Auxiliary and Killing Stars · 六吉四煞

Beyond the fourteen main stars, Zi Wei Dou Shu reads a second layer that rarely carries a chart alone but consistently changes how the main stars behave. Ten of them matter most. Six form the auspicious group (六吉): Zuo Fu 左輔 and You Bi 右弼, the assistants; Wen Chang 文昌 and Wen Qu 文曲, the literary stars; Tian Kui 天魁 and Tian Yue 天鉞, the noble stars. Four are the killings (四煞): Qing Yang 擎羊, Tuo Luo 陀羅, Huo Xing 火星 and Ling Xing 鈴星.

The useful reading is positional. A killing star in a palace does not condemn that palace, and a noble star does not rescue it. What matters is the main star it lands with, the palace it occupies, and whether it is reinforced or offset elsewhere in the chart.