Yuanhai Ziping: The Six Relations

The Six Relations (liuqin) are: father, mother, brothers, wife's wealth, children, and grandchildren. Using the Day Stem as master: the Direct Seal is the birth mother; the Indirect Seal is the stepmother and also the paternal grandfather. The Indirect Wealth is the father, being the mother's husband-star, and also serves as the secondary wife. The Direct Wealth is the wife. The Indirect Wealth is the concubine and the father. The Shoulder is brothers and sisters. The Seven Killings is the son. The Direct Officer is the daughter. The Food God is the grandson. The Hurting Officer is the granddaughter and also the paternal grandmother. For a woman's chart, the Six Relations are taken differently from a man's: the Officer star is the husband-star; the Seven Killings is the secondary husband; the Food God is the son; the Hurting Officer is the daughter. The classic says: 'For men, take what overcomes the Stem as heirs; for women, take what the Stem generates as children and servants.' The Year represents the ancestors. The Month represents the parents, paternal uncles, and siblings -- the household gate. The Day represents the wife or concubine and oneself. As for how the Six Relations are affected by overcoming: the Seal seeing Wealth harms the mother and grandmother. Seeing Shoulder, Rob Wealth, or Yang Blade harms the wife, concubine, and father. When Officer-Killings are many, brothers have difficulty. When Hurting Officer and Food God are many, children have difficulty. The Owl Seal injures grandchildren and harms the grandmother. For example: the Direct Seal forming a Combination means the mother is improper. Wealth forming a Combination means the wife is improper. The Officer forming a Combination means the daughter is improper. Indirect Wealth forming a Combination means the concubine is improper. Shoulder forming a Combination means siblings are improper. Hurting Officer forming a Combination means the grandmother is improper. Food God forming a Combination means the granddaughter is improper. Suppose Jia Day is the master: seeing Gui is the mother; seeing Wu-Chen-Xu is the father and concubine; seeing Ji-Chou-Wei-Wu means Ji competes with Wu for seizure, and further injures Gui Water -- the meaning of harming the mother is clear. Seeing Jia-Yin harms the father and concubine. Seeing Geng-Shen primarily harms elder brothers and sisters. Seeing Yi-Mao harms younger siblings. Seeing Bing-Si harms sons and daughters. The rest follow the same principle. One must determine which characters appear in the annual luck to know which person is harmed. Further examine the Clash, overcoming, Decline, and Strength, advancing and retreating. If the Solitary Spirit and Widowed Lodge are also present, and the decade has Emptiness, this is taboo -- but two or three instances reverse into auspiciousness. Metal in Emptiness rings. Fire in Emptiness blazes. Water in Emptiness flows -- these three are supremely auspicious. Wood in Emptiness rots. Earth in Emptiness collapses -- these two portend misfortune. One should calculate from the birth year: the overcoming and harming are without doubt.

Verse: 'Dividing the Salary, one must injure the person who provides food; / Shoulder heaped upon Shoulder damages the stern parent. / Direct Wealth harms the mother; Indirect Wealth is the father; / Husband and wife in mutual punishment meet the Retreat Spirit. / Food God brings longevity, and the wife bears many sons; / Indirect Officer brings many daughters but few sons. / With strong Hurting Officer, the lineage is surely severed; / In the Mean, the Seal naturally brings glory to the Self.'

The Indirect Wealth is the father, being the Officer star of the Seal. For example, Jia Day takes Wu as father. If one sees Jia-Yin, or if a complete Wood bureau, or if it reaches a place of Death, Extinction, Clash, or Punishment -- this primarily indicates harming the father. Otherwise, it means separation, discord, or illness and disability. If Geng or Shen appear to rescue, there may be no great harm. If Jia is strong and Wu is declining, this also indicates illness and little support from the father. If Wu reaches a place of generation and strength, with Noble Person, Heavenly Virtue, or Monthly Virtue, the father is also noble. If Bing-Ding additionally generate and assist, one enjoys the father's fortune without limit. If it reaches a Killing territory, the father dies in a distant land. If it occupies a place of Decline, Defeat, and subjugation, or the territories of Tomb and Extinction, the father is ordinary, and one does not gain the father's support.

The Direct Seal is what gives birth to my body. For example, Jia Day takes Gui as mother. Encountering Ji-Chou-Wei indicates harming the mother. Seeing many of these indicates the mother marries a second husband. If one Wu loses its position or is overcome, the mother's previous husband is harmed. If Wu receives generation, or the Seal reaches the Peach Blossom or Bathing position, the mother has an outside affair. If the Seal is at Long Life, the mother is kind, virtuous, and long-lived, with harmonious mother-child relations. If it reaches the Yang Blade or Killing territory, or falls at Extinction, Tomb, or Solitary-Widowed, the mother is not virtuous, or has disability, or there is discord. Reason through it logically, and it will be verified without fail.

