1 and 6 · The He Tu pair of water
In Chinese: 一六共宗
The 1 White and the 6 White: one of the four He Tu pairs, metal carrying water, authority and wisdom together in one palace.
Meaning
In the River Chart the 1 and the 6 stand together at the bottom, the north, the pair of water, 一六共宗; the Lo Shu sets them side by side, the 1 in the north and the 6 in the north-west. With the 1 timely now and the 6 dormant, the classics read the pair’s wisdom as showing more readily than its authority.
One of the four He Tu pairs, which the classics say share an origin: metal carries water, the father beside the middle son. They read authority and wisdom together: promotion, recognition, study that leads to responsibility. In season, careers advance; out of season, a coolness between people who work side by side.
In practice
- In a home’s chart: a palace whose mountain star and water star are the 1 and the 6, in either order, holds this pairing; the palace’s reading names it and gives the text above, then how the two phases meet and which face applies.
- The 1 as mountain star, the 6 as water star: the water star feeds the mountain star, as metal feeds water: what comes in supports the people of the home.
- The 6 as mountain star, the 1 as water star: the mountain star feeds the water star, as metal feeds water: the people’s effort goes into what comes in.
- In Period 9 (2024–2043), the 1 is in season and the 6 is not: read “in season” for what the 1 speaks for and “out of season” for what the 6 speaks for, the people of the home when a star is the mountain’s, what comes in when it is the water’s.
Correspondences
- The stars: the 1 White (Tan Lang) and the 6 White (Wu Qu)
- Their phases: Water and Metal
- Their trigrams and homes in the Lo Shu: Kan ☵, in the north; Qian ☰, in the north-west
- A He Tu pair: one of the four pairs the River Chart joins, 1 and 6, 2 and 7, 3 and 8, 4 and 9
- The 1 with the other stars: 1 and 1, 1 and 2, 1 and 3, 1 and 4, 1 and 5, 1 and 7, 1 and 8, 1 and 9
- The 6 with the other stars: 2 and 6, 3 and 6, 4 and 6, 5 and 6, 6 and 6, 6 and 7, 6 and 8, 6 and 9
Related
- 1 White starThe first of the nine stars, Water and the trigram Kan, at home in the north: study, careers and journeys, and timely again in Period 9.
- 6 White starThe sixth of the nine stars, Metal and the trigram Qian, heaven, the father, at home in the north-west: authority, leadership and support from above.
- Pairs of starsThe 45 meetings of a mountain star and a water star in one palace of a Flying Star chart, each with the reading the classics give it, in season and out.
- WaterThe phase of depth, rest and stored strength, of winter and the north: still on the surface, moving underneath, preparing the next spring.
- MetalThe phase of gathering in and giving form, of autumn and the west: the harvest, the clear line, the edge that decides.
- Flying Star chartA home’s chart in the Flying Stars: nine palaces, each with a mountain star, a water star and a period star, cast from the home’s period and facing.
Sources
- Zi Bai Jue (Verse of the Purple and White), Xuan Kong school
- Xuan Kong Mi Zhi (Secret Meaning of the Profound Void), Xuan Kong school
- Fei Xing Fu (Rhapsody of the Flying Stars), Xuan Kong school
- Shen Zhureng, Shen shi Xuankong xue, published after 1906