The three major elements that make up the eight characters are the Five Elements, Ten Gods, and Palace Positions.
The Five Elements are yin in nature, representing the essence of things, that is, a person’s innate qualities. For example, most people with Earth (Wu) tend to be honest and trustworthy; those with an abundance of Earth are often stubborn; people with Fire (Bing) are usually passionate and impatient; those with Metal (Geng) are principled in their actions; and individuals with Metal (Xin) are meticulous in what they do.
Ten Gods are yang in appearance, representing the external manifestations of things. The Ten Gods theory is about the relationships between the Five Elements, as well as the relationship between the day pillar and the surrounding stems and branches, which is a study of relationships. Humans are a composite of all social relationships, so the Ten Gods describe a person’s interpersonal relationships. For example, for men, the Seal represents the mother, the Wealth star represents the wife, the Official and Killer represent children and leaders, and the Food and Injury represent younger generations. These all refer to social relationships. Therefore, the Five Elements are natural attributes, representing essence; the Ten Gods are social relationships.
Palace Positions refer to structure, indicating age groups, namely the year, month, day, and hour, from youth to old age. Palace Positions also represent internal and external relationships, with the day and month pillars representing the external, and the day and hour pillars representing the internal. Another aspect of structure is the stems and branches, where the heavenly stems are yang, representing external manifestations, and the earthly branches are yin, representing internal thoughts.
Pattern Method of Divination
The pattern method emphasizes the external main environment of the day pillar, defining a person through social attributes, which is an extension of the Ten Gods theory. The pattern method labels people. In this method, patterns and configurations are distinguished. A pattern refers to the Ten Gods of the monthly pillar, and whatever Ten God is in the dominant position is the pattern. For example, a Bing Fire day pillar born in the You month is a Righteous Wealth pattern. A configuration refers to the momentum, the most prosperous element in the entire chart. If a Bing Fire day pillar is born in the You month, but there are heavy amounts of Wood (Yin) in the chart, and Jia Wood appears in the heavenly stems, then it is a configuration of the Partial Seal.
The operation procedure of the pattern method is relatively simple, consisting of three steps:
Step one, determine the point of establishing a pattern or configuration. If the dominant god of the monthly pillar is exposed in the heavenly stems, a pattern is established, except for the Shoulder. If the dominant god is not exposed, a configuration is established, with the Killer having priority in establishing a configuration.
Step two, pass through three checkpoints. The first checkpoint is the inhibition and protection checkpoint: according to the principle of using the four inauspicious gods in reverse and the four auspicious gods in accordance, select the pattern or configuration’s useful god, either to restrain or protect. The second checkpoint is the purity checkpoint: see if the point of establishing a pattern or configuration and the pattern or configuration’s useful god are pure and usable. The third checkpoint is the authenticity checkpoint: see if the pattern or configuration’s useful god is real or fake.
Step three, judge the success or failure of the pattern or configuration. If a pattern or configuration can pass through the three checkpoints, it is considered a successful pattern or configuration; if a pattern or configuration fails to pass any one of the three checkpoints, the pattern or configuration is not successful. A successful pattern indicates nobility, and a successful configuration indicates wealth. The great way is simple, and the pattern method of judging a person’s wealth and poverty is so concise and precise. A few examples are given to illustrate this.
Example One, Male Chart:
Official Seal Day Killer
Gui Yi Bing Ren
Chou Mao Wu Chen
Example Two, Male Chart:
Official Seal Day Official
Gui Yi Bing Gui
Chou Mao Wu Si
These two charts only differ by an hour, and traditional methods cannot see much difference between them. When viewed with the balance of prosperity and decline method, the officials and killers in Example One are more powerful, and the level of life is higher than in Example Two. When viewed with the Zi Ping pattern method, the difference between the two is much greater. The master was born five days after the Vernal Equinox, with Wood (Jia) in command but not exposed, so there is no pattern and a configuration is established. In Example One, the killer is exposed in the time pillar, and with the killer having priority, a Seven Killer configuration is established. The true official on the year pillar mixes, making the configuration turbid and unsuccessful; the unsuccessful configuration also has no affection between the wealth and officials and the day pillar, it is an extremely ordinary fate; the master is a rural worker. In Example Two, a Righteous Seal configuration is established on the month pillar, taking the official star as the useful god. The official star has a root and is real, the configuration is successful; the official star in the time pillar is of the same nature, making the configuration mixed but not turbid, only slightly reducing the level of the configuration; the Righteous Seal with the Righteous Official also presents a bright wood and fire image, which is not a low level; the master is a school principal. The two charts only differ by an hour, yet the life paths are vastly different. The secret lies in the fact that the former did not get the main energy of heaven and earth and was not destined for wealth and nobility, while the latter got the main energy of heaven and earth, and wealth and nobility were bound to accompany.
Example Three, Male Chart:
Food Food Day Killer
Ren Ren Geng Bing
Yin Zi Yin Xu
This eight characters is generally considered by most people that the day pillar is so weak and the wealth star is so prosperous, it will not be a wealthy fate. When viewed with the Zi Ping pattern method: Gui Water is in command but not exposed, a Seven Killer configuration is established, taking the food god as the useful god. The food god has a root and is not injured, it is real, the food god restrains the killer, the configuration is successful, the main energy of the earth is used for me, it must be a wealthy fate. The master is a real estate boss in a county-level city, with assets of tens of millions.
Example Four, Female Chart:
Wealth Plunder Day Official
Yi Wu Geng Ding
Mao Zi Yin Chou
This eight characters also has a very weak day pillar, with wealth and seal conflicting, and the official star has no root and cannot pass through the checkpoint, it seems inauspicious. When viewed with the pattern method, it is very clear: Gui Water is in command but not exposed, there is no pattern and a configuration is established, the inauspicious god has priority in establishing a configuration, a Plunder God configuration is established on the month pillar, taking the wealth star to restrain the plunder as the useful god; the wealth star has a root and is real, the official star is floating but not turbid, the configuration is successful, it is a wealthy fate. The master is the boss of a beauty and body chain institution. If this configuration is not clear about the true mechanism of the pattern, and mistakenly regards the Plunder God as the Partial Seal, then the wealth breaking the seal would be troublesome.
The pattern looks at the heavenly fate, based on whether the master can control the main energy of heaven and earth to position a person’s wealth and poverty. It does not look at whether the body is strong or weak, nor does it talk about the balance of prosperity and decline. As long as the day pillar and the pattern do not deviate from the way of moderation, one can obtain the pattern. In fact, as long as the day pillar does not deviate from the way of moderation, whether the body is strong or weak has nothing to do with wealth and poverty, nobility and lowliness. Reality has told us countless times that wealth and nobility have nothing to do with the master’s physical condition, beauty and ugliness, goodness and evil, and even have little to do with the master’s ability and talent. Heaven and earth’s timing and advantage are the main factors that determine a person’s wealth and poverty, which is common sense in life and needs no further explanation.
