The Nature of Ling Xing (with Kong Jie, Shang Shi and Tian Ma)

Ling Xing and Huo Xing are a pair: both belong to fire, both are floating stars of the Southern Dipper, both are placed by the year branch and the hour, and their brightness tables are the same (Miao in Yin, Wu and Xu, Xian in Shen, Zi and Chen). They differ in nature: Huo Xing is open fire and strikes hard; Ling Xing is hidden fire that smoulders. The Quan Shu calls Ling Xing 'venomous', and What Does Ling Xing Govern? says it is 「性格亦沉吟」 (What Does Ling Xing Govern?), unlike Huo Xing's 'hard and outstanding'. The directional condition, good for the southeast and bad for the northwest, is the same as for Huo Xing and cannot be seen on a Xingge chart. 'People of Yin, Wu and Xu have power and rank', as in the Huo Xing chapter, may be palace temple positions written up as year branches.

Ling Xing in its temple meeting Tan Lang and Wu Qu, 「威鎮邊夷」, is the later Ling Tan pattern. Wu Qu's appearance here can be read alongside Star Combinations' 「梁武陰鈴，擬作棟梁之客」 (Star Combinations: Tian Liang); in the Quan Shu Ling Xing with Wu Qu is seen as a combination with military office and real power. Meeting Zi Wei, Tian Fu, Zuo Fu and You Bi as well: if not noble, then rich. What Does Ling Xing Govern? also says 「若與貪狼會，指日立邊庭，廟地財官貴」. The type it describes works quietly without fanfare, and when it finally moves, it gets results.

Ling Xing fallen (Shen, Zi, Chen): early death, or a marred face that lengthens life, or leaving the ancestral home and taking other parents. The three outcomes read as alternatives: either early death, or paying the price of a marred face to stay alive, or leaving the birth family. This matches the Huo Xing chapter's 'adoption and fostering': for a chart heavy with malefic stars the ancients sought relief by 'moving'. Today this suggests less stable health or home life in childhood, perhaps being raised by others, and scars on the body.

A woman's Ling Xing: hard, turning her back on kin, harming husband and children; only with lucky stars well off. It is a little milder than the verdict on a woman's Huo Xing: the Huo Xing chapter is negative throughout, while here at least 'with lucky stars, well off' offers a way out. What Does Ling Xing Govern? says 「女人無吉曜，刑剋少六親」 (What Does Ling Xing Govern?), with the same condition, 'no lucky stars', and goes on 「終身不貞潔」 (What Does Ling Xing Govern?). A hard character who keeps things to herself tends to grow distant in family relationships; with supportive people around, that hardness can become a willingness to carry responsibility.

A luck period with Ling Xing meeting Tan Lang brings many blessings after all; in its temple with lucky stars, wealth, rank and fame spread. It is the same logic as the natal Ling Tan pattern in segment 2, moved to the luck periods. Ling Xing is placed by the hour and fixed in the natal chart; when a Decade Luck reaches its palace or San Fang, check whether Tan Lang shares the palace or meets it. Such a period easily brings windfalls or sudden promotion, but Ling Xing's blessings come with smouldering pressure, and success often has to be waited out for a while first.

Ling Xing guarding the two luck periods 「必癲狂」, and with no lucky stars disaster follows. Madness means losing control of the emotions, behaving abnormally. Ling Xing is hidden fire, and what smoulders long enough explodes, which is why the ancients linked it with states of mind. A period like this brings heavy pressure and pent-up feeling, and it needs an outlet: exercise, time off, someone to talk to. This is one of the few luck verses in the Quan Shu that speaks directly of the mind, and it can be taken as a reminder about mental and physical health.

Huo Xing and Ling Xing in their temples should meet Tan Lang, Zi Wei and Tian Fu: quick-tempered, with authority, holding sway over the home region. This verse treats the two together, with the condition of a temple position (Yin, Wu, Xu) plus Tan Lang or Zi Wei and Tian Fu. Huo Xing or Ling Xing with Tan Lang is a pattern of sudden rise; Zi Wei and Tian Fu are emperor and treasury and can tame Huo Xing and Ling Xing, as What Does Tian Fu Govern? says Tian Fu 「能化火鈴為福」 (What Does Tian Fu Govern?). In old China 'holding sway over the home region' meant a local strongman or military officer; today it reads as having influence in some field or region.

