What is Bing Fu?

Bing Fu (Illness Charm) is the ninth of the Twelve Erudite Gods (Bo Shi). The name sounds heavy, but it actually carries very little weight. It's about this palace's matters tending to leave you tired and low on drive: look after your routine first, then think about sprinting. There is another Bing Fu with the same name in the Twelve Year Gods (Sui Qian); this page is about the Bo Shi one. To see which palace your Bing Fu is in, draw your chart.

How Bing Fu is placed

The Bo Shi set starts with Bo Shi in the Lu Cun palace; count to the ninth and you reach Bing Fu. Men born in yang years and women born in yin years count forward, so Bing Fu is eight palaces ahead of Lu Cun; men born in yin years and women born in yang years count backward, so it's eight palaces behind.

Eight palaces forward or back is exactly a trine position, so Bing Fu always sits in one of Bo Shi's trines; the other trine holds Jiang Jun. The palace opposite Bing Fu always holds Qing Long: one side reminds you to slow down, the other brings joy, and the two palaces balance each other.

What the classics say, and how to read it now

The verse in volume two of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu), in the An Shi Er Gong Tai Sui Sha Lu Jue section, reads:

Bing Fu brings illness, Hao wastes the inheritance, Fu Bing and Guan Fu bring entangling talk.

The section of volume two that lists each star's element also says plainly that Bing Fu governs illness. The classics simply take the god at its name.

Read for today, Xingge doesn't use Bing Fu to judge your health. It reads it as this palace's matters taking more out of you: they tire you easily, and once tired, you don't really want to stop. The reminder is simple: get sleep, meals and rest in order first, then decide how fast to go.

Bing Fu in key palaces

• Life Palace: your battery is a little smaller than you think, and when things pile up you lose drive easily. A looser schedule gets more done than constantly pushing through.
• Wealth Palace: worrying about money wears you out. Turn your income and spending into a fixed routine so you don't have to think about it every day.
• Career Palace: when work gets busy, you tend to forget to rest. Set a clear end to the workday; over time your performance gets steadier, not weaker.
• Spouse Palace: when you're both tired, small things turn into arguments most easily. Rest first when you're tired, and save important talks for when you both have energy.
• Health Palace: this palace is already about the rhythm of body and mind, so with Bing Fu here, put your routine first. Regular sleep and exercise matter more than the occasional big recharge.

Telling it apart from the Sui Qian Bing Fu

There are two Bing Fu on the chart. The Bo Shi Bing Fu follows your birth-year Lu Cun and stays in the same palace for life; it shows the area that naturally drains you more. The Sui Qian Bing Fu is the last of the Twelve Year Gods; it follows Tai Sui and moves one palace each year, showing which palace's matters may stretch your energy too thin this year. One looks at a natal habit, the other at this year's weather.

Natal chart and Annual Luck

The Bo Shi Bing Fu is natal and doesn't change with the Annual Luck on the Xingge chart; the sets that change each year are the Twelve Year Gods (Sui Qian) and the Twelve General Gods (Jiang Qian). If the annual Sui Qian Bing Fu also lands in this palace, that year it's even more worth taking this area slowly.