Yuanhai Ziping · The Deep Sea of Ziping Astrology

Rhapsodies on the Five Phases and Transformation

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Rhapsody on the Primal Principles and Changes of the Five Phases Examine the sages of former ages and take the earlier worthies as a mirror. In discussing life and death, rely wholly on Guigu; in tracing increase and decline, Master Xu is the sure guide. Where yang is born, yin dies; where yang dies, yin is born. Their alternating forward and reverse cycles reveal the transformations. Yang Wood is born at Hai and dies at Wu: its survival and extinction are readily seen. Yin Wood mounts the Horse, Wu, and encounters the Pig, Hai: from these, good and ill can be known. Gen, Yin, gives birth to Bing, which dies upon meeting the Rooster, You. Dui, You, gives birth to Ding, which is injured upon meeting the Tiger, Yin. Wu is stored in Yin and disappears in the western quarter, You. Ji is born at You and dies within Gen, Yin. Geng meets the Snake, Si, and rises to prominence, but finds a cycle of the Rat, Zi, difficult to withstand. Xin is born at Zi and dies in the domain of Xun, Si. The Rabbit, Mao, gives birth to Gui Water, bringing ample clothing and emolument, but a cycle in the Monkey's domain, Shen, brings calamity. Judge birth and death for all ten stems together, and examine their transformations accordingly. When authority and the Blade are both manifest and evenly balanced, rank reaches that of marquis or king. Yet loss or danger may occur midway through life when a cycle supports a flourishing Officer. A lifetime of wealth and honor comes from an even balance between the self and the Killings. The greatly honored use Wealth rather than the Officer. Those who wield authority use the Killings rather than Resource. Resource relies on the Killings to generate it. The Officer flourishes through Wealth. With the Food Spirit in front and the Killings behind, achievement and reputation are both secured. You breaks Mao, and Mao breaks Wu: wealth and reputation are both excellent. Enjoyment of blessings comes when the Five Phases return to Emolument. Long life comes when the Eight Characters balance one another. Fire is darkened and loses its light amid the sowing and reaping of Earth, Wu and Ji. Yin Wood, Yi, has its qi cut off by Bing and Ding. Fire may be empty yet have a flame. Metal may be solid yet make no sound. Where Water floods and Wood floats, the Wood is living Wood. Where Earth is heavy and Metal buried, the Metal is yang Metal, Geng. When Water becomes abundant, danger follows. When Fire becomes bright, it is extinguished. Yang Metal, Geng, refined too severely changes its pattern and leads a life of running about. Yin Wood, Yi, returning to its own domain but losing the seasonal command ultimately remains weak in self. Heavy Earth covers Fire and deprives it of light; meeting Wood then makes it useful. Abundant Water leaves Wood without a settled place; only a cycle of Earth brings flourishing. None of the Five Phases should become excessive; the Eight Characters need balance and harmony. Earth stopping Water's flow brings complete blessings and longevity. Empty Earth and abundant Wood necessarily bring injury or disability. When a cycle meets the Primal Chen, premature death must be expected. Abundant Wood brings much benevolence. Thin Earth brings little trustworthiness. Flourishing Water settled in its domain necessarily brings wisdom. Firm Metal governs righteousness and the capacity to act. Metal and Water bring intelligence and a fondness for sensual pleasure. Water and Earth mixed together necessarily bring much dullness. Advanced age is obtained through balance and harmony. Premature death comes from one-sidedness and depletion. Chen and Xu controlling and clashing together necessarily bring involvement in criminal punishment. Zi and Mao punishing one another at the household's gates leave it wholly without ritual propriety or virtue. In abandoning Resource for Wealth, distinguish Indirect from Direct. In abandoning Wealth for the Killings, consider hardness and softness. Hurting Officer without Wealth to rely on brings poverty, however skillful the person may be. When the Food Spirit restrains the Killings but meets the Owl, the result is poverty or premature death. A man with many Yang Blades necessarily marries more than once. A woman afflicted by Hurting Officer must remarry. Poverty and low standing arise when a flourishing place encounters punishment. Solitude and widowhood arise solely because the Wealth spirit has been robbed. Only after removing the Killings and retaining the Officer can blessings be discussed. Removing the Officer and retaining the Killings brings imposing authority. Meeting Hurting Officer yet obtaining the husband's star means that Wealth in the configuration possesses qi. Meeting the Owl spirit and losing one's children means scant blessings, no descendants, and solitude. Three Xu clashing with Chen bring no slight misfortune. Two stems without admixture bring both advantage and reputation. Bingzi and Xinmao meeting together bring licentiousness and Rolling Waves. Zi, Wu, Mao, and You all present bring stupefaction through wine and sensual pleasure. Killings manifest in the heavenly stems without restraint bring low standing. Wealth hidden in the earthly branches and generated in secret is exceptional. Wealth brings riches when the Yang Blade arrives together with the annual influence and the luck cycle. Greed for food and a suspicious, contrary disposition arise when the configuration uses the Owl spirit and illness is present. A nephew serves as heir, and an adopted daughter becomes a wife. When Mao and You meet in the day and hour, the circumstances of early life necessarily involve displacement. Lifelong reverence for and belief in spirits and deities arise from encountering Xu and Hai in the configuration. Yin controlling yin, and yang controlling yang, make the Wealth spirit useful. Many Officers amount to no Officer: excessive flourishing tips over into danger. Many Killings amount to no Killings: they instead cease to cause harm. Much Wealth amounts to no Wealth: a cycle that transforms it into the Killings produces disaster. When the Eight Characters obtain a configuration but lose their domain, life brings no suitable opportunities. When the Four Pillars return to their domain and obtain the seasonal command, distinction comes early in life. Wood meeting a grouped image brings glory, honor, and high promotion. A configuration using the Owl spirit manages the affairs of a wealthy household. When Wealth and Officer both fail, death follows. When the Food Spirit meets the Owl, death follows. The Dragon hidden among Hai and Mao brings profitable trade in silk thread and silk floss. Dingsi, the Solitary Phoenix, is fittingly associated with an intelligent woman skilled in poetry. A day afflicted by Naked Form and Bathing brings impurity, promiscuity, and prostitution. The day's Emolument returning to the hour and meeting Wealth brings refinement, distinction, riches, and honor. Returning Emolument with Wealth obtains blessings. Returning Emolument without Wealth must bring poverty. Wealth and Resource mixed together ultimately bring hardship and poverty. The Indirect and Direct confused in a turbid mixture necessarily bring injury or disability. The Grand Year must avoid encounters involving battle. The Yang Blade does not welcome punishments or clashes. Gui following a combination with Wu brings a lack of affection between young and old and much inhumanity. When Geng is disturbed by Bing, who would expect that meeting the Direct Officer should nevertheless bring no official stipend? For when Emolument meets the Seven Killings, reputation is obtained. One who neither follows nor transforms remains long delayed on the path to office. One whose following and transformation successfully follow their course becomes distinguished through achievement and reputation. When transformation is accomplished and Emolument flourishes, life continues. When transformation is accomplished but Emolument is cut off, death follows. Those who stand at the head of Buddhist or Daoist communities instead use the Killings in a light degree. Those appointed to the Censorate have the Indirect Officer securely placed. An encounter at the place of Birth brings death in the prime of life, with no completion of a long old age. Ding meeting Mao Wood and then Ji Earth describes a person whose Owl takes away the Food Spirit. Hai is the divine draught: encountering You Metal makes a lover of the wine cup. Wealth meeting a flourishing place makes many people rich. The Officer encountering Long Life necessarily brings honor to the configuration. Ding born at You Metal, when Bing and Xin encounter it, brings the ending of the line of descendants. Wealth arriving at the Killings' domain means that one's father dies and one does not return home. When the day branch in an Eight Special Days configuration is of the same kind, a Killings year or Killings cycle brings calamity. If one can examine and read this thoroughly, studying high and low standing in detail, there will be no failure in ten thousand cases. Rhapsody of Gold and Jade Its numerical framework is the Great Plan, and its method follows Ziping. It names Heaven and Earth's profound mysteries and listens for the voice transmitted through the empty valley. One qi circulates, making winter cold and summer hot; the three yang unfold, growing from spring and reaching completion in autumn. I have heard that what is born also perishes, and what diminishes also fills. Transformation returns to its source, all returning to Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai. The Five Phases are stored away, each occupying the hills of the four concluding seasonal months. Birth and growth have their seasons, belonging to spring, summer, autumn, and winter; flourishing and decline have their determinate courses, through which the workings of poverty, low standing, wealth, and honor are examined. In examining the Eight Characters, discuss Wealth and Officer especially, then investigate the Five Phases, carefully considering their seasonal conditions. Assess the relative weight of Wealth and Officer, examine the depth of the seasonal qi, trace whether Wealth and Officer turn toward or away from one and what they gain or lose, and judge the level of the natal pattern. What comes to control me is Officer or Ghost; with a flourishing self, one wields authority. What I go to control is Wife or Wealth; with a strong Officer, one becomes rich. The year injuring the self's master means that father and son are not close. The hour controlling the day means that the son does not obey the father's commands. The year controlling the day means that the superior can oppress the inferior. The day controlling the year means that the inferior