Qing Yang and Tuo Luo: Overview

Master Yuchan treats Qing Yang and Tuo Luo together and lays down some basics: they belong to fire and metal, are floating stars of the Northern Dipper, and 「在斗司奏，在數凶厄」; Qing Yang's transformed qi is punishment and Tuo Luo's is obstruction (as the note warns, this 忌 is not Hua Ji). 「怕臨兄弟、田宅、父母三宮」 is a taboo of position: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo govern harm to family, and placed in the palaces of relatives and family property they mean discord among kin and damage to property.

「合昌曲、左右有暗痣、眼痣」 is a common verdict on looks in the Quan Shu; The Nature of Qing Yang and The Nature of Tuo Luo both say the same. 「見日月女剋夫，而夫剋婦」: the sun and moon are the stars of parents and spouses, so Qing Yang and Tuo Luo sharing a palace with them strike at those relationships. Qing Yang and Tuo Luo always flank Lu Cun; for that structure see Qing Yang and Tuo Luo flanking Lu Cun.

This passage is a table of Qing Yang and Tuo Luo meeting other stars, with punishment (Qing Yang) and obstruction (Tuo Luo) written separately: obstruction with the sun and moon hurts family and the eyes; punishment with peach-blossom stars brings romantic trouble; obstruction with Tan Lang loses itself in flowers and wine; punishment with darkness (Ju Men) brings hidden illness and ruins the eyes; obstruction with malefic stars and darkness brings insult; with Huo Xing and Ling Xing, fit only for monks and priests; power and punishment meeting malefic stars, illness and official trouble; Tan Lang and 耗 in the Annual Luck, tattoo marks on the face.

The last line, 「二限更遇此，災害不時而生」, ties the natal chart to the luck periods. This is what the Quan Shu calls Qing Yang and Tuo Luo 'stacked': natal Qing Yang and Tuo Luo with the annual Qing Yang and Tuo Luo landing on top. The Quan Shu has a whole chapter on it, Qing Yang and Tuo Luo Stacked, which uses the example of a person born in a Geng year with the Life Palace in Mao. 「面上刺痕」 was the old punishment of tattooing the face; today it reads as scars on the face, or a record left by legal trouble.

The verse compresses segment 2 into five-character lines. 「刑與暗同行，暗疾刑六親」: Qing Yang and Ju Men in the same palace; Ju Men's darkness plus Qing Yang's punishment makes illness that cannot be seen and harm to the six relations. 「權刑囚合殺」 puts Hua Quan, Qing Yang and Lian Zhen together, all three tied to power and punishment, and together they bring illness and disaster.

Note that the verse does not match the prose exactly: the prose's 「刑與暗同行招暗疾而壞目」 becomes 「暗疾刑六親」 in the verse, so ruined eyes turn into harm to the six relations. Small differences like this are common in the Quan Shu; when reading, take the prose as primary and the verse as support.

「貪耗流年聚，面上刺痕新」: Tan Lang and Po Jun (耗) gathered in the Annual Luck mean fresh characters tattooed on the face. Tattooing was the mark of a criminal in old times, so the line is really about breaking the law and being punished. 「限運若逢此，橫禍血刃生」: met in a luck period, there are knife wounds and bloodshed.

As a warning for today, this line points to rash action, legal risk and accidental injury in particular luck periods. Tan Lang governs desire and Po Jun governs waste; with Qing Yang and Tuo Luo added, it is a combination of impulse, risk-taking and disregard for consequences.

「羊陀夭壽殺，人遇為掃星」 is the Quan Shu's harshest verdict on Qing Yang and Tuo Luo: malefic stars that shorten life, as unlucky as a broom star. But the next lines split the outcome by character: for a gentleman it is 「防恐懼」, for a petty man 「遭凌刑」. The same malefic stars give an upright person only a fright, and only for a person of bad conduct do they mean punishment. This is a rare idea in the Quan Shu, that cultivating oneself can lessen a malefic star.

「遇耗決乞求，只宜林泉人」: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo meeting Po Jun mean poverty to the point of begging, suiting only a life of seclusion. Qing Yang and Tuo Luo can also be read through the Six Malefic Stars: they are pressure and resistance, which used well become drive and patience, and only used badly become harm.

This line is short: when the Decade or Minor Luck meets Qing Yang and Tuo Luo, disasters can come at any time. It extends the natal verdicts to the luck periods, meaning that the harm of these two stars is not settled only at birth; it is also triggered when the luck reaches the palace where they sit, or when the annual Qing Yang and Tuo Luo land on top.

In practice, switch to the Decade Luck and check whether the natal Qing Yang and Tuo Luo are in the San Fang Si Zheng of the decade's Life Palace, then switch to the Annual Luck and see where the annual Qing Yang and Tuo Luo fall. When the two layers stack in the same area, that is what the Quan Shu calls 'stacked', and those years call for particular care.