XinggePlacing the Decade, Minor and Childhood Luck
〈安大限、小限、童限〉
The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu, Volume 2: Placing the stars and the twelve palaces · Original text with translation
Introduction
This chapter explains how three kinds of luck period are laid out:
- Decade Luck (segment 2): for yang-year men and yin-year women it starts at the palace in front of the Life Palace (the Parents Palace) and runs forward; for yin-year men and yang-year women it starts at the palace behind the Life Palace (the Siblings Palace) and runs backward. Each palace covers ten years, and the starting age follows the Five Elements Bureau (Water 2 starts at age two, and so on), which this chapter does not mention.
- Minor Luck (segment 4): the palace for age one is set by the birth-year branch; the note under the heading says men always count forward and women always backward, regardless of yin and yang.
- Childhood luck (segment 6): early childhood has its own scheme. Age one is read at the Life Palace, two at the Wealth Palace, three at the Health Palace, four at the Spouse Palace, five at the Fortune Palace and six at the Career Palace.
The point to watch most in this chapter is where the Decade Luck starts. The Quan Shu states plainly that the first Decade Luck starts at the palace in front of or behind the Life Palace; today most chart software, Xingge included, starts the first Decade Luck at the Life Palace itself. The two methods put every Decade Luck one palace apart, so before reading a Decade Luck you need to know which one you are using. Xingge lays out the Minor Luck the same way as the Quan Shu.
安大限訣
2陽男陰女從命前一宮起順行 是父母宮。陰男陽女從命後一宮起逆行 是兄弟宮
TranslationFor men born in yang years and women born in yin years, the Decade Luck starts at the palace in front of the Life Palace and runs forward (small note: that is the Parents Palace); for men born in yin years and women born in yang years, it starts at the palace behind the Life Palace and runs backward (small note: that is the Siblings Palace).
- 命前一宮
- The palace in front of the Life Palace: the next palace in the order of the branches, which is the Parents Palace. The palace behind the Life Palace is the Siblings Palace.
The Xingge approachOn Xingge, the first Decade Luck starts at the Life Palace itself, running forward for yang-year men and yin-year women and backward for yin-year men and yang-year women. The Quan Shu starts it at the palace in front of the Life Palace (Parents) or behind it (Siblings). By the Quan Shu, every Decade Luck falls one palace further along the direction of travel than the same Decade Luck on Xingge.
'The Xingge approach' above already sets out how the two methods relate, so here is a real chart to show the difference. A man born at the Zi hour on the first day of the first month of a Jia Zi year: a yang-year man, so the luck runs forward, and he is in Fire 6, so it starts at age six. On Xingge, ages 6–15 are in the Life Palace (Yin) and 16–25 in the Parents Palace (Mao). By the Quan Shu, 6–15 already starts at the Parents Palace (Mao) and 16–25 is in the Fortune Palace (Chen): every stage moves one palace further in the forward direction.
Every palace on a Xingge chart is marked with its Decade Luck ages (for example 6–15). Readers who want to follow the Quan Shu can shift each palace's ages to the next palace in the direction of travel, forward or backward. For how to judge the good and bad of a Decade Luck, the Quan Shu has a separate chapter, Fortune and Misfortune in the Decade Luck.
安小限訣 不論陰陽男俱順數不論陰陽女俱逆數
4寅午戌人起辰宮，申子辰人自戌宮，巳酉丑人起未宮，亥卯未人起丑宮。
TranslationFor people born in Yin, Wu or Xu years, the Minor Luck starts at the Chen palace; for Shen, Zi or Chen years, at the Xu palace; for Si, You or Chou years, at the Wei palace; for Hai, Mao or Wei years, at the Chou palace. (Small note under the heading: regardless of yin and yang, men always count forward; regardless of yin and yang, women always count backward.)
- 小限
- The Minor Luck: a luck period that moves one palace a year, starting at age one from the palace listed here.
The Minor Luck moves one palace a year, and its starting point depends on the trine group of the birth-year branch: it is exactly the palace opposite that group's tomb. Yin, Wu and Xu are fire, whose tomb is Xu, so the Minor Luck starts at Chen; Shen, Zi and Chen are water, whose tomb is Chen, so it starts at Xu; the others follow likewise. The direction depends only on gender: men forward, women backward.
For a woman born in a Geng Wu year, for example, age one is at Chen, age two moves backward to Mao, age three is at Yin, and by thirty-seven she is back at Chen. Open a palace on Xingge, and the string of numbers in its small text gives the ages (counted the traditional way) at which the Minor Luck reaches that palace; this follows the Quan Shu's method. For how to read the Minor Luck together with the Annual Luck, see The Two Lucks and Tai Sui.
安童限訣
6一命二財三疾厄，四妻五福六官祿，餘年一派順流行，十五命宮看端的。
TranslationAge one, the Life Palace; two, the Wealth Palace; three, the Health Palace; four, the Spouse Palace; five, the Fortune Palace; six, the Career Palace. The remaining years all run forward in one stream, and at fifteen the Life Palace must be read to see things truly.
- 童限
- Childhood luck: the luck period of early childhood, read separately from the Decade and Minor Luck.
- 端的
- The real state of things.
The Xingge approachXingge does not lay out childhood luck separately; from age one it reads the palace of the Minor Luck.
The childhood sequence is Life, Wealth, Health, Spouse, Fortune, Career: on the chart these are not neighbouring palaces, so the luck jumps around. The original has only one phrase, 「餘年一派順流行」, and the Quan Shu does not explain how things continue after age six or when the Minor Luck takes over. 「十五命宮看端的」 is generally read as saying that childhood luck has run its course, and from fifteen one returns to the Life Palace to read the real luck.
The Zeng Bu Tai Wei Fu says 「若論小兒，詳推童限」 (see the original), which shows that the ancients read the charts of infants and small children by a different scheme. For children's charts today most people still read the Decade and Minor Luck, and Xingge does not lay out childhood luck separately either.
Base text (Wikisource, partly in simplified Chinese)
FAQ
Which palace does the Decade Luck start from in the Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu?
The Quan Shu's rhyme for placing the Decade Luck says: yang-year men and yin-year women start at the palace in front of the Life Palace and run forward, with a small note 'that is the Parents Palace'; yin-year men and yang-year women start at the palace behind the Life Palace and run backward, with the note 'that is the Siblings Palace'. In other words, the first Decade Luck is not in the Life Palace but in the palace beside it.
Why does Xingge start the Decade Luck at the Life Palace, unlike the Quan Shu?
The method in common use today (in chart software and most schools) starts the first Decade Luck at the Life Palace, and Xingge follows it. The Quan Shu starts it at the palace in front of or behind the Life Palace, so every Decade Luck differs by one palace between the two.
How is the Minor Luck laid out?
The birth-year branch sets the palace for age one: people born in Yin, Wu or Xu years start at Chen; Shen, Zi or Chen years at Xu; Si, You or Chou years at Wei; Hai, Mao or Wei years at Chou. Men always count forward and women always backward, one palace per year.
What is childhood luck?
Luck in early childhood is read separately: age one at the Life Palace, two at the Wealth Palace, three at the Health Palace, four at the Spouse Palace, five at the Fortune Palace, six at the Career Palace, and after that it runs forward like the Minor Luck. Xingge does not lay out childhood luck separately; it reads the Minor Luck from age one.