Huo Xing and Ling Xing in an idle palace, born in the northwest: mediocre work, ruined fortune, carrying an illness to escape disaster. The idle palaces are a fixed table in the Quan Shu (Life Master, Body Master and Notes on Chart Setup), not the same as a fallen position; the table lists only main stars and has no entry for Huo Xing or Ling Xing, so this line cannot simply be equated with their fallen palaces Shen, Zi and Chen, and is best read loosely as a position where the two cannot show their strength. 'Carrying an illness spares one disaster' turns up again, the same idea as in the You Bi and Tian Liang chapters: a small illness wards off a great calamity. As the Xingge approach notes, a northwestern birth cannot be seen on the chart. Star Combinations says 「火鈴夾命為敗局」 (Star Combinations: Huo Xing and Ling Xing), the case of the two on either side of the Life Palace, also unfavourable. The picture is of work often abandoned halfway, unsteady money and minor ailments.

A woman's Huo Xing or Ling Xing meeting Tan Lang, with no malefic stars in the San Fang, brings harmony and happiness, 「坐守香閨得遂懷」. It is one of the Quan Shu's rare positive lines on a woman's Huo Xing and Ling Xing, conditional on meeting Tan Lang and a San Fang free of malefic stars. 'Sitting in her fragrant chamber' was the ideal life for a woman in old China; today it reads as a settled life with wishes fulfilled. On a Xingge chart the condition is Huo Xing or Ling Xing in the Life Palace, Tan Lang in the San Fang Si Zheng, and no Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Di Kong or Di Jie.

A woman's Huo Xing and Ling Xing are 'hardest to withstand' and 'sure to bring punishment and injury', and with malefic stars in the San Fang, 「目下入泉鄉」. This verse pairs with the last: with Tan Lang and no malefic stars it is fine, with malefic stars it is unlucky. 目下 means right away, soon. Verdicts of death like this keep their original meaning; the condition, Huo Xing or Ling Xing in the Life Palace with malefic stars in the San Fang, is a very heavy combination. People with such a chart should pay particular attention to personal safety and health.

This verse is almost identical to segment 6, only with Ling Xing replaced by the two stars Huo Xing and Ling Xing, and 'in its temple, meeting the lucky stars' replaced by 「更加吉曜多權柄」. The Quan Shu's luck verses often repeat like this, rhymes from different sources pieced together. Huo Xing and Ling Xing meeting Tan Lang is a good thing in a luck period, and lucky stars add authority.

Huo Xing and Ling Xing fallen in the luck period: pus and blood, losses, quarrels and lawsuits, unforeseen calamity. The 濃 of 「血濃侵」 should be 膿 (pus), as the collation note says. Fire belongs to the blood, and fire in a fallen position means inflammation and festering. 無妄 is unexpected, groundless calamity, from the Wu Wang hexagram of the Book of Changes. During such a period watch for inflammation, injuries and burns; things get lost easily, and words easily cause trouble.

From this segment the original turns to Di Jie and Tian Kong. Di Jie is placed by the hour, counting forward from Hai for the Zi hour; Tian Kong (Di Kong on Xingge) counts backward from Hai for the Zi hour, so the two share a palace in Si and Hai. Di Jie is 'the spirit of robbery and killing': evil, reckless, not following the right path. What Do Di Kong and Di Jie Govern? says the two stars are 「遇吉則吉，遇凶則凶」 (What Do Di Kong and Di Jie Govern?). 'With lucky stars the harm is light'; with many malefic stars in the San Fang Si Zheng, judge it a short life. A person under this star thinks against the grain and jumps between tasks, and often labours in vain or loses money unexpectedly.

A woman's Di Jie: only a secondary wife, a prostitute or a maidservant. The line sets no condition, the Quan Shu's usual severity towards women with Di Kong and Di Jie. What Do Di Kong and Di Jie Govern? has 「女子婢妾，刑剋孤獨」, conditional on the four malefic stars clashing. Read together, the conditional version is the one to use. In marriage and social standing, it suggests a tendency to end up in unsettled or unacknowledged positions.

Di Jie in the Life Palace: much illness, many petty troubles; with Qing Yang and Huo Xing, a hard time running the household and a warning about the wife. 'Beware for one's wife' is a reminder about the health or safety of the women of the house. The 劫 of Di Jie means 'taken away', so its harm is usually loss: health worn down, money worn away, family worn thin. People with such a combination should keep an eye on their health and have backup plans for family finances and safety.

Di Jie entering the two luck periods brings disaster and danger that year; Tai Sui and malefic stars bring illness, and meeting Guan Fu brings lawsuits. Guan Fu is one of the twelve Sui Qian spirits, moving every year with Tai Sui, and can be seen on Xingge by laying the Annual Luck over the chart. The collation note points out that the last line repeats its wording and is probably corrupt. In a year when Di Jie enters the luck period, health and legal documents are the two things to watch.

