Star Combinations: Jie Kong, Shang Shi, and the Life, Body, Wealth and Property Palaces

This is the last page of the star-combination chapter, and its contents are mixed: first Di Jie and Di Kong and Tian Shang and Tian Shi, then sections by palace, Life, Body, Na Yin, Wealth, Property and Fortune, collecting the rhymes that belong to each. Many lines have already appeared on earlier pages and are regrouped here by palace. Di Jie and Di Kong are placed by birth hour, one forward and one backward; the Quan Shu often writes 「天空地劫」, and that 天空 is Di Kong.

The conditions for Kong Jie Jia Ming (Di Kong and Di Jie flanking the Life Palace) are narrow. Di Jie starts from Hai at the Zi hour and counts forward, Di Kong from Hai at the Zi hour and counts backward, so the two mirror each other across the Si-Hai line, and the only palaces they can flank are Si and Hai: births at the Chou or Hai hour have Hai flanked, births at the Si or Wei hour have Si flanked. The textual note's Di Kong in Xu is exactly the Chou-hour case, Di Jie in Zi and Di Kong in Xu flanking Hai. On a chart, check whether the two palaces either side of the Life Palace hold Di Jie on one side and Di Kong on the other.

The Quan Shu has a fuller verse on The Nature of Ling Xing: 「劫空二限最乖張，夫子在陳也絕糧，項羽英雄曾喪國，綠珠逢此墜樓亡」, so these are the same set of historical allusions. The condition is a luck period reaching the palace of Di Jie or Di Kong; on a chart, see whether the current Decade Luck or this year's Annual Luck lands on the palace holding Di Jie or Di Kong.

The Gu Sui Fu has 「生逢天空猶如半天折翅」 (segment 45), followed by 'meeting Di Jie in the Life Palace is like a boat in the waves'; the Gu Sui Fu treats Kong and Jie separately, and this line merges them. The note on 生處 explains the two readings, the Life Palace or the Chang Sheng position. The image of wings breaking in mid-flight is apt: already airborne, the bird suddenly loses its strength. That is, plans that collapse halfway, and results that never quite land.

Di Jie and Di Kong in the Wealth or Fortune Palace: poor and low from birth. The Wealth Palace is money, the Fortune Palace enjoyment, and the two face each other, so with Di Jie or Di Kong in either, the other is struck as well. The last line of this page (segment 36) repeats this one, which is how the textual note corrects the character. Today it can mean a loose attitude to money and difficulty holding on to it, or few material desires, not necessarily real poverty.

This section deals with Tian Shang and Tian Shi. The two are always placed in the Friends Palace and the Health Palace, so on any chart their positions depend only on where the Life Palace is, and together they flank the Travel Palace. The Quan Shu discusses them almost entirely in terms of the luck periods; Fortune and Misfortune in the Decade Luck says a year or luck period most fears walking into a palace flanked by Tian Shang and Tian Shi. Both appear among the minor stars on a Xingge chart.

The Gu Sui Fu's original is 「鄧通餓死運逢大耗之鄉，夫子絕糧限到天傷之內」 (segment 51), with conditions entirely in the luck periods: the luck reaching the palace of Da Hao or Tian Shang. Here both allusions are merged into one line on Tian Shang, and the note says Tian Shang is read mostly in the luck periods. Tian Shang is always in the Friends Palace, so 'the luck reaching Tian Shang' means the Decade or Annual Luck reaching the natal Friends Palace. Confucius running out of food between Chen and Cai is a famous hardship; read now, a period when resources are cut off and circumstances are tight.

This section collects rhymes from the angle of the Life Palace: three flankings and six flankings, no major star, the strength of the natal chart against the luck periods. The point lies in the last few lines: the Quan Shu keeps separating the natal chart from the luck, and a good chart with bad luck ends differently from a poor chart with good luck.

The three flankings are three malefic pairs, the six flankings six lucky pairs. Whether these can occur on a chart varies a great deal: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo always flank Lu Cun, so their flanking is common; Zi Wei and Tian Fu flank only Yin or Shen; Zuo Fu and You Bi, Wen Chang and Wen Qu, and the sun and moon flank only Chou or Wei; Tian Kui and Tian Yue only Chen or Xu; Di Kong and Di Jie only Si or Hai. The note weighs them: much good and little bad is lucky even if unlucky, much bad and little good unlucky even if lucky, and finally the Miao or Wang of the Body and Life Palaces' San Fang decides. When a Chart Fits a Pattern follows the same line of weighing.

This line says the same as Essentials of Reading the Stars, and its note lists the cases of 'living under two surnames' most fully: adoption, following a remarrying mother, taking a stepfather, marrying into the wife's family, being born of a concubine. All were ways of changing surname or status under the old family system. It can mean changes in family structure while growing up, or a weaker tie to the family of origin. An empty Life Palace is read by borrowing the major stars of the opposite palace.

The weight of the note is in its second half: even if Tai Sui and the Decade and Minor Luck are unfavourable, misfortune waits until the end; and it is truly unlucky only when Tai Sui and both luck periods are bad and it is also what the birth year dreads. This is the Quan Shu's attitude to a good chart meeting bad luck: with a good foundation, the damage of a bad period is limited. Read it with the birth-year branch taboos in Stars to Avoid as the Lucks Pass the Twelve Palaces, and it becomes clear what 'what the birth year dreads' means.

