2 and 7 · The He Tu pair of fire
In Chinese: 二七同道
The 2 Black and the 7 Red: the He Tu pair of fire, which makes fire though neither star is fire, wealth from trade and some care with heat.
Meaning
In the River Chart the 2 and the 7 stand together at the top, the south, the place of fire, which is why the pair is read as fire though one star is Earth and the other Metal; the classical phrase is 二七同道, the two and the seven on one road. Out of season the classics’ counsel is ordinary care with flames, nothing more.
One of the four He Tu pairs, which make fire together though neither is fire: the classics read hidden heat. In season, wealth from trade and talk; out of season, quick tempers, and the classics ask for ordinary care with heat and flames in this sector.
In practice
- In a home’s chart: a palace whose mountain star and water star are the 2 and the 7, 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 2 as mountain star, the 7 as water star: the mountain star feeds the water star, as earth feeds metal: the people’s effort goes into what comes in.
- The 7 as mountain star, the 2 as water star: the water star feeds the mountain star, as earth feeds metal: what comes in supports the people of the home.
- In Period 9 (2024–2043), the 2 is in season and the 7 is not: read “in season” for what the 2 speaks for and “out of season” for what the 7 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 2 Black (Ju Men) and the 7 Red (Po Jun)
- Their phases: Earth and Metal
- Their trigrams and homes in the Lo Shu: Kun ☷, in the south-west; Dui ☱, in the 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 2 with the other stars: 1 and 2, 2 and 2, 2 and 3, 2 and 4, 2 and 5, 2 and 6, 2 and 8, 2 and 9
- The 7 with the other stars: 1 and 7, 3 and 7, 4 and 7, 5 and 7, 6 and 7, 7 and 7, 7 and 8, 7 and 9
Related
- 2 Black starThe second of the nine stars, Earth and the trigram Kun, the mother, at home in the south-west: land, care and patience, timely in Period 9.
- 7 Red starThe seventh of the nine stars, Metal and the trigram Dui, the lake, at home in the west: speech, charm and pleasure, read with care out of season.
- 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.
- EarthThe phase of the centre and of every turning point: the ground that steadies, nourishes and gathers the other four together.
- 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