Tian Fu: the Lu of the official star, by year stem

Three steps: year stem, official star, its Lu

Tian Fu (天福) takes the Lu position of the official star: find the stem that controls the year stem, then see which branch holds that stem's Lu.

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Flow sketch: the official star is the stem of opposite polarity that controls the year stem; its Lu follows the usual ten-stem Lu table, after the method in the entry on the heavenly blessing noble in juan 5 of the Sanming Tonghui, and agrees with the engine for all ten stems.

Two terms first. A stem's official star is the one stem of opposite polarity that controls it; the first column of the table below lists all ten. A stem's Lu is the branch where it reaches the Establishment stage (临官) of the twelve life stages, and the second column gives the Lu of each official star. The blessing-noble entry in the fifth juan of the Sanming Tonghui (三命通会) states the method plainly:

It means that where the official star sits it meets its Lu, like a person who holds office and draws a stipend, which is a blessing from heaven. A person of Yang Wood takes Yin Metal as the official; Yin Metal has its Lu on Rooster, hence Yang Wood meets Rooster, and Yin Wood meets Monkey by the same reasoning.

The book works two examples: the official star of Yang Wood is Yin Metal, whose Lu is on Rooster, so Yang Wood gets Rooster; the official star of Yin Wood is Yang Metal, whose Lu is on Monkey, so Yin Wood gets Monkey. Run all ten stems through the same method and compare with the engine's table, entry by entry:

All ten rows agree, and none needs an "exception" to explain it.

Tian Fu the adjective star, Tian Fu the major star

The pinyin of the two stars differs by one tone, yet the characters are different. Side by side:

The major star is covered in the article on Tian Fu (天府). In your own notes, whenever you write Tian Fu (天福), say that it is the adjective star looked up by the year stem, rather than relying on the pinyin.

One official star, two spots: Tian Guan and Tian Fu

In the Sanming Tonghui, Tian Fu and Tian Guan both start from the official star, but they do different things with it. For a Yang Wood year the official star is Yin Metal: Tian Guan takes the branch where Yin Metal turns up inside the decade, Goat (Yin Metal over Goat), and Tian Fu takes the branch of Yin Metal's Lu, Rooster:

One official star, two landing points. Another example is a Yin Wood year: the official star is Yang Metal, Tian Guan is on Dragon (Yang Metal over Dragon) and Tian Fu on Monkey, the Lu of Yang Metal. Only in a Yang Earth year do the two stars fall on the same branch, the Rabbit: the Tian Guan table gives Rabbit for Yang Earth, and Tian Fu takes the Lu of the official star, Yin Wood, which is also on Rabbit.

Palace names on four charts

Once the branch is known, the palace name is counted from Life. Four charts, three stems, and in three of them Tian Fu is on Horse:

Tian Fu is on Horse in all three charts, in the Travel, Career and Property palaces. The same branch does not mean the same palace: the palace name depends on the Life palace.

1. 1

   Step one: the official star

   With the year stem fixed, read its official star off the first column of the table.

2. 2

   Step two: its Lu

   The Lu of the official star is the branch of Tian Fu; it is bound to be among the eight landing branches.

3. 3

   Step three: the palace

   Put that branch back on the chart, count to it from Life and read the name.

Another adjective star looked up by year stem is Tian Guan; for how the year stem also drives the four transformations, read the birth-year four transformations.