Star Combinations: Kui Yue, Zuo Fu, You Bi and Lu Cun

This page puts three sets of helper stars together: Tian Kui and Tian Yue, Zuo Fu and You Bi, and Lu Cun. None of them is among the fourteen major stars, yet they are the conditions the Quan Shu adds most often when grading a pattern; the 'with lucky stars' and 'with Zuo Fu and You Bi' on the earlier star pages mostly mean these. This section deals first with Tian Kui and Tian Yue, the stars of noble helpers, placed by the birth-year stem.

The conditions for Kui Yue Jia Ming (Tian Kui and Tian Yue flanking the Life Palace) are narrower than one might think. Tian Kui and Tian Yue follow the year stem: Chou and Wei for Jia, Wu and Geng, Zi and Shen for Yi and Ji, Hai and You for Bing and Ding, Wu and Yin for Xin, Mao and Si for Ren and Gui. To flank a palace the two stars must be one palace apart, which happens only in Bing and Ding years (Hai and You flanking Xu) and Ren and Gui years (Mao and Si flanking Chen). The note's example, Life in Chen with Tian Kui in Mao and Tian Yue in Si, is a Ren or Gui year. So there are only two such charts: a Bing or Ding year with the Life Palace in Xu, and a Ren or Gui year with the Life Palace in Chen.

Tian Kui and Tian Yue are the Tian Yi noble helpers, governing promotion and meeting patrons in examinations. What Do Tian Kui and Tian Yue Govern? speaks of them in the Life Palace as sitting with nobility and facing nobility; see the pattern Zuo Gui Xiang Gui: one in the Life Palace, the other in the opposite palace or the Body Palace, sitting and embracing in turn. In today's terms, it suggests meeting people who appreciate one's ability at exams, interviews and promotions.

Tian Kui and Tian Yue with Wen Chang, Wen Qu and Lu Cun, and no punishing or malefic stars clashing, reach the rank of chief minister. Keep two things apart: among Xingge's minor stars there is a star named Tai Fu (placed by birth hour), which is a star; the 臺輔 here is a ministerial rank, and the two have nothing to do with each other. The Tai Wei Fu also says Tian Kui and Tian Yue travelling together place the person at the rank of chief minister. The note's 'meeting punishing or malefic stars, ordinary, suited only to monastic life' follows the logic of the earlier pages: many lucky stars make a person noble, many malefic stars send them to the monastery. Five lucky stars, Tian Kui, Tian Yue, Wen Chang, Wen Qu and Lu Cun, gathered together are rare on real charts; this line describes an ideal.

'Met again' can be understood as the natal Tian Kui and Tian Yue meeting the annual ones in the same place; Xingge's Annual Luck includes the annual Tian Kui and Tian Yue. Why should noble-helper stars bring illness when malefic stars join them? The usual explanation is that Tian Kui and Tian Yue belong to fire, and Qing Yang, Ling Xing, Di Kong and Di Jie stir that fire into wear on the body. It is an unusual claim, and the Quan Shu says nothing more about it.

Tian Kui and Tian Yue are placed by year stem, so everyone born in the same year has them in the same places; the only difference is which palace the Life Palace falls in. So this line amounts to saying that a Life Palace that happens to fall on one's own year's Tian Kui or Tian Yue brings blessings and long life. On a chart, check whether Tian Kui or Tian Yue is in the Life or Body Palace.

This section deals with Zuo Fu and You Bi. Zuo Fu starts from Chen at the first month and counts forward, You Bi from Xu at the first month and counts backward, so both depend only on the birth month. Because one goes forward and the other backward, their positions mirror each other across the Chou-Wei line: in the fourth month both are in Wei, in the tenth month both in Chou, and in other months they sit apart. That symmetry decides whether the 'flanking' and 'same palace' lines below can happen at all.

The Tai Wei Fu tradition keeps saying that Zi Wei needs Zuo Fu and You Bi to be a true ruler; here Zuo Fu and You Bi are put with Wen Chang and no major star is mentioned, as if the helper stars and the literary star could make a person noble on their own. It fits someone with people to help them and solid skills with documents and writing, suited to rising to senior adviser or manager in an organisation. On a chart, look for Zuo Fu, You Bi and Wen Chang among the Life Palace's stars and its San Fang.

