Chinese Xiu Reading

The twenty eight Chinese lunar lodges, the xiu, historically span unequal widths measured against fixed stars along the celestial equator, not equal steps of the moon's path. A reading finds a lodge using an equal twenty eighth division of the moon's position at birth, the simplification modern almanacs use, then reads its guardian creature and direction, naming the lodge's true unequal width in du alongside it.

History

The twenty eight lodges are one of the oldest attested Chinese astronomical schemes, used from antiquity to track the moon and the planets against a fixed reference of stars along the celestial equator, and they underlie centuries of Chinese calendrical and astrological practice. The twenty eight are grouped into four palaces of seven lodges each, one for every cardinal direction, and each palace is further personified by one of the four mythological guardian creatures: the Azure Dragon in the east, the Black Tortoise in the north, the White Tiger in the west and the Vermilion Bird in the south.

A technical honesty this page follows plainly rather than smoothing over: the classical lodges are not equal in width. Each spans however many degrees separated its bounding star from the next lodge's, so the twenty eight divide the sky unevenly, some lodges spanning a wide arc and others a narrow one. No sourced conversion from those classical, unequal, equatorial widths into the moon's own ecliptic path exists in this atlas's catalog, so a modern reading of a birth moment instead uses an equal twenty eighth division of the circle, the simplification the same modern almanacs generally rely on for this purpose, and names the lodge's true classical width in du, the traditional Chinese degree unit, alongside the equal division rather than presenting the simplification as the classical measure.

The Eastern Palace, As An Example

The Azure Dragon's eastern palace opens the traditional sequence with Jiao (Horn), Kang (Neck), Di (Root) and Fang (Room), the first four of its seven lodges, each named for a body part of the dragon the palace's seven lodges are traditionally read as tracing.

How A Reading Is Constructed

A reading divides the moon's ecliptic position at birth into twenty eight equal slices, a stated simplification of the classical unequal widths, and names the resulting lodge, its guardian creature and cardinal direction, alongside the lodge's true classical width in du so the simplification is never presented as the ancient measure itself.

Where To Read More

• Jiao (Horn)Azure Dragon of the EastJiao (Horn), first lodge of the Azure Dragon's eastern palace.
• Kang (Neck)Azure Dragon of the EastKang (Neck).
• Di (Root)Azure Dragon of the EastDi (Root).
• Fang (Room)Azure Dragon of the EastFang (Room).