BaZi Luck Cycles: Da Yun, Annual Luck, Shensha
The Four Pillars are the foundation. Major luck changes every ten years, and annual luck adds a new layer each year, moving the natal chart through time.
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The Four Pillars are the foundation. Major luck changes every ten years, and annual luck adds a new layer each year, moving the natal chart through time. The Life Palace and Shensha may assist but should not override the stems and branches. See Day Master strength.
Major luck
Yang men and Yin women run forward from the Month Pillar; Yin men and Yang women run backward. The starting age is based on the number of days from birth to the relevant solar term: the next term when moving forward, or the previous term when moving backward. It often begins at about age three to eight. The age must be correct before dating each cycle.
The cycle's stem and branch show whether the decade supports or controls and drains the Day Master. A weak Day Master favoring Seal and Friend may find patrons or promotion in Water and Wood cycles; Fire and Earth may more often bring pressure, financial loss, or health warnings. Annual luck supplies the details.
Annual luck
Read the year's stem and branch together with the natal chart and active major luck.
- Compare annual luck with the Day Master: identify the Ten God of the stem and any clash, combination, punishment, or harm in the branch. A Useful God arriving and combining with the day branch may make the year smoother; a clash to the day branch or major luck brings more change.
- Major luck is the road; annual luck is that year's vehicle. Favorable luck layered on favorable luck gives momentum. An unfavorable year clashing with an unfavorable cycle adds burden.
- Ten Gods describe matters; pillars describe people. Wealth concerns money, Officer concerns work and pressure, and Output concerns expression or children. The Year Pillar concerns elders, Month work and parents, Day self and spouse, and Hour children and later life.
- Annual luck can temporarily change strength. Follow and fake Follow patterns are especially vulnerable to a year that breaks the pattern. See Follow patterns.
A weak Jia Wood Day Master favoring Water often moves more smoothly in Water and Wood cycles and years. Fire layered upon Fire calls for attention to health and mood. Annual luck is timing, not a verdict.
Life Palace and Shensha
The Life Palace is derived from the month and hour branches. Some readers treat it as a “fifth pillar” for inner disposition and later life. It is not the same system as the Life Palace in Zi Wei Dou Shu. Common Shensha number only a few dozen: Tian Yi, Wen Chang, Tian De and Yue De; White Tiger, Yang Blade, Lonely Star, and others. If the main structure is sound, difficult Shensha have limited influence; if the structure is poor, auspicious Shensha cannot carry it alone. Read stems and branches first, Shensha second.
Charting: Ming Ming Guan Zhi BaZi.
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