What Are Tuần and Triệt on a Tử Vi Chart, How Are They Placed, and What Do They Do to Stars in the Blocked Palaces?

What are Tuần and Triệt on a Tử Vi chart?

Tuần and Triệt, whose full names are Tuần Không and Triệt Không, are two stars in the void (không vong) group within Tử Vi Đẩu Số (Vietnamese astrology), alongside Địa Không. In the presentation common on Tử Vi reference sites, these two stars are not fixed as either inauspicious or auspicious; their effect depends on their position on the chart and their combination with other stars.

What makes Tuần and Triệt special is that they do not sit neatly inside a single palace, but always block the space between two adjacent palaces. So when interpreting, both of those palaces are counted as being affected. The characteristic of Tuần Không is obstruction, hardship, persistence, slow movement, and it is assigned the Metal element. The characteristic of Triệt Không is restraint, blocking good fortune, deadlock, obstacles, destruction, and it is assigned the Fire element. It should be noted that even the assignment of the five elements to these two stars is not consistent between schools.

Why do Tuần and Triệt always block between two palaces?

The mechanism of "blocking between two palaces" comes directly from how the stars are placed. Tuần Không is derived from the tuần Giáp, that is, from the gap within the 60-year cycle (hoa giáp). One tuần Giáp consists of 10 days pairing 10 Heavenly Stems with 10 of the 12 Earthly Branches, so there are always 2 Earthly Branches left empty. Those two empty Earthly Branches are the Tuần Không of that tuần. Because they are two Earthly Branches adjacent to each other within the 12 Branches, when placed on a chart, Tuần always occupies two adjacent palaces, meaning it sits between two palaces.

Triệt Không is placed according to the Heavenly Stem of the birth year. Each pair of Heavenly Stems corresponds to a pair of adjacent palaces, so Triệt also always blocks between two palaces. This is the core reason why both Tuần and Triệt never stand neatly within a single palace, and why interpretation must consider both palaces they block.

How is Tuần placed according to the tuần Giáp of the birth year?

To place Tuần, you must first determine which tuần Giáp the birth year belongs to. A year with the Heavenly Stem Giáp is a birth year ending in the number 4, for example 1984, 1994, 2004, 2014. From the birth year, count backward to the nearest Giáp year, then consult the following table.

For example, someone born in 2000, counting backward to the nearest Giáp year is 1994, that is Giáp Tuất, so Tuần is placed in the two palaces Thân and Dậu. This tuần không table matches the way it is recorded in the book Kỳ Môn Chỉ Quy, volume 1, in the section on tuần không directions: the tuần Giáp Tý is empty at Tuất and Hợi, the tuần Giáp Tuất is empty at Thân and Dậu, the tuần Giáp Thân is empty at Ngọ and Mùi, the tuần Giáp Ngọ is empty at Thìn and Tỵ, the tuần Giáp Thìn is empty at Dần and Mão, the tuần Giáp Dần is empty at Tý and Sửu. The method of establishing the tuần Giáp is also presented in detail in the book Đẩu số tinh thành, volume 1 part 1: after the 10 stems are exhausted, the two Earthly Branches left empty from the previous round are given priority to be paired first in the next round.

It should be remembered that Tuần is not a fixed pair of bad palaces. The same Tuất palace: a person born in a year belonging to the tuần Giáp Tý has Tuần placed at Tuất and Hợi, while a person born in a year belonging to the tuần Giáp Thìn has Tuần placed at Dần and Mão, and the Tuất palace is not affected at all. So one cannot say that the Tuất palace or the Hợi palace is a useless palace; you must look it up according to each person's specific birth year.

How is Triệt placed according to the Heavenly Stem of the birth year?

Triệt is simpler to place, relying only on the Heavenly Stem of the birth year, with each pair of stems corresponding to a pair of adjacent palaces.

It is important to distinguish clearly: Tuần is taken according to the tuần Giáp of the birth year, while Triệt is taken according to the Heavenly Stem of the birth year. The two placement methods differ, so for the same birth year, the pair of palaces blocked by Tuần and the pair blocked by Triệt may or may not coincide. When Tuần and Triệt block the same pair of palaces, the degree of influence is usually considered stronger than when only one of the two is present.

Table distinguishing Tuần, Triệt and Địa Không

These three can overlap in the same palace, creating a state that documents call Tam Không. The book Tử Vi kinh nghiệm, lower volume, when citing the old saying about Tam Không, also notes that Tam Không should not be confused with Thiên Không, because Thiên Không is a separate star, standing before Thái Tuế.

The general principle: good stars are reduced, bad stars are tempered?

The most common principle when interpreting Tuần and Triệt is: meeting a good star reduces good fortune, meeting a bad star restrains the harm. The sources presenting this principle all emphasise that Tuần and Triệt only reduce influence and do not change the fundamental nature of the star, they do not turn bad into good or the reverse.

