Star Brightness in Zi Wei Dou Shu: Seven Levels and the Full Table

Brightness describes how comfortable a star is in a given earthly branch. The fourteen major stars are spread over the twelve branches, and each star has a grade for each branch. In a branch that suits it, a star plays at home and its strengths come easily; in one that does not, the same talent takes more effort to show. Tradition explains the grades by how well a star's nature fits the branch's element, yin and yang, and time of day: Tai Yang likes daylight, Tai Yin likes the night.

One point trips up most beginners: brightness belongs to the branch, not to the palace name. Tian Ji in Zi is brightest whether Zi is your Life Palace or your Health Palace; what changes is the area of life where that brightness shows. Brightness measures strength and style, not verdicts. A fallen auspicious star is still auspicious, and a bright malefic star is still malefic, only better behaved.

Columns are the twelve branches from Zi to Hai; rows are the fourteen major stars. To read a star, follow its row. Tan Lang, for example, is Miao in Chou, Chen, Wei and Xu, Wang in Zi and Wu, Li in Mao and You, Ping in Yin and Shen, and fallen in Si and Hai. To see which stars a branch favours, read down its column: Chou is Miao for seven stars, Zi Wei, Wu Qu, Tian Fu, Tai Yin, Tan Lang, Tian Xiang and Qi Sha.

The 168 cells break down as 50 Miao, 37 Wang, 20 De, 12 Li, 20 Ping, 8 Bu and 21 Xian. Bright cells far outnumber dark ones, so one fallen star is no reason for alarm. Seven stars (Tian Ji, Wu Qu, Lian Zhen, Tan Lang, Ju Men, Qi Sha and Po Jun) have identical grades in opposite branches such as Zi and Wu or Mao and You. Tai Yang, Tai Yin, Tian Tong, Tian Fu and Tian Liang do not, so check both branches separately.

When two stars share a palace, each keeps its own grade. Tian Tong and Tian Liang in Shen are Wang and fallen respectively; Tai Yang and Tai Yin in Chou are Bu and Miao. Count both, not just the brighter one.

Brightness is one input among several and misleads when used alone. A reliable order is: the star's own grade, then whether the other major star in the palace makes up for it, then which transformations land on it, then the auspicious and malefic minor stars in the palace and its trine. A Ping or Li star joined by Zuo Fu and You Bi, or Wen Chang and Wen Qu, often does better than its grade suggests; a Miao star hemmed in by Qing Yang, Tuo Luo, Huo Xing and Ling Xing can turn hasty or strained.

Transformations interact with brightness most of all. Hua Lu on a fallen star is often read as a remedy: resources and goodwill arrive where things were hard. Hua Ji on a bright star brings pressure the star is strong enough to carry, usually hard work that still gets done; on a fallen star the same worry tends to come back. Take Tai Yang Hua Ji for people born in Jia (甲) years. In Wu, where Tai Yang is Wang, it reads as giving a great deal and tiring from caring about reputation. In Hai, where it is fallen, it reads more as effort that goes unseen, and the lesson is to speak up for yourself.

Brightness is not only for the major stars. The data set our chart engine uses also grades six common minor stars, and the pattern follows the branch trines. Wen Chang is Miao in Si, You and Chou and fallen in Yin, Wu and Xu; Wen Qu is also Miao in Si, You and Chou and fallen in Wu and Xu. Huo Xing and Ling Xing share one table: Miao in Yin, Wu and Xu, the fire trine, and fallen in Shen, Zi and Chen, the water trine.

Qing Yang and Tuo Luo are both Miao in Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei. Qing Yang never appears in Yin, Shen, Si or Hai and is fallen in Zi, Wu, Mao and You; Tuo Luo never appears in Zi, Wu, Mao or You and is fallen in Yin, Shen, Si and Hai. A bright malefic does not turn auspicious, its force is simply easier to aim: a Miao Qing Yang leans toward decisiveness, a fallen one toward impulse or delay. Minor-star brightness carries less weight than a major star's.