offends the superior. If something restrains the day stem, evil can be transformed into good fortune. The natal master must also meet a favorable spirit, turning ill fortune into good. A joyous meeting of favorable spirits indicates abundant assets. The Four Pillars lacking sympathetic relations necessarily reveal simultaneous sources of misfortune. If the natal master encounters clashes, overlapping Three Punishments, and oppression from years and cycles, unexpected troubles must follow. The Five Phases entering a pattern in purity bring the clear atmosphere of high court office. A strong self with the Seven Killings subdued guards the realm's outlying defenses. Without Wealth and Officer but with a pattern, one finds a path into the blue clouds of advancement. Without a pattern but with Wealth and Officer, one gains a name at the palace gates. When Wealth, Officer, and pattern are all damaged, one is either poor and cold or frustrated in achievement and reputation. When both day stem and month's command are strong, one is either impoverished or a scholar who remains forever withdrawn in rustic obscurity. Bing and Ding seated in southern Li without restraint describe a violent person who disregards ritual and law. Ren and Gui meeting a corresponding Wu and Ji describe an intelligent person who cherishes virtue and possesses ability. Xin encountering Yi Wood at the southern Tomb brings wealth without benevolence. Bing encountering Xin Metal at the northern station brings virtue even in poverty. When the year, hour, or month's command contains Indirect Resource, good and ill remain uncertain. If a major cycle or annual sovereign meets the Longevity Star, the Food Spirit, calamity arrives at once. A shortage of milk in childhood occurs where the Food Spirit suffers punishment and control. Prominence in the prime of life occurs when Wealth and Officer occupy pure positions. The Food Spirit securely placed on a yang day, without clashes or damage, secretly combines with the Officer star. The Food Spirit on a yin day, without breaking or depletion, though entering a harmonious combination, naturally draws close to the Resource Seal. Indirect Wealth can increase longevity and extend one's years. The Yang Blade and Seven Killings readily seize Wealth and turn it into Ghosts. A damaged Wealth star dissipates the ancestral estate, requiring a new establishment in another place. An injured Resource Seal means losing the inherited estate and leaving one's native home. A person's configuration takes noble spirits as blessings; when these suffer control and entrapment, the outcome is ominous misfortune. The Five Phases meeting ill-omened luminaries bring disaster. A welcome combination with the Killings together with the Food Spirit brings distinction. When the configuration is deficient and the Killings flourish, Heavenly Pardon and the Two Virtues are needed to manifest good fortune. A weak self with abundant Wealth welcomes the assistance of the Yang Blade and siblings. A vigorous Food Spirit in the month's command brings a liking for food and drink and a full physique. Auspicious luminaries supporting one another in the Four Pillars pile up gold and jade. The Five Phases free from invasion by inauspicious killing influences bring a distinguished name and widespread reputation. Repeated Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai bring an intelligent, enterprising mind. Repeated Zi, Wu, Mao, and You bring a destructive inclination toward wine, sensual pleasure, and debauchery. For a woman without the Killings, what harm is there in a single noble Officer? She welcomes the Heavenly and Monthly Virtue spirits and avoids the mixed presence of Killings and Officer. Numerous noble Officers bring dancing skirts and singing fans. Many combinations bring secret assignations and stolen meetings. Vigorous Five Phases bring conduct that disregards ritual and law. Officer and Killings encountering one another necessarily describe a spouse of scandalous reputation. Turning the Gaze and Reverse Insertion, Peach Blossom on Flooding Water, Bathing and Naked Form, and repeated Adopted-Offspring indications mostly describe servants, concubines, and prostitutes, with few examples of exemplary chastity. The Double Fish, Hai, and Double Maiden, Si, are called lustful stars; repeated occurrences are undesirable. The Officer star and Seven Killings are called the husband-master and should not occur repeatedly. Yin and Shen appearing together bring a licentious disposition. Si and Hai meeting leave the heart unable to rest. The presence of Hurting Officer means either marriage far away or, necessarily, harm to the husband. The Owl-Resource spirit arriving in a clash means either solitary separation or eventual parting by death. Officer or Ghost entering the Tomb in the Four Pillars sends the husband's star long into the Yellow Springs. Years and cycles arriving at the palace of premature extinction make the paired mandarin ducks fly apart along different paths. To understand a woman's difficulty marrying, look for a cycle entering a position that turns away from the husband. To recognize a man's early marriage, look for a cycle combining with Wealth's domain. Repeated harm to children occurs when the Killings disappear, the Officer declines, and Hurting Officer and Food are heavy. Repeated injury to wives occurs with light Wealth, a flourishing self, and many siblings. If this is not the case, the position of wives and concubines must suffer punishment or clash. Secret combinations with the Wealth star bring numerous wives and concubines. An empty position inclining toward Wealth indicates many wives. The Wealth star entering the Tomb necessarily afflicts the wife. A spirit concealed beneath a branch brings a favored secondary wife or concubine. A clear and manifest wife's star seeks a match among tall trees of established standing. A major cycle or annual influence forming a threefold combination in Wealth's domain necessarily brings the auspicious sign of the Red Phoenix. Arrival at Wealth's place of Defeat brings declining household assets, injury to wives and concubines, and difficulty completing a marriage. Determine precisely in which palace the wife's star loses its position. For Official Emolument and the Heavenly Kitchen, investigate the roots to determine their positions. A pattern, whether pure or mixed, suddenly encountering a clash from an evil influence also indicates death. One without Wealth or Emolument who encounters their flourishing and vigorous condition should also rise suddenly. One seeking a mere sheng or ge of grain each day has many Robbers of Wealth where the Food Spirit flourishes. If Indirect Resource controls the Food Spirit, the result is poverty, shortened life, or, one must recognize, begging. In judging flourishing and decline, gains and losses, investigate relative weight and depth. Official Emolument and the Killings strong without restraint bring early death. A declining day with heavy Wealth that allies with the Killings brings poverty. Examine further what is inauspicious or auspicious in the years and cycles. The self's palace, clashed with and broken and lacking support, means leaving one's ancestral home or going to another region. Qian, Hai; Kun, Shen; Gen, Yin; and Xun, Si, exchanging places and inclining toward one another bring a liking for travel and an unsettled mind. Meeting the Flowery Canopy in the pillars together with the Two Virtues describes a person of pure distinction. Officer and Seven Killings falling into Emptiness bring an idle or nominal post among the nine professions. The Five Phases controlling and battling one another do not create disaster unless the day master is injured. When annual influence and luck cycle arrive together, damage to the useful spirit always brings misfortune. Wood controlled by Metal necessarily brings trouble to the waist and flanks. Fire injured by Water necessarily brings illness of the eyes. A vigorous threefold Fire combination controlling Geng and Xin brings injury to the head and face and disorders of pus and blood. If it injures the day stem, or Wealth and Officer become excessive, there are calamities involving broken limbs and lingering attachments. Breathlessness and fullness in the heart and lungs likewise arise from Metal and Fire punishing one another. Damage to the spleen and stomach results from Earth and Wood battling and controlling one another. Water in the branches with Fire in the stems suffering Water's control necessarily brings abdominal [?], glossed in the supplied text as pi, a blockage or fullness, and obscuration of the heart. Fire in the branches with Water in the stems encountering flourishing Fire brings internal obstruction and blindness of the eyes. Fire and Earth vexing, scorching, and steaming the four luminaries bring baldness and dim eyes. Water's Moistening Downward pattern, purely moist and full of qi, instead brings a clear spirit and refined bones. Flourishing Yinghuo, Fire, arriving at Li, Wu, and Xun, Si, brings loss of voice in a wind disorder. Hard and sharp Taibai, Metal, combining with Dui, You, and Kun, Shen, brings misfortune from weapons and arrows. The Wealth star entering the Tomb necessarily rises into activity with a little punishment or clash. When Hurting Officer has injured the Officer completely, the appearance of an Officer star brings ill fortune. The eighteen patterns should be investigated according to good and evil. All are tied to the Five Phases, and each takes its measure from flourishing, decline, increase, and decrease. With a flourishing self, what need is there for Resource Seal? A declining self does not welcome Wealth and Officer. Balance and harmony bring blessings. One-sided factional strength brings disaster. When noble spirits incline toward and flank a position, Emolument and Horse Fly to Heaven, or remote combinations invite an empty position, the pattern must not be clashed with, and encounters with combinations are all avoided. Seven Killings and Officer each dislike entanglement, and filling their empty positions brings ill fortune. If a cycle suddenly reaches the Officer's domain, withdraw and avoid taking office. A lean Horse and broken Officer mean being trapped on a path of poverty. Flourishing Emolument and abundant Wealth bring prominence on the road to office. If a favorable place nevertheless brings misfortune, an inauspicious star is hidden within a threefold combination. If an inauspicious place instead turns auspicious, an auspicious luminary is revealed within the nine palaces. To know the level of official rank, determine whether the cycle's spirit turns toward or away from one. Purity and distinction bring fame in youth; blemishes and deficiencies bring a secure place in later life. Luck cycles proceed through one palace in ten years. Annual influences move successively from year to