Shoulder is brothers and sisters. For example, Jia seeing Jia is the elder brother; Yi is the younger sibling. Yin and Mao work the same way. Seeing Geng harms the elder brother. Seeing Xin injures the younger sibling. If Jia Wood is strong and in phase, elder siblings compete for Wealth. If Jia, Yi, Yin, and Mao are already numerous, then brothers and sisters seize Wealth and quarrel, with disputes and conflict. Seeing Ji combining with Jia: the elder sibling is improper. Seeing Geng: the younger sibling is improper. If the Killings are many and Yi Wood obtains a bureau, the Killing combines and meets Yi Wood to injure Jia. The elder brother lacks the younger brother's fortune and borrows the younger brother's strength to sustain himself. Jia Wood in the Yin month: Yi Wood is controlled -- the elder sibling thrives while the younger declines. For the rest, whether harmonious or discordant, simply deduce from the eight characters' Rest, Strength, Death, and Extinction -- it will be verified without fail.

Direct Wealth is the lawful wife; Indirect Wealth is the concubine. Jia Wood sees Ji Earth as Direct Wealth; Wu Earth as Indirect Wealth. If Yi Wood appears in a bureau with Hai-Mao-Wei, the wife is harmed. Jia-Yin harms the wife and further indicates the wife is improper. If Wealth is at Decline, Defeat, Tomb, or Extinction, the wife has illness and is not virtuous -- otherwise, she remarries at advanced age. Seeing Gui: the concubine is improper. Seeing Ji Earth with Chou or Wei: things are settled and at peace. Shoulder dividing and seizing, or Wealth at Bathing or Peach Blossom: the wife or concubine has illicit relations. The Day or Month sitting on Wealth-Officer: the wife gives much household assistance, and one further gains the wife's assets. If Indirect Wealth is well-positioned, the concubine surpasses the wife. If the master's Wealth is independently strong, the wife will not tolerate a concubine. Officer-Killing seen repeatedly: the wife invites meddling and manipulation -- this is fearsome. When Wealth and Officer are both fine, the person fears the wife. Seeing the Killing is especially taboo. Wealth much and Self weak: the wife instead dominates the husband. If the Wealth chart has qi, wife and concubine are harmonious and agreeable -- one gains the wife's support. The Day sitting on Emptiness: difficult for wife and concubine. Also examine the Solitary Luan days, Yang Error and Yin Error -- these indicate harming the wife; or marriage through relatives, a cold and lonely match, adopted into the wife's family, or filling a deceased spouse's place. If a woman has this, the parents' household declines, or lawsuits result. The rest follow this pattern.

The Seven Killings is the son. For example, Jia seeing Geng-Shen is a son; Xin-You is a daughter. If one sees Bing-Fire with Wu-Yin, or the Killing reaches the Yang Blade or Killing palace, this indicates harming children -- otherwise illness or disobedience. If Wu-Ji Earth obtains the command, the children are capable and harmonious. Seeing Bing-Si: the daughter is improper. If it reaches Bathing or Peach Blossom, further combined with dark Combination, and the Food God is numerous, the daughter has illicit relations. If the Killing reaches Long Life, Monthly Virtue, or Heavenly Virtue, and the positions it occupies are Noble Person, Salary-Horse, Food God, or Wealth regions -- this indicates a powerful father and noble son. The key is to embody the Mean. Yang Day with yang Hour: sons predominantly. Yang Day with yin Hour: first a son, then daughters. Yin Day with yin Hour: daughters predominantly. Yin Day with yang Hour: first a daughter, then sons. Hurting Officer seeing Officer: the children are fierce and unruly. Hurting Officer at the Hour plus Emptiness: children are difficult to have. For a woman's chart, take the Hurting Officer as son and Food God as daughter. If the Seal or Owl Spirit appears, children are hard to obtain. For a man's chart, when Officer-Killing finds favorable ground and embodies the Mean, there will be children. Use the generative numbers to make the determination: Life and Strength double the count; Death and Extinction halve it. If excessive or deficient, do not use this method. Excess yields children who are often harmed, die young, or are fierce and unruly. Deficiency yields few births and rearing. When Officer-Killing finds favorable ground with support, and auspicious stars are numerous, the children will be loyal, filial, worthy, and brilliant. At positions of Rest, Imprisonment, Death, Extinction, Destruction, Defeat, Decline, or Illness, or with Entanglement, Original Inauspiciousness, or Emptiness, the children will be disobedient -- children of poverty, low station, and illness. With the Solitary Spirit and Widowed Lodge additionally, loneliness and desolation. For example, Jia-Zi Day, Jia-Zi Hour: Geng is Dead at Zi. 'Dead in the middle: to old age, no sons.' Entering Tomb: difficult to preserve both. Receiving qi at Extinction: one son. In the Embryo: the firstborn is a daughter. In Nurture: three sons, only two remain. At Long Life's position, within the decade half combines -- seven sons. Bathing: one pair preserved in auspiciousness and health. Capping and Career: three sons' positions. At Peak Strength: five sons form their own column. Decline: two sons. Illness: one. Count from oneself to Hai, Illness: one. Deduce from this pattern. If the eight characters have no children-star and the Hour also lacks generation and strength, traveling through Officer-Killing-strong periods indicates having children -- but once the period passes, none again. If the pillars have Officer-Killing but one enters Hurting, Food, Rest, Decline, Extinction, or Weak periods, children are harmed and diminished. Once the period passes, they endure. One Killing in the eight characters: one son. Two Killings: two sons. No Killings: no sons. If the pillars have the Self and Killing equally balanced, and the Killing encounters a strong region, determine many sons. Also examine how the Wealth spirit fares, increasing or decreasing hour by hour, deducing the many or few. It will be verified without fail.

