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Chapter 5 of 14
神煞章
Yi (驿) refers to the institutions established by ancient states to transmit official documents and military intelligence. Initially, relay carriages were used; later, these were replaced by postal horses to accomplish the task of delivery.
The Yima Star among the celestial deities is so named precisely because of the above meaning. It is a star of "movement," representing conveyance, travel, and toil. All other meanings derive from this core concept of "movement." For example: if the Officer star carries Yima, one's work is prone to change; if the Eating God or Hurting Officer carries Yima, one's thoughts tend to be active and changeable; if the Wealth star carries Yima in a male chart, money tends to flow—of course, "Wealth" also represents women, and if the Wealth star carries the Horse and is vigorous and struck by clashes, then women may be exchanged ceaselessly 🔄. Other meanings of Yima can be extended by analogy.
The so-called Yima is derived through the innate numbers of the Three Harmonies. In the innate numbers, Yin is 7, Wu is 9, and Xu is 5, summing to 21. Counting forward from Zi to Shen yields exactly 21, which is the Yima of the Fire Bureau (Yin-Wu-Xu). The numbers of Hai-Mao-Wei, 4, 6, and 8, sum to 18. Counting forward from Zi to Si yields exactly 18, which is the Yima of the Wood Bureau (Hai-Mao-Wei). Wood and Fire belong to the Yang Bureaus, proceeding forward from Zi (where one Yang is first born). Metal and Water belong to the Yin Bureaus, proceeding backward from Wu (where one Yin is first born). Thus, the numbers of Shen-Zi-Chen, 7, 9, and 5, sum to 21. Counting backward from Wu to Yin yields exactly 21, which is the Yima of the Water Bureau (Shen-Zi-Chen). The numbers of Si-You-Chou, 4, 6, and 8, sum to 18. Counting backward from Wu to Hai yields exactly 18, which is the Yima of the Metal Bureau (Si-You-Chou). This is the origin of the Yima method. Another saying holds: the Horse possesses the vital energy of transmission and succession, and performs the labor of substitution—just as when one is ill and cannot fulfill an appointment, one awaits a child to take one's place. Thus, "seeing a child at the point of illness" constitutes the Yima.
There is yet another saying: Yima represents the latent and ready-to-be-used vital energy within the Five Elements—merely a nominal designation. Yin and Yang rely upon and conceal each other; the qi circulates in endless cycles, just as today's courier stations are established to transmit orders, welcoming what comes and seeing off what departs. When qi is stored, it is like a courier station; when qi moves, it is like a galloping horse. Yin-Wu-Xu belongs to the Fire Bureau, with Water hidden within; encountering Shen (the growth position of Water) generates Water, causing the Yin within Yang to stir and transform. Shen-Zi-Chen belongs to the Water Bureau, with Fire hidden within; encountering Yin (the growth position of Fire) generates Fire, causing the Yang within Yin to stir and emerge. Hai-Mao-Wei belongs to the Wood Bureau, with Metal hidden within; encountering Si (the growth position of Metal) generates Metal, which, driven like bellows, causes the moving to become still and the gathered to disperse. Si-You-Chou belongs to the Metal Bureau, with Wood hidden within; encountering Hai (the growth position of Wood) generates Wood, allowing it to unfold and flourish, causing the gathered to disperse and the bent to extend. Thus, Water, Fire, Wood, and Metal interweave and alternate—moving or resting according to the season—within and without affecting each other, each serving the other's use. Advancing, they journey with the times; retreating, they exhaust themselves with the times. That is why the ancients nominally called it "Yima"—all follow this same pattern. This only illustrates one corner; if one extrapolates from three corners, the principle is unified, and one need not cling to the fixed formula that "Yin-Wu-Xu's Horse is in Shen, and Shen-Zi-Chen's Horse is in Yin."
Wherever Fire surges within Water, Water descends within Fire, Yin and Yang unite, or hardness and softness interchange—all fall under the category of "Horse." Xi Yin said: the ancients believed that at moments demanding change, transformation, rushing, and coming-and-going, only the Yima could bear this responsibility. The Fire Bureau's Horse is in Shen, the Water Bureau's Horse is in Yin, the Metal Bureau's Horse is in Hai, and the Wood Bureau's Horse is in Si. This is because the qi of the Five Elements only begins to clash and surge at its opposite location. Thus, the Fire Horse must lie at the Water's growth position, the Water Horse at the Fire's growth position, and the same for Wood and Metal. This is the inner principle of the Yima.