year. A clear and prosperous route brings high authority and distinguished rank. A difficult and obstructed road brings scant emolument and low office. In tracing the children's position, first examine the wife's palace. Death and Extinction make it difficult for either principal or secondary offspring to survive; excessive flourishing requires seeking them through another household. A clearly revealed wife's star necessarily brings many children. Punishment and harm to the descendants' palace make sons and daughters rare. To ask how many siblings there are, inspect the stems and branches of the Four Pillars carefully. Even with a strong month's command, examine whether the cycle's spirit turns toward or away from one. Death, Extinction, punishment, and injury disrupt the siblings' order; mutual generation and happy influences make the sibling branches flourish together. Strong siblings and a flourishing self bring deficiency to the father's configuration. Abundant Wealth and possessions bring early harm to the mother's years. If Officer or Ghost, the Seven Killings, appears, the mother instead lives long. If the sequence of cycles meets qi being drained away, the father likewise enjoys longevity. Ren arriving at Wu, and Gui seated at Si, when endowed with balance and harmony, have Emolument and Horse in the same domain. When Resting or Imprisoned, their Womb origin lies in Extinction. Bing arriving at Shen, Geng seated at Yan-Yin, Ji entering Xun, Si, and Qian, Hai, Yi arriving at the Double Maiden, Si, Metal riding Fire's position, and Jia seated in Kun's palace, Shen, are called Rest and Imprisonment and especially dislike control. An unwelcome encounter with Seven Killings is called Losing the Soul; a welcome encounter with the Longevity Star, the Food Spirit, is called Returning the Soul. However intelligence and effort are applied within Heaven's allotment, it is difficult to escape its net. Transformation is hidden and subtle: herein lies the marvel of its operation. As poverty and cold approach their end, they can make dukes and ministers emerge from humble white houses. Excessive luxury instead causes people to starve within vermilion gates. When household assets are about to be ruined, an unworthy son is necessarily born. A marriage afflicted by many punishments necessarily brings a wife or concubine who lacks longevity. When all four palaces turn away from Emolument, do not seek recklessly. Official prospects will not succeed, and Wealth will be seen to fail. With no Wealth in the Eight Characters, keep to one's proper portion. Greed beyond it necessarily invites misfortune. Alas! Accepting poverty and nurturing unpolished simplicity did not mean that Yuan Xian lacked ability. Beating the belly and playing the flute expressed Wu Yuan's frustrated aspirations. When things accord, proceed; when they oppose, relinquish them. Know one's allotment, delight in Heaven, and remain aligned with righteousness in hardship and poverty. Here the numerical teaching of the Great Plan ends: the marrow of the Yuan-Yuan teaching. Rhapsody of the Jade-Blue Depths · The Swift Thousand-Li Horse It has been said that dividing the two qi establishes the Three Powers, and spreading the four seasons brings the myriad things to completion: all proceeds from allotment and command. This command resides in the four seasons and establishes the Four Pillars, taking the day master as its focus to determine the Three Origins. An allotment cannot operate without a command, and a command cannot be established without an allotment. To understand how allotment and command participate in one another is like understanding the whole of Heaven and Earth. Some say: "The Master seldom spoke of ming: was this always Heaven's mandate, rather than a person's allotment? Heaven's mandate concerns qi and numerical order; a person's allotment receives the Five Phases. How do qi and numerical order differ from the Five Phases? How does Heaven's mandate differ from a person's allotment?" This principle is indeed true and may be discussed. A person's flourishing and decline, gains and losses, all lie within the generation and control of the Five Phases. Wealth, honor, poverty, and destitution do not lie beyond balance and harmony in the Eight Characters. First observe the depth of the seasonal qi; afterward examine whether Wealth and Officer turn toward or away from one. No person's configuration departs from Wealth and Officer. Within the various patterns, the essential point is to invite Emolument and Horse through empty positions. The earlier worthies established models; later students must adapt them intelligently. Excess without control brings poverty and low standing. Deficiency without generation and support brings premature death. Where an influence should turn toward one but the cycle turns away, pronounce poverty and low standing. Where an influence should turn away but the cycle turns toward it, judge hardship and poverty. When generation is welcome and generation occurs, distinction can be confidently judged. When control is desired and control arrives, good fortune can likewise be declared. On encountering the Officer, examine Wealth: meeting Wealth brings riches and honor. On encountering the Killings, examine Resource: meeting Resource brings glory and splendor. On encountering Resource, look for the Officer: meeting the Officer brings distinction in eight cases out of ten. On encountering Wealth, avoid the Killings: their presence brings poverty in nine cases out of ten. Abundant Wood meeting Metal is fashioned into beams and pillars. Much Water meeting Earth gains the work of reinforced dikes and banks. Fire refining autumn Metal casts it into sword blades. Wood loosening the Earth of the concluding seasonal months cultivates grain for sowing and reaping. Blazing Fire with Water is called the configuration of Already Fording. Shallow Water with much Metal is called the image of a complete body. Jia and Yi entering western cycles may expect achievement and reputation if the self flourishes. Ren and Gui passing through the southern region may seek wealth and honor if the master is vigorous. Robbery and the Killings need not meet a flourishing place. The Food Spirit most welcomes the domain of the Robber of Wealth. Hai, Mao, and Wei meeting Jia or Yi bring wealth and honor without doubt: the Crooked and Straight pattern. Yin, Wu, and Xu meeting Bing or Ding assure glory and splendor: the Flaming Upward pattern. Geng or Xin with the full Si, You, and Chou configuration brings weighty position and high authority: the Following Transformation pattern. Ren or Gui obtaining the Shen, Zi, and Chen pattern brings excellent learning and ample ability: the Moistening Downward pattern. Wu or Ji with all four concluding seasonal months brings honor above the various offices. Meeting Virtue, Excellence, and the Three Wonders as well spreads one's name to the Four Peaks: the Sowing and Reaping pattern. Wood completing the Yin, Mao, and Chen direction brings achievement and reputation of its own: the Crooked and Straight pattern. Metal completing the Shen, You, and Xu region brings wealth and honor without deficiency: the Following Transformation pattern. Water returning to the Hai, Zi, and Chou source describes a person of glory and splendor: the Moistening Downward pattern. Fire arriving in the Si, Wu, and Wei region describes a distinguished person: the Flaming Upward pattern. Flourishing Wood benefits from Fire's radiance and may attempt the autumn examinations. Firm Metal loves Water's mutual enrichment and brings praiseworthy literary learning. When Fire is used, Water causes concern. When Wood is used, Metal causes concern. Repeated spring Wood should not be treated as excessive flourishing without support. Blazing summer Fire should not be deemed overly hard and objectionable. Keen autumn Metal is most exceptional; vast winter Water is truly admirable. Cutting it back and stripping it away are exceptional; generating and supporting the self are avoided. Bing and Ding born in winter months prize Wu and Ji appearing above. Geng and Xin born in summer find excellence in Ren and Gui obtaining a configuration. Jia and Yi born in autumn prize the Dark Warrior. Geng and Xin growing in summer make excellent use of Gouchen. Bing and Ding amid much Water dislike the northern region; meeting Wu and Ji instead warrants a judgment of distinction. Geng and Xin amid flourishing Fire fear the southern direction; meeting Wu and Ji instead warrants a judgment of honor. Jia and Yi born in autumn with Bing and Ding revealed should not be treated as injured. Wu and Ji born in summer with Geng and Xin exposed should be judged distinguished. Fire accompanied by much Water prizes a Wood cycle. Earth encountering flourishing Wood gains honor upon entering Fire's domain. Geng meeting heavy Water has cold Water and chilled Metal and welcomes blazing heat. Wu meeting many You has a declining self and keen qi and loves brilliant Fire. Deficiency welcomes generation and support. Excess calls for draining and stripping away. A mixture of Officer and Killings brings poverty when the self is weak. When Officer and Killings are evenly balanced, combining away the Killings brings distinction. An Officer star in the year and month brings entry into office early in life. Direct nobility in the day and hour brings fame in later years. Resource Seal encountered in the womb brings enjoyment of a thousand zhong of emolument. Wealth qi meeting Long Life brings ten thousand qing of fertile fields. When an autumn or winter Officer star meets injury from the Blade, retaining Metal and removing Fire brings distinction without doubt. Hurting Officer in the twelfth month welcomes the Officer. Broken Resource and severe injury bring death through misfortune. Flourishing Wealth generating the Officer brings more riches than distinction. Hurting Officer meeting nobility brings both high office and ample wealth. Without injury there is no distinction; a configuration with an illness is exceptional. When the principle is clear from what follows, why seek elsewhere? Though using an influence at first may be exceptional, removing it in the end may be preferable. Examine its weight and do not adopt only one approach. For example, with little Water and blazing Fire, meeting Geng or Xin should not be treated as a case of a flourishing self and light Officer. Or when Wood is cut off and seated on Metal, with repeated Killings and Resource, it is difficult to judge this as a weak self with vigorous qi. Light Wealth should not pass through the Robber's domain, for disasters to the wife recur. Robber of Wealth and Yang Blade with Officer and Killings describe a minister of the high court. Returning Emolument and Reverse Clash proceeding through Blade and Hurting Officer describe a servant of the state in the halls of government. A