Symbolic stars: color, not structure

In Four Pillars of Destiny (BaZi), symbolic stars (神煞) are stars found in the four pillars by fixed rules, such as the Heavenly Nobleman, the Traveling Horse, the Canopy and the Solitary Star. The classical books hold that they add color to a chart but cannot form a structure or break one. So the structure comes first, and the stars after.

Three books agree

The True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠; Qing dynasty, 18th century) gives this a chapter of its own:

八字格局，专以月令配四柱，至于星辰好歹，既不能为生克之用，又何以操成败之权？

Our translation: The structure of the eight characters is taken solely by matching the month branch with the four pillars. As for whether the stars are good or bad, they cannot take part in generating and controlling, so how could they hold the power to form or break it?

The structure is set by how the month branch and the four pillars generate and control one another. Symbolic stars take no part in this, so a benefic star cannot rescue a broken structure, and a star to be mindful of cannot harm a formed one.

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

Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping (子平真诠评注; ROC, 1936) adds two points. First, the stars come from an older method built on the year, and were all taken from the year pillar; once the Day Master became the center of the chart, the stars became a point of reference only.

Second, a star works through the character it sits on. A benefic star on the useful element makes its good show more clearly; on an unfavorable element, it can soften some of the harm. It adds to what is already there; the structure does not rest on it. When two charts share a structure but differ in quality, the stars can help tell them apart.

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

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated (滴天髓阐微; Qing dynasty, 19th century) also says a chart is judged by working through how its stems and branches pair, how strong the Day Master is, and what is favorable or unfavorable to the useful element, never by setting the four pillars aside and judging good and bad from symbolic stars alone.

Dripping Heavenly Marrow Elucidated · Pairing

Prosperity, nobility and the horse in old books

The True Interpretation of Ziping cautions that when old books speak of prosperity (禄) and nobility (贵), they often mean the Direct Officer, not stars such as the seat of Prosperity or the Nobleman. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping puts it more plainly: prosperity is the Officer, the horse (马) is Wealth, and virtue (德) is Resource. So when an old book speaks of prosperity and the horse, or of noblemen, first check whether it means one of the ten relationships.

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

The Yang Blade is a position in the structure

The Yang Blade is often mentioned with the symbolic stars, but this series does not count it as one. A yang Day Master born in the month of its own peak stage has a Yang Blade structure. This is a position in the structure, and only the five yang stems have it: Yang Wood, Yang Fire, Yang Earth, Yang Metal and Yang Water. A yin stem at its peak is taken as Rob Wealth (Yin Earth’s peak, the Snake, as Resource), not as a Blade. See the lesson on the Yang Blade structure.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On the Yang Blade; The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Yang Blade

The Commanding Day Pillar colors the day pillar

The Commanding Day Pillar (魁罡) is any of four day pillars: Yang Water Dragon, Yang Metal Dog, Yang Metal Dragon and Yang Earth Dog. The Deep Sea of Ziping (渊海子平; Ming dynasty, 16th century) says people born on these days tend to be bright, gifted in writing and decisive; where the four pillars hold several of them, the book takes it as a blessing. It also says a decade phase that brings the Day Master to strength is favorable; Wealth or the Officer, or a punishment or Seven Killings, in the four pillars or in a decade phase calls for extra care; and when the day pillar alone is a Commanding Day Pillar and meets many clashes, that too calls for care.

The Deep Sea of Ziping · On the Commanding Day Pillar

The True Interpretation of Ziping, on miscellaneous structures, lists the Commanding Day Pillar among the names it does not take as a structure. So this series treats it only as color on the day pillar, a note on temperament, and never as a structure.

The True Interpretation of Ziping · On Miscellaneous Structures

How to find the stars in your chart

Each star has its own rule. By the pillar a star is found from, they fall into these groups:

A ten-pair group is each run of ten stem-and-branch pairs in the cycle of sixty. The sound element is a five-element value each of the sixty stem-and-branch pairs carries, two neighboring pairs sharing one, different from the stem’s own element; you can find it in a perpetual calendar. Many stars in the table are still found from the year pillar, which fits the older method built on the year that Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping describes.

How to find each star, and how much it weighs, is in the lessons on Nobleman stars, the two Virtues and the Three Marvels, on prosperity, travel and flair stars, and on stars to be mindful of.

How to weigh a star

1. First settle the structure and the useful element.
2. Then see which character the star sits on. Commentary on the True Interpretation of Ziping gives examples: the Officer does well with the Heavenly Nobleman, Resource with the two Virtues, Wealth with the Traveling Horse, and the Food Star and Hurting Officer with the Learning Hall and the Academy of Letters.
3. Then look at the star’s own conditions. The books often say a benefic star loses force when it falls in the Void or is broken by a clash; the next three lessons give each star’s conditions.
4. For a star to be mindful of, look at what in the chart balances it.

Commentary on 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 Traveling Horse

Try it on your chart

1. Write down your structure and useful element; see the lessons on taking the structure from the month and roles in the chart.
2. Using the table above, find the symbolic stars in your chart from the day stem, the month branch, the year branch, the day branch, the day pillar, the ten-pair group of the day pillar, the order of the four stems and the year pillar’s sound element, and mark each on its pillar.
3. Beside each star, note which of the ten relationships it falls on, and whether that is the useful element, a favorable element or an unfavorable element.
4. If your day pillar is a Commanding Day Pillar, note it as color on the day pillar. If your Day Master is a yang stem born in the month of its peak stage, go back to the lesson on the Yang Blade structure for the structure.

See also: How a structure forms, breaks and recovers

See also: The Yang Blade structure

See also: Outer structures: when the month offers no structure

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

See also: Prosperity, travel and flair stars

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