The above entirely explains the origin and method of Yima. The method is summarized as: the location that clashes with the Growth position of the Three Harmony Bureau is the Yima. That is, for those born under Hai-Mao-Wei, Hai is the Wood Bureau's Growth position, which clashes with Si, therefore Si is the Yima; by analogy, the Horse for Shen-Zi-Chen is in Yin, for Yin-Wu-Xu is in Shen, and for Si-You-Chou is in Hai.
From this, it is clear that the Horse star only takes the four branches of Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai. These four branches are the Growth positions of the Five Elements, so the Yima also carries the connotation of "growth."
Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai are also the sickness positions of their respective Three Harmony Bureaus. Therefore, when the Grand Luck or annual cycle encounters the Yima, if it also meets the illness charm or a year whose Five Elements are imbalanced in cold, heat, dryness, or moisture, illness is more likely. What kind of illness depends on which branch the Yima is and what heavenly stem it carries. For example, in a Jia-Shen year, if Shen is the Yima carrying Jia Wood above, which concerns the head, then head-related ailments are likely.
Xu Ziping treated Wealth as the Horse, also deriving the name from the ancient principle of taking the "overcome position." The Candle Spirit Classic says: "When the Yima is vigorous, the person has a dignified and resolute demeanor, adapts to change and keeps pace with the times, and enjoys much renown throughout life. When it is dead or exhausted, then the person has a head but no tail, is sometimes right and sometimes wrong, accomplishes little in life, and drifts without fixed abode. When it shares its residence with the Lu star, fortune and strength are abundant. When it clashes with the Killing star or combines with the Lonely Spirit, Mourning Guest, or Funeral Gate, the person becomes one who leaves home and native land, either a monk or Taoist, or a traveling merchant. Carrying the Reversed Eating (soul star) and Lu ghost, the person is stingy all his life, cunning yet bordering on the base, with a marketplace demeanor. When combined and clashed with the Eating God, the person is renowned. In passing years, when one meets the Horse together with the Illness Charm, it indicates illness and alarm; together with the Official Charm, it indicates official troubles and fright; entering the residence, it indicates verbal disputes and fright. Yet one must judge comprehensively according to the fortune's auspicious or inauspicious signals."
The Yima rejoices in vigor, and fears death and exhaustion; in vigor it takes positive meanings, in death and exhaustion, negative ones.
When the Yima combines with the Funeral Gate or Mourning Guest, it indicates one who leaves home, wanders across rivers and lakes, and engages in trade.
When the Yima carries the Reversed Eating (Soul Star), the person is stingy, overweighted with worries, and of limited stature.
When the Yima approaches the Official Charm, there is susceptibility to official disasters; entering the Grave-House Baleful Star, it indicates verbal disputes and fright.
Thus, whenever the chart carries the Horse, if it is not void, defeated, decayed, interchanged, or possessed—if it shares the Lu star's noble abundance and is together with the Tian Yi Noble in the same position—and moreover combines with various auspicious baleful and noble stars, then one holds great authority in office and dwells nobly among the court. The Horse in the Hour Pillar is of highest nobility; in the Day Pillar, middle nobility; in the Month Pillar, one is an ordinary commoner. The Granary Horse portends the joys of youth; the Vigorous Horse assists the glory of midlife; the Birth Horse brings fulfillment only in old age, but with humble rank and distant posting. Thus, Wood born in Hai is vigorous, in Mao is the granary, in Wei is birth—all others follow the same pattern. Luo Lu Zi said: "The Birth Horse does not necessarily have a Horse, nor does the Back-Turning Lu necessarily lack Lu." One must examine its vigor and granary, without being constrained by the birth or turning aspects. The wonder lies between the waxing and waning, the fullness and emptiness.
The Yima most rejoices in vigor and growth, taking positive meanings, and is auspicious when carrying various nobles.
Another saying: when examining the Yima, distinctions must be made among the Four Commission, Named Rank, Vigorous Growth, Illness-Exhaustion, Treasure-Carrying, Floral Hilt, and Reversed Eating, all differing and interchanging. The fortunes and disgraces in between must be carefully deliberated within the yearly fortune cycles.
There are also Generated Horse and Named Rank Horse, which, consistent with the previous discussion on Lu, portend nobility.
Whenever one encounters the Horse in fate, one rejoices in commission and vigor yet dislikes void and impurity; fears death and exhaustion yet rejoices in meeting the Eating God; and seeing Wealth brings benefit. Those in business often delight in the Treasure-Carrying Horse; women most fear the Floral Hilt Horse. Treasure-Carrying brings wealth; Floral Hilt brings lasciviousness. The Floral Hilt even more-so forbids Wood persons to encounter Geng-Yin, nor Yi-Hai to meet Yi-Si, nor Ding-Mao to meet Ding-Si, nor Ji-Wei to meet Ji-Si—these cases are especially severe. Men become licentious, women fall into secret affairs. When met in the yearly fortune, determine as above.