flourishing self with the Killings proceeding through Resource Seal describes an official empowered to decide. A strong self but weak master, without Resource Seal and meeting the Wealth star, describes an ordinary person. Yang Blade and Indirect Officer under restraint bring appointment to command military power. Direct Officer and Direct Resource unharmed bring entry into office to govern the common people. Moistening Downward and Sowing and Reaping describe an official who distributes rewards. Zi and Wu as exalted positions describe a person serving at the palace gates. A Gui day and Gui hour together with Hai and Chou bring first place in the examinations and entry into the Hanlin Academy. A Ren day and Ren hour with repeated Renchen bring high rank, imperial favor, and entry at the palace gates. Day Virtue meeting Kuigang, when punishments and clashes occur, describes an impoverished scholar. Kuigang meeting the Wealth star nevertheless describes a person who obtains a secure place and emolument. Hurting Officer meeting Officer finds excellence upon entering the domains of Resource and Wealth. The Wealth star breaking Resource should meet the domain of Peers and Robbers. Wealth in the natal configuration and the Killings in the cycle can still be pronounced auspicious. The Killings in the natal configuration and Wealth in the cycle can be decisively judged inauspicious. A woman meeting Hurting Officer obtains the utmost distinction through Returning Emolument. A man meeting Yang Blade finds it exceptional to follow it when the self is weak. Metal Spirit, Flying Emolument, and Hurting Officer are especially avoided in a woman's configuration. Yang Blade, Hurting Officer, and Seven Killings bring authority in a man's configuration. Metal Spirit entering Fire and meeting Blade and Killings brings distinction without doubt. Returning Emolument without Officer, meeting Food Spirit or Hurting Officer, brings honor and authority. Direct Officer without Resource brings no distinction while holding office. Yang Blade and Seven Killings bring a renowned career in office. A flourishing self without support is the configuration of a Buddhist or Daoist renunciant. Peach Blossom and Rolling Waves describe women in prostitution. Weak Metal and extinguished Fire describe an artisan who wears down Earth and Wood. A strong self and shallow Wealth describe those who smelt and refine with Metal and Fire. Hurting Officer meeting Wealth brings children. Seven Killings under restraint likewise bring many sons. An injured Resource Seal brings the mother's death early in life. The source of Wealth being robbed brings the father's life to an early end. Hurting Officer in a man's configuration must harm his children. Hurting Officer in a woman's configuration necessarily harms her husband. Wealth and Officer in the year and month with a flourishing self bring distinction to the grandfather and honor to the father. Emolument, Horse, and Long Life in the day and hour bring a worthy wife and distinguished children. Returning Emolument in the month without Wealth and Officer means that the father dies in another land. Emolument and Horse in the year being clashed with and broken mean that a male elder dies in an outside commandery. Wealth in the day and Robber in the hour bring the death of a wife or concubine in childbirth. The Grand Year meeting Killings and the month meeting Hurting Officer bring discord among siblings. Sole Emolument meeting Yin Error brings decline to the maternal or affinal household. Pursuing the Horse meeting Yang Discrepancy brings uncertainty over the true identity of the parents-in-law. Killings in the year and month with punishment and harm bring successive injury to grandfather and father. The day's spirit turning away from Emolument, without Wealth's assistance, brings dispersal of wife and children. Direct and Indirect Wealth meeting combinations bring adultery among wives and concubines. Hurting Officer and Direct Officer subjected to control and breaking bring affliction to both husband and wife. A flourishing wife but injured children must result from injury to the Food star. Flourishing children but an injured husband result from the Officer star losing its place. A woman meeting flourishing Wealth that generates the Officer necessarily has the husband's authority taken away. A man meeting much Wealth and a weak self listens preferentially to his wife's words. Discrepancy and Error occupying the day bring a cold relationship with the maternal or affinal household. An established Blade concealed in the year means a slight ancestral foundation. Wealth and Officer in the birth hour, with flourishing Wealth generating the Officer, describe a son who assists the state and brings his household to prosperity. Repeated Direct Officers bring many daughters and few sons. Indirect Wealth appearing brings little love for the principal wife and a preference for concubines. The Wealth star obtaining its position brings riches and the establishment of a household through one's wife. Official Emolument returning to its domain brings distinction to oneself and added honor to the ancestral estate. Direct Officer in the year and Hurting Officer in the month make the grandfather strong and the father weak. Wealth in the day and Robber of Wealth in the hour make the father prosper and the son fail. The Azure Dragon wholly following the Metal of Following Transformation brings poverty and low standing alike. The White Tiger completing the Water of Moistening Downward brings both riches and honor. Flourishing spring Wood with shallow Water describes a monk in a patched robe. Blazing summer Fire with declining Metal describes a Daoist with hairpin and cap. Gouchen completing Moistening Downward describes a person forever on the move. The Vermilion Bird forming a threefold combination with the Dark Warrior describes a person in distress and poverty. Hard Metal and weak Wood describe itinerant traders and settled merchants. Congealed Earth and exhausted Water describe someone who ruins the ancestral estate and leaves home. Metal born in autumn with repeated Earth brings poverty without even a cun of iron. Fire growing in summer with repeated Metal brings a thousand zhong of emolument. Spring Wood with much Water describes the poor and lowly. Winter Water with abundant Metal describes an unsettled and weak person. Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei encountering punishment or clash bring advancement to everyone. Zi, Wu, Mao, and You with punishment and combination, when numerous, bring licentiousness and deception. Summer Metal amid repeated Fire, and autumn Wood amid heavy Metal, bring poverty or low standing. Wood of a concluding seasonal month amid abundant Metal, and spring Metal amid much Fire, bring premature death or poverty. Rootless Wood of a concluding seasonal month following the blessings of Wife, Wealth, brings lofty emolument and position. Summer Fire losing its brilliance and matching with the glory of Husband, Officer, brings distinguished achievement and reputation. Fire turning toward the spring forest and encountering flourishing Water should seek reputation. Earth arriving in a concluding seasonal domain and seeing heavy Metal will enter office in the future. Jia and Yi flourishing in summer with thick Earth qi may expect some achievement and reputation and ample landed estates. Bing and Ding flourishing in winter with a clear Water source bring complete rank and position and the glory of embroidered silk. Sole Emolument accompanied by Food Spirit and Hurting Officer commands authority beyond the palace's inner threshold. Yang Blade entering Officer and Killings brings might that shakes the frontier. Flanking Emolument, Enclosing Emolument, and Flanking Nobility bring abundant rank, emolument, and honor. Reverse Clash, Remotely Inviting Si, and Fenced Fork bring distinguished achievement and reputation. Ren Hastening toward Qian, Hai, and Jia Hastening toward Gen, Yin, describe men of a pure court. Xin Facing the Sun and Yi Rat Nobility describe ministers of literary learning. A configuration completing Wind and Tiger brings the talent of a fine general. Pillars completing Cloud and Dragon bring the virtue of a great person. All Four Storehouses present make the Dragon transform; meeting the Great Sea brings the exalted position of Nine in the Fifth. A refined Three Wonders configuration makes the Phoenix soar; meeting Heaven's Gate brings the lordship of Three and Six. Flourishing Wealth and Officer bring riches. Hidden Emolument and Horse bring glory and splendor. Entry into a pattern warrants an inference of distinction. The breaking of a configuration warrants a judgment of poverty. Investigate one principle to discern ten thousand particulars; understand a fragment of speech to penetrate the myriad things. Students of these arts in later ages, do not neglect this! Translator's note: The three works retain the supplied text's divergent rules rather than harmonizing them. In the Gold and Jade text, "a strong Officer" is retained in the Wealth rule; the question mark and supplied pi gloss in the abdominal complaint are not silently repaired. "Yan-Yin" and the wording rendered as the marvel of transformation's operation are irregular or uncertain readings. In the Jade-Blue Depths text, "strong self but weak master," the favorable Kuigang-and-Wealth rule, the differing directions for Ren and Jia, "Wood of a concluding seasonal month," and the numerical expression "Three and Six" are retained as supplied. Gong in the family rules can denote a grandfather or another senior male relative; its local context guides the rendering, without asserting a corrected genealogy. The rank, lifespan, health, gender, and family judgments are historical claims of these texts. Discourse on the Subtleties of Transformation When the two primal powers first opened, the six Jia arose. The Three Origins were made into the Three Powers, and the four seasons were established as the Four Pillars. The stems are the root of Emolument, determining the height or lowness of one's lifelong official position. The branches form the foundation of the configuration, laying out the beginning and end of the lifespan through three age periods. The birth year is the root; the month's establishment is the seedling. The day governs one's undertakings and determines good and ill in middle age. The hour is the resulting fruit and determines flourishing or decline in later years. First trace the origin of the embryonic breath, then enter into the transformations that require adaptation. Office and distinction result from harmony between above and below. Many delays and dangers arise from the roots and origins controlling one another. Thus a clear pattern and correct configuration should produce a high court minister. Flourishing Resource and a generated Officer