Star Combinations: Lian Zhen

Lian Zhen's brightness table matches Xingge's; Xingge also grades Zi, Wu, Mao and You as Ping. Lian Zhen's transformed qi is imprisonment; it belongs to fire, is the master of the Career Palace, and is also the 'secondary peach-blossom star'. It is Miao in Yin and Shen, where it sits alone with Tan Lang opposite, and Xian in Si and Hai, exactly where it shares the palace with Tan Lang. The many verdicts of punishment, prison and lawsuits in the Quan Shu's treatment of Lian Zhen all trace back to this transformed qi of imprisonment. For Lian Zhen's character as a whole, see The Nature of Lian Zhen and the Lian Zhen star page.

The note names this combination Xiong Su Chao Yuan. Lian Zhen in Shen is Miao and alone, with Tan Lang opposite in Yin; in Wei it is Li and shares the palace with Qi Sha. The pattern is usually taught as Lian Zhen in the Life Palace in Yin or Shen; this line says 「申未」, and Lian Zhen with Qi Sha in Wei is a different combination from Lian Zhen alone in Yin or Shen, so there may be a copying discrepancy. The condition is no malefic stars; in a Jia year Lian Zhen takes Hua Lu and Lu Cun is in Yin, shining on Shen from the opposite palace, which makes Jia the best year stem for this pattern.

The original is the Gu Sui Fu's 「貞居卯酉定是公胥吏輩」 (segment 49). Lian Zhen in Mao or You always shares the palace with Po Jun, Lian Zhen Ping and Po Jun Xian: the imprisoning star and the wasting star together, plus malefic stars, make a petty clerk in a government office with no standing. The note adds 'or a craftsman'. This line is of a kind with the Zi Wei page's 「紫微破軍無左右無吉曜凶惡胥吏之徒」 (segment 15): the emperor star or the imprisoning star meeting Po Jun without lucky stars both sink to the level of clerks. The modern equivalent is routine, procedural work at the lower levels of a large organisation.

The note suspects 「暗臣」 should be Ju Men. There is another reading worth considering: the Xing Xing Fu has the line 「暗合廉貞為貪濫之曹吏」 (segment 18), almost the same meaning, using 'hidden union'. A hidden union is the six-harmony relation between palace branches (Zi with Chou, Yin with Hai and so on), which can hold for Lian Zhen's position on a chart; read that way, the line need not involve Ju Men at all. Neither reading can be proved, but the Xing Xing Fu version at least works on a chart.

Lian Zhen meets Tan Lang, Qi Sha and Po Jun with Wu Qu in the Travel Palace, and 「作具戎」 is unclear; the note already has its doubts. The Women's Gu Sui Fu has 「經商紫府遇擎羊，武曲遷移利市場，殺破廉貞同左右」 (segment 36), placing Wu Qu in the Travel Palace and Qi Sha, Po Jun and Lian Zhen in the context of trade. Lian Zhen and the Sha Po Lang stars do meet each other on a chart: Lian Zhen shares a palace with Tan Lang in Si and Hai, with Qi Sha in Chou and Wei, and with Po Jun in Mao and You. These stars lean toward military office and pioneering, so the ancients' reading of joining the army is reasonable.

The original is the Gu Sui Fu's 「廉貞七殺反為積富之人」 (segment 12). The note has explained that the two stars share a palace only in Chou and Wei, where their brightness is Li and Miao. 「反為」 marks a turn: Lian Zhen with Qi Sha is a fierce combination, yet here it builds wealth. The note also says 「殺居午奇格」; Qi Sha in Wu has nothing to do with Lian Zhen and belongs with the Qi Sha Chao Dou type; fallen with Hua Ji, poor, low and disabled. Segment 8 says Lian Zhen with Qi Sha in Si or Hai drifts to the ends of the earth; the two lines need reading together, as discussed there.

The original is in What Does Lian Zhen Govern?: 「同火曜於陷空之地，主投河自縊」. Lian Zhen and Po Jun share a palace only in Mao and You, where Po Jun is Xian and Lian Zhen Ping; Huo Xing belongs to fire and so does Lian Zhen, fire on fire, in the place where the wasting star is fallen. As written, it is a verdict of suicide. Lines like this call for special care today: they describe an extreme combination of pressures and should not be used to pass such a judgment on any individual.

