Meaning
The 全書's dialogue begins:
天機屬木，南斗第三益算之善星也。
In our translation: Tian Ji belongs to wood; it is the third star of the Southern Dipper, the kindly star that adds to the count of one's years.
Its epithet is 善, goodness, and the text draws it as the planner of the court. It carries out the emperor's orders and untangles what the other stars set in motion; in a person it gives 「靈機應變之志」, the will to meet change with quick wits, and 「作事有方」, a method in everything. It likes devotion, kin and quiet places, and with Tian Liang it points to a craft or a skill. Its other side in the text is restlessness: it is tied to change wherever a decade meets it.
The 形性賦 gives it 「不長不短之姿，情懷好善」: neither tall nor short, with a heart inclined to goodness. That is the verse's sketch of a type and never a reading of anyone's body.
Our chart calls it the Strategist, and our gloss reads: quick thinking, planning and adaptability; can be restless. The cost is the text's own; the words are ours.
On the board
Tian Ji is always one palace behind Zi Wei, counted against the order of the branches. It shares a palace with the Moon in 寅 or 申, with Ju Men in 卯 or 酉 and with Tian Liang in 辰 or 戌, and stands alone in the other six branches.
It is brilliant (廟) in 子 and 午 and fallen (陷) in 丑 and 未; gaining in 寅 and 申, strong in 卯 and 酉, beneficial in 辰 and 戌, neutral in 巳 and 亥. It takes all four transformations in turn in the common table: 化祿 in a 乙 year, 化權 in a 丙 year, 化科 in a 丁 year and 化忌 in a 戊 year. It is the Body Master (身主) for anyone born in a 巳 or 亥 year.
What this page leaves out
The 全書 also links Tian Ji, in some company, to the lives of monks and Daoists, to a person's kin and to the body. We record the register and repeat none of its pronouncements.
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
- 「天機屬木，南斗第三益算之善星也。」 Tian Ji belongs to wood: the third star of the Southern Dipper, the kindly star that adds to the count of one's years sourced
- 形性賦, form and nature
- 「天機為不長不短之姿，情懷好善」 Tian Ji is neither tall nor short, with a heart inclined to goodness; a sketch of a type, never a reading of anyone's body sourced
- The name in the sky (symbolic)
- The sixth lord named in the Daoist Southern Dipper scripture; which star of 斗宿 in Sagittarius bears the name is not settled, and the chart reads none 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 seats it in the Southern Dipper disputed
- English names elsewhere
- Heavenly Secret (English Wikipedia); advisor (iztro); Heavenly Mechanism and Strategist on other sites sourced
- Our short name and gloss
- Strategist: Quick thinking, planning and adaptability; can be restless. our construction
How the schools read it
- 紫微斗數全書, 諸星問答論
- Carries out the emperor's orders and untangles what the other stars set moving; gives "the will to meet change with quick wits" (有靈機應變之志) and a method in everything. Likes devotion, kin and quiet places; with Tian Liang it points to a craft.
- 紫微斗數全書, 形性賦
- Neither tall nor short, with a heart inclined to goodness; a sketch of a type, never a reading of anyone's body.
- 紫微斗數全書, the song
- Calls it the master of the Siblings palace that "acts with plan and strategy" (作事有操略), and ties it to change when a decade meets it.
- Three-harmony practice (三合派)
- Reads it with the Moon, Tian Tong and Tian Liang, the group the 全書 itself names 機月同梁.
- English teaching
- Names range from Heavenly Secret and Heavenly Mechanism to Strategist, Advisor and Intelligence.
- EsoTerrier
- Short name Strategist; our gloss names quick thinking and planning with restlessness as their cost. No reading of outcome.
Claims about it
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Tian Ji is a star of the Southern Dipper, and the chart reads where it stands.
disputedWhat the record shows: The name is one of the Daoist Southern Dipper scripture's six lords, and the 全書 seats it third in that Dipper; which star bears the name is not settled, and the chart places it by counting.
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As a star of the Zi Wei series, Tian Ji belongs to the Northern Dipper.
falseWhat the record shows: The series is a placement grouping. The 全書 puts Tian Ji in the Southern Dipper.
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The text's lines on Tian Ji foretell what befalls a person.
unverifiedWhat the record shows: The 全書 speaks that way in places. We keep its picture of the planner.