Zuo You Jia Ming (Zuo Fu and You Bi flanking the Life Palace). As the note explains, by the placement rules Zuo Fu in Zi with You Bi in Yin occurs only for a ninth-month birth, so the fourth, seventh and eleventh months listed do not fit. Since the two stars mirror each other across Chou and Wei, flanking happens only with the Life Palace in Chou or Wei: a ninth-month birth flanks Chou (Zuo Fu in Zi, You Bi in Yin), and so does an eleventh-month birth (Zuo Fu in Yin, You Bi in Zi); a third-month birth flanks Wei (Zuo Fu in Wu, You Bi in Shen), and so does a fifth-month birth (Zuo Fu in Shen, You Bi in Wu). So the months that really flank Chou are the ninth and eleventh: the note's eleventh month is right, and its fourth and seventh are not.

You Bi and Zuo Fu in the Life or Travel Palace bring rich blessings all life, and in the San Fang next best. They are helpers: in the Life Palace the person is well liked, in the Travel Palace they meet patrons when away from home. The line attaches no major-star condition at all and still rates them highly, which shows how much the Quan Shu values these two. On a chart, see whether Zuo Fu and You Bi are in the Life Palace itself, opposite it, or in its trines.

Zuo You Tong Gong (Zuo Fu and You Bi in one palace) happens only in the fourth month (both in Wei) and the tenth month (both in Chou); the note on the line already explains that the months and palaces given do not fit. Sharing a palace means the two helpers are concentrated in one place, and if that palace is the Life Palace, the person is a high official in silk and purple. In fact, only a fourth-month birth with the Life Palace in Wei, or a tenth-month birth with the Life Palace in Chou, is strictly Zuo Fu and You Bi together in the Life Palace, a very narrow condition, which is why the note says 'the San Fang do not count' and does not widen it.

The original is the Tai Wei Fu's 「輔弼單守命宮，離宗庶出」 (segment 41). The note says this means no major star in the Body or Life Palace: the Life Palace has no major star, only one of the helpers. It runs along the same line as Essentials of Reading the Stars, where a Life Palace without a major star may mean 'born of a concubine or secondary mother'. The note adds that if the San Fang join Zi Wei, Tian Xiang or Tian Fu, it is lucky: a major star shines in from the San Fang, and the helper has a ruler to serve.

These are two lines run together by mistake, as the textual note explains. The first half: Zuo Fu and You Bi with Lian Zhen and Qing Yang mean punishment and theft, since Lian Zhen is imprisonment and Qing Yang punishment, and here the helpers end up helping wrongdoing. The second half: Zuo Fu and You Bi with Wen Chang and Wen Qu meeting Qing Yang and Tuo Luo mean a hidden mole, almost the same as the Wen Chang and Wen Qu page's 「昌曲左右會羊陀當生異痣」 (segment 21), with 'hidden mole' for 'unusual mole'. Most of the Quan Shu's lines about moles involve helper or literary stars meeting Qing Yang and Tuo Luo.

Zuo Fu and You Bi in or around the Wealth and Career Palaces, flanking or embracing them, bring ample food and salary. The page on Jie Kong and Shang Shi has an almost identical line, with the example 「財官在丑日在子月在寅是夾也」 (segment 27); the example there is actually the sun and moon flanking, showing that 'flanking and embracing' is a general idea in the Quan Shu. Looking at the Wealth and Career Palaces rather than the Life Palace is the Quan Shu's standard practice when judging wealth.

Zuo Fu and You Bi with Tian Kui and Tian Yue mean blessings and long life, and the note says a woman who meets them brings prosperity to her husband and benefit to her children. Four helper stars together are one of the fullest 'lucky star' combinations the Quan Shu has in mind. The note's 「三星在命論宮」 is a little garbled; roughly, it means several of them together in the Life Palace. 'Bringing prosperity to the husband and benefit to the children' is the Quan Shu's highest praise for a woman's chart, as on the Tai Yang page of this chapter.

This line is the same as 「右弼天相福來臨」 on the Tian Xiang page of this chapter, and the notes are much alike: not noble in Chou, Wei and Hai, little satisfaction in fallen positions. Tian Xiang is fallen in Mao and You, so the poor verdict there comes from brightness; in Chou and Wei Tian Xiang is Miao and De, yet the line says not noble, and the original gives no reason. You Bi is placed by birth month; on a chart, check whether it shares Tian Xiang's palace.

