The twelve stages (jūniun) of Four Pillars of Destiny
The twelve stages (jūniun, also called the twelve-stage stars) show how strong your day stem, which stands for you, is on the branch of each pillar: year, month, day and hour. They are compared to the course of a human life, from conception to returning to the earth, and each of the twelve stages has a name.
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1.The twelve stages
| Stage | Reading | Life image | Tendency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 胎 | Tai | In the womb | Curiosity and potential; drawn to one new thing after another |
| 養 | Yō | Baby | Open and well liked; grows up protected |
| 長生 | Chōsei | Child | Honest ambition; grows through learning |
| 沐浴 | Mokuyoku | Adolescence | Free-spirited and sensitive; enjoys change |
| 冠帯 | Kantai | Coming of age | Showy and confident; the drive to step forward |
| 建禄 | Kenroku | Prime of working life | Steady and practical; builds up a stable base |
| 帝旺 | Teiō | The peak | The strongest stage; leadership |
| 衰 | Sui | Maturity | Calm and experience; modest and thoughtful |
| 病 | Byō | Convalescence | Imagination and kindness; a delicate sensibility |
| 死 | Shi | Stillness | The focus to master one thing deeply |
| 墓 | Bo | Storage | The power to collect and pass things on; a searching mind |
| 絶 | Zetsu | Rebirth | Flashes of inspiration and quick reactions; switches gear fast |
The names Shi (“death”), Bo (“grave”) and Zetsu (“extinction”) may come as a shock, but they are not bad. They are the stages where energy turns inward, and they stand for concentration, accumulation and the ability to switch.
2.How strong is each stage?
In general, Teiō, Kenroku and Kantai are strong stages; Chōsei, Mokuyoku, Sui and Bo are middling; and Tai, Yō, Byō, Shi and Zetsu are gentle. Stronger is not simply better: strong stages tend to clash with others, gentle stages cooperate easily, and each has its own strengths.
3.Which pillar’s stage to look at
A stage appears on all four pillars. The year pillar is used for your early years and family line, the month pillar for how you work in society, the day pillar for yourself and your home, and the hour pillar for later life and your relationship with your children.
4.The link with Sanmeigaku’s twelve subordinate stars
The twelve stages describe the same steps as the twelve subordinate stars of Sanmeigaku: Tai = Tenpō, Yō = Ten’in, Chōsei = Tenki, Mokuyoku = Tenkō, Kantai = Tennan, Kenroku = Tenroku, Teiō = Tenshō, Sui = Tendō, Byō = Tenko, Shi = Tenkyoku, Bo = Tenko (天庫) and Zetsu = Tenchi. See the twelve subordinate stars for more.
5.Find your own twelve stages
Enter your date of birth in the birth chart reading (Japanese), and the stage for each pillar appears in the chart.
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