Monthly Palm Star · 本月掌中星（流月）

The monthly palm star is this tool’s "flowing month" layer, filling the gap between the year and the day. The month palace is already the intermediate step of the day palace — the daily star is counted onward from the month palace to the lunar day — so this layer introduces no new derivation; it simply surfaces a palace that was always being counted, which is why the two can never disagree. The default "counting" method takes the year palace from the lunar year branch, then counts forward from the first lunar month to the current one; that palace’s palm star is the month’s star. A "month-build" alternative (first month builds on Yín, second on Mǎo) borrows the month branch from BaZi and is marked as outside the tradition rather than made the default. Like the daily layer, the monthly layer has no settled classical method — neither is named in the old texts. Across a lunar new year the month palace advances by two places rather than one: the year palace moves on while the month number returns to one. That is the counting rule itself, not a skipped step. Leap months follow whichever leap-month school is selected.

Why the layer exists 為什麼補這一層

Before it, the ladder of time ran decade (ten years) → year → ⟨gap⟩ → day. A year and a day are two orders of magnitude apart, and a daily star on its own says very little: today falls on Tiān Rèn — but a sharp day inside what kind of month? The monthly layer is what makes the daily one answerable.

How a month is read

1. Fix the month’s palace by the chosen method (below).
2. That palace’s palm star is the month’s star — the tenor of the month, the same for everyone.
3. Compare the palace with each of the four natal pillars — clash (沖), harmony (合), trine (三合), punishment (刑), harm (害), destruction (破) or same (比和) — to see which part of life the month touches. This relation is the only part that differs from person to person.

Where the methods differ 起法

• Counting (順數法) — default — the year palace is the lunar year branch; count forward from the first lunar month to the current one. This is the natal chart’s own counting rule applied to another date, and it is the same palace the daily star is counted onward from, so the monthly and daily layers cannot disagree.
• Month-build (月建法) — the first lunar month builds on Yín (寅), the second on Mǎo (卯), and so on. Borrowed from the BaZi month branch; marked as outside the tradition rather than made the default.

Two things that look like bugs but are the rule

• Across a lunar new year the palace advances by two, not one. The year palace moves on one place while the month number returns to one, so the twelfth month to the first month is a net +2. It is the counting rule itself.
• A leap month shares its palace with the month it doubles under the default leap school, because the count uses the month number. The alternative school moves the second half of a leap month to the next palace. Whichever is selected for the natal chart is used here too — one rule, not two.

The twelve stars as a month 本月主星

• 天貴 The Noble — A month of standing and goodwill. Things move through people rather than effort, so this is the month to schedule the conversations you have been putting off — introductions, partnerships, asking an elder for help all land better now than they will later.
• 天厄 The Adversity — A month of grind. Progress snags on detail, waiting and rework, so give it tidying, finishing and patching rather than anything needing a single clean run. What it costs in effort it usually returns as foundation.
• 天權 The Authority — A month of authority. Responsibility and the casting vote tend to land on you, so schedule what needs deciding or leading here — but once taken up, carry it through; letting go midway costs more than never having taken it.
• 天破 The Rupture — A month of upheaval. Settled arrangements get changed, and the fuller the schedule the more it gets disrupted. Use it for what was due to be replaced anyway — going with the break costs less than holding the line.
• 天奸 The Cunning — A month of cleverness. Reading the room and negotiating come easily, so put the haggling, the comparing and the brokering here — while watching that the urge to find a shortcut does not make the job more complicated than it was.
• 天文 The Scholar — A month for the mind. Reading goes in and writing comes out, so give it study, exams, proposals and anything needing quiet thought; what it produces tends to survive as a document or a piece of work.
• 天福 The Blessing — A month of ease. The pace is loose and resistance is low — good for rest, for gatherings and for mending relationships. It will not push anything large forward, but little goes wrong in it; treat it as recovery.
• 天驛 The Journey — A month of movement. Travel, trips and changes of place cluster here, and the openings tend to be elsewhere rather than where you are. Batch the journeys into it — one run costs less than the same distance spread thin.
• 天孤 The Solitary — A month of solitude. Contact thins out but concentration deepens, so give it the work that has to be done alone — writing, research, going deep on a craft. The quiet is the condition, not a punishment.
• 天刃 The Blade — A month of edge. Drive is high and decisions come fast — good for anything needing a push — but words land harder and actions overshoot, so let the important calls sit a day before confirming them.
• 天藝 The Artisan — A month of making. Ideas turn into objects, so give it design, building, repair and anything done with the hands; it usually produces more than it plans.
• 天壽 The Longevity — A month of steadiness. Progress is slow but nothing slides back — the month for what accumulates: systems, habits, long-range reserves. Pushing for speed does nothing here; pushing for solidity does.

Month ↔ natal pillar 本月打在哪一柱

• Same palace (同宮同氣) — this month lands on the same palace and star as that pillar — everything it governs is magnified, for better and worse, and easiest to overdo
• Harmony (相合) — this month harmonises with that pillar — low resistance and easy cooperation there; a month to schedule the conversations that belong to it
• Trine (三合) — this month forms a trine with that pillar — allies and momentum are available there, enough to advance it rather than merely hold it
• Clash (相沖) — this month clashes with that pillar — change and running about there; slack in the schedule serves better than a full one
• Punishment (相刑) — this month punishes that pillar — friction from close ties or standing partnerships; saying it up front costs less this month than repairing it later
• Harm (相害) — this month harms that pillar — good intentions get misread there; a quiet drain rather than open conflict
• Destruction (相破) — this month breaks with that pillar — settled arrangements shift midway there; not a month to compress the timeline
• Neutral (平) — no special relation with that pillar this month — simply read it by the month’s star

The monthly layer, like the daily one, is not classical. The Palm Sutra settles a method for the year but not for the month, so this is an extension rather than a rule — stated here so it is not mistaken for tradition. It describes the tenor of a month, not events. For reference and entertainment.

The layers around it: decade luck → annual fortune → month → daily star.

See the twelve palm stars. This month’s star for a birth chart is shown at https://localpapa.com/tools/yizhang.html.

Annual fortune · Daily palm star · Schools & conventions · Palm Sutra knowledge base

機器可讀原始檔（供 AI 檢索）：/okf/yizhang/monthly.md