must bring responsibility for the balance of state. A sword borne on the Horse's head brings command over the frontier. Resource Seal encountering the Flowery Canopy brings an honored place in the literary academy. Though Emolument is abundant, if it causes harm its blessings are not auspicious. Though the Killings are heavy, if they cause no injury their punishment should bring no misfortune. An unexpected meeting with the Three Wonders brings high ability and immediate success and fame. A direct encounter with the Six Combinations makes a wealthy household capable of further increasing its estate. Emptiness close to the Widowhood Star brings stumbling solitude. Long Life falling into Emptiness brings poverty, cold, and obstruction. Peach Blossom arriving at the Imperial Seat brings death through sensual attraction. Salty Pool meeting the day's palace brings riches through one's wife. Shallow and thin roots fail to flourish even upon meeting Birth and Flourishing. A thriving natal master instead finds good fortune upon meeting Rest and Imprisonment. Yang Blade arriving among the Five Ghosts necessarily brings repeated sentencing to exile or penal servitude. Hook and Strangle overlapping the Three Punishments should bring frequent sentencing and compulsory assignment. Thus those entering an official career must not encounter Swallowing and Entrapment, which diminish or halt rank and emolument. Those commanding military power must not meet the Heavenly Void, which costs them personal authority. A clear and open heart arises because Water sustains rivers and lakes. Deep-rooted learning arises from Water residing in Ren and Gui. Kindness, gentleness, and amiability come from Wood riding the domain of Jia and Yi. Dimness, agitation, and blazing heat come from abundant Fire in Bing and Ding's region. A high name and weighty emolument come when Qian Metal meets Geng and Xin early. Cash strings rot and grain grows old when stabilizing Earth repeatedly draws close to Wu and Ji. Abundant Wood without Metal to cut it back may flourish, yet ends in lonely poverty. Blazing Fire without Water to wash and dissolve it may rise, yet brings premature death in early life. Flooding Water relies solely on Earth to form dikes. Heavy Earth without Wood to open it up sinks into dullness and turbidity. Hard Metal without Fire to refine it ultimately remains fierce and obstinate. Brittle Metal amid blazing Fire, when excessive, harms the self. Soft Wood amid heavy Metal is injured by its sharpness. Clear Water has no need to borrow much Earth. Weak Earth cannot withstand abundant Wood. Strong Fire is dry and somewhat clamorous; a little Water aids it with moderation and harmony. Even distribution is best, and balanced adjustment takes first place. Those who are greatly prominent prize remaining deeply concealed. Those who are greatly constrained prize keeping low while extending themselves. The utmost longevity and advanced age always come from Emolument arriving at Imperial Flourishing. High office and distinguished position result from the Horse meeting the Officer star. Flowery Canopy meeting Emptiness particularly suits Buddhist and Daoist renunciants. Hall of Learning meeting nobility benefits teachers and Confucian scholars especially. If the Five Phases are depleted and desolate, the five allotments consequently become low and weak. The day meeting Emptiness and Widowhood often brings separation from one's living wife. The hour meeting Solitude and Vacancy often brings unworthy children. The Extinction palace is the killing influence of Beating the Basin in mourning for a spouse. The Womb palace is the spirit of the White Tiger. Heavenly Emptiness arriving at the children's palace brings the loss, in later years, of a son who has established a household. A cycle meeting an auspicious mansion without a Wood master does not yet provide enough cause for rejoicing. An age period holding an inauspicious spirit, but possessing root and seedling, need not be feared. The annual sovereign arriving at an evil luminary brings a year of obstruction. The birth hour in Rest or Imprisonment brings a lifetime of sorrow and sighing. A clear source necessarily sends its stream far. A turbid root leaves one's undertakings without accomplishment. Eight Characters surpassing the multitude bring either distinction or great wealth. The Five Phases mixed and motley: can one dwell at ease without considering danger? Rest and Imprisonment make one's person and disposition lowly and weak. Flourishing and Vigor make one's name and position substantial. Strength first and weakness afterward necessarily bring good fortune first and ill fortune later. Weakness at the outset and strength at the end likewise bring ill fortune first and good fortune in the end. As for the place reached by a cycle or age period, rely on the good and ill of the annual stars to determine misfortune and blessings. Translator's note: "Without a Wood master" retains the supplied reading mu zhu rather than silently changing it to "natal master." The expressions rendered "somewhat clamorous" and "keeping low while extending themselves" likewise preserve unusual wording. The divinatory, penal, medical, family, and character judgments are claims of the historical source. Discourse on the Human Mirror When the primordial vastness first divided, Jiazi arose. Hidden and manifest, its transformations cannot be measured; its depths lie especially deep within the two principles. The subtle workings of the spirit of the twenty-four characters make the good and ill of countless millions of people plainly known. The birth day is the master, and the senior year is the ruler. First discuss the roots and foundation, and the causes of high and low standing become easy to see. But with only a rough knowledge, who can understand the deeply concealed substance? Although distinction is auspicious, the cause of low standing is not easily changed. The Three Powers stand arrayed, with relative authority, balance, lightness, and weight. The Eight Trigrams embrace all, retaining their own standards of square and circle. Even Heaven's way has fullness and deficiency: how could human affairs have no reversals? Some begin poor and end rich; some fail first and prosper later. Set aside the shorter view for the longer, and do not take one aspect while abandoning another. The Four Pillars may all object to a single character, and even great purity must be examined for a small blemish. Consider these words carefully, and do not judge lightly. The Officer in Emolument's domain: Yi Yin bears the responsibility of Aheng. The hour residing in a noble place: the man of Fuyan rises to become a chief minister. Birth in a noble pattern brings entry into office and the honor of a high court position. Repeated generation of Ghosts brings enjoyment of the Way and an inclination toward mountains and forests. Thus holding office and distinction require the Five Phases to be pure and unblemished. Many delays and sorrows come from the Eight Characters being mixed and at war. A sweet root but bitter outcome: Jia Yi is constrained at Changsha. A turbid source but clear stream: Taigong rises by the Wei River. Emolument and Horse in the same domain bring entry into the high court. Killings and Resource both heavily flourishing bring early success in the examinations. Many elder brothers meeting younger brothers call to mind Master Fan's poverty. Repeated father influences generating the self may be compared with Old Peng's longevity. Flanking the Officer and flanking Nobility occurring in the day and hour bring lofty halls and carved beams. Robber of Wealth and Seizing the Horse occurring in the year and hour bring a rush-woven door and a broken jar for a window. The descendants' position controlled and cut off is the magpie's nest occupied by the dove. The wife's position afflicted by injury is a solitary luan bird and a phoenix without a mate. A cycle turning away from Emolument makes yesterday's wealth today's poverty. A configuration meeting a flourishing self makes yesterday's sorrow today's laughter. The Four Pillars seated above the Hall of Learning: Hui is not foolish. The Three Origins supporting one another within Tomb and Storehouse: Qiu delights in learning. The year encountering official nobility brings high ability and immediate success and fame. The hour meeting Indirect Wealth adds a fine estate to an already wealthy household. Geng proceeding into Bing's territory: "I pray for you to the earth spirits." Ren entering Xu's domain: "Why do you not die swiftly?" Boniu suffers illness because battling and controlling influences intersect. Why does Sima grieve? Because influences of the same kind and in harmony have no position. Weakness and decline within the self turn an auspicious cycle inauspicious. A configuration seated securely instead turns a disastrous year into a blessing. Though the Killings are heavy, many combinations leave the brightness of sun and moon unharmed. Though Emolument is abundant, breaking makes it difficult to meet the favorable gathering of wind and clouds. Encountering opportunity yet not obtaining it: Geng and Xin in Ren and Gui's domain. Facing concern yet having no concern: Jia and Yi proceeding through Bing and Ding's region. Birth amid Defeat and Extinction: Zheng Gu returns to farming. Emolument and Horse ill and declining: Feng Tang grows white-haired. Flourishing and vigorous nine palaces find it hard to escape "inviting me among the mulberries." Harmonious combinations in the Four Pillars still do not escape writing a poem upon a leaf. Xi Shi's beauty comes from her own configuration carrying much Long Life. Lüzhu falls from the tower when fierce, evil influences also encounter Seven Killings. Solitary Phoenix entering the configuration makes wife mourn husband and husband mourn wife. Pleasure-quarter entanglements bind the self: women seek men, and men seek women. Head and eyes being entrapped brings deficiency to the limbs and body. Losses of Wealth bring harm to fields and dwellings. Punishment and clash in the birth hour bring repeated shortages throughout life. Robbery and seizure in the year and month bring lifelong solitude and poverty. Wealth entering Wealth's nest brings either distinction or great wealth. Killings residing in the Grand Year: while dwelling at ease, one must not consider danger. An Officer star revealed above cannot immediately be judged noble. A Killings star attacking from below: why should it not immediately be an inauspicious sign? In general, Returning Emolument welcomes Resource Seal, while punishments and Killings should encounter balancing harmony. Thus one need not worry at what seems worrying or rejoice upon hearing good news. Examine the root to understand the fruit, discuss the beginning to investigate the end. Hence know that losing the root and forgetting the tip leaves the fruit