What Does Tan Lang Govern?

Tan Lang is the main star the Quan Shu judges in the most complicated way. It is 「解厄之神」 and also 「化氣為桃花」; it belongs to water, yet Master Xiyi says 「氣屬木，體屬水」. This two-sidedness is written into the first segment, 「可為祥可為禍」, and even in a joyful temple palace it holds. So in reading Tan Lang one cannot just look at brightness; what it meets matters more.

「授學神仙之術」 is a seldom-mentioned side of Tan Lang: it is curious and eager to learn, with an interest in metaphysics, religion and the care of health. The condition for 「會破軍迷花戀酒而喪命」 is heavy. Tan Lang and Po Jun are always in trine, so 'meeting' is almost a given, and the real condition is that both are fallen and carry malefic stars. In 「同祿存可吉」, Lu Cun's conservatism holds down Tan Lang's outgoing nature.

This passage has many bad signs, which fall into three kinds. The first is combinations: meeting Hao, empty flowers; meeting Lian Zhen, unchaste; seeing Qi Sha, punishment. Tan Lang shares a palace with Lian Zhen in Si and Hai, and is always in trine with Qi Sha. The second is the body: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo mean haemorrhoids, Tian Xing and Hua Ji mean spots and scars. The third is character: lucky stars cannot hold it down, malefic stars make it hide its wickedness more, and it is cold to those close and close to those distant.

The last line, 「與人交厚者薄，而薄者又厚」, is finely observed: Tan Lang's relationships are hard to predict, with the people one should be close to kept at a distance and chance acquaintances treated warmly. In everyday terms: strong social skills and a love of the new, but unsteady commitment to long-term relationships. 'Burglar' and 'stealing perfume' are old ways of saying theft and illicit affairs; the meaning of the original is not changed, but this is the verdict for Tan Lang and Qi Sha guarding the Body or Life Palace together, with the bad signs above piled on as well.

「七殺守身終是夭，貪狼入廟必為娼」 appears several times in the Quan Shu. The Gu Sui Fu has 「貪狼入命必為娼」 (see Gu Sui Fu), and the Women's Gu Sui Fu has 「貪狼入廟定為娼」. One character of difference changes the meaning: 'in its temple' means the stronger Tan Lang is, the heavier the peach blossom, while 'in the Life Palace' means sitting there is enough. Both versions exist side by side in the book; this passage follows 'in its temple'.

「喜見空亡，返主端正」 is Tan Lang's most unusual remedy: when peach blossom meets emptiness, desire comes to nothing and the person is restrained instead. On a Xingge chart, check whether Tan Lang's palace has Xun Kong, Jie Lu or Kong Wang among its minor stars, or Di Kong or Di Jie in the same palace. This logic of 'using a malefic star to check desire' is common in the Quan Shu, on the same principle as the Zi Wei chapter's saying that Zi Wei can restrain Huo Xing and Ling Xing. The verdict on women in this passage is extremely heavy, a product of the old practice of judging women by chastity; when reading it, take in the full conditions: Tan Lang in the Body or Life Palace meeting Po Jun, and also in a trine place of birth and strength, not every woman with Tan Lang.

This passage lists the results of Tan Lang in the same degree as six kinds of stars, and can be used as a reference table: Wu Qu (same palace in Chou and Wei) means greed for money; Lian Zhen (same palace in Si and Hai) means legal trouble; the four malefic stars mean butchery; Qing Yang and Tuo Luo mean dying over romance; Wen Chang and Wen Qu mean show without substance; Qi Sha means lewdness; Ju Men means quarrels. The note has already pointed out that the Ju Men line cannot be completed on a chart, so it is not repeated here.

Compare the Wu Qu chapter: the same Wu Qu and Tan Lang pairing is 'unfavourable in youth', blooming only in middle age, there, but 'fawning, wicked and greedy' here, a very different verdict. A reasonable way to put it: the Wu Qu chapter looks from Wu Qu's side and speaks of when success comes; the Tan Lang chapter looks from Tan Lang's side and speaks of character. The two do not contradict each other, but readers should not judge from one chapter alone.

