What Are Mieu, Vuong, Dac, Binh, Ham and Why Does the Same Star Read Oppositely in Different Palaces?

What Are Mieu, Vuong, Dac, Binh, Ham?

Mieu, Vuong, Dac, Binh, Ham are the five levels rating a star's brightness when it sits in a specific palace of a Tu Vi chart. On the chart, after the star's name there is usually a symbol (M), (V), (D), (B), (H) corresponding to each level. Other names are the standing position, dac dia (favorable ground) or thac dia (lost ground). This is not a fixed attribute of the star, but an attribute of the star and palace pair: Thai Duong in Ngo is Mieu, but that same Thai Duong in Hoi is Ham.

The core principle: each star has its own "living ground," and when it stands on the right ground its vital energy rises, strengths bloom and flaws shrink. The book Tu Vi Dau So by Vu Tai Luc and Thai Thu Lang both interpret along this line: a star on living ground from Dac upward has its good traits increased and bad traits limited, the auspicious grow more auspicious, and if malefic, less malefic. In the ghi chep tu vi 01, the full scale can be listed as Mieu dia, Vuong dia, Dac dia, Binh dia, Bai dia, Ham dia; that is, some books separate the Bai level and place it between Binh and Ham.

How Do the Five Brightness Levels Differ?

According to the common presentation on Vietnamese Tu Vi sites, the five levels are understood as follows:

• Mieu (M): the highest brightness, the star is maximally activated for good traits. A lucky star is very lucky, a malefic star has its malefic energy strongly curbed, even turned into a good omen.
• Vuong (V): the second brightness level. Lucky stars are greatly auspicious, malefic stars clearly reduce their harm and begin to show their good face.
• Dac (D): weaker than Vuong. Lucky stars still keep their goodness, malefic stars still carry bad traits but are somewhat reduced.
• Binh (B): dim brightness. Lucky stars keep only a little auspiciousness, malefic stars begin to reveal their harm.
• Ham (H): the dimmest. Lucky stars have their goodness reduced, their nature may change; malefic stars have their bad traits activated many times over.

One terminology note: "Mieu" here does not mean a temple. The phrase "nhap Mieu" is a figure of speech, meaning the star reaches its most flourishing state, as if placed in its most revered position.

Why Does the Same Star Read Oppositely in Different Palaces?

Because each star has only a few palaces as its living ground, and the rest are hostile ground. Standing on living ground, the star brings out its true good nature; falling on hostile ground, that same nature is bent to its opposite side. This is why the same star, the same person, only needs a palace change for the reading to be completely different.

The clearest example is Thai Duong. According to Tuyen tap bai viet Tu Vi chon loc so 8, Thai Duong in Ngo usually gives a strong, decisive character, easy success and prestige; while Thai Duong in Dau can make the native find it hard to show authority, easily overshadowed, prone to dissatisfaction with circumstances. The book Tu Vi Khao Luan by Ham Chuong (cited in Tuyen tap bai viet Tu Vi chon loc so 1) goes further: a Ham-dia Thai Duong meeting Khoi Viet, Xuong Khuc, Khoa Quyen Loc, Dao Hong Hi can still bring wealth and fame, but of the "person born at the wrong time" kind, talented yet struggling to realize ideals, easily failing through impatience.

How Do Lucky and Malefic Stars Change Nature When Bright or Dim?

With lucky stars, the brightness level decides whether they have enough force to auspiciously transform. Tuyen tap bai viet Tu Vi chon loc so 17 notes: a lucky star in Mieu or Vuong has its energy maximally expressed, its auspicious transformation strong and clear; in Ham dia it is weak, unable to bring good, even overwhelmed by malefic stars. This book also cites an old idea: a Mieu or Vuong lucky star meeting Hoa Ky can still succeed after hardship, while a chinh tinh in lac ham meeting Hoa Ky easily becomes a great disaster.

With malefic and hostile stars, the direction reverses. Tu Vi kinh nghiem quyen ha states the principle: the Hung tinh group (Sat, Pha, Tham, Liem) when Ham needs a dac dia Sat tinh alongside; while Tu, Phu, Co, Nguyet dac dia meeting a Ham Sat tinh is no problem, but dac dia meeting a dac dia Sat tinh becomes bad because the two compete, and if Tu Phu Co Nguyet is Ham and meets a dac dia Sat tinh it is very bad, because the malefic star overwhelms the good traits. In short: a malefic star fits only when it is strong and travels with a strong malefic group, not when it is strong but stands beside a weak lucky star.

