Star Combinations: Tian Tong

The Quan Shu lists only a few palaces each for Tian Tong's Miao, Wang and Xian. The brightness table Xingge uses agrees for these palaces and fills in the rest: Bu in Chou and Wei, Li in Yin, Ping in Mao, Chen, You and Xu. Tian Tong's transformed qi is 'blessing'; it is the master of the Fortune Palace, gentle by nature and fond of comfort. Wu is its one fallen position, where it shares the palace with Tai Yin. For Tian Tong's character as a whole, see The Nature of Tian Tong and the Tian Tong star page.

Tian Tong is a star of blessing, and meeting lucky stars it gives long life: a direct inference. Worth comparing is a line on the Tan Lang page of this chapter, 「貪狠入廟壽元長」 (segment 3, where 狠 is a slip for the 狼 of Tan Lang), whose second half is word for word the same, showing that the Quan Shu does not judge longevity from the star of blessing alone. In Fortune and Misfortune in the Decade Luck, Tian Tong, Tian Liang, Zi Wei and Tan Lang are named as the stars of longevity, and this line can be taken as one source of that judgment. 「壽元長」 can be read today as a more relaxed, less strenuous way of living.

This is Ma Tou Dai Jian (an arrow on the horse's head): Qing Yang in Wu, the horse's branch. The textual note has corrected 丙戌 to Bing and Wu. Two further facts of chart construction: Tian Tong in Wu always shares the palace with Tai Yin, while Tan Lang in Wu sits alone, so the two never share Wu, and 「天同貪」 should be read as Tian Tong or Tan Lang in Wu; and Tuo Luo never falls in Wu either, so 'Qing Yang and Tuo Luo in Wu' is really Qing Yang alone. The logic of the pattern is that a malefic star in an extremely strong position becomes authority instead, which is why the ancients said the person could guard the frontier; today it corresponds to managers in the military or police, in field work, or in other high-pressure settings.

Tian Tong and Tai Yin share a palace only in Zi and Wu. In Zi, Tian Tong is Wang and Tai Yin Miao, a good combination; in Wu, Tian Tong is Xian and Tai Yin Bu (Unsupported), the fallen palace meant here. With heavy malefic stars added, the verdict is a thin, sallow craftsman. The Quan Shu often links 'craft' with fallen positions and malefic stars, meaning the person does not take the proper road of study and office but lives by a trade. The Ju Men page has a similar phrase, 「羸黃困弱」 (segment 15). Today it can be read as a weaker constitution and work based on specialist skills, with no need for any slight.

The original appears in the Gu Sui Fu as 「天同戌宮為反背，丁人化吉主大貴」 (segment 66). Tian Tong in Xu is only Ping, with Ju Men opposite in Chen, where it is Xian, hence 'turned away'. The advantages of a Ding year, taken apart: Tian Tong's Hua Quan is in the palace itself, Tai Yin's Hua Lu and Tian Ji's Hua Ke are in Yin in the trine, and Lu Cun is in Wu in the trine. A dim star of blessing is thus turned right round by three transformations and Lu Cun together, a textbook case of the Quan Shu's 'reversed patterns'. Note that in a Ding year Ju Men is Hua Ji in the opposite palace Chen, clashing from across the chart, which the original does not mention.

The note lists palaces and stems that fit the pattern, which can be taken one by one. Tian Tong in Yin shares the palace with Tian Liang; if 'Zi' is a slip for Jia, then in a Jia year Lu Cun sits right in Yin. In a Xin year with Tian Tong in Mao, Lu Cun is opposite in You and Ju Men's Hua Lu is in Hai in the trine. A Ding year in Xu is as in the previous line. The last clause says that in Si or Hai with a lucky transformation, though beautiful she is sure to be lewd: Tian Tong is Miao in Si and Hai, and with a lucky transformation as well, blessing overflows, and the ancients feared a woman would sink into pleasure. The note has already left 'Zi-born' in doubt. Like the lines on Zi Wei and Tai Yang in this chapter, it judges a woman's chart by 'virtue', the Quan Shu's fixed frame for women.