unrescued, while meaning remains in excess. Thus, where the wife's palace is controlled, no young person marries early. A Ghost position meeting injury brings the loss, in later years, of a son who has established a household. Life's growth continuing without cease brings a lifespan like pine and stump. Carrying much Wealth and Emolument yet having a constitution like reed and willow brings fragile blessings. A clear source necessarily sends its stream far. A strong root necessarily makes its leaves flourish. A Three-Allotment configuration surpassing the multitude brings either distinction or great wealth. Weak and entrapped nine palaces fear inauspicious cycles and especially avoid inauspicious years. Through thousands of strands and myriad beginnings, seek the form that is unseen. Through a hundred streams from one source, prize a place that sustains the whole self. Set out root and tip in detail and thoroughly examine fullness and deficiency. Clear the spirit, settle one's thoughts, and deeply grasp the hidden workings: they can be investigated and known, understood without words. Worthies of later ages, take the earlier sages as a mirror. Of those who speak of the art, eight or nine in ten do so; of those who originate its principles, scarcely one or two in a hundred do. The wording is brief but its meaning subtle; its language is near at hand but its intent far-reaching. Practicing it is better than stopping: do not neglect this mirror of the configuration. Translator's note: The source's "twenty-four characters" is retained. The striking rule that one must not consider danger when the Killings occupy the Grand Year follows the supplied negative wording; it has not been normalized to the opposite admonition. The compact sentence about losing root and tip and leaving meaning in excess is textually awkward, and its English does not claim a recovered reading. Literary names and allusions are retained without adding stories not present in the source. Rhapsody on What Is Favored and Disliked Nothing brings greater riches than purity; nothing brings greater poverty than conflict. Nothing brings greater distinction than refined substance; nothing brings lower standing than a reversal that causes injury. Eloquence in literary expression comes when Nobility and Horse meet in the Hall of Learning. Embroidered literary composition comes when Fire and Wood unite in one's nature and disposition. Deep planning and distant foresight come when virtuous qualities reside in a palace of stillness. Subtle mastery of a specialized art comes when the Imperial Seat guards the hall of letters. Auspicious blessings and flourishing Emolument and Horse all require spirit and vitality. Kuigang possesses the workings of inspired adaptability. Li, Fire, and Kan, Water, are the gateway to intelligence. Nobleman, Emolument, and Horse should meet Robber and Blade; Emptiness brings unusual remoteness. Long Life attracts the affection of exemplary people. Decline and Defeat encounter the resentment and dislike of petty people. Four Pillars fighting in disorder bring neither benevolence nor righteousness. Five Phases generating one another bring filial devotion and loyalty. Resource Seal amid punishment and clash brings a disordered mind and forgetfulness of oneself. Day and hour residing within Tomb and Storehouse bring much worry and little joy. A flourishing day stem brings few disasters or faults. Declining Wealth and configuration bring much despondency. Running about for clothing and food comes from punishment encountered in a flourishing place. Success and failure in profit and reputation depend on injury encountered in a noble place. A lifetime's misfortune and blessings depend on a single birth hour; a whole life's good and ill depend on qi and cycles. Blessings possessing qi bring adaptable advancement and promotion. The year controlling an inauspicious cycle, without qi, brings dispersal of people. An inauspicious major cycle produces a hundred misfortunes. An auspicious annual influence removes a thousand calamities. From no Extinction to Extinction, Wealth and configuration are endangered and overturned. The natal master obtaining generation brings fulfillment in profit and reputation. Threefold and Sixfold Combinations, when encountered, make good fortune weighty and misfortune light. Seven Killings and the Four Inauspicious Influences, when encountered, make misfortune deep and blessings shallow. Addition of office and promotion necessarily occur in a year when Emolument meets. An extensive establishment of foundations must come in a domain that combines with Wealth. The annual sovereign clashing and pressing down indicates inauspicious calamity. An injured major cycle brings especially little good fortune. The year should generate the cycle, and the cycle welcomes generating the self. When the three positions generate one another, the year fulfills one's wishes. Wealth and Officer both flourishing should bring distinction on the path to office. Wealth and Food evenly entwined: how could one remain long in a humble white house? Emolument entering a place of gathered generation makes wealth and honor knowable. The Horse running into a domain of flourishing Emolument makes glory and splendor predictable. To obtain profits from exchange and dealings, seek mutual support through the Six Combinations. Wealth and Officer carrying Emolument and inclining toward the origin necessarily bring peaceful enjoyment of blessings. A declining month and flourishing hour bring abundance in early years. Heavy Wood and light Earth bring lifelong wandering. A habitual ability to take profit from markets must arise from encountering Wealth in a flourishing place. Sudden distinction and establishment of a household must come from meeting nobility through punishment or clash. Master and root in season gain a woman's support. Nobility and Emolument in sympathetic relation bring advancement and good fortune through a man. Merchants in the south and travelers in the north necessarily result from an open Horse route. Peddling east and racing west must result from favorable carriage movement. A constrained and weak day stem: does Boniu dare blame the blue heavens? Declining and slight Emolument and Horse: Master Yan cannot escape a short life. No ill fortune is more inauspicious than Robber and Blade. No good fortune is more auspicious than firmness and strength. A slight Officer and inferior Horse make men flee and women run away. Heaven's Net and Earth's Web bring unexpected, wrongful calamities. Loss of life and premature death, when encountered, necessarily bring death without obtaining fulfillment. Meeting robbery on a desperate road brings danger and doubt that must involve self-punishment. Meeting Wealth in Extinction makes it hard for wife and children to grow old harmoniously together. Great Depletion and Small Depletion often ruin a household through gambling. Official Talisman and Death Talisman necessarily bring recurring imprisonment and lawsuits. Or, when the course through the Four Pillars meets Extinction and the Three Allotments suffer punishment and injury, one cannot avoid penal servitude or strangulation and finds it difficult to escape the suffering of facial tattooing. Meeting the Five Ghosts unquestionably brings injury from thunder or tiger bites. Meeting a host of inauspicious influences as well warrants a definite judgment of evil calamity and violent death. Women are often licentious and lowly; men must be wild and unruly. If one asks about a person's disposition, wisdom or folly, goodness or evil, first trace the causes of high and low standing, Flourishing and Vigor. Only then investigate cleverness and inspired adaptability through Decline and Defeat. For the proud-hearted, Kuigang causes misfortune; for the compliant, the Six Combinations bring good fortune. People of secluded ease and free elegance meet the positions of Flowery Canopy, Solitude, and Vacancy. Those who like to rely on influence and domineering power are subject to the authority of Indirect Officer, Robber, and Blade. Robber and Blade produce base miserliness and further give rise to the dangers of scheming. Strategy and planning arise largely from Ren and Gui. An imposing, fierce manner is strong in Bing and Ding. Encountering Solitude and Imprisonment leaves one without spirit or vitality. Encountering Breaking and Defeat often brings an open, unguarded manner. Jia and Yi in accord bring benevolence, kindness, and generosity. Geng and Xin deficient bring decisiveness and a firm temper. Dryness and Defeat amid abundant Fire warrant suspicion. Much Metal warrants a definite judgment of concealed endurance. Punishment and conflict bring foolish obstinacy. Peace and stillness bring worthiness and talent. Metal and Wood holding command and generating one another, or Fire and Earth in season and assisting one another, provide clothing and food without mental labor and establish household means without exertion. If spirits also lend support, one is necessarily powerful and respected in the locality. Emolument and Nobility flanking a position bring a renowned name in the central government offices. The worry is that blessings may fail to be blessings; the concern is that achievement may fail to be achieved. Blessings fail when an auspicious place encounters ill fortune. Achievement fails when the pattern is seen to break. An injury to the pattern causes injury. A breaking of the pattern causes misfortune. It is like seedlings meeting autumn drought, leaving winter granaries empty, or flowers struck by spring frost, leaving summer fruit unformed. Intelligence, planning, and thought may accomplish nothing in application. Even with the ability to turn Heaven and move its axis, one may fail to establish achievement and an enterprise. Have you not seen Master Li boiled in a cauldron, Master Fan's cooking pot gathering dust, Yuanming returning east, Zimei departing west, Meng Ke finding no opportunity, Feng Yan returning empty, Maichen carrying firewood while singing, and Jiang Ge sitting and weeping in bitter cold? Some seedlings never flower; some flowers never bear fruit. When excessive injury and defeat occur as well, even one's blessings amount to no more than cutting grass and gathering firewood. Though possessing a hundred arts and many abilities, one cannot escape hunger, cold, suffering, and illness, or destitution in ditches and ravines. Allotment makes it so. When delayed and without accomplishment, what use is sighing? To ask about wealth and honor, rely wholly on Wealth and Officer. How do I obtain them? Nothing is greater than a substantial foundation; nothing more exceptional than refined distinction. Those who become sages and worthies exist in every age. The utmost wealth and honor have always been so since antiquity. Some are born in a month of generation, with literary eminence