Star Combinations: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo

Qing Yang always sits in the palace after Lu Cun, and Lu Cun falls only in eight palaces, Zi, Yin, Mao, Si, Wu, Shen, You and Hai, so Qing Yang appears only in Zi, Chou, Mao, Chen, Wu, Wei, You and Xu, and never in Yin, Shen, Si or Hai. This table splits those eight palaces neatly in half: Miao in the four tombs, Xian in the four cardinal palaces, with no grade in between, and Xingge's brightness table is the same. Qing Yang belongs to metal and is nourished by the earth of the four tombs, hence Miao there; in Zi, Wu, Mao and You, the cardinal positions where qi is strongest, its harmful nature is fiercest. For Qing Yang's character as a whole, see The Nature of Qing Yang.

Qing Yang in a Miao palace is rich, noble and famous, and the note says only with lucky stars. The year stems behind Qing Yang in the four tombs are fixed: Chen in Yi years, Xu in Xin years, Chou in Gui years, Wei in Ding and Ji years. A malefic star in its temple can achieve things, the Quan Shu's consistent logic about the Six Malefic Stars: malefic force put in the right place becomes authority. It describes someone bold, competitive and able to decide under pressure, provided lucky stars in the Life Palace's San Fang guide it.

The original is the Gu Sui Fu's 「擎羊火星威權出眾」 (segment 36). 'The Xingge approach' above points out that segment 12 of this page says the opposite, a low pattern. The note gives a clue for reconciling them: Chen and Xu good, Chou and Wei next. Qing Yang is Miao in all four tombs, while Huo Xing is Miao in Xu, De in Chou, Li in Wei and Xian in Chen, so Qing Yang with Huo Xing is good when both are strong and a low pattern in fallen positions. When the Quan Shu contradicts itself, breaking the line down by brightness often shows that each version has its own conditions.

The Qi Sha page also has 「七殺重逢四殺腰陀背曲」 (segment 8), so the four malefic stars and the spine and posture are a fixed link in the Quan Shu. Qing Yang and Tuo Luo never share a palace, so in practice this means some of them in the Body Palace and some in the Life Palace, or some in the palace and the rest meeting it. Physical verdicts like this one can be compared against reality, but should not be treated as certain.

Qing Yang is fallen in Zi, Wu, Mao and You; the note ranks Wu worst, Mao next, Zi and You after, and calls it 'the sword at the horse's head'. Curiously, the Tian Tong page of this chapter treats the same Qing Yang in Wu, the Ma Tou Dai Jian (arrow at the horse's head), as rich and noble for people born in Bing or Wu years, guarding the frontier. The difference lies in the companion stars: that line has Tian Tong or Tan Lang and specifies Bing or Wu years, while this one has Qing Yang alone in Wu. The note ends with 'with many lucky stars, do not judge so': the same pattern turns from unlucky to lucky with different company.

The original is the Gu Sui Fu's 「李廣不封擎羊逢於力士」 (segment 37). Li Shi is the second of the twelve Bo Shi spirits, which start from Lu Cun, so counting forward Li Shi lands exactly on Qing Yang, and counting backward on Tuo Luo. The note's Jia-Mao, Bing-Wu, Geng-You and Ren-Zi are all where Qing Yang sits in yang years, that is, the case of a yang-year man counting forward, where Qing Yang and Li Shi always share a palace. Every palace on a Xingge chart carries its Bo Shi spirit, so readers can check this for themselves.

This is the Quan Shu's general principle for the Six Malefic Stars: a malefic star is force in itself, and good or bad depends on what it joins. Set against the Tai Wei Fu's 「七殺破軍專依羊鈴之虐」, the same malefic stars turn cruel with Qi Sha and Po Jun and make money with lucky stars. Today this can be read as saying that pressure and competition are not bad in themselves; what matters is whether resources and support turn them into results.

Qing Yang and Ling Xing in the Life Palace, with the annual Bai Hu also arriving there: disaster and injury. The Tai Wei Fu says 「鈴羊合於命宮遇白虎，須當刑戮」 (segment 42), almost the same condition with a heavier conclusion. Bai Hu is one of the twelve Sui Qian spirits of the year. In the Annual Luck of a Xingge chart, each palace's Sui Qian spirits are that year's set; see whether Bai Hu falls in the natal Life Palace.

