Huo Xing: year group sets the start, hour counts
Content version · · Sources & references
Huo Xing needs two inputs: the year-branch group fixes the start palace, the birth hour sets the count. A 4x12 table, the Miao/Xian pairing, the hour it meets Qing Yang and the Body Ruler homonym show how to read it.
The short version9 min read
Huo Xing is placed from two inputs: the birth-year group gives a start palace for the Rat hour, and the birth hour decides how many palaces to count on from it; twelve double-hours walk all twelve palaces.
- The verse gives only the start palaces of the four year groups. Counting on to the birth hour is a step added by the engine and by modern teaching, not by the verse itself.
- A trio such as Tiger-Horse-Dog does two jobs: as a year group it only sets the starting point, as a palace set it matches the Miao and Xian cells. Read the two apart.
- In one year Qing Yang occupies one cell while Huo Xing walks all twelve, so exactly one double-hour a year puts the two in the same palace.
Read first
What do Zi Wei's supporting, malefic and minor stars actually do? ↗
The year group sets the start, the hour sets the steps
Huo Xing (火星) needs two inputs before it has a position: the birth-year group gives the starting palace for the Rat hour, and the birth hour decides how many palaces to count on from there.
Look-up sketch: rows are the four birth-year groups, columns the twelve double-hours, cells the palace holding Huo Xing; grades follow the juan 3 grading line and the site engine's table, and every branch was checked against the site engine.
The four rows are the four year groups, the twelve columns are the twelve double-hours, and each cell is the branch holding Huo Xing. Every row is the same cycle shifted: in Tiger, Horse and Dog years the Rat hour is at Ox, in Monkey, Rat and Dragon years at Tiger, in Snake, Rooster and Ox years at Rabbit, and in Pig, Rabbit and Goat years at Rooster; after that Huo Xing steps one palace on per double-hour, and twelve hours make a full circle. Teal cells are the Tiger, Horse and Dog the book marks Miao; plum cells are the Rat, Dragon and Monkey it marks Xian; the others are De and Li.
Four lines of verse and one worked count
The placement verse for the two stars, "An Huo Ling Er Xing Jue" (安火铃二星诀), runs to just four lines in juan 2 of the Quan Shu (full title Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu, 紫微斗数全书):
Tiger, Horse, Dog people: Ox and Rabbit; Monkey, Rat, Dragon people: Tiger and Dog; Snake, Rooster, Ox people: Rabbit and Dog; Pig, Rabbit, Goat people: Rooster and Dog.
Each line ends in two branches, the start palaces of the two stars, and the verse does not say which belongs to which; the engine gives the first to Huo Xing and the second to Ling Xing. For Tiger, Horse and Dog years Huo Xing therefore starts at the Ox and Ling Xing at the Rabbit, for Monkey, Rat and Dragon years Huo Xing starts at the Tiger and Ling Xing at the Dog, and so on. Ling Xing is left for the next article; only Huo Xing is followed here.
Take a chart born in a Ren Shen year (1992) at the Monkey double-hour (15 to 17). The Monkey belongs to the Monkey-Rat-Dragon group, so Huo Xing starts at the Tiger. The Rat hour is at the Tiger and each later hour moves one palace on: the Ox hour at the Rabbit, the Tiger hour at the Dragon, the Rabbit hour at the Snake, the Dragon hour at the Horse, the Snake hour at the Goat, the Horse hour at the Monkey, the Goat hour at the Rooster, and the Monkey hour at the Dog. The Monkey hour is the ninth, eight steps from the start, so Huo Xing lands on the Dog, exactly where the site engine's chart puts it.
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
One trio, two jobs
The four trios that sort the twelve year branches appear twice around Huo Xing, which makes them easy to confuse. The first appearance is the year groups above, which fix the start palace. The second is in the Miao/Wang table as sets of palaces, which juan 3 sets down in one line under "Lun Ge Xing Shu Gao Xia" (论格星数高下):
Huo Xing: Miao at Tiger, Horse, Dog; De at Snake, Rooster, Ox; Xian at Monkey, Rat, Dragon.
