Stars to be mindful of, and what balances them

In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), the books ask the reader to be mindful of a few symbolic stars: the Solitary Star and the Widowhood Star, the Void, the Robbing Star and the Forfeit Star, the Ten Evils and Great Defeat, the Four Wastes, and the Heavenly Net and the Earthly Net. Finding them in a chart is no cause for worry. Like all symbolic stars, they only color a chart and cannot break its structure.

The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) says:

是以格局既成，即使满盘孤辰入煞，何损其贵？

Our translation: So once the structure is formed, even if the whole chart is full of Solitary Stars and adverse stars, what could that take from its distinction?

So settle the structure first, then look at these stars. Take each in three steps: how the book finds it and its conditions, what to be mindful of, and what in the chart can balance it.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Why the Stars Do Not Decide the Structure

The Solitary Star and the Widowhood Star

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates (三命通会; Ming dynasty, 16th century) finds them by direction. The Pig, Rat and Ox are the north; one place ahead is the Tiger, the Solitary Star (孤辰), and one place behind is the Dog, the Widowhood Star (寡宿). The other three directions follow the same pattern. Find them from the year branch, or from the day branch:

To be mindful of: the book says a chart with the Solitary Star or the Widowhood Star tends toward solitude. It also gives a heavier case: someone born in a Snake, Horse or Goat year and also in one of the three summer months has the two stars twice over, and the drawbacks the book describes are heavier, touching family and money.

What can balance it: an old saying holds that when the stems and branches of the four pillars converge on and surround a Nobleman star, the chart is not taken as solitary, even with these stars present.

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Solitary Star and the Widowhood Star

The Void

Ten stems paired with twelve branches leave two branches without a stem in each ten-pair group, each run of ten stem-and-branch pairs in the cycle of sixty. These two branches are that group’s Void (空亡).

The Deep Sea of Ziping (渊海子平; Ming dynasty, 16th century) does not say which pillar to use. Finding it from the day pillar is this series’ convention: find the ten-pair group of the day pillar, then see whether the branches of the other three pillars hold either of its two Void branches. The year pillar’s group can serve as a check.

To be mindful of: the books mostly use the Void as a condition on other stars. A Nobleman star, the Traveling Horse or the Learning Hall that falls into the Void loses some of its force. So look at what the Void falls on, and weigh it within the structure.

The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Void in the Six Ten-Pair Groups; Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Heavenly Nobleman; Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Traveling Horse; Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Learning Hall and the Academy of Letters

The Robbing Star and the Forfeit Star

Both are found by the three harmony groups, from the year branch or the day branch:

The book explains the two names. The Robbing Star (劫煞) is loss seized from outside; the Forfeit Star (亡神) is loss from within. The Robbing Star sits on the group element’s spent stage, and the Forfeit Star on its arrival stage. Take the Monkey, Rat and Dragon Water group: Water is spent in the Snake, and the Yang Earth in the Snake controls Water, so the Snake is the Robbing Star. Water reaches its arrival stage in the Pig, and the Yang Wood in the Pig drains Water, so the Pig is the Forfeit Star.

To be mindful of: note the pillar each star falls in, then see whether that pillar’s elements are favorable or unfavorable to the structure.

Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Robbing Star and the Forfeit Star

The Ten Evils and Great Defeat

The Ten Evils and Great Defeat (十恶大败) are ten day pillars: Yang Wood Dragon, Yin Wood Snake, Yang Water Monkey, Yang Fire Monkey, Yin Fire Pig, Yang Metal Dragon, Yang Earth Dog, Yin Water Pig, Yin Metal Snake and Yin Earth Ox. On each of these days, the day stem’s Prosperity Star falls into the Void of its own ten-pair group, which is called Prosperity falling into the Void. For example, Yang Wood Dragon belongs to the Yang Wood Dragon group, whose Void is the Tiger and the Rabbit; Yang Wood’s Prosperity Star is the Tiger, so it falls into the Void.

To be mindful of: the book says it counts only when the day pillar is one of these ten days; met in another pillar, it is not taken as the Ten Evils and Great Defeat.

What can balance it: the book says that with benefic stars to support it, it is somewhat better.

The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Ten Evils and Great Defeat

The Four Wastes

The Four Wastes (四废) are four day pillars, each matched with the season of birth: Yang Metal Monkey for a spring birth, Yang Water Rat for summer, Yang Wood Tiger for autumn and Yang Fire Horse for winter. On that day, both stem and branch are at their weakest in that season (囚死), held fast and of no use, hence the name.

To be mindful of: the book says that someone with the Four Wastes finds it hard to bring things to completion. It also stresses that the whole day pillar must be that day, and the birth must fall in the matching season; meeting Yang Metal or Yin Metal in spring does not make the Four Wastes.

The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Days of the Four Wastes

The Heavenly Net and the Earthly Net

The Heavenly Net (天罗) and the Earthly Net (地网) are found by the year pillar’s sound element (纳音): a five-element value each of the sixty stem-and-branch pairs carries, two neighboring pairs sharing one; a perpetual calendar lists it.

These branches are where those elements are stored or spent, and the book takes them as a sign of darkness and obscurity.

To be mindful of: the book says they mostly bring obstruction. A man’s chart is more wary of the Heavenly Net, and a woman’s chart of the Earthly Net; with other adverse stars alongside, the book speaks of them more heavily.

The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Heavenly Net and the Earthly Net

What can balance them

For most of these stars, the books give no remedy of their own; weigh them by the point this lesson opens with. The books also say that benefic stars in the chart, such as the Heavenly Nobleman and the two Virtues, lessen the force of adverse stars; see the lesson on the Nobleman stars, the two Virtues and the Three Marvels.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Why the Stars Do Not Decide the Structure; Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Heavenly Nobleman; Comprehensive Guide to the Three Fates · On the Heavenly and Monthly Virtues

Try it on your chart

1. Write down your structure first. If it is formed, take the stars you find next as points to be mindful of only.
2. Use the year branch and the day branch to find the Solitary Star, the Widowhood Star, the Robbing Star and the Forfeit Star, and note the pillar each falls in.
3. Find the ten-pair group of your day pillar and write down its two Void branches. See which branches in the chart fall into the Void, especially a Nobleman star, the Traveling Horse or the Learning Hall.
4. See whether your day pillar is one of the ten days of the Ten Evils and Great Defeat, or the Four Wastes day for its season.
5. Look up the year pillar’s sound element in a perpetual calendar, and see whether the Heavenly Net or the Earthly Net is present.
6. Beside each star, write one line: which of the ten relationships it falls on, and whether a benefic star or a formed structure 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: Prosperity, travel and flair stars

See also: How a structure forms, breaks and recovers