Tian Xiang 天相, the seal of office and the loyal minister

Meaning

The 全書's dialogue begins:

天相屬水，南斗第五星也。為司爵之宿……化氣曰印

In our translation: Tian Xiang belongs to water, the fifth star of the Southern Dipper, keeper of ranks ... its epithet is the seal. The seal is the seal of office, and the text calls it a literate star of the Career palace, 「佐帝之位」, in the place of the emperor's helper.

Its portrait is the most admiring in the book: 「言語誠實，事不虛偽。見人難，有惻隱之心；見人惡，抱不平之氣」, honest in speech and without pretence; seeing another's hardship it feels compassion, seeing wrong it is roused against it. It lends the Sun and Moon its light, softens Lian Zhen, and 「不隨惡而變志，不因殺而改移」, does not change its mind for bad company or shift for the harsh stars. Like Tian Tong and Tian Fu, the text calls it good in all twelve palaces.

The 形性賦 gives it two characters, 「天相精神」: Tian Xiang, alert and spirited.

Our chart calls it the Minister, and our gloss reads: fairness, service and diplomacy; upholds order and good form.

Facing Po Jun

Tian Xiang is four palaces ahead of Tian Fu and Po Jun ten, so the two always stand six palaces apart: in every chart the minister faces the breaker across the board. Practitioners read the two together for that reason.

On the board

Tian Xiang shares a palace with Lian Zhen in 子 or 午, Wu Qu in 寅 or 申 and Zi Wei in 辰 or 戌, and stands alone in the other six. It is brilliant (廟) in 子, 丑, 寅, 午 and 申 and fallen (陷) in 卯 and 酉, gaining in the rest. It takes no transformation in the common table. It is the Body Master (身主) for anyone born in a 丑 or 未 year.

What this page leaves out

The text's promises for this star, of office, plenty and well-placed children, are its own. We record that it makes them and repeat none of them.

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

「天相屬水，南斗第五星也。為司爵之宿……化氣曰印」 Tian Xiang belongs to water, the fifth star of the Southern Dipper, keeper of ranks ... its epithet is the seal sourced

形性賦, form and nature

「天相精神」 Tian Xiang, alert and spirited; a sketch of a type, never a reading of anyone's body sourced

The name in the sky (symbolic)

The second 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 Southern Dipper star on some practitioner pages because it belongs to the Tian Fu series; the 全書 agrees, but for its own reason, the Dipper seat disputed

化忌 in a 庚 year, other tables

The northern 河洛 and 占驗 tables give Tian Xiang 化忌 in a 庚 year; the common table gives it no transformation disputed

English names elsewhere

Heavenly Minister (English Wikipedia); minister (iztro); Prime Minister on other sites sourced

Our short name and gloss

Minister: Fairness, service and diplomacy; upholds order and good form. our construction

How the schools read it

紫微斗數全書, 諸星問答論

「言語誠實，事不虛偽。見人難，有惻隱之心；見人惡，抱不平之氣」: honest in speech and without pretence, moved by another's hardship, roused by wrong.

紫微斗數全書, the same dialogue

Lends the Sun and Moon its light and softens Lian Zhen; 「不隨惡而變志」, it does not change its mind for bad company.

紫微斗數全書, 形性賦

Alert and spirited (天相精神).

Northern 河洛 and 占驗 tables

Give it 化忌 in a 庚 year; the common table gives it none.

Three-harmony practice (三合派)

Reads it always with Po Jun, which faces it in every chart, and with Zi Wei, whose minister it is.

EsoTerrier

Short name Minister; our gloss names fairness, service and diplomacy. No reading of outcome.

Claims about it

• Tian Xiang is a Southern Dipper star whose place in the sky the chart reads.

  disputed

  What the record shows: The name is the second of the Southern Dipper scripture's six lords; which star bears it is not settled, and the chart places Tian Xiang by counting.

• Tian Xiang takes no transformation in any table.

  disputed

  What the record shows: The common table gives it none; the northern 河洛 and 占驗 tables give it 化忌 in a 庚 year. Tables differ at 庚 more than anywhere.

• The text's lines on Tian Xiang promise office and plenty.

  unverified

  What the record shows: The 全書 makes such promises. We keep its portrait of the honest minister.

Elsewhere on EsoTerrier

• Po Jun 破軍 faces Tian Xiang across the board in every chart
• Zi Wei 紫微 the emperor it serves; the two share a palace in 辰 or 戌
• Lian Zhen 廉貞 which the text says Tian Xiang softens; the two share a palace in 子 or 午
• BaZi the other fate-calculation method most consulted in Taiwan, cast from the same calendar