Meaning
The 全書's dialogue begins:
七殺南斗第六星也，屬火、金。乃斗中之上將
In our translation: Qi Sha is the sixth star of the Southern Dipper, belonging to fire and metal; it is the senior general of the Dipper.
The text draws a soldier: a lone star of success and failure, 「其威作金之靈，其性若清涼之狀」, its force the spirit of metal, its manner cool. Its life, the dialogue says, has hardship in it. It changes with its company more than most. The lines under 希夷先生 say 「遇紫微則化權降福」, meeting Zi Wei it turns to authority and brings blessing, while beside the Fire and Bell stars its force grows. A person with it is decisive and changeable in mood. The text is plain that this is 「數中之惡曜」, a harsh star of the numbers and not a kind one.
The 形性賦 has the most famous image in the book: 「七殺如子路暴虎馮河」, Qi Sha is like Zilu, who would fight a tiger bare-handed and ford a river on foot. The phrase is from the Analects: when his disciple Zilu asks whom he would take with him to lead an army, Confucius answers that it would not be a man who would fight a tiger bare-handed and ford a river on foot, and die without regret.
The name means "seven killings". Our chart calls it the Marshal and keeps the literal only in quotation marks in its detail label; our gloss reads: independent, bold and decisive; acts firmly under pressure.
The name, and BaZi's 七殺
七殺 is the one major star the Daoist Dipper scriptures do not name: the Southern Dipper scripture's six lords are 天府, 天相, 天梁, 天同, 天樞 and 天機. The 全書 seats it sixth in that Dipper on its own authority, and no primary source pairs it with a star of the sky. BaZi uses the same two characters for something unrelated, one of the Ten Gods: a relation between two stems, not a star.
On the board
Qi Sha is six palaces ahead of Tian Fu, so it faces Tian Fu in every chart. It shares a palace with Lian Zhen in 丑 or 未, Wu Qu in 卯 or 酉 and Zi Wei in 巳 or 亥, and stands alone in 子, 寅, 辰, 午, 申 and 戌. It is brilliant (廟) in 丑, 寅, 辰, 未, 申 and 戌, neutral in 巳 and 亥 and weak or fallen nowhere. It takes no transformation in the common table.
What this page leaves out
The 全書 is grimmer about Qi Sha than about any star but Lian Zhen: injuries, solitude and early ends run through its dialogue and its songs. We record that the text speaks so and repeat none of it.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- 諸星問答論, the opening line
- 「七殺南斗第六星也，屬火、金。乃斗中之上將」 Qi Sha is the sixth star of the Southern Dipper, belonging to fire and metal; the senior general of the Dipper sourced
- 形性賦, form and nature
- 「七殺如子路暴虎馮河」 Qi Sha is like Zilu, who would fight a tiger bare-handed and ford a river on foot; a sketch of a type, never a reading of anyone's body sourced
- The name in the sky
- None in the Daoist Southern Dipper scripture, whose six lords are 天府, 天相, 天梁, 天同, 天樞 and 天機; the 全書 alone seats it in that Dipper, and no source names a star for it disputed
- Dipper by series
- Listed as a Southern Dipper star on some practitioner pages because it belongs to the Tian Fu series; the 全書 agrees, but the scripture does not name it disputed
- Epithet, modern tables
- Shortened to 將 or 將星 in one practitioner table, given as 權 in another disputed
- English names elsewhere
- "Seven Killings" (English Wikipedia and most sites), which our chart keeps only in quotation marks; marshal (iztro); The General on one site sourced
- Our short name and gloss
- Marshal: Independent, bold and decisive; acts firmly under pressure. our construction
How the schools read it
- 紫微斗數全書, 諸星問答論
- The senior general of the Dipper, 「其威作金之靈，其性若清涼之狀」: its force the spirit of metal, its manner cool. A lone star of success and failure, called harsh, not kind.
- 紫微斗數全書, the lines under 希夷先生
- 「遇紫微則化權降福」: meeting Zi Wei it turns to authority and brings blessing; with Fire and Bell its force grows. Decisive, and changeable in mood.
- 紫微斗數全書, 形性賦
- Like Zilu, the disciple of Confucius, who would fight a tiger bare-handed and ford a river on foot: the Analects' image of reckless courage.
- Three-harmony practice (三合派)
- Reads it with Po Jun and Tan Lang, the three stars the 全書 names together as 殺破狼, which always stand in one another's triad.
- English teaching
- "Seven Killings" nearly everywhere; "General" is avoided because 將軍 is one of the twelve 博士 spirits.
- EsoTerrier
- Short name Marshal, the literal "Seven Killings" kept in quotation marks in the detail label; our gloss names independence, boldness and decision. No reading of outcome.
Claims about it
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Qi Sha is the sixth star of the Southern Dipper in the sky.
disputedWhat the record shows: The Daoist Southern Dipper scripture names six lords and Qi Sha is not among them; only the 全書 seats it there, and no primary source pairs the name with a star. The chart places it by counting.
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The text's lines on Qi Sha foretell an early or violent end.
unverifiedWhat the record shows: The 全書 has many grim lines for this star. They are its historical register, and none of them is repeated here.
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Qi Sha is a Southern Dipper star because it belongs to the Tian Fu series.
falseWhat the record shows: The series is a placement grouping; the 全書's Dipper seat for Qi Sha is its own, and the scripture does not support it.
Elsewhere on EsoTerrier
- Tian Fu 天府 faces Qi Sha across the board in every chart
- Zi Wei 紫微 beside which, the text says, Qi Sha turns to authority; the two share a palace in 巳 or 亥
- Po Jun 破軍 the third of the 殺破狼 group, with Tan Lang
- BaZi's "Seven Killings" 七殺 a different thing with the same name: a relation between stems, not a star
