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Substitute Star

A Substitute Star is used in place of the original star when the Sitting or Facing Direction falls within 3 degrees in some sectors as indicated below:

In the following table, sector South 2 (including S2_pre, S2, S2_post) is from 172.5° to 187.5°, but 3° from either side is known as the "_pre" and "_post" sectors. For example, sector "S2_pre" is from 172.5° - 175.5°, and sector "S2_post" is from 184.5° - 187.5°. The Substitute Star Chart for sector "S2_pre" is "S2_sub". There is no Substitute Star Chart for sector S2 since it is not within 3° of the edge of the sector. There is also no Substitute Star Chart for sector "S2_post", and this is indicated by "Nil" in the last column of the table. A "Nil" indicates that the original Flying Star Chart be used.

Conditions Governing The Use Of Substitute Stars

1. When the original star is a "5" in the central grid (also known as the Central Palace in Feng Shui parlance), substitute stars are not used. For example, if the Mountain Star is "5" and the Facing Star is "7" in the central grid, then the Mountain Stars in the all the nine grids will remain unchanged, whereas the Facing Stars may change. Similarly, if the Facing Star is "5" in the central grid, then all the Facing Stars will remain unchanged in the Substitute Star Chart.
2. Substitute stars are not used in the following 8 Yin-Yin borders: (S2,S3), (W2,W3), (N2,N3), and (E2,E3).
3. Substitute stars are also not used in the following 8 Yang-Yang borders: (SW2,SW3), (NW2,NW3), (NE2,NE3), and (SE2,SE3).
4. Substitute stars are used in the remaining 32 borders, namely the 16 Yin-Yang borders, as well as the 16 Trigram borders.
5. In is not considered auspicious for a Facing or Mountain Direction to fall exactly on a border (e.g. 360 degrees).

The Nine Substitute Stars

There are a total of nine substitute stars, and they are as follows:

The nine substitute stars are named after actual stars in the sky, and are the names of the Nine Emperors.
In Xuan Kong Da Gua, all the stars, save for Star #5 ("Honest & Loyal Star" or Lian Zhen Xing), are used in Feng Shui determinations.

Determination Of Substitute Stars

Substitute Stars are obtained with the use of the following table:

The steps to plot the Substitute Flying Star Chart are as follows:

1. Find a given Mountain direction in Column 3, and note the associated letter (H, E or M) in Column 5. For example, in the bottom row of the above table, for direction "W3", the required letter is "M". (In Column 5, the letter "H" is an abbreviation for Heaven, "E" for Earth, and "M" for Man.)
2. Use the Mountain Star (number) in the central grid (which is also known as the Central Palace) of the original Flying Star Chart, and find this number in Column 1. There will be 3 rows that has this number in Column 1. For example, if the Mountain Star in the central grid is "3", then the top three rows of the above table will have this star in Column 1. However, only one of these three rows (namely the third row from the top) will have the same letter (namely "M") as that obtained in Step 1 above. The third row (from the top row) is therefore the required row.
3. From the required row, we obtain the Substitute Mountain Star (namely "2") in Column 2, as well as the Direction of the Path of Flight (namely "-") in Column 4. When the Direction of the Path of Flight is "-", the Mountain Stars will traverse the 9-grid in decreasing order, decrementing by 1 each time the Star flies to the next grid. for example, if the Substitute Mountain Star is "2", then the central grid of the Substitute Chart will have a Mountain Star of "2", followed by a Mountain Star of "1" in the bottom right-hand grid. This will be followed by "9", "8", "7", "6", "5", "4", and "3" in each of the successive grids.
4. When the Direction of the Path of Flight is "+", the Mountain Stars will traverse the 9-grid in increasing order, incrementing by 1 each time the Star flies to the next grid. for example, if the Substitute Mountain Star is "6", then the central grid of the Substitute Chart will have a Mountain Star of "6", followed by a Mountain Star of "7" in the bottom right-hand grid. This will be followed by "8", "9", "1", "2", "3", "4", and "5" in each of the successive grids.
5. All the above steps are repeated for a Facing Star in order to plot the complete Substitute Flying Star Chart containing both Mountain and Facing Stars.

List Of Substitute Stars

1. Substitute Stars Of Period 1
2. Substitute Stars Of Period 2
3. Substitute Stars Of Period 3
4. Substitute Stars Of Period 4
5. Substitute Stars Of Period 5
6. Substitute Stars Of Period 6
7. Substitute Stars Of Period 7
8. Substitute Stars Of Period 8
9. Substitute Stars Of Period 9

Note: With reference to Flying Star Feng Shui, the term "Period" can also be translated as "Age", and so "Period 1" can also be called "Age 1".