The Element Phase or Wu Xing Ju and the date of birth determine
which palace Zi Wei Star is to be established.
The Rule can be put into mathematical terms, like this:
( Birth Date + X ) / Element Phase = Y
( 生日 + X ) / 五行局 = Y
※ X and Y must be whole numbers from 1 to 9.
※ Z is the position of Zi Wei Star.
If X = 0, then Y = Z.
If X = Even number, then Y + X = Z.
If X = Odd number, then Y – X = Z. (However, there are exceptions to this rule.)
- Y indicates the number of squares to move in the Clockwise direction.
- Even-numbered X also indicates the number of squares to move in
the Clockwise direction after moving Y.
- Odd-numbered X indicates moving the specific number of squares in
the Anti-Clockwise direction after moving Y.
Example 1:
Birth Date - 12th day
Element Phase - 水二局 Water (2nd) Phase
Going by formula:
( 12 + 0 ) / 2 = 6
寅 Yin as 1st square, count clockwise and the 6th square (value Y = Z) is 末 Wei.
So, Zi Wei Star is to be established in the palace of 末 Wei.
Example 2:
Birth Date - 7th day
Element Phase - 木三局 Wood (3rd) Phase
Going by formula:
( 7 + 2 ) / 3 = 3
X = 2 = Even number.
So, 3 + 2 = 5 ( Y + X = Z )
寅 Yin as 1st square, count clockwise, the 5th square (value Z) is 午 Wu,
Zi Wei Star is to be established in the palace of 午 Wu.
Or:
寅 Yin as 1st square, counting clockwise, the 3rd square (value Y) is 辰 Chen.
Being an even number, X also moves clockwise by 2 squares and stops at 午 Wu.
Therefore Zi Wei Star is established at 午 Wu Palace.
Example 3:
Birth Date – 15th day
Element Phase – 金四局 Metal (4th) Phase
Going by formula:
( 15 + 1 ) / 4 = 4
X = 1 = Odd number.
So, 4 – 1 = 3 ( Y – X = Z )
寅 Yin as 1st square, counting clockwise, the 3rd square (value Z) is 辰 Chen,
so Zi Wei Star is to be established in the palace of 辰 Chen.
Or:
寅 Yin as 1st square, counting clockwise, the 4rd square (value Y) is 巳 Si.
Being an odd number, X moves Anti-Clockwise 1 square and stops at 辰 Chen.
Therefore Zi Wei Star is established at 辰 Chen Palace.
However, the formula does not work in ALL cases. There are exceptions.
Example 4:
Birth Date – 13th day
Element Phase – 火六局 Fire (6th) Phase
Going by formula:
( 13 + 5 ) / 6 = 3
In this case, X (5) > Y(3)
Going on to the next step, ( Y – X ), we will get a negative number ( 3 – 5 = -2 ) and
the assumption of simply moving 2 squares anti-clockwise (to 丑 Chou) would be wrong!
In this case, to prevent errors, we shall do it manually.
寅 Yin as 1st square, counting clockwise, the 3rd square (value Y) is 辰 Chen.
Being an odd number, X moves Anti-Clockwise 5 squares backwards and stops at 亥 Hai.
So, Zi Wei Star should be correctly established at 亥 Hai Palace.
But what happen if one's Birth Date has a value smaller than his Element Phase?
For example, one who has a Fire (6th) Element Phase borned on the 4th day,
or one who has a Water (2nd) Element Phase borned on the 1st day?
The Rule then changes in such situations.
To simplify the Rule,
For people:
1. Who are of Water (2nd) Phase 水二局 ,
- borned on the 1st day, establish Zi Wei Star in 丑 Chou Palace.
2. Who are of Wood (3rd) Phase 木三局 ,
- borned on the 1st day, establish Zi Wei Star in 辰 Chen Palace.
- borned on the 2nd day, establish Zi Wei Star in 丑 Chou Palace.
3. Who are of Metal (4th) Phase 金四局 ,
- borned on the 1st day, establish Zi Wei Star in 亥 Hai Palace.
- borned on the 2nd day, establish Zi Wei Star in 辰 Chen Palace.
- borned on the 3rd day, establish Zi Wei Star in 丑 Chou Palace.
4. Who are of Earth (5th) Phase 土五局 ,
- borned on the 1st day, establish Zi Wei Star in 午 Wu Palace.
- borned on the 2nd day, establish Zi Wei Star in 亥 Hai Palace.
- borned on the 3rd day, establish Zi Wei Star in 辰 Chen Palace.
- borned on the 4th day, establish Zi Wei Star in 丑 Chou Palace.
5. Who are of Fire (6th) Phase 火六局 ,
- borned on the 1st day, establish Zi Wei Star in 酉 You Palace.
- borned on the 2nd day, establish Zi Wei Star in 午 Wu Palace.
- borned on the 3rd day, establish Zi Wei Star in 亥 Hai Palace.
- borned on the 4th day, establish Zi Wei Star in 辰 Chen Palace.
- borned on the 5th day, establish Zi Wei Star in 丑 Chou Palace.
Back to the example i was using all along,
( 26 + X ) / 3 = Y
Y = 9, move 9 squares Clockwise from 寅 Yin ; stops at 戌 Xu.
X = 1, move 1 square Anti-Clockwise from 戌 Xu ; stops at 酉 You.
Zi Wei Star is established at 酉 You Palace.
You can double-check your calculation here (if you still aren't too sure).