For young children's charts, seeing much Wealth certainly means born of a concubine or adopted, and the parents are harmed. If early years' Luck Cycles travel to the Wealth-strong region, the same applies. Jia: born sideways, crown not straight, with membrane covering. Ding: born askew, double-crowned. Qian birth has reliance, but there will be overcoming and punishment. Chen: repeat birth, back to father, easy birth and easy rearing. Shen: there is crying. Yin: slow and obstructed. Wei: auspicious. Chen: amniotic membrane wrapping. Born face-up: there is fright. For young children's charts, the key requirement is a strong Self. One most welcomes the Seal generating it, with no Wealth to overcome it -- then birth is easy and disasters are few. One does not want the Officer star, Seven Killings, Yang Blade, or Hurting Officer too strong. Even with a strong Self, there will be much disaster; with a weak Self, the child is difficult to raise. If the feared position is encountered, one absolutely must not have the period or annual luck assisting it. One greatly fears strong Wealth: if not born of a concubine, then adopted -- the parents are harmed. Further, one does not want the Luck Cycle to begin early, for the qi is hard to resist. Example: [Geng-Zi, Wu-Yin, Wu-Zi, Ding-Si]. Born after the mid-qi of the month, the Month encounters the Seven Killings. Fortunately, Ding Fire serves as Seal, and Yin is the Long Life position, able to generate Wu Earth. Unfortunately, Geng-Zi appears, and Si is Metal's Long Life. The two Zi Waters as Wealth overcome the Ding Fire life-qi, which instead generates the month's Seven Killings. The Seven Killings comes to overcome the Self, and the weak Self cannot resist. Therefore, in the eleventh month of that year, the child died. This is the disaster of 'generating the Killing and destroying the Seal.' Example: [Gui-You, Gui-Hai, Ji-Chou, Yi-Hai]. This chart has heavy Wealth across the Four Pillars. At birth, the mother nearly died. Before a full year, both parents also died, and the child was given away for adoption. Other cases follow this pattern without doubt.

For young children's charts, the Hour pillar should be taken as primary. First examine the Barrier Stars (guansha), then examine the pattern. If the Day Master is strong, and Wealth-Officer are strong, there are Barriers but no Malefics. If the Day Stem is weak and Wealth-Officer are few: frequent illness but survivable. If the Day Stem is weak and Wealth-Officer are many: there are both Barriers and Malefics. If there is additionally a Three-Combination gathering Malefics, the child is difficult to raise. Without Punishment or Clash: the voice is clear and loud, with nighttime crying and a quick temper. If the eight characters have Wealth-Officer, born into a wealthy and noble family. Indirect Officer: born into an ordinary family. Hurting Officer and Rob Wealth: born into a poor and lowly family. Indirect Officer, Indirect Seal, and Indirect Wealth: born out of wedlock or of a concubine -- otherwise the third or fourth child. The Ziping method takes the Indirect Officer as the Barrier and the Indirect Wealth as the Malefic, using the birth-hour numbers for determination: Water is 1, Fire is 2, Wood is 3, Metal is 4, Earth is 5. For example, Jia Day with Geng as Killing: ages 4 and 9. If Bing sees Ren as Killing: ages 1 and 6. Wu Day with Jia as Killing: ages 3 and 8. Geng Day with Bing as Killing: ages 2 and 7. Ren sees Wu as Killing: ages 5 and 10. For yin Stems, the same applies. It will be verified without fail.