TL;DR: According to Vietnamese Tử Vi (Vietnamese astrology) books, Earthly Void and Earthly Robber are a pair of stars in the Lục sát group, placed according to the birth hour: starting from the Pig palace counted as the Rat hour, Earthly Robber is counted clockwise and Earthly Void counter-clockwise to the birth hour. A Rat-hour birth puts both stars in the same palace at Pig, a Horse-hour birth puts them together at Snake. Vân Đằng Thái Thứ Lang's Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên and Thiên Lương's Tử Vi nghiệm lý record both stars as đắc địa at Tiger, Monkey, Snake and Pig; Việt Viêm Tử's Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học treats only Snake and Pig as miếu địa and Tiger and Monkey as bình địa. Earthly Void differs from Thiên Không, the star these books place according to the Grand Duke. This is a method of reasoning within Tử Vi, not a verdict on anyone's life.
What are Địa Không and Địa Kiếp in a Tử Vi chart?
Địa Không and Địa Kiếp are two stars of the Lục sát group, standing alongside Kình Dương, Đà La, Hỏa Tinh and Linh Tinh. This article presents their placement and meaning as taught in Vietnamese Tử Vi, based on Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên by Vân Đằng Thái Thứ Lang, Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học by Việt Viêm Tử, Tử Vi nghiệm lý by Thiên Lương and Tử Vi tổng hợp by Nguyễn Phát Lộc. Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên lists the two stars in the Lục sát set, right after Kình Dương and Đà La[1]; Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học abbreviates the pair as Kiếp Không[2]. Unlike Kình Dương and Đà La (placed from the position of Lộc Tồn), these two stars are placed purely by birth hour.
The placement in one sentence: starting from the Hợi palace counted as the Tý hour, count forward to the birth hour to place Địa Kiếp, and count backward to the birth hour to place Địa Không. Việt Viêm Tử puts it in two lines of verse: "Kiếp không khởi tự Hợi cung, Không nghịch kiếp thuận, long hung tuỳ thời" (Kiếp and Không start from the Hợi palace; Không goes backward, Kiếp forward, rising or baleful according to the hour)[2].
Placement by birth hour
According to Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên[1]:
- Địa Kiếp: take the Hợi palace as the starting point, count it as the Tý hour, then count forward to the birth hour; the palace where you stop is where Địa Kiếp is placed.
- Địa Không: also take the Hợi palace as the starting point, count it as the Tý hour, but count backward to the birth hour; the palace where you stop is where Địa Không is placed.
Because the two stars travel in opposite directions from the same starting point, their positions are always symmetrical across the Hợi-Tỵ axis. The table below lists all twelve birth hours, cross-checked against the placement systematised in Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học[2]:
| Birth hour | Địa Kiếp at | Địa Không at | Configuration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tý | Hợi | Hợi | Same palace at Hợi |
| Sửu | Tý | Tuất | Giáp biên at Hợi |
| Dần | Sửu | Dậu | Tam hợp (four palaces apart) |
| Mão | Dần | Thân | Xung chiếu each other |
| Thìn | Mão | Mùi | Tam hợp (four palaces apart) |
| Tỵ | Thìn | Ngọ | Giáp biên at Tỵ |
| Ngọ | Tỵ | Tỵ | Same palace at Tỵ |
| Mùi | Ngọ | Thìn | Giáp biên at Tỵ |
| Thân | Mùi | Mão | Tam hợp (four palaces apart) |
| Dậu | Thân | Dần | Xung chiếu each other |
| Tuất | Dậu | Sửu | Tam hợp (four palaces apart) |
| Hợi | Tuất | Tý | Giáp biên at Hợi |
Việt Viêm Tử in Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học[2] draws out three configurations worth remembering: same palace for Tý or Ngọ births, giáp biên for Sửu, Hợi, Tỵ, and Mùi births, and xung chiếu for Mão or Dậu births. He holds that once these three configurations are grasped, there is no need to recalculate the Kiếp Không positions each time a chart is cast.
Why do Tý and Ngọ births put them in the same palace at Tỵ and Hợi?
This follows directly from the backward-forward placement rather than being a separate convention. For a Tý-hour birth both stars stop right at the starting point Hợi. The Ngọ hour is the seventh of the twelve hours: counting forward from Hợi seven steps reaches Tỵ, and counting backward from Hợi seven steps also reaches Tỵ. So only the Tý and Ngọ hours give a same-palace meeting, and that meeting occurs only at Tỵ or Hợi.
How is the same-palace meeting at Tỵ and Hợi interpreted?
Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên quotes the verse "Kiếp, Không, Tỵ, Hợi, đồng vị, tảo đạt công danh" and explains: with the Mệnh palace at Tỵ or Hợi and Kiếp and Không seated together in it, career success comes early, "but does not last long". Another verse in the book says that a Mệnh at Tỵ or Hợi holding Kiếp, Không, Thiên Tướng and Thiên Mã together and meeting Hóa Khoa marks a gifted person who builds a great enterprise in a time of turmoil[1]. Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học writes that Kiếp Không nhập miếu at Tỵ or Hợi brings sudden fame and wealth, "phát dã như lôi" (rising like thunder), though for most birth years it does not last; the book adds that the full nhập miếu configuration is very hard to obtain, because Tuần and Triệt must be entirely absent[2].
