you or a classmate is more likable. What really makes each chart different is where the Life Palace falls and which main stars are there; the small stars need to be read together with their cell.

What the classics say about them

The rhyme for Hong Luan has two more lines: "in youth, marriage and happy events are remarkable" and "before thirty it is a helpful star; after fifty it is no longer fitting". The ancients read meeting Hong Luan when young as marriage and celebration; later in life, they no longer saw it as a good sign. The same star changes its reading with the stage of life.

The "Zhu Xing Wen Da Lun" writes about Tian Yao heavily, using words like "romantic" and "licentious". But the same section also says that "entering the temple at Miao or Wang it brings wealth and rank, and in Hai it brings learning", and that when a luck period reaches Tian Yao, "with no matchmaker needed, a beckon brings marriage": no introduction required, the connection comes on its own. The "Tai Wei Fu" separately calls Tan Lang in the Hai or Zi cells "peach blossom in the water".

These comments reflect old moral standards about love. Xingge's reading: charm itself is neither good nor bad; how you use it, and whether to respond, is your own choice.

Romance among the main stars

Among the fourteen main stars, Tan Lang "transforms into Peach Blossom" in the *Quan Shu*: curious, loving experience, with lots of friends; Lian Zhen "in Body or Life is the second peach blossom", its charm coming from the contrast between strong principles and strong emotions. The main star is a cell's basic color; the small stars are just accents. Take Tian Yao: next to Tian Liang, what people remember is someone steady and dependable; next to Tan Lang, what they remember is someone fun who's great to talk to.

Three common misunderstandings

• Lots of romance stars means unfaithful. Romance stars are about being liked, not about whether you'll stray. Many people with romance stars in the Life Palace simply get approached and remembered more often.
• No romance stars means no likability. Likability also comes from main stars. Main stars like Tian Tong, Tai Yin and Tian Xiang are easy to get along with on their own, without help from small stars.
• A romance star in the Spouse Palace means a complicated love life. It says there are more chances for attraction and love connections are clear, not that something will go wrong.

Reading the chart

First find which cells the romance stars fall in, then look at those cells' main stars. In the Life Palace, the attraction is in you yourself; in the Friends or Career Palace, likability turns into a network and a stage at work. When the Annual Luck reaches the Hong Luan and Tian Xi axis, practitioners say happy events come easily that year: it might be love or marriage, or good news like a promotion or a new home.