Many in business delight in the Treasure-Carrying Horse, for it favors the pursuit of wealth 💰.
The Floral Hilt is least favored, indicating lascivious people; when encountered in Grand Luck or annual cycles, one may judge infidelity or shifts of affection. Of course, one must judge according to the overall chart.
Summary of Yima applications:
The core essence of Yima is one word: movement. The ancients distilled the imagery of "transmission, toil, and coming-and-going" from the state courier system, mapped it onto the fate-calculation framework, and used it to describe the moving energy within a person's life. The Yima is neither purely auspicious nor inauspicious, but essentially a neutral force—the key lies in what domain it acts upon, in what state it operates (vigorous or dead-exhausted), and with what other celestial deities it is conjuncted.
From the mathematical angle, the derivation method of the Yima is as follows: the location that clashes with the Growth position of a Three Harmony Bureau is the Yima. The Growth position represents "the starting point of emergence," and the Clash represents "stimulating change." Combining the two creates the parallel imagery of "being set in motion from the starting point." This also explains why the Yima exclusively takes Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai—these four branches are precisely the Five Elements' Growth locations.
A deeper philosophical meaning lies in how the Yima embodies the principle of opposites completing each other in Yin and Yang. Water is stored within the Fire Bureau, Fire stored within the Water Bureau; when you reach the Growth location of the opposite element, it generates mutuality, clashes, and dynamic exchange. This is essentially a "transformation of opposites" mode of thought.
In a contemporary social context, the meaning of Yima has become even richer and more apt than in ancient times:
Career flux: Changing jobs, jumping ships, and shifting industries is today's norm. Those with Yima in the chart, if vigorous, often suit careers requiring frequent movement, business travel, and inter-regional collaboration: business development, consulting, media, logistics, diplomacy—among others. If the Yima lies in death or exhaustion, it might show restlessness without results: a desire for change that never takes off or an erratic movement that yields little.
Flow of information and thoughts: Yima's central image is "conveying messages." In the Information Age, those with Yima in the chart, in particular in coordination with the Eating God and Hurting Officer, may suit knowledge dissemination, creative content, education, and translation. "Movement" in mentality here shows up as energetic vigor and an open mind.
Dwelling and lifestyle: Modern society sees great population mobility. Yima also presages changes of residence, migrant tendencies, and cross-border ways of living. When Yima intersects with auspicious luminaries, relocation tends to bring opportunities; with threatening banners, it may stand for forced wandering or lack of roots anywhere.
Emotions and personal bonds: The fluidity of a Wealth star that bears the Horse takes particular shape in contemporary experience as sentiment being prone to profound changes. However, the verdict "when Floral Hilt is present, lasciviousness" was made within the ancient frame of reference and no longer, wholly, applies within the actual categories. The modern reading should be neutral: the sentiment flux that stems from the Yima may come across, first, through instability with connections that fluctuate, and yet, mutatis mutandis, they can open the network of mates, opening up the possibilities of partners tremendously. The test is found in whether it cascades or brings together Cherry Blossom and Salty Pond stars, as well as of globality presented in the natal promise.
1. Career planning reference
| Yima Status | Suggested Direction |
|---|---|
| Vigorous and carrying auspicious gods | Best suited for action-based careers: sales, consulting, cross-border business, journalism, travel-related work |
| Dead/Exhausted with inauspicious stars | Curtail blind movement, prioritize stability; plan exhaustively for imposed changes |
| To enhance via Eating God (Named Rank Horse) | Suited for acquiring specialist know-how that achieves mobility with pull (like lecturers, consultants) |
| To enhance via Wealth (Treasure-Carrying Horse) | Business, especially cross-regional swap meet operations, e-retail, last-mile logistics |
2. Health heuristics
Taking Yima (Yin, Shen, Si, and Hai) as a center that is at three-line of the Three Harmony Bureau, equating to the "extinction 'position," alongside another conventional celestial warrant, establishes an up warning when engagement on trunk indicators stacks up a point:
3. Relationships & bonds
Flower-metalled Mare-mounted horses are regarded on stage as "feathered onset of emotional exposure," a signal for self-devotion regarding more intense sentiment gravitation awareness; close care should be given to shaver mutualities to reach stable partnership within ongoing sets if are naturally laid out in the chart where Officer-star gains and Seal activation ensure.
Yima in its intrinsic idea of shifting speaks of a power circuit within: anticipation upon changes, as noted by an executing inner-navigating trio:
Rightly perceive the logic of what kind and from role domain anew horse move reflects.
