Meaning
The 全書's dialogue begins:
太陽星屬火，日之精也。乃造化之表儀
In our translation: the Sun star belongs to fire. It is the essence of the sun, the outward sign of creation.
The text calls it the pivot of the Career palace and gives it the epithet 貴, rank. It reads the star as daylight moving round the board. The lines printed under the name of 玉蟾先生 say 「在寅卯為初升，在辰巳為升殿」: in 寅 and 卯 it is rising, in 辰 and 巳 it ascends the hall. In 午 it is "the sun in the middle of the sky", in 酉 it sets, and in 戌, 亥 and 子 it has lost its light. A Sun in the Life palace, say the lines under 希夷先生, gives a loyal, plain-spoken person who does not quarrel over right and wrong.
The 全書 pairs it with the Moon, which it welcomes, and sets it against Ju Men, whose darkness it fears. By the text's own reckoning it is the father's star in a man's chart and the husband's in a woman's; that is the text's family table, not ours. The 形性賦 gives it only an image, 「金烏圓滿」, the golden crow, round and full: the crow is the bird of the sun.
Our chart calls it the Sun, and our gloss reads: warmth, generosity and visibility; energy directed outward.
A symbol, not the Sun
The star is placed three palaces behind Zi Wei, counted against the order of the branches. No ephemeris is used anywhere in the system, and the Sun of the sky has no say in where Tai Yang stands. It is a different thing from the Sun of a Western natal chart, and our pages never link the two.
On the board
The Sun shares a palace with the Moon in 丑 or 未, with Ju Men in 寅 or 申 and with Tian Liang in 卯 or 酉, and stands alone in the other six. It is brilliant (廟) in 卯, strong from 寅 to 午 except 卯, gaining in 未 and 申, neutral in 酉, weak (不) in 丑 and 戌 and fallen (陷) in 子 and 亥. In the common table it takes 化祿 in a 庚 year, 化權 in a 辛 year and 化忌 in a 甲 year.
What this page leaves out
The text also tells, in the idiom of its age, what a dim Sun means for a father, a husband, the eyes and a person's standing. We record that it does 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
- 「太陽星屬火，日之精也。乃造化之表儀」 The Sun star belongs to fire; it is the essence of the sun, the outward sign of creation sourced
- 形性賦, form and nature
- 「金烏圓滿」 the golden crow, round and full (the crow is the bird of the sun); a sketch of a type, never a reading of anyone's body sourced
- The name in the sky
- The Sun in name only: the star is placed three palaces from Zi Wei, and no position of the real Sun is computed sourced
- Dipper by series
- Listed as a Northern Dipper star on some practitioner pages because it belongs to the Zi Wei series; the 全書 calls it a star of the middle sky disputed
- 化科 in a 戊 year, Zhongzhou table
- The Zhongzhou school gives the Sun 化科 in a 戊 year, where the common table gives it to 右弼 disputed
- English names elsewhere
- Sun Star (English Wikipedia); sun (iztro); the Sun on every site we checked sourced
- Our short name and gloss
- Sun: Warmth, generosity and visibility; energy directed outward. our construction
How the schools read it
- 紫微斗數全書, 諸星問答論
- The essence of daylight and the pivot of the Career palace; it welcomes the Moon and fears the darkness of Ju Men. The father's star in a man's chart and the husband's in a woman's, by the text's own reckoning.
- 紫微斗數全書, the lines under 玉蟾先生
- Reads it by its place on the board as a day: rising in 寅 and 卯, ascending the hall in 辰 and 巳, "the sun in the middle of the sky" in 午, setting in 酉, without light in 戌, 亥 and 子.
- 紫微斗數全書, 形性賦
- "The golden crow, round and full": an image of the sun, given as the star's form.
- Zhongzhou school (王亭之)
- Gives the Sun 化科 in a 戊 year, where the common table gives it to the Right Aide.
- Three-harmony practice (三合派)
- Teachers single out the Sun and Moon as the stars whose brightness matters most; one holds that it matters little for the others.
- EsoTerrier
- Short name Sun; our gloss names warmth, generosity and visibility. Never linked to the Sun of a natal chart, and no reading of outcome.
Claims about it
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Tai Yang is the Sun in the sky, and the chart computes its position.
falseWhat the record shows: It is placed by counting palaces from Zi Wei; no ephemeris is used anywhere in the system. The 全書 calls it the essence of the sun and reads it as a symbol.
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As a star of the Zi Wei series, the Sun belongs to the Northern Dipper.
falseWhat the record shows: The series is a placement grouping. The 全書 puts the Sun in the middle sky, under neither Dipper alone.
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The text's lines on the Sun foretell the fate of a father or a husband, or harm to the eyes.
unverifiedWhat the record shows: The 全書 has such lines. We keep its image of light and its pairing with the Moon.
