Nine Star Ki: the year and month you were born read as one of nine stars moving through a magic square.
Nine Star Ki comes out of the same Chinese cosmology as feng shui, and reached the West largely through Japan. Nine stars, each carrying an element and a trigram, cycle through the nine houses of the Lo Shu square year by year. The star of your birth year describes your character as others meet it; the month star describes the emotional interior, and the two together are the reading.
The year turns at Risshun, around 4 February, not at the Gregorian new year, and each month turns at its solar term. A birth within a day of one of those boundaries genuinely can fall either side, so the app says so rather than picking silently.
How it is computed
Year and month stars of Nine Star Ki, with the year beginning at Risshun (about 4 February) and each month at its sekki; approximate dates, so a birth within a day of a boundary is marked.
The nine stars
Nine stars moving through the nine houses of the Lo Shu square, year by year.
One White Water
One White Water: the deep, the winter, the seed under ice. You go where others do not look and you keep your own counsel. Your strength is depth and adaptability; your care is isolation.
Two Black Earth
Two Black Earth: the mother soil, service, steadiness. You hold and you nourish, and you notice what needs doing. Your strength is care; your care is giving past your own reserves.
Three Jade Tree
Three Jade Tree: the thunder of spring, the first green. You begin, you act, you say it first. Your strength is initiative; your care is finishing.
Four Green Tree
Four Green Tree: the wind, the spreading branch, the go-between. You move things along by moving between people. Your strength is influence and trust; your care is being blown off course.
Five Yellow Earth
Five Yellow Earth: the centre of the square, the axis. Everything passes through you and you can bear a great deal. Your strength is command; your care is the extremes that come with the centre.
Six White Metal
Six White Metal: the heaven, the father, the sword of principle. You lead by standard and you expect the same of yourself. Your strength is integrity; your care is rigidity.
Seven Red Metal
Seven Red Metal: the lake, the autumn, joy and the finished thing. You bring pleasure and polish, and people relax around you. Your strength is charm; your care is spending what should be kept.
Eight White Earth
Eight White Earth: the mountain, stillness, the turn of the year. You accumulate slowly and you change all at once. Your strength is reserve; your care is stubbornness.
Nine Purple Fire
Nine Purple Fire: the summer sun, brilliance, being seen. You illuminate and you are illuminated; nothing about you is hidden for long. Your strength is clarity and passion; your care is burning out.
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The five elements
Each star carries one of the five elements, which is how two stars get along or do not.
Water
Water in Nine Star Ki is winter and the north: depth, stillness, what moves unseen. Water people go under, and they go far.
Earth
Earth is the center and the turning points of the year: support, patience, the ground that holds. Earth people steady a room.
Tree
Tree is spring and the east: growth, drive, the green push upward. Tree people start things and cannot help it.
Metal
Metal is autumn and the west: clarity, edge, the cutting away of what is finished. Metal people decide.
Fire
Fire is summer and the south: brightness, expression, being seen. Fire people light up a room and pay for it after.
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