Ziwei Notes › Stars
The Stars
The vocabulary of a chart: the character and imagery of the major, auxiliary and harmful stars
A chart uses more than a hundred stars, but the skeleton is carried by the fourteen major stars:
they are placed through the twelve palaces in a fixed order (six of the Zi Wei series, eight of the Tian Fu series)
and set the basic "temperament" of each palace. The rest add, subtract, qualify and trigger.
1. The fourteen major stars
The "hua qi" is the ancients' one-word summary of a star's core function — a good thing to memorise first.
Zi Wei series (six stars)
| Star | Hua qi | Element | Meaning in brief |
|---|
| 紫微 Zi Wei | Noble | Ji Earth | The emperor's seat: leadership, dignity, conviction. Thrives with Zuo Fu / You Bi / Tian Kui / Tian Yue; alone it is opinionated and labours. |
| 天机 Tian Ji | Goodness | Yi Wood | The star of intellect: thought, adaptability, planning. More movement than rest; schemes well, yet tends to change course. |
| 太阳 Tai Yang | Honour | Bing Fire | The sun: reputation, responsibility, outwardness. Strong it shines; fallen it toils for little return. |
| 武曲 Wu Qu | Wealth | Xin Metal | The finance star: execution, resolve, tangible gain. Acts by rules, judges by results. |
| 天同 Tian Tong | Blessing | Ren Water | The blessing star: ease, gentleness, sensitivity. Knows how to live, and can drift into comfort. |
| 廉贞 Lian Zhen | Confinement | Ding Fire | The secondary peach blossom: feeling, obsession, principle. Well used it is focus; poorly used, entanglement. |
Tian Fu series (eight stars)
| Star | Hua qi | Element | Meaning in brief |
|---|
| 天府 Tian Fu | Storehouse | Wu Earth | The treasury: steadiness, conservation, accumulation. Good at managing and preserving, inclined to caution. |
| 太阴 Tai Yin | Riches | Gui Water | The moon: inwardness, fineness, property and home. Delicate in feeling, values affection and security. |
| 贪狼 Tan Lang | Peach blossom | Jia Wood (with Water) | Desire: company, talent, curiosity. Wide social range; must beware of wanting too much. |
| 巨门 Ju Men | Darkness | Gui Water (with Earth) | Speech: expression, analysis, suspicion. Earns its living by mouth and mind; light and shadow clearly divided. |
| 天相 Tian Xiang | Seal | Ren Water | The seal: support, coordination, trust. Gets things done but rarely leads; turns with its surroundings. |
| 天梁 Tian Liang | Shelter | Wu Earth | The sheltering star: protection, principle, resolution. Skilled at settling troubles, with a streak of detachment. |
| 七杀 Qi Sha | General | Geng Metal (with Fire) | The general: decision, initiative, solitary courage. Charges ahead; success and failure both come fast. |
| 破军 Po Jun | Consumption | Gui Water | The vanguard: breaking and rebuilding, change, restructuring. Nothing new without demolition — a life of turns. |
The fourteen divide roughly into two tempers: Zi Wei, Tian Fu, Tian Xiang, Tian Liang and Tai Yin lean to "holding";
Qi Sha, Po Jun, Tan Lang, Tian Ji and Lian Zhen lean to "changing". How a chart moves or holds still depends mostly on how these two groups are mixed.
2. The auxiliary stars
| Star | Role | Meaning in brief |
|---|
| 左辅 · 右弼 Zuo Fu · You Bi | Support | Peers, subordinates, helping hands: patrons and teamwork. Strongest as a pair; a major star with them is never alone. |
| 天魁 · 天钺 Tian Kui · Tian Yue | Opportunity | Stars of patronage: promotion and chance — "someone reaches out at the critical moment". |
| 文昌 · 文曲 Wen Chang · Wen Qu | Learning | Scholarship and literary gift: study, documents, expression, art. Chang leans to formal learning, Qu to talent. |
| 禄存 Lu Cun | Emolument | Stable income and restraint: keeps money, stays practical; also a touch of solitariness. |
| 天马 Tian Ma | Movement | Travel, bustle, change. With Lu Cun it forms "Lu Ma Jiao Chi" — gain earned through movement. |
Auxiliaries matter because they change a major star's situation: the same Zi Wei, flanked by Zuo Fu and You Bi or standing as a lonely ruler, reads entirely differently.
Hence the old saying: "major stars show nature, auxiliaries show circumstance."
3. The six harmful stars
| Star | Element | Meaning in brief |
|---|
| 擎羊 Qing Yang | Metal | Hardness with an edge: conflict, surgery, pressure from outside. Acts fast, hurts others and itself. |
| 陀罗 Tuo Luo | Metal | Delay and repetition: dragging, hidden obstruction. The same matter circles several times before it settles. |
| 火星 Huo Xing | Fire | Sudden flare: impatience, the unexpected. Comes and goes quickly; success or failure in an instant. |
| 铃星 Ling Xing | Fire | Smothered fire: inner friction, hidden worry. Calm on the surface, unsettled within. |
| 地空 Di Kong | Fire | Emptiness and detachment: plans that come to nothing, impracticality; also inspiration and a wish to withdraw. |
| 地劫 Di Jie | Fire | Robbery and loss: what is gained is easily lost, attrition from outside. |
Texts and schools disagree on the elements of the six harmful stars; one common reading is given here. They are not simply bad:
the ancients spoke of "a harmful star in a fallen position turning to use" — pressure is often where drive comes from.
4. Common minor stars
| Star | Meaning in brief |
|---|
| 红鸾 · 天喜 Hong Luan · Tian Xi | Celebration and marriage: romance, children, good news approaching. |
| 天姚 Tian Yao | Charm and attraction: popularity and appeal to the other sex; also variety and flourish. |
| 天刑 Tian Xing | Restraint and rule: injury, discipline, self-control; often seen in medicine and law. |
| 天哭 · 天虚 Tian Ku · Tian Xu | Feeling and emptiness: sadness, worry; common in the finely sensitive. |
| 孤辰 · 寡宿 Gu Chen · Gua Su | Independence and distance: liking quiet, few companions; also the focus to stay with one thing. |
| 蜚廉 · 破碎 Fei Lian · Po Sui | Gossip and small breakage: minor disputes and minor losses, mostly in trifles. |
5. Brightness: miao, wang, li, xian
One star is not equally strong in every palace or for every person; the ancients used seven grades —
miao, wang, de di, li, ping, bu de di, xian (temple, prosperous, grounded, favourable, level, ungrounded, fallen).
Miao and wang are like a person in their prime; xian is like a traveller in adversity, unable to use their strengths.
A plain rule follows: a lucky star must be bright to show its luck, while a harmful star that is bright harms less.
So judge a star first by where it sits and how bright it is, then by who it sits with, and only then by how the Four Transformations pull it.
6. Common combinations
- 紫微天府 Zi Wei – Tian Fu: emperor with a treasury; steady and broad-patterned, good at running and holding things.
- 杀破狼 Sha Po Lang (Qi Sha, Po Jun, Tan Lang): the transforming set — a life of change and initiative.
- 机月同梁 Ji Yue Tong Liang (Tian Ji, Tai Yin, Tian Tong, Tian Liang): the service set — advisory, professional, roles inside stable systems.
- 日月并明 Ri Yue Bing Ming (sun and moon each well placed): both inner and outer gained, reputation and substance alike.
- 巨日同宫 Ju Ri Tong Gong: eloquence and analysis; common in teaching, media and law — trades that must "make things clear".
Combination names are convenient labels, not verdicts. The same set in a different palace, meeting different transformations, can read very differently.