and military distinction. Some reside beneath Cap and Belt, with great undertakings and exceptional wealth. How can such mysteries be inferred? First discuss, within the Hall of Learning, the Three Wonders and Four Blessings; next examine, outside the pattern, the single auspicious influence and the two appropriate conditions. Thus Jiwei seeing Jiawu is auspicious, and Renshen seeing Dingsi is a fortunate omen. Renzi and Bingwu describe a person of openness, refinement, and scholarly elegance. Xinyou and Bingshen nurture a person of outstanding refinement, glory, and splendor. Yin and yang depend wholly on purity and excellence. Transformation most welcomes mutual generation. Hard to distinguish are the essence of the sun and radiance of the moon; impossible to measure are the Golden Hall and Jade Coffer. Those who obtain them gain honor; those who meet them gain distinction. Wisdom and folly, prominence and obscurity, all arise from transformation's shaping and molding. Things have flourishing and decline: how could people lack success and failure? Suppose a phoenix is born among pheasants, a snake transforms into a dragon, fragrant orchids persist among coarse weeds, and withered trees still grow in the mountain wilds. Distinction in youth and low standing in age, or obstruction first and prosperity later, arise from the decline and flourishing of major cycles, causing changes in wealth and honor. A pure pattern turning mixed brings despondency in the waning spring. A cycle obtaining its season in old age brings leisurely enjoyment of later life. Guard against unforeseen hardships and dangers in the cycles. Seasons have spring and autumn; the round moon also wanes. I have observed sons supported by inherited privilege who become desolate once a parent dies. I have also seen people of the fields-and-wells and fishing, who become exceptionally prominent once their cycle opens. Years of rank and emolument may all end in a single day; when favorable time arrives, a brief encounter suffices. Meeting Birth and Flourishing is not necessarily inauspicious. Sympathy brings passage; lack of sympathy brings obstruction. Combinations bring good fortune, and clashes bring ill fortune. Officer and Resource arriving with the year necessarily bring advancement and promotion in an official career. Food and Wealth encountered in cycles bring welcome honor and prosperity even to common people. Some rely in youth on the glory of father and grandfather, then in adulthood borrow the distinction of children and grandchildren. Others suffer hardship in childhood and lack support in old age. This arises from the flourishing and decline of the Four Pillars and the openness or blockage of major cycles. Have you not seen a withered tree that fails to flourish even in spring, and a luxuriant treetop that does not fail even under frost? In considering the day, if year and month are also deficient, there is necessarily no good outcome at the end. Vigorous qi in the birth hour inclining toward the origin necessarily brings blessings in later life. In antiquity, polished jade could command the value of a whole city. In the world, an upright person can establish household means unaided: like something that does not perish after refining, or does not wither after the year's cold. The subtlety of increase and decline lies in adaptation; misfortune and blessings require examining decline and flourishing. May exemplary people examine this together: that would be fortunate indeed! Translator's note: The supplied "declining month and flourishing hour" is followed by "abundance in early years" and is retained without changing early to late. The first-person question uses the graph zhen, and the damaged expression preceding "fishing" is supplied as the two graphs for fields and wells inside braces; the English conveys those readings without claiming a restored text. The historical judgments of character, health, fate, social standing, and gender remain the author's claims. Rhapsody Worth Ten Thousand Gold Pieces If you wish to know the formula of birth and death in the Five Phases, how could it casually be told to ordinary people? Stellar methods rely on age periods; Ziping takes luck cycles as its formula. First lay out the twelve palaces for the cycles, then see which pattern falls in which season. For Wealth, Officer, Resource Seal, and Food Spirit, understand their weight and distinguish them clearly. The Officer star fears a Seven Killings cycle; the Seven Killings likewise fear the Officer star arriving. A mixture of Officer and Killings calls for judging longevity or early death. Carefully seek the removal of Officer and retention of Killings. When retaining Officer and removing Killings, do not meet Killings again. When retaining Killings and removing Officer, do not meet Officer again. Injury to Officer and Killings must bring premature death; also use the Wealth pattern to determine future prospects. For Indirect and Direct in the day and hour, ask which Wealth is present. Most feared is the arrival of Killings borne in the stems. Repeated Robbers shorten a person's life. Who recognizes that Indirect and Direct can be especially disastrous? With Wealth present, an Officer cycle must bring honor and advancement. Wealth's region and Officer's domain are the womb of blessings. One only fears that the day stem was weak to begin with, and much Wealth generates Killings that pursue the declining self. Much Wealth and a weak self proceeding through a Wealth cycle: here one knows the descent beneath the Nine Terraces. If Officer meets no injury and Wealth no robbery, how could the lofty mountain of longevity be destroyed? The first age period meeting Resource Seal's domain, with the cycle generating Birth and Flourishing, must bring honor and prosperity. Meetings and combinations in Officer's domain bring promotion; Death and Extinction arriving overhead bring calamity. If Wealth arrives to harm Resource, death comes violently through falling from a cliff or into water. An official holding office dies in another land; a traveler encountering it dies beside the road. If Resource does not meet Wealth, the person does not die. Examine each point carefully in the sequence above. Wealth, Officer, and Resource Seal have been clearly discussed; do not say that the Food Spirit is no easy formula. A Food Spirit possessing qi surpasses Wealth and Officer. One only fears damage and severance ahead or outside. Distinguish weight and examine it carefully; Wealth and Officer in Death or Extinction are greatly avoided. In a Hurting Officer configuration or cycle, do not meet Officer: beheading, strangulation, penal servitude, exile, and a hundred kinds of misfortune follow. Monthly Virtue and Day Nobility meeting control and battle: see the imminent peril of death in this configuration at once. Flying to Heaven and Flanking Emolument dislike their empty positions being filled; most feared is a binding spirit coming to violate the stem. A Zi cycle and its annual influence bring Jiazi; Renyin in Shen's region sees Bingshen. Si and Bing are considered together in judging misfortune and blessings. Yi Wood in Mao's palace fears meeting it. In Si's palace, Wu, Geng, Bing, and Xin meet. For Wu and Ding, years of Wu and Xu are inauspicious. Years of Chou and Wei must bring misfortune. Search these out as the cycles change. With the same Officer and same cycle, meeting Emolument brings intrusion by punishment and misfortune associated with Emolument. An outer encounter can still meet an inner enemy; seek the remaining Officer distinctions outside. An outer influence meeting an inner enemy brings heavy disaster; an inner influence meeting an outer enemy brings a lighter intrusion of misfortune. Wu and Ji Earth are each divided among the four concluding seasonal months. Within Mixed Qi, things are both difficult and easy. Infer each item according to the fixed numerical order. Control and punishment follow the cycles' qi. Having determined the ill fortune within a cycle, ask in which year, month, and day disaster and punishment are heaviest. This is the Stone-and-Gold Jade-Casket Formula: these secrets alone are disclosed for you to know. Translator's note: The compressed stem-and-branch sequence in the Flying to Heaven passage is translated in its supplied order, including the abrupt Zi-cycle/Jiazi clause, without adding missing conditions. "Stone-and-Gold" follows the source's unusual shi jin wording. The text's fatal and penal predictions are historical divinatory claims. Essential Formula of Swift and Mysterious Understanding Take the day as master and discuss Wealth and Officer especially. The Officer is the foundation that supports the self; Wealth is the source that nourishes life. Thus infer Heaven's timing and examine Earth's advantages. Measure excess and deficiency, taking balance and harmony as the use. Make removal, retention, extension, and pairing accord with principle; make relative weight, strength, and weakness manifest what is correct. First observe the depth of the seasonal qi; afterward discuss whether Wealth and Officer turn toward or away from one. No person's configuration departs from Wealth and Officer. Among the various patterns, the essential point is always to invite Emolument and Horse through empty positions. The earlier worthies established models; later students must adapt them themselves. Where an influence should turn toward one but the cycle turns away, pronounce poverty and low standing. Where an influence should turn away but the cycle turns toward it, judge hardship and weakness. Welcoming generation and meeting generation warrants an inference of distinction. Undergoing control and encountering control warrants a declaration of good fortune. On encountering the Officer, examine Wealth: seeing Wealth brings riches and honor. On encountering the Killings, examine Resource: meeting Resource brings glory and splendor. On encountering Resource, look for the Officer: meeting Officer brings distinction in seven cases out of eight. On encountering Wealth, examine the Killings: if Killings are originally present, nine cases out of ten bring poverty. Jia and Yi entering western cycles may expect achievement and reputation if the self flourishes. Ren and Gui passing through the southern region bring distinction if the master is vigorous. Resource and Wealth do not suit a domain where the self flourishes. The Food Spirit most welcomes the domain of the Robber of Wealth. A mixture of Officer and Killings brings poverty when the self is weak. When Officer and Killings are evenly balanced, combining away the Killings brings distinction. Officer stars in the year and month bring entry into office early in life. Direct nobility in the day and hour brings fame in later years. Resource Seal encountered in the womb brings enjoyment of a thousand zhong of emolument. Wealth qi meeting