How Is Đẩu Quân (Nguyệt Tướng) Placed, and Why Is It Used Only for Reading Monthly Fortune?

What is Đẩu Quân, and why is it also called Nguyệt Tướng?

Đẩu Quân is an auxiliary star in Tử Vi (Vietnamese astrology), bearing the title Nguyệt Tướng, inclined toward carefulness, moderation, deliberation, preservation and regulation. It is not a star that governs strong fortune or misfortune; it mainly serves as a marker for deriving the positions of the months of the year when reading fortunes.

A clear distinction is needed: the term Nguyệt Tướng here differs from Nguyệt Tướng in Lục Nhâm. In Lục Nhâm, Nguyệt Tướng is a general placed onto the earthly plate according to the hour of divination, with its own rules for swapping generals. That is a concept of the Tam Thức system, unrelated to the method of placing stars in Tử Vi. The two terms look the same but are two different matters.

How is Đẩu Quân placed?

The position of Đẩu Quân is determined based on the birth month and birth hour. The procedure consists of two consecutive counting stages:

• Take the palace containing the Thái Tuế star as the first month, and count counter-clockwise to the birth month. This is the backward counting stage by month.
• From the palace just reached, set it as the Tý hour, then count clockwise to the birth hour. The final palace reached is precisely the position for placing the Đẩu Quân star.

This corresponds to the method of placing Đẩu Quân in the book Đẩu số tinh thành (Volume 1, part 1, p. 42): take the annual Thái Tuế as the first month, count backward to the birth month, then from there start at the Tý hour and count forward to the birth hour. The book also states clearly that Đẩu Quân is precisely the first month of the monthly cycle, and from Đẩu Quân the remaining months are counted forward one palace per month.

To quickly look up the offset between Đẩu Quân and the Thái Tuế palace, see the table at the end of the article.

Why is Đẩu Quân used only when reading monthly fortunes?

Đẩu Quân bears the title Nguyệt Tướng and is defined as the first month of the monthly cycle, so its role is tied to the monthly layer of fortune. When reading monthly fortunes, the first step is to determine the monthly fortune palace, that is, the palace taken as the life palace of the month for interpretation. From the Đẩu Quân palace as the first month, the remaining months are counted forward one palace per month.

The book Đẩu số tinh thành (p. 42) also sets out how to determine the daily and hourly cycles: take the monthly-cycle palace as the first day, count forward one palace per day; and at the daily-cycle palace start at the Tý hour, count forward one palace per hour. Thus Đẩu Quân is the starting point for deriving monthly fortunes, not a star used to interpret personality or a fixed palace.

Monthly fortune is the thinnest layer of reference

Its importance needs to be placed correctly. In a system of interpretation by levels, the monthly layer sits among the narrowest tiers, dependent on broader tiers such as the major cycle and the annual cycle. The book TVĐS Mệnh vận phân tích (Từ Tăng Sinh, p. 242) states clearly that the monthly cycle begins from the first day of the first lunar month each year, not from the birthday. Đẩu Quân is the name given to the monthly-cycle palace in the first month; to find it, take the annual-cycle life palace as the anchor, count backward to the birth month, then count forward to the birth hour.

Therefore, reading a single month should be seen only as reading one brushstroke within a larger picture. One should not turn a monthly fortune table into a calendar of good months and bad months for choosing days to undertake major work, and still less should one use it to assert that a month is certainly good or certainly bad.

How does the site use Đẩu Quân?

On the natal chart, the site's calculation core places Đẩu Quân starting from the Thái Tuế of the birth year, that is, the palace of the birth-year branch. This is the common method in Vietnamese books. When reading monthly fortunes, the cycle Đẩu Quân is calculated from the branch of the year being examined, and each year it shifts one palace forward. This matches the book Đẩu số tinh thành (p. 42): to place Đẩu Quân, first take the earthly branch of the annual Thái Tuế as the starting point for the first month, then count backward to the birth month; next, from the Tý hour count forward to the birth hour. Once the Đẩu Quân of the birth year has been determined, in subsequent years one simply advances one palace per year around the plate.

The two statements do not conflict: the cycle Đẩu Quân of the year whose branch matches the birth year is precisely the natal Đẩu Quân. The monthly fortune in the tool starts from the cycle Đẩu Quân as the first month and then one palace forward per month. Some schools start from the minor-limit palace, but the site uses the method starting from the cycle Đẩu Quân.