The note says that when the Life Palace meets an unlucky luck period, stars in Miao or Wang can still prosper, while fallen malefic stars in the luck period are surely unlucky. So the key to judging a luck period is not only whether its palace has malefic stars but how bright they are. This agrees with the grading in Fortune and Misfortune in the Decade Luck: fallen stars in the palace plus malefic stars and Hua Ji are the heaviest grade.

The Gu Sui Fu has 「命實運堅稿田得雨」 (segment 71). A solid Life Palace is a sound natal chart, and a nourishing luck period is a strong one; both good, like parched sprouts getting rain. The note's example is, if anything, 'Life Palace and luck both ordinary, lucky stars in the San Fang, the luck walking into a fine place', showing that the natal chart need not be outstanding: lucky stars in the San Fang and a luck period reaching a good place can bring blessing.

The next clause at the same place in the Gu Sui Fu is 「命衰限弱嫩草遭霜」. The note's conditions are heavy: the Life Palace fallen with Hua Ji, the year or luck period meeting vicious stars, surely punishment, injury and death. It is kept as written. This is the case where both natal chart and luck are poor, the exact counterpart of the previous line. In today's language, a weak foundation meeting an unfavourable period calls for extra caution and less risk-taking; it is not a fatalistic conclusion.

Lucky stars in the Life Palace and heavy malefic stars in the Career Palace: even with wealth and office, life is hard. The Career Palace is one of the Life Palace's trines and shows work and the working environment. A good Life Palace means good personal qualities, while heavy malefic stars in the Career Palace mean the work itself is high-pressure and fiercely competitive. It describes someone able and well paid but in demanding work, such as a high-pressure or high-risk industry.

This section deals with the Body Palace. The Body Palace follows from the Life Palace by birth hour: at the Zi and Wu hours it shares the Life Palace, at the Chou and Wei hours it is in the Fortune Palace, at Yin and Shen in the Career Palace, at Mao and You in the Travel Palace, at Chen and Xu in the Wealth Palace, at Si and Hai in the Spouse Palace. So the Body Palace can only fall in one of these six. Every Xingge chart identifies which palace is the Body Palace.

The three and six flankings of the Body Palace work like those of the Life Palace in segment 9. The note adds Hua Ji to the unlucky side: flanking Hua Ji, Di Jie and Di Kong, Huo Xing and Ling Xing, Qing Yang and Tuo Luo. The Body Palace stands for where later efforts go and the course of life after middle age; flanked by malefic stars, those efforts are hemmed in at every turn. On a chart, look at the stars in the two palaces either side of the Body Palace.

The Life Palace is the inborn foundation and the Body Palace where later efforts go; both good means a good start and staying power too. These three lines (segments 18 to 20) are the Quan Shu's most concise summary of the relation between the Life and Body Palaces.

The line reveals how much weight the Quan Shu gives the Body Palace: later effort can make up for what one was born without. A present-day reading: a poor start, but through effort and choices one can still make a good life. The palace where the Body Palace falls also hints at the area where the person most readily puts in effort; with the Body Palace in the Career Palace, for instance, it is work.

Set against the previous line, 「身吉命凶亦為美論」, the conclusion seems the opposite: that line says fine, this one says money does not gather. One way to reconcile them: a strong Body Palace can make up for the Life Palace, so life as a whole is acceptable, but money in particular needs the foundation of the Life Palace, and a weak one cannot gather it. The Quan Shu does not explain; this is one reading.

This section deals with Na Yin, the matching of the sixty stem-branch pairs to the Five Elements, as in Jia Zi and Yi Chou, metal in the sea, or Geng Yin and Xin Mao, pine and cypress wood. Two uses must be kept apart: Xingge's Five Elements Bureau is set by the Na Yin of the Life Palace's stem and branch, and the twelve life stages on the chart follow the Bureau; this section uses the Na Yin of the birth year's stem and branch, which is different, so the Chang Sheng, tomb and severance positions on a Xingge chart cannot be applied to these lines directly.

Look at which palace holds the tomb of the birth year's Na Yin. The example: water has its tomb in Chen; if Chen is the Wealth or Career Palace or holds Lu Cun, better; if it is the Travel Palace with Po Jun or malefic stars, not good. The tomb is a place of storage: in the Wealth or Career Palace it means accumulation, in the Travel Palace with the wasting star it means dispersal away from home. To apply the line, first find the Five Element of the birth year's Na Yin, then count the life stages to find the tomb's palace, and then see which palace that is on a Xingge chart.

The original is the Tai Wei Fu's 「生逢敗地，發也虛花」 (segment 10). The Bai position is Mu Yu among the twelve life stages. The note's example: water and earth have Chang Sheng in Shen and Mu Yu in You; a Life Palace in You meeting Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Hua Ji, Po Jun or Qi Sha is not fine, and only with Lu Cun is it lucky. Note that the example uses the year's Na Yin, not the same set as the twelve life stages on a Xingge chart, which follow the Five Elements Bureau. 'Even prospering is empty flowers' means that even success is only show.

