Monthly stars

Meaning

The monthly stars are the Flying Stars of the month. Each solar month, from one opening term to the next, has a star in the centre, one less than the month before, and from there the stars fly forward through the nine palaces, a layer over the year’s, lighter and quicker.

Where the month begins depends on the year. The Tiger month, the first of the solar year, opens with the 8 White in a Rat, Horse, Rabbit or Rooster year, with the 5 Yellow in a Dragon, Dog, Ox or Goat year, and with the 2 Black in a Tiger, Monkey, Snake or Pig year; each month after goes back one. So 2026, a Horse year, opened its Tiger month with the 8, and its Dog month, from 8 October, holds the 9.

The classics read the month’s stars as they read the year’s, more lightly: a supportive star for a month, a 5 Yellow to keep quiet for a month. The month’s 5 Yellow is the one most often watched: a month to leave that side of the home or of one’s directions undisturbed.

In practice

• In the Home lens: the month’s star appears small under each palace’s stars, on the right, beside the year’s.
• In the Cycles lens: the month’s 5 Yellow is named where it visits one of your directions, a month to keep that side quiet.
• The months change at the terms: around the 4th to 8th of each Western month, at the solar term that opens the solar month; the Calendar marks the days.
• In October 2026, from the Cold Dew on 8 October to the Start of Winter on 7 November, the month’s star in the centre is the 9 Purple, and the month’s 5 Yellow is in the north.

Across traditions

• Nine Star Ki also counts a month star, by the same rule, and reads a person’s month of birth with it beside their year star.
• The solar months: the month’s star turns with the same twelve solar months that give BaZi its month pillar, each opening at a term, the jie, rather than at a new moon.

Origin and history

The rule for the months’ first star is a short verse of the Zi Bai tradition, 子午卯酉八白, 辰戌丑未五黃, 寅申巳亥二黑: Zi, Wu, Mao and You years begin with the 8 White, Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei years with the 5 Yellow, Yin, Shen, Si and Hai years with the 2 Black. Because the months go back one each and twelve months take the count three stars round the nine, each year begins three stars after the year before, and the pattern comes round every three years. The almanacs printed each month’s chart, and Feng Shui practice reads the month over the year as the year over the home.

How Ulune calculates it

Ulune finds the solar month, from one opening term, jie, to the next, and the year’s branch. The Tiger month’s star comes from the branch: 8 for Zi, Wu, Mao and You, 5 for Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei, 2 for Yin, Shen, Si and Hai. Each month after goes back one, round the nine. The month’s star goes to the centre and flies forward, and the month’s 5 Yellow is where the 5 lands.

Correspondences