In Tử Vi nghiệm lý, Thiên Lương records Địa Không and Địa Kiếp as Fire stars that are đắc địa at Tỵ, Hợi, Dần and Thân, and writes that a Mệnh vô chính diệu of the Fire element meeting Không Kiếp in these four palaces "is vô chính diệu đắc Không". He adds a condition: these stars "do not allow Tuần, Triệt or Thiên Tài to touch them". Elsewhere he is more guarded: Không Kiếp at Dần, Thân, Tỵ or Hợi "only lift each other up for a time" and later fade as in every other position[3].
How do đắc địa and hãm địa of Không Kiếp differ?
Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên records Địa Kiếp as yang Fire and Địa Không as yin Fire, đắc địa at Dần, Thân, Tỵ and Hợi. According to the book, Kiếp and Không in đắc địa correspond to a person who is discreet, thoughtful, resourceful and courageous, but whose career rises and falls and whose wealth is like a drifting cloud; for hãm địa the book uses heavy words such as devious, cunning, selfish and miserly, seldom getting what they wish[1].
Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học divides differently: both stars belong to Fire, "miếu địa at Tỵ and Hợi", "bình địa at Dần and Thân"[2]. Thiên Lương also weighs the element of the Mệnh: in his account the sát tinh have only two elements, Fire and Metal, so only a Mệnh vô chính diệu of Fire or Metal can lean on a sát tinh that is đắc địa and of its own element, in which case it "dares to contend on equal terms with Sát Phá Tham"; a Metal Mệnh meeting Không Kiếp he still regards as unfavorable "even when đắc địa"[3].
When they shine together on one palace
Beyond the same-palace and giáp biên configurations, the most notable case is when Địa Không and Địa Kiếp both shine onto a single palace. For a Mão-hour birth, Kiếp is at Dần and Không at Thân; for a Dậu-hour birth, Kiếp is at Thân and Không at Dần[2]. The Dần and Thân palaces are xung chiếu to each other, so a Mệnh palace at Dần or Thân has one star seated in it and the other shining from the opposite palace. Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên[1] describes this situation with the verse Dần, Thân, Kiếp, Không nhi ngộ Qúy tinh thăng trầm vô độ: however many auspicious stars gather, the fate still rises and sinks endlessly, and fortune and wealth gather and scatter unpredictably.
In the same group of configurations, the book also records Kiếp, Cơ ngộ Hỏa, tất ngộ hỏa tai, meaning Kiếp and Thiên Cơ in the same palace meeting Hỏa Tinh tends to bring fire disasters, and Mệnh trung ngộ Kiếp, Tham do như lãng lý hành thuyền, meaning Kiếp with Tham Lang makes a life of toil and drifting, prone to water accidents[1].
Does seeing Không Kiếp always mean an inauspicious verdict?
Not necessarily, by the books' own account. Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên records that Kiếp and Không gathering with Tử Vi and Thiên Phủ turn dim, yet sharing a palace with Thiên Tướng and Thiên Mã at Tỵ or Hợi and meeting Hóa Khoa they form the configuration of building a career in a time of turmoil. For a woman's chart, the book says Kiếp and Không in đắc địa at the Mệnh mark a person who is firm, resourceful and courageous, quick to accomplish things though not for long; for hãm địa the book uses very harsh words, which are the idiom of old books and not a judgment about any particular person[1].
Tử Vi nghiệm lý toàn thư[3] further cites the case of Tử Phủ at Dần and Thân meeting Không Kiếp and assigns it the type of the hypocrite, using this to illustrate the character Hồ Tôn Hiến in Truyện Kiều. This is a literary reading by one Tử Vi author, not a historical conclusion about the figure.
How does Địa Không differ from Thiên Không and Tuần Không?
In the four books the word "Không" refers to several different stars. Địa Không is the star placed by birth hour and paired with Địa Kiếp; Thiên Không is a different star: Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên places Thiên Không in the palace just ahead of Thái Tuế, that is, by birth year[1], and Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học likewise places Thiên Không together with Thiếu Dương in the palace ahead of Thái Tuế[2]. Thiên Lương mentions a "current opinion" that Thiên Không is really the partner of Địa Kiếp, but he leans toward the view that Thiên Không stands alone next to Thái Tuế[3]. Nguyễn Phát Lộc counts Tuần, Triệt, Địa Không and Thiên Không as four separate "Không" stars[4]. So the phrase "Đào ngộ Không" in Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học is about Thiên Không, and the words "Đà Không" in that book's verse on the Phúc Đức palace are glossed by the book itself as Đà La with Tuần Không; neither is Địa Không.
Points on which the books disagree
On placement, Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên and Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học say the same thing: start from Hợi, Kiếp forward and Không backward by birth hour. The difference lies in how đắc and hãm are ranked. Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên[1] and Thiên Lương[3] both give đắc địa at the four palaces Dần, Thân, Tỵ and Hợi; Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học[2] treats only Tỵ and Hợi as miếu địa, with Dần and Thân as bình địa. Thiên Lương adds a condition on the element of the Mệnh; he and Việt Viêm Tử both require that the two stars not be blocked by Tuần or Triệt. On the elements, Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên separates Địa Kiếp as yang Fire and Địa Không as yin Fire, while the other two books simply record Fire.
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestions
- Settle the birth hour first: the two stars are placed by hour, and a one-hour difference changes their positions; the table above gives a quick lookup.
- When a book says "Không", check whether it means Địa Không, Thiên Không or Tuần Không before comparing.
- Note which book you are following for đắc and hãm, since Tử Vi đẩu số tân biên and Tử Vi áo bí biện chứng học rank the Dần and Thân palaces differently.
- The harsh phrases of the old books are the idiom of a symbolic system, not a forecast about any particular person.
