Tai Yin: twelve cells and the Sun-Moon pairing
Content version · · Sources & references
Tai Yin is Water and comes right after Tian Fu in its group; the book calls it the Sun's mate. Its twelve cells in a ring, the four ways Sun and Moon can meet, and four grade records checked cell by cell.
The short version10 min read
Tai Yin follows Tian Fu in its group, runs bright for six branches in a row and sunken for three; it meets the Sun in only four ways on any chart, and the book's four grade records disagree most on the Horse and Goat cells.
- Tai Yin's brightness forms one stretch: Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox and Tiger lean bright, Rabbit, Dragon and Snake are sunken, Horse and Goat sit at Bu, and Monkey is Li.
- On any chart Sun and Moon can only share a palace, face each other, form a trine, or stand one palace apart; Zi Wei's landing decides which.
- Names such as "the moon falls into Pig" first have to be turned into Zi Wei and Life-palace positions to see which charts can ever qualify.
Read first
The fourteen major stars: learn the roster and its structure ↗
The Moon goes round: Tai Yin's twelve cells
Tai Yin (太陰) is the second star of the eight-star Tian Fu group, right after Tian Fu. It is Water and Yin according to the engine's star table, and the book simply calls it the Sun's mate. The reply to "what does Tai Yin govern" opens with this line:
Tai Yin is the essence of Water. It rules the Property palace, its qi becomes prosperity, and it is the mate of the Sun.
Ring sketch: Tai Yin's grades follow the juan 2 table; the Rooster cell is Bu in the engine's star table and the other eleven match the book.
The picture sets Tai Yin's twelve cells from the juan 2 grade table round a ring. Miao (廟, the top grade) falls on Rat, Ox and Pig; Wang (旺) on Tiger, Rooster and Dog; Li (利益) on Monkey; Bu (不得地) on Horse and Goat; and three cells in a row, Rabbit, Dragon and Snake, are Xian (落陷, the bottom grade). Going round, six cells in a row from Rooster through Dog, Pig, Rat and Ox to Tiger are Wang or better, then Rabbit, Dragon and Snake are sunken, and Horse and Goat climb back to Bu before Monkey. It looks like a moon passing from full to dark and back; that comparison is only a way to read the picture, and the book does not make it.
The "mate of the Sun" also shows in the table. On the Sun's Wang or Miao cells, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake and Horse, Tai Yin is Xian or Bu everywhere except Tiger. On Tai Yin's Miao cells, Pig, Rat and Ox, the Sun is Xian or Bu. The two stars' bright cells mostly alternate, and only Tiger is Wang for both. The Sun's own twelve cells are in Tai Yang.
Names the book gives Tai Yin
- Essence of Water
- Its element is Water. The element roster in juan 2 reads "Tai Yin, Water, Northern and Southern Dipper, turns into prosperity", and the engine's star table also records Water and Yin.
- Master of Property
- The book pairs Tai Yin with the Property palace. Whether the pairing comes together on a given chart has to be computed from positions. What that palace covers is in the Property palace.
- Qi title: prosperity
- Each star carries a "qi title" in the book. It is a label attached to the star, not something computed from the chart.
- Mother star, wife star
- In the Parents palace passage the book says "take the Sun as the father and Tai Yin as the mother"; juan 1 adds that for both sexes it is the mother star, and for a man it also stands for the wife.
Sun and Moon: only four ways to meet on one chart
The Sun is counted back three places from Zi Wei and Tai Yin forward one place from Tian Fu. The two verses run separately, yet the landings are tied together by where Zi Wei sits. Cast all twelve Zi Wei landings and the Sun and Moon stand in only four relations:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
The Tai Wei Fu (太微賦, "Great Subtlety Ode") has a line about these two stars:
The Sun and Moon guarding is not as good as shining and joining.
"Guarding" is sharing a palace; "shining and joining" is usually read as facing from the opposite palace and meeting in a trine. On that reading, guarding covers only two of the twelve landings and shining and joining six; the other four stand one palace apart, a third kind the line does not name. The patterns called "Sun and Moon flank Wealth" and "Sun and Moon flank the Life palace" elsewhere in the book are about exactly that.
Four records, checked cell by cell
For one star the book keeps its grades in more than one place. Here are four records and the engine's star table in a single sheet, one branch per row:
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
Here is how the four are written. The juan 2 grade table is a seven-level, one-grade-per-cell table. The last part of the juan 2 Tai Yin entry groups the branches: "Rat, Ox, Tiger palaces: strong ground; Rabbit, Dragon, Snake palaces: sunken; Horse palace: sunken; Goat and Monkey palaces: Li; Rooster, Dog, Pig palaces: strong ground". In juan 1 Master Xiyi (希夷先生) sorts Tai Yin into just two kinds:
Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse and Goat are sunken ground; Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat and Ox hold their home.
