The Nature of Qing Yang

Qing Yang's transformed qi is Punishment: penalties, wounds, blades. It is placed by the year stem in the palace after Lu Cun, so on the chart Qing Yang, Lu Cun and Tuo Luo always stand in a row. This segment first says 'power and rank' in its temple, then gives the character: hard and decisive, fond of fighting, scheming and cunning. 「能奪君子之權」 is a weighty verdict: Qing Yang wins its place not by the proper route but by force and stratagem. What Does Qing Yang Govern? says that guarding the Body or Life Palace it is 「性粗行暴，孤單，視親為疏，翻恩為怨」 (What Does Qing Yang Govern?), harsher than here. The temperament it describes is strongly competitive and ready to meet force with force: drive when aimed at the right target, conflict when aimed at the wrong one.

「喜西北生人」 refers to the direction of the birthplace; What Does Qing Yang Govern? has 「北方生人為福」, a different direction, and conditions like these cannot be seen on a Xingge chart. 'A temple position among the four tomb palaces' can be checked: Qing Yang only ever falls in the eight palaces Zi, Chou, Mao, Chen, Wu, Wei, You and Xu, and of these Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei are its temples. 'People born in the four tomb years' means born in a Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei year, which is the year branch. Meeting the sun and moon harms the spouse because in the Quan Shu Tai Yang and Tai Yin stand for male and female, father and mother, husband and wife, and when the star of punishment clashes with them the relationship is wounded. Qing Yang and Tuo Luo: Overview says they 「見日月女剋夫，而夫剋婦」 (Qing Yang and Tuo Luo: Overview), the same verdict.

Only two year stems put Qing Yang in Mao or You: Jia (Qing Yang in Mao) and Geng (Qing Yang in You). So the Wu (戊) of 「六甲六戊」 does not fit the chart: in Wu years Qing Yang is in Wu (午) and never in Mao or You. What Does Qing Yang Govern? has 「六甲六庚生人，必有凶禍」 (What Does Qing Yang Govern?), so 戊 here is very probably a mistake for 庚. 'People born in Yin and Shen years' is a year-branch condition, a separate set again. 'Blindness in one eye' and maiming are the typical verdicts on a fallen Qing Yang. 二姓延生 is explained in the note; in modern terms it could mean being fostered, taking the mother's surname, or being raised by relatives.

Qing Yang in a fallen position sharing a palace with Lian Zhen, Huo Xing, Ju Men and Hua Ji is one of the Quan Shu's most unlucky combinations for this star. Lian Zhen's transformed qi is Imprisonment and Qing Yang's is Punishment, and punishment meeting imprisonment comes up again and again in the Quan Shu; the Qi Sha chapter also says 「會刑囚傷剋」. Ju Men's transformed qi is Darkness, and Qing Yang and Tuo Luo: Overview says 「刑與暗同行招暗疾而壞目」 (Qing Yang and Tuo Luo: Overview). So the 'hidden illnesses' and 'maiming' here both have a source. Qing Yang's fallen positions are Zi, Wu, Mao and You, and both Lian Zhen and Ju Men can share a palace with it there. 'Otherwise a monk or Daoist' is the Quan Shu's standard way out when malefic stars are heavy.

A woman's Qing Yang in its temple also means 'power and rank', just as for a man; fallen, it means harm to husband and children, loneliness, punishment, a marred face and lewdness. The passage mirrors the man's, but the fallen verdict adds 'lewd', the Quan Shu's usual extra charge against women with malefic stars. What Does Qing Yang Govern? says of women 「入廟加吉上局，殺耗沖破多主刑剋下局」 (What Does Qing Yang Govern?), a clearer condition: in its temple it still needs lucky stars to make a high pattern. A strong-willed woman who knows her mind and fights for what she wants will, in a fiercely competitive setting with little support, run into more conflict in her relationships.

Qing Yang is in its temple in Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei: Chen in Yi years, Xu in Xin years, Chou in Gui years, Wei in Ding and Ji years. Qing Yang belongs to fire and metal and the four tombs are earth; fire produces earth and earth produces metal, so in the storehouse it is held in and turned into strength. The second half, 'people born in Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei years', looks at the birth-year branch, which, as the Xingge approach notes, the chart conditions cannot judge. Star Combinations says 「擎羊入廟富貴聲揚」 (Star Combinations: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo) and 「羊火同宮威權壓眾」, with the note 「辰戍人佳，丑未次之」 (辰戍 is a slip for 辰戌) (Star Combinations: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo): both are positive verdicts on Qing Yang in its temple.

Qing Yang is fallen in Zi, Wu, Mao and You, and Xingge marks it Xian (Fallen) there too. The four fallen palaces correspond to Ren years (Zi), Bing and Wu years (Wu), Jia years (Mao) and Geng years (You). Star Combinations says 「擎羊子午卯酉非夭折而刑傷」, with the note 「午凶卯次之。子酉又次之」, and calls the Wu palace 「馬頭帶劍」 (Star Combinations: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo), the later pattern Ma Tou Dai Jian (a sword at the horse's head). So although all four are fallen, they differ in weight: Wu is the worst, but it is also the position most likely, 'when lucky stars are many', to turn into a military career.

