Fortune and Misfortune in the Decade Luck

This paragraph gives three grades for judging a Decade Luck: lucky stars in Miao, Wang or De with no malefic stars, ten peaceful years; the Six Malefic Stars or Hua Ji alongside, mixed success and failure; stars in Xian meeting the Six Malefic Stars and Hua Ji, with vicious annual stars and malefic stars in the Minor Luck added, and only then 「官災死亡立見」. The point of the last grade is that three layers gather at once; a bad Decade Luck palace alone does not warrant that verdict. On a Xingge chart, the Decade Luck palace is the one whose age range covers your current age; check its main stars' brightness and whether the Six Malefic Stars are there. The detailed chart also has the Decade Luck's own transformations (from the stem of the Decade Luck palace), a technique of later schools; the Hua Ji in this passage means the birth year's Hua Ji. Xingge's starting point for the Decade Luck differs from the Quan Shu's by one palace, as 'The Xingge approach' above explains; to follow the Quan Shu, move one palace further in the direction of travel.

「大限將出」 means the last few years of a ten-year span. The Quan Shu says that with many lucky stars the handover passes in peace, and with few there are disasters and losses of people and money, so the years around a change of Decade Luck deserve attention. The second half groups the palaces by branch: in Yin, Shen, Si, Hai, Zi and Wu, meeting Zi Wei, Tian Fu, Tian Tong, Tai Yang, Tai Yin, Wen Chang and Wen Qu, Lu Cun or Hua Lu, family and wealth flourish. The grouping is unusual: Mao and You are not put with Zi and Wu but listed in the next segment with Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei. On a Xingge chart, the year of a change is where two palaces' age ranges meet: if one palace reads 25–34 and the next 35–44, the years around 34 and 35 are when one luck is 'about to leave' and the next 'about to enter'.

Reaching Chen, Xu, Chou, Wei, Mao or You and meeting Lian Zhen, Tian Shi, the Six Malefic Stars or Hua Ji means drink, lust, want, life and death, heavy words taken as meant; yet the same segment says that these palaces with Zuo Fu, You Bi, Wen Chang and Wen Qu bring promotion, sons and gain in every walk of life. So the grouping by branch is only background; the stars still decide. Tian Shi is always placed in the Health Palace, so 'the Decade Luck meeting Tian Shi' is the Decade Luck reaching the natal Health Palace; Tian Shi appears among the minor stars on Xingge's detailed chart. Listing Lian Zhen beside the Six Malefic Stars reflects the Quan Shu's steady view of Lian Zhen as the 'prisoner' star and a secondary peach-blossom star; see Star Combinations: Lian Zhen.

This passage lists the situations the luck periods fear most: being flanked by Tian Shang and Tian Shi, reaching Di Kong or Di Jie, reaching Qing Yang or Tuo Luo or being clashed by them, and meeting a new bad luck just after escaping one. 'Flanked by Shang and Shi' follows a fixed rule of chart setup: Tian Shang is always in the Friends Palace and Tian Shi always in the Health Palace, and these two palaces sit on either side of the Travel Palace, so what Shang and Shi flank is always the natal Travel Palace. The original's example, Tian Shang in Zi and Tian Shi in Yin flanking Chou, is a chart with the Life Palace in Wei and the Travel Palace in Chou. In other words, whenever the Decade Luck, Minor Luck or Annual Luck reaches the natal Travel Palace, the luck is flanked by Shang and Shi. The rhyme for placing Tian Shang and Tian Shi likewise says that the body or the luck flanked between Shang and Shi is a doubly flanked position. Tian Shang and Tian Shi appear among the minor stars on Xingge's detailed chart.

Qing Yang and Tuo Luo flanking a luck are worse than guarding the Life Palace, in the Quan Shu's judgement; the remedy is the 'stars of longevity': Zi Wei, Tian Tong, Tian Liang or Tan Lang in the Life Palace can relieve it. The choice of these four can be understood this way: Zi Wei is the emperor star that can subdue malefic stars; Tian Liang rules long life and shelter; Tian Tong's transformed qi is blessing; and for Tan Lang the Quan Shu also has 「貪狼加吉坐長生壽考永如彭租」, Tan Lang with lucky stars seated at Chang Sheng lives as long as Peng Zu (the 租 there is a slip for 祖); see Star Combinations: Tan Lang. The condition is that they sit in the natal Life Palace, not in the luck palace. The last sentence's weighing of the Decade Luck, Minor Luck, year, month, day and hour together is the Quan Shu's finest method of timing; Xingge currently shows the Decade, Annual and Monthly Luck and the Minor Luck, and uses the daily luck only in its daily forecast.

This passage is about Tai Sui (the Annual Luck) reaching palaces of malefic spirits. Zou Shu, Jiang Jun and Zhi Fu are the separate 'three killing stars of the year' listed in the rhyme for the flying three killers, which fly into the trine palaces by the year's branch, and are not the same set as the Zou Shu and Jiang Jun among the twelve Bo Shi spirits. Xingge does not lay out the flying three killers; the Zou Shu and Jiang Jun on the detailed chart are the Bo Shi spirits and should not be read for these. The second half's 「惡殺在不得地，如風雨暴過」 deserves attention: malefic stars in positions without strength bring trouble that comes fast and goes fast, which amounts to a lightening condition. The verdicts of miscarriage and death for the sick are kept as meant; the Quan Shu is listing the extreme cases.

The last line of the Quan Shu's section on the luck periods: if the palace of the year and the luck has no lucky stars and the natal chart has no rescuer, that year is hard to get through and death is certain. The verdict stands as meant, and its condition is that both ends fail: no lucky stars in the luck palace, and none of the stars of longevity or other relief from the previous segment in the natal chart. The Quan Shu also has Hidden Virtue Lengthens Life, which says that doing good can carry one past a bad luck period, and the two should be read together. In reading charts today, the responsible approach is that the luck periods can show which years carry heavy pressure and call for special care with health and safety, not that they can pronounce on life and death.