Setup Charts: Zi Wei, Tian Fu, Shang Shi, the Four Transformations and Brightness

「二歲行」 is about when the luck starts: for Water 2 the first Decade Luck begins at age two, for Wood 3 at three, Metal 4 at four, Earth 5 at five and Fire 6 at six; the bureau number is the starting age. The first Decade Luck ages marked on the Life Palace of a Xingge chart, '2–11' for example, come from this.

「初一起丑初二寅」 gives Zi Wei's starting point: for someone in Water 2 born on the 1st, Zi Wei is in Chou; on the 2nd, in Yin. The whole rhyme should be read side by side with the bureau chart below.

「順行一宮安二日」: in Water 2, every two days Zi Wei moves one palace forward, the 2nd and 3rd in Yin, the 4th and 5th in Mao and so on. That makes Water 2 the easiest to work out: halve the birth day and drop any fraction; 1 means Yin, 2 means Mao, and so on counting forward. Only the 1st gives 0 and falls in Chou, the palace before Yin.

「陰陽雖殊行則同」 matters: Zi Wei's position depends only on the bureau and the birth day, not on gender or a yin or yang year, unlike the Decade Luck or the Bo Shi spirits, which do depend on yin-yang and gender.

Two things are needed to read this chart. First, it is laid out like an ordinary chart: Si, Wu, Wei and Shen across the top, Yin, Chou, Zi and Hai across the bottom, Chen and Mao on the left and You and Xu on the right; Xingge's square chart has the same orientation. Second, the dates in each square are read downward: a character in the upper line and the one below it make one day. In the Si palace, for instance, the upper 初初 over the lower 八九 reads as the 8th and the 9th; in the Mao palace, four characters over four give the 4th, 5th, 28th and 29th.

To use it: once you know you are in Water 2, find the square with your birth day, and Zi Wei is in that palace. Born on the 15th, for example, Zi Wei is in Shen.

Wood 3 starts its luck at age three. Zi Wei for the 1st is in Chen (dragon), for the 2nd in Chou (ox), and only on the 3rd does it come back to Yin. This 'jump out, then come back' pattern is common to every bureau from 3 upward.

The 'make-up method' often taught today makes it clear. The 1st needs 2 added to divide by 3, giving 1; count 1 from Yin and stop at Yin; the added number 2 is even, so step forward 2 palaces, to Chen. The 2nd needs 1 added; odd, so step back 1, to Chou.

These two lines are heavily compressed and, as the note says, hard to match word for word. The make-up method shows the rhythm they are trying to describe. The days go in groups of three: the third day returns to the base position (Yin, Mao, Chen and so on), the first day jumps two palaces ahead, and the second steps one palace back. So the 4th is in Si, the 5th in Yin, the 6th in Mao; the 7th in Wu, the 8th in Mao, the 9th in Chen; and so on.

By this rule the 5th falls in the Yin palace, which is the basis for the text note saying that the base text's 'ninth' should be 'fifth'.

「初二同宮牛頭起」 says the 2nd is in Chou, the same as the previous segment; 「逆退二步二辰尋」 roughly says that an odd added number steps backward. There is no need to force a literal reading of the rhyme; the next chart is the answer.

In practice, Xingge places Zi Wei by the rule, which agrees with the corrected version of this chart. Readers can find their birth day on the chart and compare it with where Zi Wei sits on their Xingge chart.

The Wood 3 chart is read the same way as Water 2: dates run downward, two characters to a day, and a square with three columns holds three days. The Chen palace, for instance, reads as the 1st, 9th and 11th.

The base text has one copying error in this chart, explained in the text note: the Yin palace should read the 3rd and the 5th. If you are in Wood 3 and born on the 5th, Zi Wei is in Yin; don't be misled by the base text's 'ninth'. All thirty days of the chart have been worked through by the make-up method, and every other square is correct.

Metal 4 starts its luck at age four. Zi Wei for the 1st is in Hai (pig) and for the 2nd in Chen (dragon). By the make-up method: the 1st needs 3 added to reach 4; odd, so step back 3 palaces from Yin to Hai. The 2nd needs 2; even, so step forward 2 from Yin to Chen. The 3rd needs 1; step back 1 to Chou. The 4th divides exactly and is in Yin.