「祿前一位安擎羊」 is a placement rhyme: the palace after Lu Cun holds Qing Yang. A high general who meets it gains blessings and income, and with noble stars guarding it he commands armies over ten thousand li. This is the most positive reading of Qing Yang: the star of punishment turned to war becomes decisiveness in battle. Star Combinations also has 「擎羊逢力士，李廣難封」 (Star Combinations: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo); Li Shi is one of the twelve Bo Shi spirits, and Qing Yang meeting it means great merit that is never rewarded with a title. Reading the two lines together: Qing Yang can win merit, but whether the reward actually arrives depends on having noble helpers.

Qing Yang guarding the Life Palace, born in a four-tomb year, meeting Zi Wei and Tian Fu: money and grain fill the granary. The conditions come in three layers: Qing Yang in the Life Palace (a firm character), a year branch of Chen, Xu, Chou or Wei (the Quan Shu thinks Qing Yang is safest in the four tomb years), and Zi Wei and Tian Fu in the San Fang. Zi Wei and Tian Fu are emperor and treasury, able to subdue Qing Yang's punishment. On a Xingge chart, with Qing Yang in the Life Palace, check whether Zi Wei or Tian Fu is in the San Fang Si Zheng. When a forceful person has solid resources and backing from above, the drive turns into real wealth.

Qing Yang in an idle palace, clashed by Tuo Luo and Huo Xing, is unlucky; with Di Jie and malefic stars meeting the Body and Life Palaces too, 「定然夭絕在途中」. The idle palaces are a fixed table in the Quan Shu (Life Master, Body Master and Notes on Chart Setup) that lists only main stars such as Zi Wei and Tan Lang; Qing Yang is not in it, so the palace meant here cannot be pinned down on the chart, and it is not simply another name for Qing Yang's fallen positions. 'On the road' means dying on a journey; the ancients set great store by a good death at home, and dying away from home was a great misfortune. There is a structural point here: Qing Yang and Tuo Luo are always separated by Lu Cun's palace, so they never share a palace and never face each other, which means the Tuo Luo that 'clashes' is mostly the annual Tuo Luo, or one in the San Fang. A combination like this calls for particular attention to safety in traffic, business travel and outdoor activities, which is something one can prepare for.

A woman's Qing Yang meeting Huo Xing, Tian Ji, Ju Men and Hua Ji is ordinary; with unlucky malefic stars in the San Fang as well, if not dying young, drifting. 浪滾濤 literally means rolling waves, extended to a whole life of drifting; the collation note explains that the rhyme does not fit. Tian Ji and Ju Men appear here as in the woman's verse of the Wen Chang chapter; the ancients saw them as changeable and given to quarrels. With a strong personality and a restless, overthinking mind, in periods heavy with malefic stars life and love easily become unsteady, with frequent job changes and moves.

This group's heading says 'a man's chart', but its content is the luck periods, probably a copying error in the heading. Qing Yang guarding the luck period: people born in a four-tomb year escape disaster; meeting Zi Wei, Wen Chang and Tian Fu, wealth and office rise high. It is built almost exactly like the natal version in segment 10: a four-tomb birth year and Zi Wei and Tian Fu meeting it are the two keys that turn Qing Yang from unlucky to lucky. When reading a Decade Luck on Xingge, if its Life Palace or San Fang holds Qing Yang, check whether Zi Wei, Tian Fu, Wen Chang or Wen Qu come in at the same time.

The Net of Heaven and Snare of Earth are the Chen and Xu palaces, as the note says. There is an interesting fact on the chart here: Qing Yang can fall in Chen (Yi years) or Xu (Xin years), and Chen and Xu are exactly Qing Yang's temple positions. So a Qing Yang in its temple in the Net and Snare is called a wealth and office pattern in segment 6, while this verse says that when the two luck periods clash, disaster does harm. The two can stand together: the natal temple position is the foundation, and the clash in a luck period is the event. There is a further condition, 'the main stars of the natal chart are weak', which shows the Quan Shu builds its verdicts of death on the natal chart and the luck period being bad at the same time.

Qing Yang with malefic stars, fallen in the two luck periods, brings a whole chain of results: harming children and punishing the wife, selling the farm, banishment, demotion and exile, service in the army. In old China 從戎 here meant being sent to the army as a convict, a punishment, not enlisting as one might today. This verse brings Qing Yang's 'Punishment' down to the law: a luck period meeting a fallen Qing Yang with malefic stars easily brings lawsuits and penalties. Qing Yang and Tuo Luo Stacked says that when there is Qing Yang in the natal chart and the Annual Luck brings the annual Qing Yang and Tuo Luo as well, that is 'Qing Yang and Tuo Luo stacked' (Qing Yang and Tuo Luo Stacked), a concrete case of this verse. For such a period, the things to guard against are legal disputes and upheaval in family property.