XinggePlacing the Northern and Southern Dipper Stars
〈安南北斗諸星訣〉
The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu, Volume 2: Placing the stars and the twelve palaces · Original text with translation
Introduction
This is the rhyme for placing the fourteen main stars. It is only two lines long, one for each group:
- The Zi Wei group (segment 2): once Zi Wei is placed, the stars run backward from it. Tian Ji is right next to it, then, after a gap of one palace, Tai Yang, followed by Wu Qu and Tian Tong, and after a gap of two more palaces, Lian Zhen.
- The Tian Fu group (segment 3): once Tian Fu is placed, the stars run forward from it: Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang and Qi Sha, one per palace, and three empty palaces after Qi Sha comes Po Jun.
Zi Wei's position is read from the bureau charts in the setup charts, and Tian Fu's from the chart for placing Tian Fu in the same chapter. Xingge places the fourteen main stars exactly as this rhyme does.
安南北斗諸星訣
2紫微天機逆行旁，隔一陽武天同當，又隔二位廉貞地，空三復見紫微郎，
TranslationOnce Zi Wei is placed, Tian Ji is beside it, one palace in the backward direction; skip one palace and there is Tai Yang, followed by Wu Qu and Tian Tong; skip two more palaces and there is Lian Zhen's place; from Lian Zhen, leave three palaces empty and you are back at Zi Wei.
- 逆行
- Going backward: against the order of the Earthly Branches (Yin, Chou, Zi), counterclockwise on the usual chart.
This line fixes the relative positions of the six stars of the Zi Wei group. In palace counts it is easier to remember: counting backward from Zi Wei, Tian Ji is one palace back, Tai Yang three, Wu Qu four, Tian Tong five and Lian Zhen eight. With Zi Wei in You, for example: Tian Ji in Shen, Tai Yang in Wu, Wu Qu in Si, Tian Tong in Chen, Lian Zhen in Chou. From Lian Zhen, leave Zi, Hai and Xu empty and you are back at You, where Zi Wei sits; that is what 「空三復見紫微郎」 means.
One fact that is very useful in reading charts follows from this: Zi Wei, Wu Qu and Lian Zhen are always in trine to one another. When the Quan Shu says Wu Qu and Lian Zhen are 'in the same degree', on the chart that is really this trine meeting (see the explanation in Star Elements and the Northern and Southern Dippers). On a Xingge chart these stars are all placed by this line, and the twelve resulting arrangements are called the base charts.
3天府太陰與貪狼，巨門天相及天梁，七殺空三破軍位，八星順數細推詳。
TranslationOnce Tian Fu is placed, Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang and Qi Sha follow in order, one per palace; after Qi Sha leave three palaces empty, and that is Po Jun's place. All eight of these stars are counted forward; work it out carefully.
The eight stars of the Tian Fu group run forward one per palace: Tian Fu, Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang, Qi Sha, and only after three empty palaces following Qi Sha comes Po Jun. Continuing the earlier example: with Zi Wei in You, Tian Fu is in Wei (Zi Wei and Tian Fu mirror each other across the Yin-Shen axis; see the chart for placing Tian Fu); then Tai Yin in Shen, Tan Lang in You, Ju Men in Xu, Tian Xiang in Hai, Tian Liang in Zi, Qi Sha in Chou; leave Yin, Mao and Chen empty, and Po Jun is in Si.
Two rules also fall out of the palace counts. Qi Sha is always opposite Tian Fu. Tan Lang, Qi Sha and Po Jun are four palaces apart from each other, so they always meet in the San Fang: this is Sha Po Lang. When the Quan Shu speaks of combinations like 'Tian Fu and Tian Xiang paying court' or Sha Po Lang, they can all be understood by going back to the positions set in this line.
Base text (Wikisource, partly in simplified Chinese)
FAQ
How are the fourteen main stars placed?
First fix Zi Wei from the Five Elements Bureau and the birth day, then fix Tian Fu from Zi Wei. Going backward from Zi Wei come Tian Ji, (one empty palace) Tai Yang, Wu Qu, Tian Tong, (two empty palaces) Lian Zhen. Going forward from Tian Fu come Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang, Qi Sha, and after three more empty palaces, Po Jun.
What does 「空三復見紫微郎」 mean?
After counting backward from Zi Wei to Lian Zhen, skip three more palaces and you come round to Zi Wei itself, exactly one circuit of the twelve palaces. It is a way to check that you have not miscounted.
Main stars in this section