「順進三步逆退一」 describes the alternation of odd and even added numbers: an even number steps forward, an odd number steps back. Metal 4 works in groups of four days, with added numbers 3, 2, 1, 0 in turn, so the first day steps back, the second forward, the third back, and the fourth returns to the base position. 'First yin then yang' probably means first backward, then forward.

The Quan Shu never writes this rule as a formula. The later make-up method was worked out from the bureau charts and agrees completely with all five of the Quan Shu's charts (apart from the two copying errors noted in the text notes).

「惟有初二辰上起」 stresses once more the special position of the 2nd. The second half, 「退三進四逆尋跡」, is hard to match to particular days; readers can simply go by the next chart.

A practical reminder: if Zi Wei is one palace off, the whole set of fourteen main stars is one palace off, so before looking up the bureau chart make sure your Five Elements Bureau is right. A Xingge chart shows the bureau, so check that first, then come to this chart.

The Metal 4 chart is read the same way. Its flaw is that 'the thirtieth' is missing from the whole chart, and the text note shows it belongs in Hai: the 30th needs 2 added to divide by 4 (32), giving 8; counting 8 palaces from Yin reaches You; the added number is even, so step forward 2 palaces, to Hai.

So for someone in Metal 4 born on the 30th, Zi Wei is in Hai. If you cannot find your date on a chart, first consider whether the base text has dropped it.

Earth 5 starts its luck at age five. 「戌土五龍居其中」 is a name for Earth 5: the element earth, the number five. Zi Wei for the 1st is in Wu and for the 2nd in Hai. By the make-up method: the 1st needs 4 added; even, so step forward 4 from Yin to Wu. The 2nd needs 3; odd, so step back 3, to Hai.

Earth 5 works in groups of five days, with added numbers 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 in turn, so over the five days the direction goes forward, back, forward, back, then the base position. 「逆行二宮安一日」 is probably describing this back-and-forth. 「惟有九日不能均」 does not say which ninth day it means; the note already advises going by the chart.

The phrase 「十居辰上初居寅」 is very hard to match word for word; as the note says, on the chart the 10th is in Mao and the 5th in Yin. What is more certain is 「二十九日五上尋」: the 29th is in Wu, in agreement with the chart.

This kind of mismatch between rhyme and chart is most obvious for Earth 5 and Fire 6. Perhaps the rhymes were scattered in copying while the charts survived more completely.

「二宮一日順三次，退二三次又逆回」 goes on describing the forward-and-back rhythm, but the wording can no longer be reconstructed precisely. In practice, someone in Earth 5 should use the next chart directly, or the make-up method: divide the day by five, add until it divides, and let the added number's oddness or evenness decide backward or forward.

「惟有六日無正位，逢四對宮去追尋」: the 6th needs 4 added to reach 10, giving 2; counting 2 from Yin reaches Mao; the added number is even, so step forward 4 palaces, to Wei. On the chart the 6th is indeed in Wei. The 'opposite palace' wording does not fully match the actual calculation; it may be a loose description in the rhyme.

The Earth 5 chart is read the same way; a square with three or four columns holds three or four days. The Wu palace, for instance, reads as the 1st, 13th, 25th and 29th.

This chart has been checked day by day and is entirely correct. Notice that the larger the bureau number, the more irregular the days each palace receives: in Earth 5 the Zi palace has only the 7th and the Xu palace only the 21st.

Fire 6 starts its luck at age six; 'strangest' probably refers to its being the most scattered. The 2nd is in Wu (riding the horse) and the 4th in Chen (dragon), while the 1st is in You, the example the Quan Shu gave in Placing the Life and Body Palaces (see the original).

'Forward three, back two' still describes the forward and backward moves of the added number. Fire 6 works in groups of six days, with added numbers 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 in turn; odd steps back and even steps forward, so the first day steps back five palaces, the second forward four, the third back three, and the sixth returns to the base position. Lines such as 「逆回三步是生時」 can no longer be matched word for word.

