Placing Di Kong, Di Jie, Shang Shi, the Twelve Bo Shi Spirits and Minor Stars

Di Jie and Di Kong both start at Hai, one forward and one backward, so the two are always mirror images across the Si-Hai axis: in the Zi hour both are in Hai, in the Wu hour both are in Si, and at other hours they separate to either side. It follows that the only palaces Di Jie and Di Kong can 'flank' are Si and Hai: in the Chou hour, for example, Di Jie is in Zi and Di Kong in Xu, flanking Hai.

Keep the names straight: the Quan Shu's 'Tian Kong' here is the Di Kong on a Xingge chart, listed among the minor stars together with Di Jie. Xingge also has a 'Tian Kong' placed by year branch, in the palace's list of lesser stars; that is a different star. For the nature of Di Kong and Di Jie, see What Do Di Kong and Di Jie Govern?.

One more example: born in the Mao hour, Di Jie counts forward from Hai through Zi, Chou and Yin and lands in Yin; Di Kong counts backward through Xu, You and Shen and lands in Shen, so the two stars face each other directly. A rule worth remembering: in the Zi and Wu hours the two share a palace (Hai or Si); in the Mao and You hours one is in Yin and the other in Shen, directly opposite.

Xingge's positions agree with this segment. When looking at your own Di Kong and Di Jie, the point is whether they fall in palaces like the Life, Wealth or Fortune Palace. The Quan Shu's star-combinations chapter has the line 「劫空臨財福之鄉，生來貧賤」 (see the original).

Tian Shang and Tian Shi do not depend on year, month, day or hour, only on the Life Palace. Counting from the Life Palace, the sixth position in front is always the Friends Palace and the sixth behind is always the Health Palace. So on every chart Tian Shang is in the Friends Palace and Tian Shi in the Health Palace, and what they hold between them is always the Travel Palace.

Xingge puts these two stars in the palace's list of lesser stars (open the Friends or Health Palace to see them). Some later schools swap the two by yin-yang and gender; neither the Quan Shu nor Xingge does. For their good and bad meanings, see What Do Tian Shang and Tian Shi Govern?.

On the chart, the 'flanked place' is the Travel Palace. When the Body Palace falls on the Travel Palace (for people born in the Mao or You hour), or the Decade Luck, Minor Luck or Annual Luck reaches the natal Travel Palace, it is flanked by Tian Shang and Tian Shi. The Quan Shu says that with bad stars added there is much misfortune, so this is a palace to watch when reading luck periods, not a sign that entering the Travel Palace is always bad.

The chapter on the Decade Luck makes flanking by Tian Shang and Tian Shi more concrete, giving the example 「天傷在子，天使在寅，歲限在丑宮，乃並夾也」 (see the original). The setup charts also include a chart of how fast misfortune comes under Tian Shang and Tian Shi, palace by palace.

The twelve Bo Shi spirits are laid out from Lu Cun, one per palace. The ancients treated them as a small character for each palace: Bo Shi intelligent, Li Shi powerful, Qing Long joyful, and so on; the next segment explains them one by one. This set weighs far less than the main stars or the Six Auspicious and Six Malefic Stars, and the Quan Shu's main text rarely judges anything by them alone. About the only common use is as decoration, as in the Tai Wei Fu's 「奏書博士與流祿，盡作吉祥」.

The small text in each palace on a Xingge chart includes four sets of twelve spirits: Bo Shi, Chang Sheng, Sui Qian and Jiang Qian; the Bo Shi set is this one. For a modern reading of each spirit, see the lesson on the twelve Bo Shi spirits.

Forward and backward here work the same way as for the Decade Luck: by 'yang man, yin woman' versus 'yin man, yang woman', not by gender alone. Laid out forward for yang-year men and yin-year women, Li Shi always lands in the palace in front of Lu Cun, the same palace as Qing Yang; laid out backward for yin-year men and yang-year women, Li Shi lands in the palace behind Lu Cun, together with Tuo Luo.