This section deals with Lu Cun, placed by the year stem. 'The Xingge approach' above explains that Xingge gives Lu Cun no brightness grade, which fits the Quan Shu's 'Miao in all twelve palaces': Lu Cun is strong wherever it goes. Lu Cun is always flanked by Qing Yang and Tuo Luo, so for anyone with Lu Cun in the Life Palace, the Life Palace is always flanked by the two, Lu Cun's most distinctive structure. For Lu Cun's character as a whole, see The Nature of Lu Cun.

The original is the Tai Wei Fu's 「祿存守於田財，堆金積玉」 (segment 36). Lu Cun in the Wealth or Property Palace means a steady source of money and assets. The note adds 「在命方可喜」: beyond Lu Cun in the Wealth or Property Palace, the Life Palace must be good too for the person to enjoy it, and Hua Lu, Hua Ke or Hua Quan joining is better still. A modern reading: steady income and a knack for accumulating, suited to holding assets for the long term.

Lu Cun is in Zi in Gui years and in Wu in Ding and Ji years. In the Travel Palace it means the Life Palace is in Wu or Zi, with Lu Cun shining in from opposite; in the Body or Life Palace, Lu Cun sits there itself. With Lu Cun in Zi or Wu, Qing Yang and Tuo Luo fall in Hai and Chou or in Si and Wei: when Lu Cun is in the Life Palace, it is flanked by them; when it is in the Travel Palace, they fall in the Health and Friends Palaces on either side of the Travel Palace and do not touch the Life Palace directly. The Quan Shu says only that profit and salary are favourable, and deducts nothing for Qing Yang and Tuo Luo.

The original is the Gu Sui Fu's 「明祿暗祿錦上添花」 (segment 63). The note explains that bright Lu is the Lu of the Life Palace itself and hidden Lu the Lu of the palace in six-harmony with it. The six harmonies are Zi-Chou, Yin-Hai, Mao-Xu, Chen-You, Si-Shen and Wu-Wei, so with the Life Palace in Zi, the hidden Lu is looked for in Chou. This is one of the few Quan Shu patterns that uses the six harmonies of the branches; a Xingge chart does not point it out, so find the six-harmony palace yourself.

This is Shuang Lu Jiao Liu (the two Lu flowing together): Lu Cun meeting Hua Lu. The base text has 「重返」, 'return again', which should mean 'meet again'. One Lu is Lu Cun, fixed by the year stem; the other is Hua Lu, the year stem's transformation; they are placed by different rules, so they can share a palace (in a Jia year, Lian Zhen takes Hua Lu and, when it sits in Yin, shares the palace with Lu Cun), face each other or meet from a trine. It means several income streams rather than a single source of money.

Lu Feng Chong Po (Lu clashed and broken) appears in the Tai Wei Fu as 「祿逢沖破，吉處藏凶」 (segment 9). 'Clashed and broken' means the Lu is hit by Di Kong and Di Jie, Hua Ji, or malefic stars in the opposite palace. Lu Cun is already flanked by Qing Yang and Tuo Luo; clashed as well, resources cannot be kept. This is the Quan Shu's most important warning about Lu: seeing Lu is not automatically good; check whether it is broken. On a chart, look at the palace of Lu Cun or Hua Lu, its opposite palace and its companions for Di Kong, Di Jie or Hua Ji.

Lu Cun and Hua Lu together in the Life Palace: like Empress Lü seizing power. The Gu Sui Fu's original is 「呂后專權兩重天祿天馬」 (segment 47), which adds Tian Ma. For the two Lu to share a palace, the major star that takes Hua Lu in the birth year must sit exactly where Lu Cun is: for example Lian Zhen with Hua Lu in a Jia year sitting in Yin, or Tian Ji with Hua Lu in a Yi year sitting in Mao. The Quan Shu uses Empress Lü for a woman holding great power; the line itself is not limited to either sex.

The original is the Women's Gu Sui Fu's 「祿存厚重多衣食」 (segment 6). Lu Cun belongs to earth; its nature is solid, weighty and conservative, and it governs steady food and clothing. The note says it brings blessings in every palace, and a woman marrying or taking in a husband prospers in wealth. Anyone with Lu Cun in the Life Palace is always flanked by Qing Yang and Tuo Luo, so Lu Cun's 'weight' also has a constrained, cautious side. It describes someone who values security, manages money conservatively and keeps what they have.