As the note explains, the Quan Shu's Tian Kong is Xingge's Di Kong. It is the spirit of emptiness and loss: empty in conduct, no gathering of wealth, success and failure in many turns, and 「退祖榮昌」, prosperity after leaving the ancestral home. 「空多不吉，名曰斷橋」: when the chart has many void stars (Di Kong, Xun Kong, Jie Kong and so on), it is like a broken bridge, and things get halfway and can go no further. People like this have many ideas and high ideals but are prone to coming up empty, and need someone or some system to help turn ideas into reality.

Di Kong with lucky stars: light harm; with few of the four malefic stars, ordinary; with many, low and base. The line mirrors segment 17 on Di Jie: lucky stars soften Di Kong and Di Jie, malefic stars make them worse. The Quan Shu's attitude to the two is consistent: they are not very unlucky in themselves but magnify the effect of malefic stars. On a Xingge chart, count the lucky stars and the Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Huo Xing and Ling Xing in Di Kong's palace and its San Fang to gauge how heavy it is.

Tai Sui or the two luck periods meeting Di Kong: with a main star and lucky stars, peace. 「經云：項羽英雄，限到天空而喪國」 is an allusion the Quan Shu loves, appearing again in segment 33. The condition 'a main star with lucky stars' matters: if Di Kong's palace has a main star and lucky stars, there is peace; an empty palace meeting Di Kong is worst. When a luck period reaches Di Kong, real strength and real helpers carry one through; relying only on ideals and slogans tends to come to nothing.

A woman's Di Kong guarding alone (the Life Palace with no main star, only Di Kong): only a secondary wife, a prostitute or a maidservant. As the Xingge approach explains, the comparison with your own chart cannot express 'no main star'. It is written the same way as segment 18 on a woman's Di Jie. On a Xingge chart it is easy to check: the Life Palace holds none of the fourteen main stars, only Di Kong. For how to read an empty palace, see Empty palaces and borrowed stars.

Di Kong in the Life Palace: surely leaving the household life; with Wen Chang and Tian Xiang, worth praising; with the four malefic stars in the Body and Life Palaces, protection and favour after all. The logic runs against the usual: emptiness meeting malefic stars turns out well. One possible explanation is 'fighting poison with poison', the void and the malefic stars cancelling out, or else that a monk meeting malefic stars finds protection instead. The Quan Shu has many such sayings about 'the gate of emptiness turning lucky'. People with Di Kong in the Life Palace suit paths not measured by wealth: the spiritual, religion, the arts, research.

Di Kong in the luck period: ruined farms, harm to wife and children, lost money, life in danger. This verse covers the bad side of a Di Kong period thoroughly: property, family, money, life. Read with segment 25's 'with a main star and lucky stars, peace', this verse speaks of the case without them. Large investments and buying or selling property are unwise in such a period, and family health deserves extra care.

'The Pole in Mao or You' is Zi Wei in Mao or You sharing a palace with Tan Lang, as the note explains. Zi Wei and Tan Lang meeting Di Kong and Di Jie: blessings flourish as a monk or Daoist. The Gu Sui Fu says 「極居卯酉多為脫俗僧人」 (Gu Sui Fu), and the Women's Gu Sui Fu 「極居卯酉遇劫空，十人之命九人僧」 (Women's Gu Sui Fu). With Zi Wei and Tan Lang in Mao or You, the emperor star shares a palace with the peach-blossom star, and when Di Kong and Di Jie empty out desire, the person turns away from the world. It points to an inborn interest in religion, philosophy and spiritual practice.

This verse uses three allusions: Confucius out of food in Chen, Xiang Yu losing his realm, Lüzhu leaping from the tower. The three stand for the sage, the hero and the beauty; if even they could not escape a Di Jie and Di Kong period, how unlucky these stars must be. The Confucius story is assigned to Tian Shang in segments 35 and 39; the Quan Shu gives the same tale to different stars, a sign of allusions borrowed back and forth between schools. A Di Jie and Di Kong period is a time when resources are suddenly cut off, which can happen to anyone; the point is to keep a way out ready in advance.

Tian Shang is 'the spirit of empty loss', fixed in the Friends Palace (as the note says). So whenever the Decade or Minor Luck reaches the Friends Palace, 'the luck period reaches Tian Shang'. The key is 「不問得地，只要眾星吉方可獲善」: Tian Shang has no brightness of its own, and good or bad depends entirely on the stars in its palace. What Do Tian Shang and Tian Shi Govern? says 「只要吉多為福其禍稍輕」 (What Do Tian Shang and Tian Shi Govern?). When reading the Decade Luck on Xingge, the ten years whose Life Palace falls on the natal Friends Palace are the Tian Shang period.

