Peach Blossom: one step after Growth
Content version · · Sources & references
Peach Blossom starts from the day branch: take the Growth spot of its Three Harmony group and count one on; the book calls it Xian Chi. A ring, two charts, blossom over the fields and reversed blossom.
The short version7 min read
Peach Blossom is the spot after the Growth spot of a Three Harmony group, which, counted for the Yang stem of the group's element, is the Bath spot of the twelve stages. The site finds it from the day branch, and the Sanming Tonghui calls it Xian Chi.
- Monkey-Rat-Dragon gives Rooster, Tiger-Horse-Dog gives Rabbit, Snake-Rooster-Ox gives Horse, Pig-Rabbit-Goat gives Rat. Every result is one step after Growth, searched in the year, month and hour pillars.
- Juan 2 of the Sanming Tonghui calls the spot Xian Chi and lists the four landing spots itself, as "the palace of Bath, the second place after Growth", also named the Defeat Spirit and the Peach Blossom Sha. They match the site table row by row.
- The book also has blossom over the fields (all of Rat, Horse, Rabbit and Rooster in the chart) and reversed blossom (Rabbit seeing Tiger-Horse-Dog), and asks for a matching Na Yin class. The site table implements none of these.
Read first
Symbolic Stars in BaZi: Check the Reference and Rule Before the Meaning ↗
Where Peach Blossom sits: after Growth
The calculation fits in one sentence: find the Growth spot of the Three Harmony (三合) group that holds the day branch, then count one step on. The site calls that spot Peach Blossom (桃花) and the Sanming Tonghui calls it Xian Chi (咸池); counted for the Yang stem of the group's element, it is the Bath spot of the twelve life stages.
Sketch: each arc runs from the Growth spot of a group to the next spot. Data from the site engine's Peach Blossom table, checked row by row against the twelve-stage table.
In the ring, brown marks the Growth spot of each group and teal marks the next one. Water grows at Monkey and the next spot is Rooster; Fire grows at Tiger and the next is Rabbit; Metal grows at Snake and the next is Horse; Wood grows at Pig and the next is Rat. Twelve day branches give only these four results, so the landing spot is always Rooster, Rabbit, Horse or Rat. It is looked for in the year, month and hour pillars. A day branch is never its own Peach Blossom, which leaves the day pillar out of the search.
The book's own words: four landing spots, row by row
Juan 2 of the Sanming Tonghui writes the landing spots of Xian Chi out in full:
Tiger-Horse-Dog: Rabbit. Snake-Rooster-Ox: Horse. Monkey-Rat-Dragon: Rooster. Pig-Rabbit-Goat: Rat. This is the palace of Bath, the second place after Growth. It is also called the Defeat Spirit and the Peach Blossom Sha.
The four lines can be checked against the site's table one by one:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
The line carries two other names, the Defeat Spirit and the Peach Blossom Sha, so in this volume "Peach Blossom" is simply another name for Xian Chi. Why the spot is called Xian Chi is explained under Bath; here only the landing spots matter. Juan 3 also has an entry that writes Peach Blossom and Red Charm together, where the four Peach Blossom spots are the same and Red Charm starts from the day stem.
Two charts to try
Start with a chart whose day branch is Horse. Horse belongs to the Fire group Tiger-Horse-Dog, Fire grows at Tiger, and the next spot is Rabbit. The four branches read Rabbit, Rat, Horse, Dragon, so the Rabbit in the year pillar is the Peach Blossom. Now take a chart that holds Rat, Horse, Rabbit and Rooster together, with day branch Rabbit: Rabbit belongs to the Wood group, which grows at Pig, and the next spot is Rat. Rat sits only in the year pillar, and that single place is what the site marks.
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
Two more readings in the book: blossom over the fields and reversed blossom
The second chart raises a question, because a chart with Rat, Horse, Rabbit and Rooster complete has a name of its own. Juan 10 of the Sanming Tonghui says:
When Rat, Horse, Rabbit and Rooster are all present, the ancients called it blossom over the fields.
Juan 3 has a reading that points the other way, called reversed blossom, with the examples "a Rabbit person seeing Tiger-Horse-Dog, a Rooster person seeing Monkey-Rat-Dragon": it starts from the Peach Blossom branch and looks back at the characters of the group. Side by side, the three readings are:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
The site look-up runs one way, from the day branch to a single spot, so on a chart with all four branches it marks one place, which is not the same as the book's verdict on the whole set. Reversed blossom points the opposite way, and the site does not implement that either.
Conditions and comments, and how this site treats them
The same chapter adds a small note to Xian Chi:
This sha counts only if the stem's Na Yin is of the same class as the branch; if one looks only at Tiger-Horse-Dog and the Rabbit, the stem's Na Yin may not be Fire, and that is wrong.
In other words, a Tiger-Horse-Dog person meeting Rabbit must also have a Fire Na Yin on the stem, and a Na Yin of another class does not count. The site look-up reads branches only and has no Na Yin condition.
Four words used when reading Peach Blossom
- Peach Blossom
- The site's name: the spot after Growth in the Three Harmony group of the day branch.
- Xian Chi
- The name in the Sanming Tonghui, which calls it the palace of Bath, the second place after Growth, also named the Defeat Spirit and the Peach Blossom Sha.
- Bath
- The second of the twelve life stages; counted for the Yang stem of the group's element it coincides with Peach Blossom, for the Yin stem it does not.
- Red Charm
- A different Symbolic Star found from the day stem, which the Sanming Tonghui writes under the same entry as Peach Blossom.
The previous Symbolic Star taken from a Three Harmony group is the Traveling Horse, and the next one takes the storage spot, the Canopy Star.
Questions readers ask next
My day branch is Horse and Peach Blossom is Rabbit, not the Snake or Goat beside Horse. Why?
The site picks the spot by Three Harmony group. Horse belongs to Tiger-Horse-Dog, Fire grows at Tiger, and the spot after it is Rabbit. The Snake and Goat that neighbor Horse are not part of this rule.
Are Peach Blossom, Xian Chi and Bath three different Symbolic Stars?
Peach Blossom and Xian Chi are one look-up with identical results. Bath is a twelve-stage name; take the Yang stem of the group's element and its Bath falls on that same branch, while the Yin stem of that element has its Bath elsewhere. Red Charm is a different Symbolic Star, found from the day stem.
Many Peach Blossoms in a chart: good romance luck, or trouble?
The table tells you only whether the spot is present. The site's wording, "popular, rich in feeling", is a modern summary, and the book's comments are mostly old moral judgments that this site does not adopt. The count of hits cannot be turned into an amount of romance.
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Sources & references
Continue reading
Traveling Horse: Find the Head of the Three Harmony Group, Then Its Clash ↗
Canopy Star: the Last Branch of a Three Harmony Group, the Storage of Its Element ↗