The Quan Shu turns this coincidence into a famous line: 「擎羊逢力士，李廣難封」, with Qing Yang meeting Li Shi, even General Li Guang never gets his fief (see the star-combinations chapter). The years listed in the note there, Jia, Bing, Geng and Ren, are all yang years; for men born in a yang year, Qing Yang always shares a palace with Li Shi. Xingge lays out the Bo Shi spirits in the same direction as the Quan Shu.

This segment gives the nature of the twelve Bo Shi spirits, and they can be read in three groups. Bo Shi, Li Shi, Qing Long, Jiang Jun, Zou Shu and Xi Shen lean lucky, governing intelligence, power, happy events and documents. Xiao Hao and Da Hao govern loss of money. Fei Lian, Bing Fu, Fu Bing and Guan Fu lean unlucky, governing loneliness, illness and quarrels.

Watch the names: in the Bo Shi set on a Xingge chart the name is written 飛廉, while the list of lesser stars has a separate 蜚廉 placed by year branch. Both are Fei Lian in English, but they are not the same star. The 'Fei Lian governs loneliness' of this segment is the one in the Bo Shi set.

「生年坐守十二殺」 stresses that the twelve Bo Shi spirits are laid out from the birth year's Lu Cun and stay fixed for life. Yet the Quan Shu's other chapters seldom actually use them. The most concrete use is in Children's Charts, which reads a baby's looks and voice from Bo Shi, Li Shi, Qing Long, Da Hao, Bing Fu and others.

When reading a Xingge chart, tell apart two sets of stars with the same names: the Bo Shi set has Bing Fu and Guan Fu, and the twelve Sui Qian spirits (placed by year branch and used for the Annual Luck) also have a Bing Fu and a Guan Fu (官符). Seeing two Bing Fu on the same chart is not a duplicate but two separate systems.

Tian Xing starts at You and Tian Yao at Chou, both counting forward by lunar month, so Tian Yao is always the fourth palace forward from Tian Xing and the two meet in trine. Born in the third month, for example: Tian Xing goes You, Xu, Hai and lands in Hai; Tian Yao goes Chou, Yin, Mao and lands in Mao.

Xingge lists these two stars in the palace's list of lesser stars. Tian Xing governs law and discipline, Tian Yao romance and charm; the Quan Shu gives each its own chapter: What Does Tian Xing Govern? and What Does Tian Yao Govern?.

For San Tai and Ba Zuo you first lay out Zuo Fu and You Bi, then count the birth day; they are among the few stars that use the day. A worked example: born on the tenth day of the third month. Zuo Fu is in Wu; start the first day at Wu and count forward to the tenth, which reaches Mao, so San Tai is in Mao. You Bi is in Shen; start the first day at Shen and count backward to the tenth, which reaches Hai, so Ba Zuo is in Hai.

'San Tai and Ba Zuo' was an old way of naming high officials, so these two stars govern standing and grandeur. The Zi Wei question in the Quan Shu says 「如魁鉞三臺星會吉星。則三臺八座矣」 (see the original), treating them as the setting that sets off a noble pattern.

Tian Ku and Tian Xu both start the Zi year at Wu, one backward and one forward, so they mirror each other across the Zi-Wu axis: in a Zi year both are in Wu, in a Wu year both are in Zi, and in other years they separate to either side. Born in a Wu year, for example, Tian Ku counts six positions backward from Wu to Zi, and Tian Xu counts six forward from Wu, also to Zi, so the two share a palace.

Xingge lists Tian Ku and Tian Xu among the lesser stars. The Quan Shu mentions Tian Ku together with the annual Sang Men: 「天哭喪門流年莫遇，遇之實防破害」 (see Dou Shu Fa Wei Lun); the main discussion of the two stars is in What Do Tian Ku and Tian Xu Govern?.

Long Chi runs forward from Chen and Feng Ge backward from Xu, the same starting points as Zuo Fu and You Bi, so they too mirror each other across the Chou-Wei axis. Born in a Wu year, for example, Long Chi counts forward from Chen to the Wu year and lands in Xu; Feng Ge counts backward from Xu and lands in Chen, so the two stars face each other.