The fourth is a line in the juan 2 verse for male charts, "Rooster, Dog and Pig are De ground". The cross-check:
- On Rat, Ox, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Monkey and Pig, the table and the entry agree.
- On Tiger, Rooster and Dog the table says Wang while the entry says Miao; on Rooster and Dog the verse says "De" and Xiyi says "home", both on the bright side, so only the word for the level changes.
- On Horse the table says Bu, while the entry and Xiyi both say sunken.
- On Goat the table says Bu, the entry says Li and Xiyi says sunken: three records, three answers.
- The engine departs from the table in a single cell, Rooster: the table says Wang, the engine says Bu.
Saying which record is being cited is the first step with a star that has several records side by side. On its own, "Tai Yin on Goat" can be written as Bu, as Li and as sunken, all at once.
Turning pattern names into positions: Moon Falls into Pig, Clear Water, Moon Born from the Sea
Juan 1 gives some combinations names, in the form "such a star in such a palace guarding such a palace". Each is a condition on position, and can be converted into where Zi Wei and the Life palace must be.
Moon Falls into Pig: the Moon on Pig guarding the Life palace; it is also called Moon Bright at the Gate of Heaven. Moon Born from the Sea: the Moon on Rat guarding the Property palace.
Tai Yin on Rat is called "water clear, cassia in bloom".
Sun and Moon flank Wealth: Wu Qu guards the Life palace, with Sun and Moon flanking it; the same goes for the Wealth palace.
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
The last cell deserves a second look. On a chart with Zi Wei on Snake, Tai Yin sits on Rat (the position for Clear Water), and Wu Qu sits on Ox flanked by Tai Yin on Rat and the Sun on Tiger (the positional condition of Sun and Moon flank Wealth). Two pattern names have their positions met on one chart, but which palace is "guarded" still has to be checked: Moon Born from the Sea needs Life on Rooster and Sun and Moon flank Wealth needs Life on Ox, so the two cannot both hold.
Behind Tai Yin sits Tan Lang, and Tian Liang stays on the trine
Tai Yin's neighbors are fixed: the previous cell is always Tian Fu, the next always Tan Lang, and Tian Liang sits on Tai Yin's trine on every one of the twelve Zi Wei landings. One more cell on is Ju Men, whom juan 1 brings up:
Whether the Moon is on the upper or lower quarter, it is still better not to meet Ju Men.
Master Xiyi also writes of "disliking Ju Men coming to wrap around". By position, Ju Men follows Tan Lang, which is the second cell after Tai Yin: never the same palace, never opposite, never on the trine, with Tan Lang always standing between. What "meet" and "wrap around" mean the text does not say, and the engine has no conversion for them, so only the positions are set out here.
Enlarge diagram · scroll sideways to read
Two cross-check problems
Zi Wei on Monkey: where are the Sun and the Moon, which case is it, and what does the table say about Tai Yin?
Sun on Snake, Moon on Rooster, a trine; the table says Wang, the engine says Bu.
Tai Yin on Goat: where is Zi Wei, who shares the palace, and what does each of the three records say?
Zi Wei on Dog; the Sun shares the palace; the table says Bu, the entry says Li, Xiyi says sunken.
Before Tai Yin comes Tian Fu and after it Tan Lang; how the grade system as a whole works is in brightness levels.
Questions readers ask next
The table calls Tai Yin Xian on Rabbit, Dragon and Snake. Are those three positions all bad?
Xian is the grade name for Tai Yin on those three branches and describes the star's state at the position. The co-resident stars, the opposite palace, the trine and the palace it enters all need a separate look; a grade is not a verdict on the chart.
My Sun and Moon sometimes share a palace and sometimes face each other. What decides it?
Zi Wei's landing does. With Zi Wei on Dragon or Dog they share a palace, on Ox or Goat they face each other, on Rat, Tiger, Horse or Monkey they form a trine, and on Rabbit, Snake, Rooster or Pig they stand one palace apart. There is no fifth case.
Are the Tai Yin grades on the site's chart page the same as the book's grade table?
Eleven of the twelve cells match. Only Rooster differs: the book's table says Wang, while the engine's star table says Bu. When you quote a grade, say which one you mean.
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Sources & references
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Tian Fu (天府): Zi Wei's Mirror and "Deputy", Read by Position and Two Gradings ↗
Tan Lang (贪狼): Landings Tied to Zi Wei, Wu Qu or Lian Zhen, Water or Wood, Life Ruler ↗