What is Xuan Kong Flying Stars?
Xuan Kong Flying Stars (Chinese: 玄空飛星) is a school of feng shui, often shortened to Xuan Kong, that uses the Nine Stars as its main tool. Each star carries one of the Five Elements, an auspicious or inauspicious nature, and is said to "fly" into the palaces on the luopan according to each time period. From the combination of star, palace and time period, the practitioner makes judgments about wealth, health, career and family for a house or a grave.
Origin and usage
By tradition, this method is associated with famous Chinese feng shui masters and later spread into Vietnam through lineages of geomancers. In the common understanding, time is divided into periods, each lasting twenty years, and nine periods together form a large cycle. A basic star chart usually has three layers of stars: the period star, the mountain star (related to people and health) and the facing star (related to wealth and career). These three layers are placed into the nine palaces of the luopan, combined with the facing direction and sitting mountain to assess fortune.
What are the Nine Stars?
The Nine Stars are One White, Two Black, Three Jade, Four Green, Five Yellow, Six White, Seven Red, Eight White and Nine Purple. Each star has its own element and meaning: One White governs wealth and wisdom; Two Black governs illness; Three Jade governs disputes; Four Green governs learning; Five Yellow is a strong malefic; Six White governs nobility; Seven Red governs gossip; Eight White governs wealth and advancement; Nine Purple governs prosperity. When stars meet in certain combinations, fortune can transform, so they should not be read in isolation.
Distinguishing from easily confused terms
Xuan Kong Flying Stars differs from Eight Mansions, which uses only the personal trigram and eight directions without time-based flying stars. It should also be distinguished from San He, a school that emphasizes landform and the relationships between palaces rather than period-based flying stars. In addition, the 24 mountains are a system of dividing directions on the luopan, shared by many feng shui schools, and are not exclusive to Xuan Kong.
A note when consulting
Xuan Kong Flying Stars belongs to traditional feng shui. It is reference knowledge, not scientifically verified, and should not replace decisions about architecture, safety or health.