Later writers treat Long Chi and Feng Ge as stars of talent and taste, often read alongside Wen Chang and Wen Qu. The Quan Shu's main text hardly ever uses them for verdicts; Xingge puts them in the list of lesser stars, and they are best taken as supplementary detail. For more, see the lesson on the minor talent stars.

Tai Fu starts the Zi hour at Wu and counts forward, in the same direction as Wen Qu (which starts at Chen) and only two palaces apart, so Tai Fu is always the second palace forward from Wen Qu. Born in the Mao hour, for example, Wen Qu is in Wei and Tai Fu in You.

Tai Fu takes its name from the ministers of the imperial cabinet, the old title of a chief minister, and is one of the minor stars governing name and rank. The Quan Shu does not discuss it line by line; Xingge lists it among the lesser stars without a separate reading.

Feng Gao starts the Zi hour at Yin and counts forward, which puts it exactly two palaces backward from Wen Qu; with Tai Fu on the other side, the two hold Wen Qu between them. Born in the Mao hour, for example: Wen Qu in Wei, Tai Fu in You, Feng Gao in Si.

Feng Gao takes its name from the court's patents of honour, and old books pair it with verdicts like 'receives an honorary title' in women's charts. Read today, it suggests titles and recognition, and carries very little weight. The word-order problem mentioned in the text note does not affect the placement, and Xingge's position agrees with this reading.

On direction, the Quan Shu and Xingge differ here; see 'The Xingge approach' above. In practice, for men born in yin years and women born in yang years, reading by the Quan Shu means laying the Chang Sheng stages out again in the other direction, starting from the Chang Sheng palace. Take a man born in a Yi year in the fire bureau, with Chang Sheng in Yin: the Quan Shu lays them out forward (Chang Sheng in Yin, Mu Yu in Mao, Guan Dai in Chen and so on), while Xingge lays them out backward (Chang Sheng in Yin, Mu Yu in Chou, Guan Dai in Zi and so on).

The twelve Chang Sheng stages describe where a palace's qi stands in the cycle of birth, flourishing, the tomb and extinction. They appear in the small text of each palace on a Xingge chart; for how to read them, see the lesson on the twelve Chang Sheng stages.

This line simply gives the Chang Sheng (birth) points of the Five Elements: fire is born in Yin, wood in Hai, metal in Si and water in Shen, and earth follows water, born in Shen (the doctrine that water and earth share a palace). So the starting point of the twelve Chang Sheng stages is set by the Five Elements Bureau, which has to be worked out first; see The Five Elements Bureau and the Sixty Na Yin.

In Fire 6, for example, Chang Sheng is in Yin, and Mu Yu, Guan Dai, Lin Guan and Di Wang follow in turn. The Quan Shu's star-combinations chapter says 「生逢敗地發也虛花」 (see the original); the 'place of defeat' there means Mu Yu, which is how this set of twelve stages is used.

Hong Luan starts the Zi year at Mao and counts backward, and Tian Xi is always in the palace opposite Hong Luan. Born in a Wu year, for example: Zi at Mao, Chou at Yin, Yin at Chou, Mao at Zi, Chen at Hai, Si at Xu, Wu at You, so Hong Luan is in You and Tian Xi in Mao.

On a Xingge chart, natal Hong Luan and Tian Xi are in the list of lesser stars; switch to the Annual Luck and there is also an annual Hong Luan and annual Tian Xi placed by that year's branch, using the same rhyme. For a modern reading of the two stars, see the lesson on the romance stars.

This segment judges Hong Luan and Tian Xi by age. Taken literally: the young who meet them have marriage and happy events, the old who meet them lose a wife; before thirty they count as lucky stars, after fifty they are not suitable. The original says nothing about the years between thirty and fifty.

The ancients' logic is that Hong Luan governs 'red' events, the happy occasions: for the young, a wedding; for the old, it turns into a different kind of major life event. Today the annual Hong Luan and Tian Xi are mostly used to look for good news in love, marriage or a new baby. 'The old lose a wife' is an old verdict; it can be taken to mean that later in life what these stars set off is not necessarily a happy event, and the Spouse Palace and the luck periods still need to be read. Life and death should not be judged from one minor star.