Gua Su: last spot before the season

The last spot of the season before

Gua Su (寡宿) is the mirror of Gu Chen: it also cuts the twelve year branches into four seasons, but it lands on the last branch before the group instead of the first branch after it.

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Comparison columns: Gua Su spots follow the iztro 2.6.0 placement rule (Tiger-Rabbit-Dragon years to Ox, Snake-Horse-Goat to Dragon, Monkey-Rooster-Dog to Goat, Pig-Rat-Ox to Dog), checked by charting all twelve year branches.

In each column the last line is the closing branch of the season before: winter years put Gua Su on Dog, the end of autumn, spring years on Ox, the end of winter, summer years on Dragon, the end of spring, and autumn years on Goat, the end of summer. Chart each of the twelve year branches and Gua Su always sits where the table says.

"The Wu Qu lodging is Gua Su"

In the Quan Shu the word Gua Su is applied to the star Wu Qu (武曲). The marrow rhyme for women's charts in juan 1 has a line:

The lodging of Wu Qu is called Gua Su.

At the end of the Wu Qu entries in juan 3, "on the assorted stars sharing a palace", the line appears again as "the star Wu Qu is Gua Su", and the short note after it brings in the Fire star, a wife taking over the husband's authority, and "two hard ones facing each other". It is still about Wu Qu itself, not about the minor star.

Same name, different thing. What can be set out for the chart page is how the star is placed, which the engine rule decides, and no rhyme in the book offers a counterpart to compare with.

Always eight branches from Gu Chen

Within one year branch, Gua Su is the eighth branch after Gu Chen, which is the fourth branch before it. Draw one pair for each of the four season groups and every pair turns out to be two corners of one three-branch group: Tiger with Dog, Snake with Ox, Monkey with Dragon, Pig with Goat.

The structure matches that of Tian Yao and Tian Xing: also eight apart and also inside one three-branch group. The difference is that Tian Yao and Tian Xing follow the birth month and move every month, while Gu Chen and Gua Su follow the birth year and move once per three year branches.

How three-branch positions relate is covered in the three sides and four directions.

Life held still, twelve birth years

Change only the year and nothing else: lunar month 6, day 15, Ox hour, with the years running from 1984 to 1995. Life stays on Horse throughout, while the branch and palace name of Gua Su change with the year branch.

With Life fixed, Gua Su takes only four palace names, since it has only four landing branches: Career, Health, Partner and Parents take turns, and Gu Chen likewise cycles through Wealth, Siblings, Wellbeing and Friends. The landing branch is set by the year, the palace name by Life, and both coordinates are needed.

Writing down one Gua Su, two things

1. 1

   Group by season first

   Which season group the year branch falls in decides what the season before is; under a different year boundary the branch itself may differ.

2. 2

   Take the last spot before it and pair up

   The landing branch is Dog, Ox, Dragon or Goat; then take Gu Chen for the same year branch and confirm the two are eight apart, and if they are not, recheck the year branch.

The star that shares the storehouses with Gua Su is Hua Gai; its partner is Gu Chen. BaZi has a Symbolic Star with the same Chinese name (寡宿), covered in the BaZi Solitude Star.