What Does Lian Zhen Govern?

Lian Zhen is the main star the Quan Shu writes most harshly about. 「化囚為殺」 means this: Lian Zhen's transformed qi is prisoner, a force held under restraint, and when it is not in Miao or Wang and also offends Guan Fu, the restraint turns into killing force. So the condition in this passage is quite precise: not in Miao or Wang, and offending Guan Fu as well. On a Xingge chart Lian Zhen is Miao only in Yin and Shen, mostly Li or Ping elsewhere, and Xian in Si and Hai. Guan Fu is one of the twelve annual spirits before Tai Sui, placed by the birth-year branch, and placed again for each Annual Luck.

「心狠性狂，不習禮義」 is the verdict for a fallen Lian Zhen that offends Guan Fu, not for everyone with Lian Zhen in the Life Palace; the next segment straight away lists the many benefits of Lian Zhen meeting lucky stars. Lian Zhen's energy can be understood as a strong sense of principle and strong desire; working well within limits it is discipline and boldness, and out of control it becomes stubbornness, impulsiveness and conflict with the rules.

This passage has many combinations, and one chart fact is worth knowing first: under the placement rules Zi Wei and Wu Qu are always in Lian Zhen's trine, so 'meeting the emperor's seat' and 'meeting the wealth star' are in fact present on every chart; the difference lies in Zi Wei's and Wu Qu's own brightness and transformations. 「遇祿存主富貴」, 「遇文昌好禮樂」 and 「遇殺曜顯武職」 depend on actually sharing a palace or meeting.

「在身命為次桃花」 is Lian Zhen's other side: the Quan Shu takes Tan Lang as the main peach blossom star and Lian Zhen as the next. 「若居旺宮，則賭博迷花而致訟」: note that this happens only in a strong palace, the logic being that the stronger the peach blossom nature, the more outgoing it is. The Hao in 「逢財星耗合祖業必破」 is Po Jun; Lian Zhen and Po Jun share a palace in Mao and You. The 「財與囚仇」 in the Quan Shu's patterns of poverty is likewise about the clash between Wu Qu and Lian Zhen. 「遇刑忌則膿血不免」: Lian Zhen belongs to fire and governs bloodshed; today this reads as a health reminder about surgery, injury or inflammation.

This passage is the Quan Shu's most concentrated list of Lian Zhen's bad signs, mostly reasoned from the Five Elements and the spirit stars: meeting Bai Hu, flogging (Bai Hu governs punishment and injury); meeting Wu Qu where it is restrained, crushed by a tree or bitten by a snake, the same group as the Wu Qu chapter's 'crushed by a tree or struck by thunder'; with Huo Xing in a fallen and empty place, drowning or hanging; travelling with Po Jun and the sun and moon, eye disease. The section on star combinations has an almost identical line, 「廉貞破火居陷地自縊投河」 (see Star Combinations: Lian Zhen), which adds Po Jun.

Verdicts about ways of dying like these should be read today as high-risk reminders under particular luck periods and combinations, such as low mood, accidents or legal disputes, calling for attention to physical and mental health and safety, not as literal threats. The last line is key: 「只宜官祿身命之位」. In the Life or Career Palace, Lian Zhen can actually do well; in other palaces 「禍福宜詳」, and it must not be judged bad across the board.

Lian Zhen and Tan Lang share a palace only in Si and Hai, and both stars are Xian there. The verse says 「遇吉福盈豐」 and then 「三旬後，須防不善終」, lucky first and bad later, an unusual way of writing. It probably reflects that Lian Zhen and Tan Lang are both peach blossom stars and both fallen: when young, one is popular and has many chances, profiting through peach blossom; after middle age, desires and disputes pile up and trouble comes easily.

In old times 'not dying a good death' meant an unnatural death or a bleak old age; today it can be read as a need, from middle age on, to watch one's habits and the legal and personal risks. This verdict has an age boundary, and when reading a chart one can check what stars the Life Palace or the Decade Luck Life Palace meets when the Decade Luck reaches the step covering one's thirties.