「若犯帝座，無制便為無益之人」 is the case of Zi Wei and Tan Lang sharing a palace in Mao and You, which is the Tai Wei Fu's 「桃花犯主為至淫」 (see Tai Wei Fu). The remedy is 「輔弼昌曲夾制」: Zuo Fu, You Bi, Wen Chang and Wen Qu in the neighbouring palaces on both sides, reining in the peach blossom.

「惟會火鈴能富貴」 is Tan Lang's most famous pattern: the Huo Tan (Huo Xing and Tan Lang) and Ling Tan patterns, in which the explosive force of Huo Xing or Ling Xing joins Tan Lang's desire and drive, meaning a sudden rise. It is also one of the Quan Shu's few cases of a malefic star making a main star better. What follows, Tan Lang fallen in the Siblings and Children Palaces and ruining the ancestral estate in the Property Palace, is again palace reasoning and has nothing to do with the brightness table.

The verdict on the Friends Palace is direct: Tan Lang in Miao or Wang in the Friends Palace means being ruined by servants, because the desires and tactics of subordinates and friends are too strong. Not good in the Spouse Palace for men or women agrees with the Spouse Palace chapter, which says of Tan Lang 「男女不得美，三次作新郎」. In the Health Palace, meeting Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Ju Men and malefic stars means illness from wine and women, which today reads as health problems related to lifestyle, sleep habits and drinking.

In the Travel Palace, 'sitting in a fire place' with Po Jun, Ju Men and malefic stars, plus the year's malefic spirits, means soldiers, fire and robbers. This is a method stacking natal and annual charts in three layers, with many conditions; one cannot judge a robbery just from Tan Lang in the Travel Palace. The last line, 「男女非得地之星，不見尤妙」, sums up the chapter. The Quan Shu's overall verdict on Tan Lang leans negative, reflecting old values that prized propriety and distrusted desire; reading Tan Lang today, one can give more weight to its side of talent, sociability and learning.

This passage of Master Xiyi's explains why Tan Lang transforms into peach blossom: 「其氣屬木，體屬水」. Water feeds wood, and wood stands for growth and desire; with water and wood feeding each other, the result is peach blossom. It is a typical example of the Quan Shu using the Five Elements to explain a transformed qi.

The character sketch is accurate: 「性剛猛威，機深謀遠，隨波逐浪，愛憎難定」. Putting 'hard and fierce' next to 'drifting with the waves' shows that Tan Lang people have strong desires and ways of getting things, but their direction shifts with their surroundings. 「主人矮小」 is an old-book verdict on physical appearance and has little value as a reference today. For the star's basic nature, compare Tan Lang.

「居廟旺遇火星武職權貴，戊己生人合局」: in Wu years Tan Lang takes Hua Lu and in Ji years Hua Quan. Tan Lang in Miao or Wang with Hua Lu or Hua Quan, plus Huo Xing, is the Quan Shu's noble Huo Tan pattern; the Gu Sui Fu says 「貪狼火星居廟旺名鎮諸邦」.

The lines that follow have a problem on the chart: under the placement rules, neither Tian Xiang nor Tai Yin ever enters Tan Lang's San Fang Si Zheng (Tai Yin is always in the palace next to Tan Lang), so 「遇天相延壽」 and 「遇太陰則主淫佚」 cannot be seen on a natal chart and can only be understood through luck periods or flanking palaces. 「會廉武巧藝」 mostly holds: Tan Lang shares a palace with Lian Zhen in Si and Hai and with Wu Qu in Chou and Wei, and in most other positions one of the two is in its San Fang Si Zheng; only with Tan Lang in Zi or Wu does it meet neither. 「得祿存僧道宜之」 echoes segment 1's 「同祿存可吉」: Lu Cun makes Tan Lang hold back.