Finding the Flying Star for the Month

Thought I could drop the Sexagenary Cycle and Luo-shu for a while and ready to introduce “Wen-Wang Gua” (文王卦, or WWG in short), a friend of mine asked me if I could spend some time in introducing the Flying Star for the Month.

In fact, the Flying Star for the Month has been introduced in my book titled “Introductory to Qi-men Dun-jia” (《奇門遁甲入門》). To recap in English is not really difficult at all, but to introduce the concept of how Chinese Astronomical Calendar was calculated in a blog does.

As mentioned in my earlier blog that there are two types of calendars in China: the Astronomical and the Civil. The Astronomical Calendar is what the Government official calculated, the Civil Calendar is what the Government announced to the general public.

The Astronomical Calendar in ancient China uses Winter Solstice (冬至) as a reference point. Using modern astronomy, it is 270 degrees in Cartesian Coordinates whereas 0 degree is referred as the Vernal Equinox (春分), or Aries. As such, the first year Jia-zi of the Sexagenary Cycle starts in fact since Winter Solstice of the previous year Gui-hai. In “24 Solar Segments” (二十四節氣), Winter Solstice is the “Central Point” (氣) of the Month of Zi and hence called “Zi-zheng” (子正).

Ideally, it will be most perfect if the calendar was being calculated under the conditions of: 1) Year of Jia-ji, 2) Month of Jia-zi, 3) Day of Jia-zi which happened to be both the Winter Solstice and the first day of the Lunar Month, and 4) The “Chen” (辰) of Jia-zi which referred as midnight, or also Zi-zheng. Obviously, this is for the sake of calendar recording. We haven’t discussed other astronomical parameters like tropical year, lunation, and alignment of planets, etc.

Using the same method as we used to determine the Flying Star for the Year, we will have the following table, through which the Flying Star of the Month can be easily determined.

Remember, the Civil Calendar starts with the “Segment Point” (節) as a new month, but the Flying Star for the Month will be changed only when it reaches the Central Point of the Month.