The root of this principle lies in the understanding of tuần không in Lục Nhâm. The book Lục Nhâm, volume 1: Introduction defines tuần không as the two Branches absent from the ten days of a tuần Giáp being divined, for example in the tuần Giáp Tý, Tuất and Hợi are the tuần không, and it states clearly that tuần không "has the power to make empty": an inauspicious deity meeting tuần không means the disaster lacks the strength to harm, an auspicious deity meeting tuần không means the good fortune is reduced, sometimes lost. That spirit was carried over into Tử Vi as the saying that good stars are reduced and bad stars are tempered.

The book Tử Vi kinh nghiệm, lower volume, records an old view: an inauspicious star in a strong position (miếu địa) is inherently good, but meeting Tuần Triệt it becomes spoiled; while an inauspicious star in a weak position (hãm địa) is inherently bad, meeting Tuần Triệt the badness is reduced, but it is not reversed into good. This way of speaking shows that Tuần Triệt can harm both the good and the bad, depending on context.

Some specific cases are also recorded in the book Tử Vi kinh nghiệm, lower volume. Lộc Tồn is inherently a star of wealth, but if it is overshadowed by Tuần or Triệt, wealth is hard to bring into play, and accumulation meets obstacles. Thiên Hình, when blocked by Tuần Triệt, has its authority diminished, even lost entirely, interpreted as a "broken sword". The same book also records the sayings "Triệt đáo Kim cung" and "Tuần lâm Hỏa địa", holding that Triệt in the Thân Dậu palaces (Metal) is not a concern for a Metal destiny, and Tuần in the Ngọ Mùi palaces (Fire) is not a concern for a Fire destiny, but the book also reminds readers to experiment to verify which way is more correct.

Is tuần không an absolutely bad omen?

No. According to the book Lục Nhâm, volume 1: Introduction, tuần không has the power to make empty, meaning it reduces the intensity of whatever it touches rather than carrying inauspiciousness or auspiciousness in itself. An inauspicious deity meeting tuần không means the disaster lacks the strength to harm, an auspicious deity meeting tuần không means the good fortune is reduced, sometimes lost.

This book also explains the origin of tuần không: ten Heavenly Stems paired with twelve Earthly Branches have a least common multiple of sixty, so there are six tuần Giáp, and within each sixty-day cycle there are always two Earthly Branches not yet used. Those two Branches are unused within the tuần, hence called tuần không.

Applied to Tử Vi, this means Tuần in a palace with inauspicious stars can soften the badness, while Tuần in a palace with auspicious stars can blur the goodness. So two charts with the same main stars but different birth years, one person with Tuần in the Wealth palace and one without, will yield different interpretations even though the stars are the same.

Bát Tự (BaZi) documents also record the reverse direction: Không Vong meeting auspicious deities such as Thiên Ất Quý Nhân, Thiên Nguyệt Đức Quý Nhân, Long Đức can be dissolved, but a portion of the blessing is diminished; while Không Vong meeting Tử Tuyệt, Kiếp Sát, Hàm Trì, Lục Hại makes the negative impact greater. This is a rule of the Bát Tự school, but the spirit that "không vong is not one-directional" is shared across the disciplines.

What about Tuần and Triệt in a Mệnh palace with no main star?

A Mệnh palace with no main star (vô chính diệu) is the case most discussed when talking about Tuần and Triệt. The book Tử Vi kinh nghiệm, lower volume, cites the old saying "Mệnh vô chính diệu, đắc tam không, nhi phú quý khả kỳ", in which tam không is understood as Triệt Không, Tuần Không and Địa Không. But even this saying has another reading: "phú quý khả kỳ" hints that wealth and honour are limited, that is, wealth and honour are not lasting, rather than being a well-wishing phrase. The book also notes that tam không should not be confused with Thiên Không.

Another view holds that Tuần and Triệt can reduce the susceptibility to outside circumstances in a person with a Mệnh palace with no main star, but do not change the original nature of the Mệnh palace with no main star. This is a more cautious view than treating tam không as a guarantee of wealth and honour.

Triệt strong before age 30, Tuần later: what is the view and the counter-argument?

A view widely circulated in folk Tử Vi circles holds that Triệt has a strong effect in youth, weakening after around age 30, while Tuần is lighter but more persistent, affecting the whole life. This way of speaking often comes with the judgement that male charts prefer Triệt over Tuần, and female charts prefer Tuần over Triệt.

However, this is not a view accepted by all schools. One view holds that people with Tuần Triệt guarding the Mệnh palace face difficulties in youth, and as they grow older Triệt's effect diminishes so everything becomes easier, while Tuần becomes more persistent over time. But some other documents hold that Tuần and Triệt can loosen each other, or that Tuần Triệt in the same palace has a stronger effect rather than a loosening one. This is a point where the schools have not agreed, and readers should be aware of it so as not to apply it mechanically.