If apt to plan changes at the opportune cadence of pending, per tri's positivity for chance moves, by rather seeping steering risk default when signals alarm from, the grid: always plot before commit time-spread. Decide now:
Chronic-greater response plans called upon pulse points where old chart holds hearkening lights? Isolate lines, replay trial cards to archive lessons, and expect the text the note inside "the deep image."
Yima's heart dwells in the opposition bridging poised standstill against erupt-riding energy; deep measure is set, deep and rarefied yet mobile, embracing hub-with-phase dyads again inbuilt which takes: "Store rooms quiet and storage lines upon both." Born of a Yima viewpoint-sam some picture the polar wind within ether. A wheel makes read the tide in which even halved harmony in your nature beat within is arrayed-by-sleeve like the ancient storyboards phrase on dragons "at early stages use is low, then shoot up to span ecliptic rings": stillness-she keeps both phases sorted. We do care: unclick one in harness twining of their shape.
From Yin and Yang interchange housing worlds inside inside-out stars with zero dust inside, four inner swirls contain other inroads (they host); thus creating the hinge-point fire-alone-at-tipping water brings now? from standing-fore the, returns; round-robin; passing between change, done endures at launch pads be akin to night-a-clock spinning four, where.
What ethical latitude does the proverb "opposite sets," thus in dynamic flows like warp wheels connecting spin-through pivot-hUb that we face but act behind start times; the story The unfolding shape that stands beyond dry thought, among core but requires rhythm.
For common ease out: **changeiness marks relation though standard view: emergence results moves generate are natural; Yet changing, when people enter waves clinging fear them-waves should themselves treat, wild web line cross stitch flow through arc abid; "horses travel at ride pace, always mounted!"
Let's note comfort: freedom into spark anew is sometimes hidden straight in plain-looking ways. Those who ride wind along instead resist open the middle water stand under custom-heave within-the c-current change into who best holdest ever, in river arc, won't ground as anchor but pivot with line; to the forward movement flows go land.
| Concept | Relationship with Yima |
|---|---|
| Three Harmony Bureau | Basis of Yima calculation: Yin-Wu-Xu, Shen-Zi-Chen, Hai-Mao-Wei, Si-You-Chou |
| Twelve Palaces of Life Growth | Yima is extracted from the Growth location's clash; Yin-Shen-Si-Hai themselves are Growth positions |
| Illness Charm | Yima and Illness Charm arriving together indicate disease and alarm |
| Funeral Gate, Mourning Guest | Mixing with Yima portends leaving one's hometown and wandering |
| Reversed Eating (Soul Star) | Horse carrying the soul star presages stinginess and diminished stature |
| Official Charm | The arrival with Yima bodes litigation and disputes |
| Tian Yi Noble | Yima combined with Tian Yi Noble in a same location marks affluential prominence and mandates great work |
| Eating God | Horoscope in which Eating God crosses levels with Horse is named "Title Car"Horse—name achieved through competence-named merit |
| Lu spirit | Provided harmony moves not far loop segment—having rider union (constitution shape supports) means; tranquil prosperous continuity line draws comfort line-cana behind. Thus multiply weave comes almost free into glory running wide-glory pool |
Among contemporary scholarly divination approaches, research on Yima has largely concentrated in the following approaches…
1. Empirical Research on the Traveling Horse and Career Mobility: Some researchers have attempted to conduct statistical analyses linking samples of individuals with the Traveling Horse in their charts to the frequency of career changes, preliminarily observing that those with a vigorous Traveling Horse do show a somewhat higher tendency toward career mobility willingness and actual frequency of change.
2. The Relevance of the Traveling Horse to the Characteristics of the Information Age: Contemporary scholars have noted that the traditional concept of "movement" has expanded from physical spatial displacement to flow within the information space. Individuals with the Traveling Horse in their charts, complemented by the Appetite and Injury Officer stars, demonstrate strong adaptability in emerging fields such as internet content creation and social media operations.
3. Rational Reconstruction Beyond Superstition: A growing number of researchers advocate liberating the Traveling Horse from "auspiciousness and inauspiciousness pronouncements," restoring its essential function as an indicator of change energy. The Traveling Horse itself is neither good nor bad; what matters is whether the change aligns with the times and whether one possesses the preparation and resources for it. This "neutralized" interpretation renders the Traveling Horse more applicable in contemporary contexts.
4. A Dialogue Between the Traveling Horse and Psychology: The "movement" described by the Traveling Horse finds corresponding ground with the psychological personality trait of Sensation Seeking. Those with a vigorous Traveling Horse in their charts tend to have high receptivity to novelty and strong tolerance for uncertainty, which bears notable similarity to the behavioral patterns of high sensation-seeking individuals in psychology.