Prosperity, travel and flair stars

In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), eight common symbolic stars are the Prosperity Star, the Traveling Horse, the General Star, the Canopy, the Peach Blossom, the Learning Hall with the Academy of Letters, the Golden Carriage and the Heavenly Pardon. They mostly describe a person’s circumstances and temperament, such as holding office, moving about, a solitary bent or charm. Like all symbolic stars, they color a chart and do not decide its structure.

The Prosperity Star

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates (三命通会; Ming dynasty, 16th century) defines Prosperity (禄) as rank and salary, enjoyed by one who holds a position of strength.

The Prosperity Star is a stem’s arrival stage; see the lesson on the twelve life stages. Find it from the day stem, or from the year stem:

The Dragon, Dog, Ox and Goat are never a Prosperity Star. When the Prosperity Star falls on the month branch, it is Month Prosperity, a matter of structure; see the lesson on the Month Prosperity structure.

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates says that having the Prosperity Star is not necessarily good: look first at the five elements, then at the Prosperity Star and the Horse. The elements should be strong, and the Prosperity Star fears falling where its element declines or is spent. The book also names many kinds of Prosperity by the stem and branch they meet. Yin Fire meeting Yang Wood Horse is called the Advancing Prosperity (进神禄); editions read this differently, as favorable or unfavorable, and this series follows the favorable version.

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Prosperity of the Ten Stems; The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Prosperity of the Ten Stems

The Traveling Horse

The Traveling Horse (驿马) is named for the horses that carried messages between relay stations. Find it from the year branch, or from the day branch, by the three harmony groups:

凡柱中马，若不值空亡、破败、交退、伏神，须荣贵。

Our translation: Wherever the Horse stands in the pillars, if it does not meet the Void, breaking and defeat, crossing back, or a lurking spirit, it brings honor and rank.

Of these conditions, the Void is covered in the next lesson. The book divides the others further by the stem that sits on the Horse, which this lesson does not go into. The book also says the Horse is best in the hour pillar, next in the day pillar, and after that in the month pillar. An old saying holds that the Horse stands for movement: a decade phase or annual phase that brings it tends to bring moves and changes.

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Traveling Horse; The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Traveling Horse

The General Star and the Canopy

Both are found by the three harmony groups. The middle branch of a group is the General Star (将星), like a general holding the center of an army. The group’s storage branch is the Canopy (华盖), like the canopy that covers the emperor’s seat.

The book says the General Star wants benefic stars to support it and a Nobleman star beside it; then its good qualities show.

The Canopy is a benefic star in itself. The book says people born with it are often solitary, even when they rise to distinction, and are often drawn to the arts and to religion. This is a temperament tendency: a liking for time alone, and for one’s own path over the crowd’s. What tends to balance it: an old saying holds that the Canopy with Resource gives a refined character, and the Canopy flanked by Nobleman stars gives one both refined and distinguished.

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the General Star and the Canopy; The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Canopy

The Peach Blossom

The Peach Blossom (咸池) is the bath stage of the three harmony group’s element:

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates adds a note that narrows the star. With the Tiger, Horse or Dog meeting the Rabbit, for example, the stem and the sound element (纳音) must also be Fire, the group’s own element, for it to count as the Peach Blossom. The sound element is a five-element value each of the sixty stem-and-branch pairs carries, two neighboring pairs sharing one; a perpetual calendar lists it.

The book says people with a strong Peach Blossom tend to be good-looking, well liked and sociable; they may also tend to indulge in drink and sensual pleasure and to spend freely, so the book does not count it a benefic star. It asks for more care when the star sits in the day or hour pillar, or when the year pillar’s sound element is Water. This is a kind of charm: an ease with people, best kept with a measure of restraint. How much it weighs still depends on the structure.

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Peach Blossom; The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Why the Stars Do Not Decide the Structure

The Learning Hall and the Academy of Letters

The Learning Hall (学堂) is named for the schoolroom, and the Academy of Letters (词馆) for the imperial academy of scholars; both stand for focused study and fine writing. Both are found by the year pillar’s sound element: the element’s birth stage is the Learning Hall, and its arrival stage is the Academy of Letters.

In this table Earth follows Water, with its birth stage in the Monkey. This differs from the lesson on the twelve life stages, where Yang Earth follows Yang Fire by stem; here the book works by the sound element. When the pillar holding the Learning Hall or the Academy of Letters has a sound element of the same element as the year pillar’s, the book calls it the true form. Neither star should fall into the Void or be broken by a clash.

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Learning Hall and the Academy of Letters; The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Learning Hall of the Ten Stems

The Golden Carriage

The Golden Carriage (金舆) is the second branch after the Prosperity Star:

The name pictures a precious carriage: an official who draws a salary needs a carriage to ride in. The book says the Golden Carriage gives a gentle temper and graceful manners, with family at peace throughout life; it is best in the day or hour pillar.

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Golden Carriage; The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Golden Carriage Prosperity

The Heavenly Pardon

The Heavenly Pardon (天赦) is four day pillars, each matched with the season of birth:

It counts only when the day pillar is that day. The book says the Heavenly Pardon is the season’s undivided energy, which brings all things to life, and carries the sense of leniency and pardon.

The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Heavenly Pardon; Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Heavenly and Monthly Virtues

Try it on your chart

1. Use the day stem (and the year stem) to find the Prosperity Star and the Golden Carriage, and note which pillar each falls in. If the Prosperity Star is on the month branch, turn to the Month Prosperity structure.
2. Use the year branch and the day branch to find the Traveling Horse, the General Star, the Canopy and the Peach Blossom. Note the pillar each falls in, whether it is clashed, and whether it falls into the Void.
3. Look up the year pillar’s sound element in a perpetual calendar, then find the Learning Hall and the Academy of Letters.
4. See whether the day pillar is the Heavenly Pardon day for its season.
5. If the Canopy or the Peach Blossom is in your chart, take it as a temperament tendency, then look for what in the chart balances it.

See also: Symbolic stars: color, not structure

See also: Nobleman stars, the two Virtues and the Three Marvels

See also: Stars to be mindful of, and what balances them

See also: The twelve life stages

See also: The Month Prosperity structure