What do "Triệt đáo kim cung" and other old sayings mean?

"Triệt đáo Kim cung" is shorthand for the view that Triệt placed in a Metal palace (Thân, Dậu) is less bad, even good for a Metal destiny, because Triệt is assigned the Metal element. Similarly, "Tuần lâm Hỏa địa" speaks of Tuần in the Ngọ, Mùi palaces. The book Tử Vi kinh nghiệm, lower volume, records these sayings along with examples: a Mệnh in the Thân palace meeting Triệt is considered less bad, while a Mệnh in the Dậu palace bearing the two words Không Vong is considered very bad. It should be stated clearly that this is an old way of interpreting, not an immutable rule, and the book itself encourages readers to verify.

Another view recorded in research circles holds that Triệt in a Metal palace is good, blocking only bad stars; Tuần in a Fire palace also blocks only bad stars. This way of speaking is tied closely to the assignment of the five elements to the two stars, and that very assignment is itself a point of dispute.

The origin of Tuần and Triệt: what questions remain open?

The origin of Tuần and Triệt is a big question without a unified answer. Ancient China did not have the concept of a week as seven days; tuần here is a unit of 10 for counting time. Some hold that the notion of tuần in Diễn Cẩm Pháp was introduced from the Western Regions, originating in the Qing dynasty, and Diễn Cẩm Pháp is a divination method using 28 constellations, unrelated to Tử Vi Đẩu Số.

Some researchers distinguish two branches of Tử Vi: the "Tử Vi chính tông" branch transmitted from court astrologers in the Tang dynasty, and the "Tử Vi dân gian" branch formed when knowledge was lost and then embellished. This is precisely why the star system and methodology lack consistency, including Tuần and Triệt. Some schools hardly use Tuần Triệt at all, for example the Khâm Thiên Hoa Sơn tứ hóa school, and the Hiện đại school founded by Liễu Vô Cư Sĩ also does not use these two stars.

There is also a view that Tuần and Triệt are not stars but only yin-yang data, representing the opening and closing of two stages. Dr. Hà Hưng Quốc is mentioned with this view. Another view holds that Tuần Triệt express abnormality, not necessarily badness, and are only subtractive rather than changing the nature of the main stars.

How do không vong in Bát Tự and tuần in Tử Vi differ?

The same concept of tuần không, but the two disciplines use two different placement methods, so the results looked up can differ. In Tử Vi, Tuần is placed using the Can Chi of the birth year. In Bát Tự, Không Vong is usually determined by the Can Chi of the birth day, with some books also considering the year pillar.

Both disciplines share the same table of six tuần Giáp. Some Bát Tự texts present: the tuần Giáp Tý has Không Vong at Tuất, Hợi; the tuần Giáp Tuất at Thân, Dậu; the tuần Giáp Thân at Ngọ, Mùi; the tuần Giáp Ngọ at Thìn, Tỵ; the tuần Giáp Thìn at Dần, Mão; the tuần Giáp Dần at Tý, Sửu. To find the remaining days, you also do it the same way: based on the Can of the birth day to determine the tuần..

So for the same person, looking up by birth day in Bát Tự and by birth year in Tử Vi can give two different pairs of Earthly Branches. This is not a contradiction, but the two disciplines using two different conventions for two different purposes. It should also be noted that in Bát Tự, Không Vong does not mean that factor disappears: old documents record that a branch meeting Không Vong often carries the meaning "has energy but no form", "has name but not reality", meaning the strength expressed outwardly is diminished rather than entirely lost.

What common prejudices should be avoided?

In actual interpretation, there are many prejudices attached to Tuần and Triệt: Tuần Triệt in the Quan Lộc palace means a career broken midway, hard to achieve prominence; in the Tài Bạch palace, hard to accumulate wealth, hardship and toil; in the Phu Thê palace, emotional breakdown. These prejudices often ignore the wholeness of the chart.

The cautious view holds that the influence of Tuần and Triệt is real but does not play a controlling role, because their nature is only qualitative and does not change auspiciousness or inauspiciousness. A chart going through challenges in career or love may be due to the configuration being in an inauspicious position, not only because of Tuần and Triệt. So when interpreting, Tuần and Triệt should be placed within the whole chart rather than looking only at their presence to conclude about an entire life.

Summary of the approach

Tuần and Triệt are two void stars with clear placement methods: Tuần according to the tuần Giáp of the birth year, Triệt according to the Heavenly Stem of the birth year. Both always block between two adjacent palaces, so interpretation must consider both palaces. The general principle is to reduce the good fortune of good stars and restrain the harm of bad stars, without reversing their nature. Between the schools there are still many points of disagreement about intensity, timing of influence, the assignment of the five elements and the degree of involvement in the chart, so readers should treat Tuần and Triệt as a reference factor within the whole, not a decisive factor.