That line says Huo Xing in the Tiger, Horse or Dog palace is written Miao, in the Snake, Rooster or Ox palace De, and in the Monkey, Rat or Dragon palace Xian; the line leaves out the Pig, Rabbit and Goat palaces, which the site engine's grade table marks Li, four grades in all. At the end of its own entry in juan 2 the book also attaches the same four trios to birth years, calling Tiger-Horse-Dog people suited, Monkey-Rat-Dragon people Xian, Snake-Rooster-Ox people De and Pig-Rabbit-Goat people favored, wording close to the palace grades. The characters are the same in all three places, but the job is not:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
The year group and the palace set are written alike but are not the same thing. For someone born in a Tiger, Horse or Dog year, Huo Xing falls in the Tiger, Horse or Dog palaces at only three of the twelve hours (the Ox, Snake and Rooster hours); the other nine fall elsewhere. Take 1992, a Ren Shen year in the Monkey-Rat-Dragon group, whose start is the Tiger: the Rat hour is at the Tiger (Miao), the Ox hour at the Rabbit (Li) and the Horse hour at the Monkey (Xian). The year group supplies the start, the hour supplies the end of the walk, and the grade is read at the end.
The one double-hour a year when Huo Xing meets Qing Yang
In a given year Qing Yang stays put while Huo Xing walks all twelve palaces over the twelve double-hours, so exactly one double-hour a year puts them in the same palace. Which hour changes with the year and can simply be looked up:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
Check one row. In 1992, Ren Shen, Qing Yang is on the Rat (the Yang Water Lu is at the Pig and Qing Yang one step on). The Monkey belongs to the Monkey-Rat-Dragon group, so Huo Xing starts at the Tiger, and to reach the Rat it must be counted ten steps on, which is the eleventh hour of the sequence, the Dog hour. Juan 3 has an entry titled "Yang and Huo in one palace"; only its positional condition is taken here: a shared palace is a matter of one double-hour a year, to be looked up again for the next year.
The Body Ruler is also called Huo Xing, and that is another matter
The verse for the Body Ruler sits in juan 2, apart from the one for placing Huo and Ling:
Rat and Horse people: the Huo Ling star; Ox and Goat: Tian Xiang; Tiger and Monkey: Tian Liang; Rabbit and Rooster: Tian Tong; Dragon and Dog: Wen Chang; Snake and Pig: Tian Ji.
A birth year on the Rat or Horse gives the Body Ruler as the "Huo Ling star", and the site engine reads it as Huo Xing. It is one look-up that uses only the year branch. It involves no hour and says nothing about where Huo Xing sits. Charts for 1984 (Jia Zi) and 1990 (Geng Wu) both have Huo Xing as Body Ruler, yet the position of the star itself follows each chart's own hour.
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
The book does not keep one wording for the star's group either: the grouping section of juan 2 writes "Huo Xing belongs to Fire, an assisting star of the Southern Dipper", while the Q&A in juan 1 answers "Huo Xing is a floating star of the Southern Dipper". It does not say how the two words differ.
Two hour counts
Born in a Monkey, Rat or Dragon year at the Horse hour (11 to 13): where is Huo Xing, and which grade is it?
This group starts at the Tiger. The Horse hour is the seventh, six steps on, which lands on the Monkey; the Monkey is a Xian cell in the table.
In a Tiger, Horse or Dog year, which hours put Huo Xing on a Miao cell?
The start is the Ox. Reaching the Tiger, Horse or Dog takes one, five and nine steps, which are the Ox hour, the Snake hour and the Rooster hour.
For the late Rat hour and the day boundary, see leap months, hours and the day boundary; to keep Huo Xing in the natal, decade and annual layers apart, see natal, decade and annual layers; its sibling in the same verse is Ling Xing.
Questions readers ask next
Why can people born in the same year have Huo Xing in twelve different palaces?
The year group only gives a starting point; the hour decides how far to go. Change the double-hour and Huo Xing steps one palace on, and twelve of them make a full circle, so no palace is out of reach in any given year.
I was born in a Rat or Horse year, so my Body Ruler is Huo Xing. Does that put Huo Xing next to my Life palace?
No. The Body Ruler is one star name looked up from the year branch, whereas the position of Huo Xing comes from the year group and the hour. The two procedures are separate and the results can lie far apart.
For a late Rat hour birth, which hour does Huo Xing count from?
The site engine counts Huo Xing from the Rat hour position for a late Rat hour, the same as an early one. What the late Rat hour changes is the date and the other stars, a question for the day-boundary setting.
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Sources & references
Continue reading
Tuo Luo (陀罗): The Star Before Lu Cun, and Why a Natal and a Yearly One Can Overlap ↗
Ling Xing (铃星): Three Groups Start at the Dog, and the Gap to Huo Xing Varies ↗