Combination of Ten, water

Meaning

The Combination of Ten for the water stars is one of the Flying Stars’ formations that Ulune names, a pattern that runs through the whole of a home’s chart: in all nine palaces the water star and the period star add up to ten, a 1 with a 9, a 2 with an 8, a 5 with a 5.

向星合十, xiàng xīng hé shí, the water stars, the stars of the facing, combine to ten. The classics read it as a chart whose stars work together, for activity and resources, a current that runs through the whole home, and they let it soften what else the chart carries.

Of the 216 main charts, the twenty-four facings of each of the nine periods, 12 carry this formation, in Periods 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

In practice

• What practitioners suggest: nothing to change; they read the home’s activity as carried by the pattern, and give its palaces’ own pairs their usual care.
• In the Home lens: the chart’s reading names its formations. Built in Period 9, a home facing Qian or Hai carries this one; built in Period 8, a home facing Chou.
• Near an edge: the replacement chart, which Ulune shows beside the main one for a facing close to the edge of its mountain, has formations of its own, named the same way; it may keep this one or not.

Across traditions

• The Lo Shu’s own pairs: every two numbers facing each other across the Lo Shu’s centre make ten; the water stars of this chart give each palace that balance with the period.
• The facing’s stars: the water stars are cast from the facing palace, so their Combination of Ten ties the whole home to its front, as the mountain stars’ ties it to its back.

Origin and history

The Combination of Ten of the water stars mirrors that of the mountain stars across the compass: twelve of the 216 main charts, in Period 9 for a home facing Qian or Hai. The classical phrase 向星合十 names the water stars by the facing, 向, since the water star is cast from the facing palace.

How Ulune calculates it

Ulune casts each home’s chart, then checks it against every formation it knows. For this one the rule is: in all nine palaces the water star and the period star add up to ten, a 1 with a 9, a 2 with an 8, a 5 with a 5. It is read on the main chart and on the replacement chart alike, each on its own. Ulune’s tests check its formations against charts worked by hand.

An example: a home facing Qian, built in Period 9. The period chart sets 9 in the centre; the mountain star goes to the centre as a 8 and flies forward, the water star as a 1 and flies backward. At the back, in the palace of the south-east, stand mountain star 7 and water star 2; at the front, in the palace of the north-west, mountain star 9 and water star 9. Palace by palace, water star and period star: centre 1 + 9, north-west 9 + 1, west 8 + 2, north-east 7 + 3, south 6 + 4, north 5 + 5, south-west 4 + 6, east 3 + 7, south-east 2 + 8.

Correspondences