A common question in BaZi consultations is always whether one has noblemen in their lives. When we say “noblemen”, we’re basically referring to benefactors. Those serendipitous angels on earth that give us a lift and makes thing easier for us.
I wrote about the topic of having benefactors in your chart and the differences it makes in one’s life, and more importantly, one’s character. There is a reason why some people get more help and it’s simply because people want to help them, and people want to help them because they are good, likeable people and they draw people towards them.
Most Chinese metaphysics enthusiasts often don’t know the nuances behind noblemen stars or auxiliary stars and how they should be applied.
From a Zi Wei Dou Shu angle, applying noblemen stars into the analysis is often simpler. It’s more straightforward because when these benefactor stars appear in important sectors like your Life Palace, Wealth Palace, or Career Palace, we can immediately regard it as a good thing especially when negative stars are absent. People born with 左辅右弼 or 天魁天钺 in their critical sectors make them extremely likeable, which is why they have benefactors in the first place and this stars with them throughout life. If you read enough charts and seen enough people, you will know this is true.
Exactly how much impact these benefactors stars have on the charts depends on the overall quality of the chart and if the main star in their Life Palace (命宫) is strong. Benefactors can exist to get you out of trouble, or they can exist to lift you even higher, so it doesn’t mean everyone will become extremely wealthy or successful simply because their charts encounter noblemen stars.
However, it’s not as straightforward in BaZi because the BaZi version of benefactor stars are always tagged to a certain Branch, and not all Branches have a positive impact on the chart. In other words, we cannot always assume that the noblemen stars in BaZi will always have a positive effect.
Let’s bring in an example:
A Yang Fire Chart-holder Who Tries Too Hard To Be A Benefactor
Despite being born during a 戌 (‘xu’) month, the above is quite evidently a strong male Yang Fire chart given all the sources of Fire and Wood that appears to give Yang Fire its strength. It’s obvious what this chart requires to be balanced but it’s not the topic of discussion here.
The above chart has both 天德 (Heaven’s Grace) and 月德 (Moon’s Grace) noblemen stars appearing because it is a Yang Fire born during the month of 戌 (‘xu’) which is why you see these two noblemen stars in the Day Pillar column. Now, the next question to ask is whether these two stars actually did anything for the chart-holder or really uplifted his life in any way.
Chart-holders with these two stars noblemen stars are described to be compassionate, elegant, wise, and are generally very likeable people. I’ve had the fortune of meeting such people who are truly the embodiment of these two stars. However, for the chart-holder above, you cannot help but feel that something is amiss. Instead of being elegant, wise, and someone whom people turn to for advice, you will be surprised that the above chart-holder is actually shunned for being an unsolicited advice-giver and an extremely unpopular person. It is as though 天德 and 月德 were not there at all. If you generated his Zi Wei Dou Shu chart, it would paint an even clearer picture because he is has 巨门化忌 in his Life Palace.
It has been observed that the chart-holder tries to be nice, but it comes from a place of ego and wanting to feel superior, which his chart does describe very aptly given that he’s a strong Yang Fire chart-holder under a Rob Wealth structure (劫财格)。To be fair, he’s definitely not malicious, nor evil, but basically he’s a ‘good guy’ that still ends up making a lot of enemies because it is compass and kindness that is executed wrongly. Things would have been a lot worse if this was a strong Rob Wealth BaZi chart structure with no 天德 or 月德 in there. We can still give 天德 or 月德 some credit there.
At the end of the day, the balance of the elements still takes precedence in BaZi analysis. The auxiliary stars we use in BaZi are still important for sure and should be taken into account, but the stars alter only the form of things but not the essence. You can see “essence” as your balance of the elements, intent, and starting point, whereas the “form” represents how it’s being carried out. ‘Good’ people can cause a lot of harm and annoyance too. In other words, if you give a flawed, imbalanced chart with noblemen stars, these noblemen stars will be executed wrongly and take the wrong form.
The same logic applies to so-called ‘negative’ auxiliary stars. For example, people under fear the negative auxiliary star 劫煞 (‘jie2 sha4’) especially when the two characters, on their own, already hold negative connotations. What more when you put the two characters together? Unbeknownst to most, even stars like 劫煞 have their positive sides and they can represent ambition, intelligence, and great execution abilities. Whether such negative likes like 劫煞 end up playing a positive or negative role in the charts comes back to our discussion of balance which your BaZi chart will give hints of. Used correctly, 劫煞 can help one reach greater heights, but when used wrongly, it invites disaster.
The next time you try to decipher your own chart, please take a chill pill on the auxiliary stars. Don’t be too happy just because you see a lot of noblemen stars in there, and don’t fret if you see ones with scary names.
– Sean
