Feng Ge: the Rat year on Dog, a step back a year
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Feng Ge counts backward from the birth-year branch: Rat year on Dog, one palace back a year. A grouped chart of four relations, its mirror link to Long Chi, a January conversion and three sample charts.
The short version7 min read
Feng Ge shares one line of verse with Long Chi, with the start moved to the Dog palace and the direction reversed: the Rat year lands on Dog, and the star steps back one palace for every year after.
- The second half of the verse reads "Feng Ge, Rat, Dog, backward": the Rat year goes to the Dog palace and the star counts backward along the branches, one palace per year branch.
- Long Chi is branch number plus 4 and Feng Ge is 10 minus the branch number, so the two always add up to 14: within one year they are mirror images.
- Over the twelve year branches the two stars stand in only four relations: same palace twice, opposite twice, one trine four times, one palace between four times.
Read first
What do Zi Wei's supporting, malefic and minor stars actually do? ↗
"Rat, Dog, backward": from the Dog palace, a step back a year
Long Chi counts forward and Feng Ge (凤阁) counts back: turn the direction around, move the start to the Dog palace, and the other star's place follows. The Rat year lands on Dog, and the star steps back one palace for every year after.
Grouped sketch: each line reads "year: Long Chi landing · Feng Ge landing", checked against the verse in juan 2 of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu and this site's engine output; all twelve year branches agree.
The second half of the verse is about Feng Ge alone:
Feng Ge: Rat, Dog, backward.
Where Long Chi counts forward, this star counts backward: the Rat year is on Dog, the Ox year on Rooster, the Tiger year on Monkey, all the way back to the Pig year on Pig; after twelve years the Rat branch returns, and so does the star. The picture above sorts the twelve year branches into four groups by how the two stars sit relative to each other, and the sections below explain the groups. On the ring, first look at two special spots:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
Counting backward has a side effect. For most year branches the star ends up somewhere else, but in the Snake year Feng Ge sits on Snake and in the Pig year on Pig, exactly on the year branch. Long Chi has no such year, because it always runs four steps past the year branch.
Long Chi and Feng Ge: mirror images within one year
Write the two rules as sums. Number the branch palaces from the Rat palace as 0: Long Chi is 4 + the year-branch number, and Feng Ge is 10 − the year-branch number. Add them and the year-branch number cancels, so the total is always 14, which is 2 modulo 12.
Two palaces whose numbers add up to 2 are a mirror pair about the line joining the Ox palace and the Goat palace: Ox and Goat map to themselves, Rat to Tiger, Rabbit to Pig, Dragon to Dog, Snake to Rooster, Horse to Monkey. Check it on two years:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
The mirror leaves only four relations between the two stars, and the grouped picture follows them: in Rabbit and Rooster years they share a palace; in Rat and Horse years they are in opposite palaces; in Ox, Snake, Goat and Pig years they lie in one trine; in Tiger, Monkey, Dragon and Dog years there is one palace between them. For people born in the same year the relation is fixed, whichever chart you open.
Born in January: which year branch applies
The year branch for Feng Ge follows the lunar new year, as for Long Chi. For early-year dates, check whether the new year has passed; taking the stem and branch of the calendar year would be wrong. Two charts born in January:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
15 January 1990 is the nineteenth day of the twelfth month of the lunar Ji-Si year, and 5 January 1991 the twentieth day of the eleventh month of the Geng-Wu year. So Feng Ge is worked from Ji-Si and Geng-Wu: 10 − 5 = 5, Snake, and 10 − 6 = 4, Dragon. How the two new-year rules differ is set out in full for February 1996 in the article on Long Chi.
On one chart: which two palaces the stars fall in
To turn the branch relation into palace names you need the Life palace. Three sample charts, one for each relation:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
The third chart contains a coincidence: in the Yi-Chou year Long Chi is on Snake, Feng Ge on Rooster, and the Life palace happens to be on Ox, so the three palaces make up the Snake-Rooster-Ox trine. That is a feature of this chart, not a rule; with another birth month the Life palace moves and the combination breaks up.
Settle which year first
For January and February births, check whether the lunar new year has passed, then take the branch.
Count back to the spot
The Rat year is on Dog and each later branch steps back one palace; or use 10 minus the branch number.
Cross-check with Long Chi
In the same year Long Chi is 4 plus the number, and the two numbers should add up to 14 (remainder 2). If they do not, one step went wrong.
Two years to try
A Ji-Mao year: where are Long Chi and Feng Ge?
Rabbit is number 3. Long Chi is 4+3 = 7, the Goat palace; Feng Ge is 10−3 = 7, also the Goat palace. The two stars share a palace.
Born on 1 October 2000: which branch holds Feng Ge?
October falls past the lunar new year, which makes it a Geng-Chen year. Dragon is number 4, and 10−4 = 6, so Feng Ge is on the Horse palace.
For the first half of the same verse, read Long Chi; the palace names and their order are in the twelve palaces.
Questions readers ask next
Why do Snake and Pig years put Feng Ge on the year branch itself?
Feng Ge is 10 minus the branch number, and that equals the branch number only when the number is 5 or 11, which are Snake and Pig. Long Chi always runs four steps past the year branch, so it has no such year.
I was born in January. Which year branch places Feng Ge?
It depends on whether the birth date is past the lunar new year. 15 January 1990 is still the lunar Ji-Si year, so Feng Ge is on Snake; 5 January 1991 is still the Geng-Wu year, so it is on Dragon. Do not take the stem and branch of the calendar year for early-year dates.
Is it special when Long Chi and Feng Ge share a palace?
It is a coincidence of position and happens only for Rabbit and Rooster years, two of the twelve. The year decides whether it happens. How to read it depends on the palace and on the other stars in it, and this page draws no conclusion.
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Sources & references
Continue reading
Long Chi (龙池): Rat Year on Dragon, One Step a Year, and How the New-Year Rule Moves It ↗
Tian Cai (天才): The Adjective Star Counted Out From Life by the Year Branch ↗