This line is the prototype of Qing Yang and Tuo Luo Stacked: a person born in a Geng year, the Life Palace in Mao, Qing Yang facing it from You, and the Annual Luck meeting Qing Yang and Tuo Luo again. The note widens stacking to the other palaces: natal Qing Yang or Tuo Luo in the Life Palace, and the year bringing them again. So the Quan Shu's 'stacking' comes in a narrow and a broad sense: narrow, the natal and annual Qing Yang in the same palace; broad, natal Qing Yang or Tuo Luo with the year bringing them again. On a Xingge chart the natal Qing Yang and Tuo Luo belong to the natal chart, while the annual ones belong to the Annual Luck.

Yang Tuo Jia Ji (Hua Ji flanked by Qing Yang and Tuo Luo) carries a certainty of the chart rules: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo always flank Lu Cun, so the palace they flank always holds Lu Cun. Hua Ji flanked by the two is in fact Lu Cun and Hua Ji in the same palace. The note's example, Life in Shen with Qing Yang in You and Tuo Luo in Wei, is a Geng year (Lu Cun in Shen), and in a Geng year the star with Hua Ji is Tian Tong, so this chart has Tian Tong in the Life Palace in Shen with Lu Cun. The note's last sentence, that even Lu Cun alone without lucky stars brings disaster, follows exactly from Lu Cun always being flanked.

Tattooing was an old punishment, marking a criminal's face with characters. Note that Xingge's annual stars include the annual Lu Cun, Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Tian Ma, Tian Kui, Tian Yue, Wen Chang and Wen Qu, but no annual Ling Xing, so the 'annual Ling Xing' cannot be seen on a Xingge chart; it can be read as the Annual Luck reaching the palace of the natal Ling Xing. In modern terms, a reminder that the face is prone to injury or scarring.

'The Xingge approach' above notes the contradiction with segment 3. One addition: the Huo Xing and Ling Xing page also has 「擎羊火鈴為下格」 (segment 6), with a note that for a woman it is still acceptable in Miao or Wang positions and base in fallen ones. So the 'low pattern' side appears twice in the Quan Shu, and 'authority over the crowd' also twice (the Gu Sui Fu and this page), evenly matched. Separating them by brightness is the more reasonable reading: Huo Xing is Miao in Yin, Wu and Xu, Qing Yang in the four tombs, and the only palace where both are Miao at once is Xu.

Qing Yang meeting the annual Qing Yang is the Qing Yang version of Qing Yang and Tuo Luo Stacked: the annual Qing Yang returning to the palace of the natal Qing Yang. The annual Qing Yang follows the year's Heavenly Stem, so it meets the natal one whenever the year stem equals the birth-year stem (or a stem that puts Qing Yang in the same place, such as Bing and Wu), at least once every ten years. Legend has Xi Shi drowned in the end, and the Quan Shu uses her for beauty that perishes early. As written it is a heavy verdict, but the condition is too common to be taken as certain.

Tuo Luo always sits in the palace before Lu Cun and falls only in Chou, Yin, Chen, Si, Wei, Shen, Xu and Hai; it never appears in Zi, Wu, Mao or You. This table too is Miao in the four tombs and Xian in the four birth palaces (Yin, Shen, Si and Hai), mirroring Qing Yang: Qing Yang's fallen positions are the four cardinal palaces, Tuo Luo's the four birth palaces. Tuo Luo belongs to metal and its transformed qi is obstruction; its nature is delay and entanglement, unlike Qing Yang's direct injury. For Tuo Luo's character as a whole, see The Nature of Tuo Luo.

Tuo Luo is fallen in Yin, Shen, Si and Hai: if not an early death, then injury. The note's 「余試得多離祖出外成家者亦吉」 is one of the rare places where the Quan Shu records an actual test in the first person, showing that the annotator had chart-reading experience of his own. Tuo Luo is in Yin in Yi years, in Shen in Xin years, in Si in Ding and Ji years, and in Hai in Gui years. It can mean a hard early life that goes better after leaving home, and the 'marked face' is a reminder that the body easily keeps scars.