These two lines continue the rhythm of the previous one; words like 'first yang then yin' and 'advance one' are hard to pin to particular dates, and the note already advises going by the chart. The value of this passage is in showing that the ancients really did remember Zi Wei's position by 'advancing and retreating', the same idea as the later make-up method.

The rhyme ends here. To sum up the rule for all five bureaus: the bureau number n means the days go in groups of n; the last day of each group falls on the base position (counting forward from Yin), and the other days jump forward or back according to whether the added number is even or odd. Knowing only the bureau and the birth day, anyone can work out Zi Wei without memorising the five rhymes.

The full answer for Fire 6 is in the next chart.

The Fire 6 chart is read the same way; the Yin palace, for instance, reads as the 6th, 11th and 21st. The example in Placing the Life and Body Palaces, 「正月初一生者是火局，酉宮起初一日」, is the 1st in the You palace on this chart.

This chart has been checked day by day and is entirely correct. Xingge's Zi Wei positions agree with it. A simple check: anyone in Fire 6 born on the 1st always has Zi Wei in You.

This chart shows how Tian Fu is derived from Zi Wei: the two mirror each other across the Yin-Shen axis, sharing the palace in Yin and Shen and facing each other in pairs elsewhere. Check against the chart: Zi Wei in Mao, Tian Fu in Chou; Zi Wei in Si, Tian Fu in Hai; Zi Wei in Chou, Tian Fu in Mao.

The practical way to read it: find Zi Wei on a Xingge chart and draw the Yin-Shen line as a mirror; Tian Fu is on the other side of the mirror. Once Tian Fu is fixed, Tai Yin through Po Jun follow forward as in Placing the Northern and Southern Dipper Stars.

The text of this chart is written vertically: the small characters in each square are read column by column from right to left. The Shen palace, for instance, reads 'people born in the six Geng years fear it, the same as Yin'. The general statement in the centre is that when the Annual or Minor Luck reaches the palace of Tian Shang or Tian Shi, death follows 'unless something rescues it', and it then lists the branches where Tian Shang and Tian Shi 'bring misfortune fast'.

Two points to keep in mind. First, Tian Shang is always in the Friends Palace and Tian Shi in the Health Palace, so what the chart is really saying is: people whose Friends or Health Palace falls on certain branches should be careful when a luck period reaches it. Second, 'death follows' is the strongest language in the Quan Shu. The chapter on the Decade Luck in the same book lists Tian Shang and Tian Shi among the places one 'fears to walk' and also asks whether lucky stars are present (see the original); no conclusion should be drawn from this chart alone.

This chart sets out, palace by palace, how the four transformations fare on each branch; it is read the same way as the previous one, vertically and from right to left. The Zi palace, for example, has 'Lu and Quan not well placed, the Ji star not unlucky', the Mao palace 'the Ji star well placed', and the Hai palace 'the Ji star unsuitable'. This is a different matter from a star's brightness: in the same palace, Hua Lu may be badly placed while Hua Ji is not unlucky at all.

The Quan Shu says similar things elsewhere; The Nature of the Four Transformations, for instance, has 「太陽在寅卯辰巳午化忌，太陰在酉戌亥子化忌為福論」 (see the original). Few later readers use this chart, and Xingge's readings do not rely on it to judge the transformations; read it as one view held by the Quan Shu.

This table is the basis of brightness on Xingge. To read it: find the branch row on the left, then look across the seven columns; the column holding a star's short name is its brightness. To find Ju Men in Chen, for example: in the Chen row, 巨 (Ju Men) is in the last column, Xian. On a Xingge chart, the small text by each main star's name (Miao, Wang, De, Li, Ping, Bu, Xian) follows this table.

The table is also the standard for reading the chapters on the nature of the stars in volume two. In a few places those chapters give a brightness different from the table: The Nature of Ju Men calls Ju Men in Chen and Xu 'balanced', and The Nature of Lian Zhen calls Lian Zhen in Yin 'balanced', while the table has Xian and Miao respectively. Wherever such disagreements come up, this study edition follows the table.