The next clause at the same place in the Tai Wei Fu is 「絕處逢生，生花不敗」 (segment 10). The note's example: water and earth have Jue in Si, so a Life Palace in Si is in the Jue position, but a metal star in Si produces water, so it is not severed. The 'metal star' here is not one particular major star but any star that belongs to metal (Wu Qu, Qing Yang and Wen Chang all belong to metal in the Quan Shu). The example shows that the Quan Shu's Na Yin method uses the element of a star to make up for the element of a palace, a fairly fine technique of the Five Elements' producing and overcoming cycles.

This section deals with the Wealth Palace. The two lines below are both about 'flanking the Wealth Palace' and 'embracing the Wealth Palace': lucky stars shining on it from either side or from the trines. When judging wealth, the Quan Shu often skips the Life Palace and goes straight to the Wealth and Property Palaces, and this section is an example.

This line is the same as on the Tai Yin page of this chapter and the Tai Wei Fu's 「日月夾財，不權則富」 (segment 20). The note's example is very concrete: the Wealth Palace in Wei with Tian Fu, Tai Yang in Wu and Tai Yin in Shen flanking it. By the chart rules, the sun and moon are never in neighbouring palaces; when they sit with one palace between them, they can flank only Chou or Wei, and the star in between is Tian Fu or Wu Qu with Tan Lang; the note's example is the Tian Fu kind. In that case the Life Palace is in Hai.

This line is the same as on the Kui Yue, Zuo Fu, You Bi and Lu Cun page, and the note here adds examples: Zuo Fu and You Bi together in the Wealth Palace; or the Wealth or Career Palace in Chou flanked by the sun in Zi and the moon in Yin. The second example is really the sun and moon flanking, not Zuo Fu and You Bi; the note lists the two kinds of flanking together. Zuo Fu and You Bi share a palace only in Chou and Wei, so with both in the Wealth Palace, the Wealth Palace must also be in Chou or Wei.

This section reads the Wealth and Property Palaces together. The Wealth Palace is money in motion, the Property Palace the assets and home that stay; the ancients judged wealth by the two together. Most of the lines below have appeared on earlier pages and are regrouped here by palace.

Zi Wei with Zuo Fu and You Bi in the Wealth or Property Palace often make an official in charge of revenue. This is the regrouped version of the Zi Wei page's 「在財帛宮則為財賦之官」 (segment 11). What Does Zi Wei Govern? also says that Zi Wei in the Wealth or Property Palace guarded by Zuo Fu and You Bi will surely be an official in charge of revenue. It corresponds to a post managing finance, budgets or assets in an organisation.

The note makes a point of saying this is not Wu Qu and Tai Yin in the same luck period, but the Wealth Palace meeting either Wu Qu or Tai Yin. The clarification is necessary, because Wu Qu and Tai Yin never share a palace on a chart and never meet in the San Fang either. Wu Qu is the wealth star and Tai Yin governs property and wealth; either one in the Wealth Palace makes someone good at managing money. In the present day, a specialism in finance, accounting or banking.

This line is almost identical to similar lines on the Zi Wei page and the Tian Fu page of this chapter, except that here it says only the Wealth Palace, while those two say the Wealth or Property Palace. Zi Wei, Tian Fu and Wu Qu with Hua Quan and Hua Lu is the Quan Shu's most fixed phrase for great wealth. Appearing three times, it was evidently a widely circulated rhyme.

This line is the same as on the Wu Qu page of this chapter, with the added note 'Kong Wang is to be avoided'. Wu Qu and Tan Lang share a palace only in Chou and Wei; in the Wealth or Property Palace they mean sudden riches, and with Kong Wang the windfall comes to nothing. On a Xingge chart Kong Wang appears as several minor stars, Jie Lu, Kong Wang and Xun Kong.

The original is the Tai Wei Fu's 「祿存守於田財，堆金積玉」 (segment 36), and the same line appears on the Kui Yue, Zuo Fu, You Bi and Lu Cun page. Lu Cun in the Wealth or Property Palace means steady income and assets. Qing Yang and Tuo Luo always sit on either side of Lu Cun, so a Wealth or Property Palace with Lu Cun is always flanked by them; the ancients deduct nothing for it here.

This section reads the Wealth and Fortune Palaces together. The two face each other; Essentials of Reading the Stars says 「以福德宮對財帛宮也」. Money and enjoyment, the material and the spiritual: the ancients saw them as the two ends of one axis.

This line is the same as on the Tian Ma and transformations page, differing by one character, 出世 against 處世. Hua Quan and Hua Lu in the Wealth or Fortune Palace mean having money and knowing how to enjoy it. Since the two palaces face each other, Hua Quan and Hua Lu in one also shine on the other. It means sound finances and a good quality of life.

This line is identical to segment 5 of this page (where the base text has 財幅, now corrected). It appears twice on one page because the page regroups rhymes by palace, and this one belongs both to the Di Jie and Di Kong section and to the Wealth and Fortune section. For its meaning, see the commentary on segment 5.