The note has explained that Lian Zhen in Si or Hai shares the palace with Tan Lang and that Qi Sha sits in a trine. The Gu Sui Fu has both 「廉貞七殺流蕩天涯」 (segment 50) and 「廉貞七殺反為積富之人」, so the Quan Shu contradicts itself. This chapter reconciles them by palace: in Chou or Wei, Miao or Wang, the pair builds wealth; in Si or Hai (Lian Zhen fallen), it drifts. This is a good way to read the Quan Shu's contradictory lines: look first at palace and brightness, and each line often turns out to have its own conditions.

The original is the Gu Sui Fu's 「仲由威猛廉貞入廟遇將軍」 (segment 38). Jiang Jun is one of the twelve Bo Shi spirits, counted from Lu Cun, and it appears among each palace's spirit stars on a Xingge chart. Most of the Life Palaces in the note are exactly where Jiang Jun falls in a man's chart (forward for yang years, backward for yin years): in Bing and Wu years Lu Cun is in Si and Jiang Jun falls in You, in Geng years in Zi; counting backward, Yi years give Hai, Ding and Ji years Yin, Gui years Shen. But in Jia years it should be Wu and in Xin years Si, where the note has You and Mao; and in most of these palaces Lian Zhen is not Miao, so they do not fit 'Lian Zhen in a Miao palace'. The note's list looks as if it only copied the positions of Jiang Jun.

Lian Zhen sharing a palace with Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Huo Xing and Ling Xing meets punishment and execution. Lian Zhen's transformed qi is imprisonment, and meeting the punishing star Qing Yang is imprisonment plus punishment. The Tai Wei Fu has 「鈴羊合於命宮遇白虎，須當刑戮」 (segment 42): different conditions, the same conclusion. Note that Qing Yang and Tuo Luo never share a palace, so in practice 'the four malefic stars in one palace' means one or two of them in the palace and the rest meeting it. The modern reading is a tendency toward legal disputes or penalties, not a punishment that must happen.

This is a condition of the luck periods: the Annual Luck's Tai Sui and the Minor Luck both in Lian Zhen's palace, and Bai Hu arriving too. What Does Lian Zhen Govern? also says 「遇白虎則刑杖難逃」. Bai Hu is one of the twelve Sui Qian spirits, placed by the branch of the year. In the Annual Luck of a Xingge chart, the Sui Qian spirits are that year's set, which shows the palace Bai Hu falls in; if it is the palace holding natal Lian Zhen and is also the year's Life Palace, that is the case described here.

The three stars never share one palace: Lian Zhen shares a palace with Qi Sha in Chou and Wei and with Po Jun in Mao and You, and the remaining star shines in from the San Fang. The Travel Palace page also says 「加羊陀並三方有凶殺死於外道」, adding Qing Yang and Tuo Luo as a clearer condition. Travelling far was dangerous in old times, and dying on the road was a common fear; in modern life the line suggests extra attention to safety when away from home, on the road or living elsewhere.

The original is the Tai Wei Fu's 「刑殺同廉貞於官祿，枷杻難逃」 (segment 40); the textual note has already corrected the characters. The Career Palace governs work and office; Lian Zhen, the imprisoning star, meeting Qing Yang there means being charged for something done in office. Today it suggests work involving regulations and heavy responsibility, where compliance needs special care; the old cangue and handcuffs correspond to legal penalties today.

The original is the Women's Gu Sui Fu's 「廉貞清白能相守，更有天同理亦然」 (segment 2). The note pairs stems and palaces: born in Jia, Ji, Geng or Gui years with the Life Palace in Shen, You, Hai or Zi; born in Bing, Xin, Yi or Wu years with it in Yin, Mao, Si or Wu; in Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei, base instead. The four tomb palaces are where Lian Zhen shares the palace with Tian Fu or Qi Sha, and the Quan Shu gives them the opposite verdict here without saying why. 'Pure and able to stay faithful' means keeping chaste, one of the most important judgments the old books made of a woman's chart.