The old statement that the calculation core had not yet placed this star is no longer correct: the calculation core now places Đẩu Quân on the chart and uses the cycle Đẩu Quân of the year being examined to calculate monthly fortunes in the Tử Vi chart tool.

Where do the sources disagree?

Is the base the Thái Tuế of the birth year or the branch of the year being examined?

This is the most important difference. The method commonly found in Vietnamese books takes Đẩu Quân from the Thái Tuế of the birth year, meaning the position of Đẩu Quân is fixed on the natal chart and does not change over the years. According to the book Đẩu số tinh thành, there is a method taking it from the branch of the year being examined, meaning this position changes each year according to the branch of the year for which the fortune is read. These two methods produce two different results when reading the same person in two different years, so when consulting documents one must determine clearly which method a given document follows, to avoid mixing the two methods in a single interpretation.

How many ways are there to place the monthly fortune?

Regarding monthly fortunes in general, in practice there are many different ways of placing them among schools. Some common directions:

The two methods regarded by many as the standard and most common are starting from the Tiểu Vận palace or the Lưu Thái Tuế palace, then counting backward by month and then forward by birth hour to arrive at the monthly fortune palace. Because the procedure involves the birth month and birth hour, each person's monthly fortune differs, even within the same calendar month. This is also why the method of placing Đẩu Quân described above is only one of the approaches, and learners should note clearly which one they follow.

The name Nguyệt Tướng is easily confused with Lục Nhâm

As stated at the beginning of the article, Nguyệt Tướng in Tử Vi is the title of Đẩu Quân, while Nguyệt Tướng in Lục Nhâm is a general placed onto the earthly plate according to the hour of divination, with its own rule for swapping generals when the hexagram changes. Lục Nhâm texts present in some detail the renaming of Nguyệt Tướng according to even or odd hexagrams, forward or reverse, and it is always placed onto the palace of the current hour. These are two different systems, sharing one term but not the same concept. Readers searching by keyword should pay attention to context so as not to confuse documents from one system with the other.

Đẩu Quân in the various palaces, and points to note

According to reference pages, when Đẩu Quân enters a palace it usually makes that palace lean toward rules, calculation, stability and attention to practical matters. In the Mệnh palace, the native is often stern, strict, meticulous, careful, and may live in solitude with few friends because of a hard-to-approach and stubborn nature; this quality has similarities to Cô Thần and Quả Tú. In the Tài Bạch and Điền Trạch palaces, this star governs preservation, saving and protecting assets, but it can also make the native petty and fussy about food and drink and not close to neighbours. In the Tật Ách palace, it is often associated with mental tension, insomnia and anxiety; if it meets Thiên Hình or Kình Dương, it easily corresponds to the need for injections or surgery. In the Tử Tức palace, some documents note signs related to children, but this is only one aspect among very many factors that make up a chart. To interpret matters of children, one needs to consider comprehensively the interaction among the Tử Tức, Thiên Di and Phúc Đức palaces together with the stars that illuminate them and factors such as Thiên Diêu, Đào Hoa, Hồng Loan, including the influence of the major cycle and the annual cycle. Đẩu Quân in the Mệnh palace is only one small factor, and one should not jump to conclusions.

When in a good position, whichever palace is favoured by Đẩu Quân has one outstanding aspect. When blocked by Tuần Triệt, the books liken it to a defeated general, prone to hardship and struggle, yet still retaining integrity and possibly earning repute. When surrounded by the six malefic stars, the books liken it to a fierce tiger powerless before a pack of foxes. In the case where Mệnh and Thân share a palace in the three-harmony with Thái Tuế and Đẩu Quân is added, it is regarded as not being a lowly ordinary person, at least possessing a distinct bearing and standing.

All the descriptions above are traditional readings, of reference value only. They are not fixed conclusions about a person, and should not be used to assert anything certain about anyone's finances, health or destiny.

How many palaces is Đẩu Quân from the Thái Tuế palace?

Each cell is the number of forward steps from the Thái Tuế palace to the Đẩu Quân palace, 0 being the same palace as Thái Tuế. On the natal chart, the Thái Tuế palace is the palace of the birth-year branch; when reading monthly fortunes, it is the palace of the branch of the year being examined, so Đẩu Quân shifts one palace forward each year. Calculated by exactly the placement method of the Tử Vi chart tool.