A Tian Shang period with no main star, meeting Qing Yang, Huo Xing, Ju Men and Tian Ji, surely brings lawsuits, mourning and lost money. 「夫子絕糧限到天傷」 differs from segment 33, which gives the same allusion to Di Jie and Di Kong. Ju Men and Tian Ji appear here beside Qing Yang and Huo Xing, the Quan Shu's familiar unlucky reading of Tian Ji with Ju Men. Since Tian Shang sits in the Friends Palace to begin with, such a period tends to bring trouble with people: friends, subordinates and partners are where the risk lies.

Tian Shi is 'the messenger star', fixed in the Health Palace. So the ten years when the Decade Luck reaches the natal Health Palace are the Tian Shi period. 「務審人間禍福之由」 means Tian Shi is like a heavenly envoy sent to inspect good and evil among men. When the two luck periods and Tai Sui arrive together, many lucky stars make the harm light. When reading the Decade Luck on Xingge, this passage applies once the decade's Life Palace falls on the natal Health Palace.

A Tian Shi period with no main star, meeting Ju Men, Tian Ji, Qing Yang and Huo Xing: lawsuits and deaths, unexpected troubles ruining the family. It is written almost exactly like segment 35 on Tian Shang, only adding 'deaths' to the results. Tian Shang and Tian Shi, one in the Friends Palace and one in the Health Palace, sit symmetrically on either side of the axis from the Life Palace to the Travel Palace, which is why the Quan Shu so often treats them together. In practice, a Health Palace decade calls for attention to health, a Friends Palace decade for attention to relationships.

This verse puts the Tian Shang and Tian Shi allusions together: Confucius going hungry belongs to Tian Shang, Shi Chong's ruin to Tian Shi. 「天耗守限號天傷」: Tian Shang is also called Tian Hao. A verse in What Do Tian Shang and Tian Shi Govern? has 「限至大耗號天傷」 (What Do Tian Shang and Tian Shi Govern?), slightly different wording. Shi Chong was the richest man of the Western Jin, as the note says. However rich or learned, anyone reaching these two periods can run into hardship; the point is not to take big risks at such a time.

Tian Ma is placed by the year branch: in Shen for Yin, Wu and Xu years, in Yin for Shen, Zi and Chen years, in Hai for Si, You and Chou years, in Si for Hai, Mao and Wei years, so it only ever appears in Yin, Shen, Si or Hai. Liking Lu Cun most is Lu Ma Jiao Chi (Lu and Ma galloping together); fearing the road-blocking void most is the later Ma Feng Jie Kong (the horse meeting the road-blocking void). Jie Kong is placed by the year stem, as the note says. What Does Tian Ma Govern? sorts Tian Ma into many kinds, 「逢空亡謂之死馬」 (What Does Tian Ma Govern?). For people who move about and travel for work, resources mean making money on the move; meeting the void means a wasted trip.

There is something on the chart that follows of necessity here: the Spouse Palace always sits two palaces back from the Life Palace, so with the Life Palace in Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei the Spouse Palace always falls in Yin, Shen, Si or Hai; Tian Ma can only be in those four, so 'the Life Palace in Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei and Tian Ma in the Spouse Palace' are two conditions bound together. With lucky stars, wealth and rank; with Hua Quan and Hua Lu, the man an official and the woman titled. The ancients read the spouse from Tian Ma in the Spouse Palace: Tian Ma governs movement, so the spouse is someone who goes out to make a way in the world. Today it might mean a partner whose work involves travel or postings away, or a couple who met far from home.

Tian Ma in the luck period is best; meeting Zi Wei, Tian Fu and Lu Cun, extraordinary; officials rise, scholars sit the examinations. What Does Tian Ma Govern? says 「如大小二限臨之，更遇祿存紫府，流昌必利」 (What Does Tian Ma Govern?), consistent with this verse. A luck period with Tian Ma suggests moving house, changing jobs, going abroad or a posting elsewhere, with opportunity in the change. When reading the Decade Luck on Xingge, if Tian Ma's palace falls in the decade's Life Palace or San Fang, this verse applies.

Tian Ma guarding the luck period 「不得住」: one cannot stop moving; it fears Di Jie and Di Kong, and with Tai Sui sitting in the palace too, 「尋死路」. Tian Ma's movement, meeting the void, becomes rushing about with no goal, and with Tai Sui added the ancients judged it the road to death. It is the same logic as segment 40's 'fears above all the road-blocking void'. Changes in such a period need a clear purpose, since rushing about is not the same as progress; fatigue and road safety deserve particular care.