What is Guan Dai?

Guan Dai (Capping) is the third of the Twelve Life Stages (Chang Sheng). In old China, coming of age meant receiving a cap and tying on a sash; from then on you were an adult who could go out and meet the world. The San Ming Tong Hui, a Ming-dynasty classic of Bazi (Four Pillars), says Guan Dai is "all things gradually flourishing, like a person dressed in cap and robe." Whichever palace has Guan Dai, that palace's affairs are getting on track and taking proper shape. Look after the fundamentals, and the polish comes on its own. To see which palace your Guan Dai is in, draw your chart.

How Guan Dai is placed

First find Chang Sheng from the Five Elements Bureau, then count two palaces on, by yin or yang and gender, and that is Guan Dai:

Volume two of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu (The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu) only gives the placement method for the Twelve Life Stages, and its wording is "count forward for men, backward for women." Xingge, like the method in common use today, goes by yin or yang and gender. For people born in a yang year the two give the same result; for people born in a yin year the direction is reversed. The Quan Shu doesn't explain Guan Dai on its own, so the reading below follows from its place in the cycle.

What Guan Dai means: taking shape

Chang Sheng is the sprout, and Mu Yu (Bathing) has just emerged and is still finding its way. By Guan Dai, things begin to have a form, and other people can see what you're doing. It isn't the strongest stage yet; Lin Guan (Taking Office) and Di Wang (Peak) still lie ahead. So the point of Guan Dai is "setting up the shape": standards, image, fundamentals. Get these right, and what comes later will hold.

Where it tends to get stuck is caring too much about appearances. Looking the part is good, but if you only attend to how things look and the substance doesn't keep up, you end up feeling like you're always keeping up a front.

In a few key palaces

• Life Palace: you work methodically, care about image and propriety, and make a polished first impression. Let your ability keep pace, and the polish comes naturally.
• Wealth Palace: money management starts to have a plan, and income and spending gradually fall into order. For money spent on image, ask yourself whether it's worth it.
• Career Palace: work is getting on track, and a position or professional title is taking shape. Do the fundamentals properly by the book, and you move up fast.
• Spouse Palace: the relationship starts to have a defined status and shape, and you both care how you come across together in front of others. Look after the private conversations too.
• Health Palace: your habits are settling, and with a regular routine your energy is steady.

Natal only, unchanged in each year

On the Xingge chart the Twelve Life Stages are a single natal set that never moves. When you switch to an Annual Luck, the sets that change to annual versions are the Twelve General Gods (Jiang Qian) and the Twelve Year Gods (Sui Qian). When reading a year, treat Guan Dai as the background color of its palace: if the year's Life Palace reaches your natal Guan Dai, that year's theme falls where things already have some shape and are still forming. For the full placement method, see the Twelve Life Stages overview.