Cu Mon: One Star, Two Personalities

Cu Mon is the classic example of dac dia or ham dia creating two opposite portraits. Tuyen tap bai viet Tu Vi chon loc so 3 records that Cu Mon dac dia in Dan, Mao, Than, Dau (nhap mieu) or Ty, Ty, Ngo, Hoi (vuong) gives a person with a clever mind, a kind heart, wise strategy, sharp persuasive speech, suited to lawyer, diplomat, teacher, judge; Cu Mon dac dia in Ty, Ngo is even considered accomplished in both letters and arms. Conversely, Cu Mon ham dia in Suu, Thin, Mui, Tuat easily becomes deceitful, talkative, causing gossip; with Kinh Da, Hoa Linh added it easily leads to illness from wine and lust, betrayal by friends.

Notably, Cu Mon's "hoa am" nature stays there in both cases. Dac dia does not erase the root, it only redirects that root to its useful side.

Why Must Thai Duong and Thai Am Also Consider Day or Night Birth Time?

Because these two stars are symbols of the sun and moon, their brightness ties directly to the time of day, not only to the palace. Thai Duong is brightest around midday, so Thai Duong in Ngo is called Nhat Le Trung Thien, the sun standing at noon, and is considered nhap Mieu. The Ty and Ngo palaces are strong ground for Thai Duong; the Dau, Tuat, Hoi, Ty palaces are ham ground according to Tuyen tap bai viet Tu Vi chon loc so 1.

Thai Am is the reverse, dac dia and vuong dia at night. According to Tuyen tap bai viet Tu Vi chon loc so 8, Thai Am is mieu vuong in Than, Dau, Tuat, Hoi, palaces matching the bright full moon, giving gentleness, softness and wisdom; in Ty, Suu it is at vuong or dac level, matching the full or just-full moon, giving a sensitive, compassionate soul, good diplomacy and luck in wealth, especially land and housing. Tuyen tap bai viet Tu Vi chon loc so 1 also warns of the Nhat Nguyet lac ham position: it is like the sun trying to rise at nightfall, the moon trying to shine at daybreak, both against natural order, easily unsettling the native's mind.

This point explains why for Thai Duong and Thai Am the reader must also check whether the birth time is day or night, not just consult the palace table. A night-born chart with a Ham Thai Duong in a palace may be less bad than the same position born by day.

Where Vietnamese and Chinese Books Differ

This is a rarely mentioned part but important when looking up, because two different tables give two different readings.

According to academic discussion on the Ly so Viet Nam forum, That Sat in Ngo is recorded as mieu dia by Vietnamese Tu Vi books, while Chinese documents sometimes say mieu, sometimes vuong. Purely by the five elements, That Sat of Kim element sitting in Ngo of strong Hoa is clearly not a good position by generating and overcoming theory. But practical experience shows That Sat in Than, Ngo, Mui, Ty are the strongest positions of this star. This shows the mieu vuong dac binh ham table is the long-accumulated result of the ancients, not a pure deduction from the five elements.

As for the number of levels, not every book uses all five. Ghi chep tu vi 01 lists six levels including Bai dia, meaning there is a tradition of inserting an extra step between Binh and Ham. Some other documents use only four levels Mieu, Vuong, Dac, Ham and drop Binh entirely. So when comparing two charts from two different software programs, you may find one says Binh while the other says Ham for the same star in the same palace. This difference is a difference of convention, not an error.

A Few Common Mistakes When Reading the Table

First, confusing a palace whose name matches another concept. "Than" in "Thien Dong cu Than" can be the Than palace among the twelve earthly branches, or the Than cung in Menh Than. The two are completely different and give different brightness levels. On the Ly so Viet Nam forum there was exactly this kind of debate: Thien Dong cu Than (earthly branch) is read as Vuong dia by Thuy element, while the asker mistook it for the Than cung of Menh Than.

Second, confusing a star's nature with its brightness. A star considered "good" by legend, for example Thien Dong tied to Van Vuong, can still be ham dia in some palaces, because brightness speaks of the star's standing in the palace, not the morality of the character tied to the star.

Third, absolutizing brightness. Mieu does not mean everything is good, Ham does not mean everything is bad. Tuyen tap bai viet Tu Vi chon loc so 17 stresses looking at the whole picture: palace position, interaction with other stars, and the specific context of the chart. The same Ham star, meeting Tuan Triet or meeting Tu Hoa, can give very different results.

Looking Up the Brightness of the 14 Chinh Tinh

The detailed lookup by each star and each palace is presented in the lookup table at the end of the article, built directly from the brightness data that the site's calculation core prints on the chart. That table is the official reference source for this article. When you see a discrepancy with a paper book's table, treat it as a convention difference between schools, and note both rather than mechanically choosing one.

Table of Mieu, Vuong, Dac, Binh, Ham for the 14 Chinh Tinh

The table below is exactly the table the Nhat Nguyet Tu Vi chart tool uses when recording brightness for each star. Abbreviations: M is Mieu, V is Vuong, D is Dac, B is Binh, H is Ham. Vietnamese and Chinese books differ in some cells; this table follows the common Vietnamese style.