Long Life brings ten thousand qing of fertile fields. When an autumn or winter Officer star meets injury from the Blade, retaining Metal and removing Fire brings distinction without doubt. Hurting Officer in the twelfth month welcomes Officer. Broken Resource and severe injury bring death through misfortune. When flourishing Wealth generates Officer, why is there less distinction but more wealth? When Hurting Officer meets Officer, why is office high and Wealth ample? Without injury there is no distinction; an illness is exceptional and should be discarded. The principle's subtlety lies here: why seek outside? For example, blazing Fire and little Water meeting Geng and Xin should not be treated as a flourishing self and light Officer. Or heavy Earth and extinguished Wood meeting Ren and Gui cannot readily be judged a flourishing self and light Officer. Light Wealth should not meet the Robber's domain. Much Resource finds greatest excellence in Wealth's domain. Flourishing Wealth generating Officer obtains distinction through bribes. The Killings star restraining the Blade seizes treasure to seek reputation. With a flourishing self and Indirect Wealth, what is obtained? Necessarily windfall wealth. A swift master, Direct Wealth, and Indirect Robber bring recurring disaster to the wife. Robber of Wealth and Yang Blade entering Officer and Killings describe a minister of the high court. Returning Emolument and Reverse Clash meeting Blade and Hurting Officer bring distinction in the halls of government. A flourishing self with Killings meeting Resource Seal describes an official empowered to decide. A weak master meeting Resource and seeing the Wealth star describes an ordinary person. Yang Blade and Hurting Officer under restraint bring appointment to military and penal authority. Direct Officer and Direct Resource unharmed bring entry into office to govern scholars and common people. Flourishing Wealth and Sowing and Reaping describe an official who distributes military provisions. Flying Emolument and Facing the Sun describe a minister attending the court. Qian and Kun's originally clear qi brings honor in the capital region and the state. Zi and Wu as supremely exalted positions bring distinction at the palace gates. A Gui day and Gui hour together with Hai and Chou bring first place in the examinations and entry into the Hanlin Academy. A Ren day and Ren hour with repeated Yin and Chen bring high rank, imperial favor, and entry into the imperial pavilion. Day Virtue meeting Kuigang describes an impoverished scholar even in an auspicious cycle. Kuigang meeting Wealth and Officer describes a person with clothing and emolument, however securely placed. Hurting Officer meeting Officer finds excellence upon entering the domains of Wealth and Resource. The Wealth star breaking Resource prizes movement among Peers and Robbers. Wealth in the natal configuration and Killings in the cycle warrant a declaration of good fortune. Killings in the natal configuration and Wealth in the cycle can be decisively judged inauspicious. A woman with much Hurting Officer obtains the utmost good fortune through Returning Emolument. A man meeting Yang Blade finds it exceptional to encounter it when the self is weak. Metal Spirit, Returning Emolument, and Fenced Fork are especially avoided in a woman's configuration. Yang Blade, Hurting Officer, and Seven Killings bring authority to a man who encounters them. Metal Spirit entering Fire and meeting Killings and Blade brings distinction without doubt. Heavy Killings with Resource meeting Food Spirit or Hurting Officer bring honor that is one's own. Direct Officer without Resource brings no distinction while holding office. Yang Blade and Seven Killings bring fame in provincial office. A flourishing self without support is the example of a Buddhist or Daoist renunciant. Peach Blossom and Rolling Waves describe those in prostitution. Weak Metal and strong Fire describe an artisan who dissolves Earth and Wood. Much Earth and shallow Water describe itinerant traders or workers with needle and thread. Clouds circling the Five Lakes bring honor at first and humiliation at the end, with poverty for oneself. Peach Blossom across the open fields brings a lifetime of romantic dalliance and much wine and sensual pleasure. Death Spirit flanking the Killings describes thieves and bandits. Refined qi out of season describes a scholar of pure reputation. Flourishing Resource and a strong self bring a great fondness for wine. Jealous combinations of Ding and Ren bring licentious misconduct. Self and Resource both strong bring few illnesses throughout life. The aid of Heavenly and Monthly Virtue brings a life in the world without calamity. A Food Spirit in Birth and Flourishing surpasses Wealth and Officer. Distinction is completed through Officer and Killings. Some abandon their allotment to follow Wealth, Killings, or Officer; they possess wealth and honor in abundance, without support and with one influence exclusively flourishing. Those whose Food, Wealth, and Officer are cut off suffer limitless poverty. A weak self abandoning its allotment must have no root: it then occupies the office of chief minister. A declining master whose self transforms at the proper time holds a position close to Heaven's court. For men's configurations, the categories include Following Transformation, Illumination and Return, and Concealed Ghost. For women's configurations, purity, harmony, and clarity bring distinction, while turbidity and promiscuity bring prostitution. Examine these carefully! Translator's note: This text's "seven out of eight," Ren-day/Ren-hour with Yin and Chen, differing Kuigang rules, and lists of women's patterns follow its own wording rather than being harmonized with the preceding rhapsody. "Swift master" retains the unusual supplied zhu jie reading; the compact closing pattern labels remain tentative. The bribery and seizure clauses are translated directly as historical assertions, without endorsement. Collected Statements on the Deep Source The most distinguished take the Officer star as their configuration, with Indirect or Direct Wealth obtained in the hour as a blessing. The most inauspicious have Seven Killings arriving at the self; meeting Heavenly and Monthly Virtue brings good fortune. The Officer star meeting Robber of Wealth gives office without distinction. Seven Killings meeting support make their killing influence heavier still. Threefold and Sixfold Combinations necessarily bring honor when encountered as the cycle arrives. Seven Officers and eight Officers: meeting Officer in the month is a joy. Four combinations and four punishments: combinations and punishments should be treated as Indirect and Direct. Seven clashes and seven strikes: clashes and strikes welcome the obtaining of gathered and stored influences. Flanking Nobility and flanking the Hill constitute a hidden meeting. Wealth Storehouse and Officer Storehouse require a direct clash. An Officer star in a region of Birth and Flourishing, when encountered, need not be revealed openly. Resource Seal arriving beneath the first and middle months of the seasons is seen yet not seen. A Resource Seal with its form exposed obtains distinction through Robber of Wealth. The source of Wealth welcomes Hurting Officer and brings exceptional distinction. Hurting Officer needs to meet Resource Seal: its distinction is beyond words. Returning Emolument meeting the children and grandchildren, the Food Spirit, brings Emolument of limitless subtle excellence. Yin and Yang Blades established in the year and month bring repeated heavy punishment. Mixed Officer and Killings meeting Heavenly and Monthly Virtue bring long life and high advancement in position. Flying Blade, Concealed Blade, and meetings with the Blade bring much ill fortune. Hurting Officer meeting Officer strips away office and brings misfortune. Yang Blade meeting Resource Seal brings disease in the body even with distinction. Seven Killings restrained together, upon meeting Officer, bring misfortune and a lifespan that is not long. Three Indirect and three Direct influences bring the honor of the first official rank. Four Pillars and four combinations place one's blessings above the multitude. Killings transforming into Resource bring early selection and examination success. Flourishing Wealth generating Officer brings inheritance of the estate in youth. When Officer and Killings come together, know whether Officer or Killings are being supported. When Indirect and Direct meet in combination, know whether the combination joins Direct or Indirect. Blessings and Emolument meeting Yang Blade bring a lack of understanding of worldly affairs. Metal Spirit entering Water's domain in a cycle brings a declining self and premature death. Killings concealed in darkness require reliance on the punishing spirit beneath the month. No Wealth in the visible place necessarily brings misfortune from the empty and unseen. Yang Blade meeting Seven Killings as well brings penal servitude or exile a thousand li away. Using Wealth but meeting robbery and seizure brings lifelong poverty and hardship. Human life is determined in advance, with poverty and wealth already clear. To understand their increase and decrease, investigate beginning and end thoroughly. Some are poor first and rich later; some rise suddenly and collapse abruptly. There are dukes and ministers from humble white houses and starving people behind vermilion gates. Some enjoy lifelong happiness, while others never find a place. Observe the source of the passing cycles and examine the position of each advancing year. A weak self entering a pattern does so in vain: even if it rises, it dies early. If the turning of blessings meets Rest and Imprisonment, sudden advancement ends in collapse and premature death. Thus the useful spirit must not be sought recklessly; its form and traces reveal themselves naturally. When blessings are present, that influence must be used; without the proper time, the self must be used. Misfortune lies in the Five Phases; exalted blessings lie in the qi of cycles. Everyone possesses the source of blessings, but if it is injured one remains trapped within this difficulty. Understanding the increase and decrease of yin and yang depends on our clear grasp of principle and discerning wisdom. Honor and disgrace form two ends; ugliness and beauty are settled in one judgment. Passed down since antiquity, this should not be transmitted to the unworthy. Translator's note: "Seven Officers and eight Officers," "four combinations and four punishments," "seven clashes and seven strikes," and "flanking the Hill" retain the supplied wording without substituting conventional pattern names or numbers. These are historical divinatory propositions, not established predictions about a person's life.

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