At a glance
- Count
- Twelve generals
- Anchor
- Tianyi Noble One
Definition and terminology
The usual roster is Noble One, Serpent, Vermilion Bird, Six Harmonies, Gouchen, Azure Dragon, Sky, White Tiger, Great Constant, Dark Warrior, Great Yin and Heavenly Empress. Noble One also carries the Tianyi name. Sky is a sign, not an empty position. Shared Qimen names do not make its eight-spirit table interchangeable.
Structure and rules
Choose the Noble branch using day stem, day/night convention and the adopted table, then determine direction from placement and install the sequence. Boundaries and tables vary. Generals annotate heavenly branches rather than create twelve new domain palaces. Read a transmission’s associated general afterward, keeping branch selection and general placement distinct.
Worked reading
Given a teaching Noble starting point and a declared forward roster, write Serpent, then Vermilion Bird and Six Harmonies. This checks sequence only. Bird’s speech imagery and Harmony’s cooperation imagery may organize questions, but neither proves that someone will lie or that collaboration will succeed; actual placement inputs remain separate.
Context and limits
Classical general descriptions include official, family and illness judgments requiring historical context. Direction errors alter interpretation, so publish day/night rules and Noble placement for checking. Texts establish that this symbolic system was used; names and isolated stories do not demonstrate that generals causally operate upon real events.
References & further reading
Historical sources document ideas and rules of their time, not empirical proof of predictive accuracy. Source notes identify the nature and scope of each reference.
- 《六壬大全》（四库全书本）Primary / tradition source
Public-domain Liuren compilation; editorial account covers plates, lessons, transmissions and textual history.
- 《六壬大全》卷一：入手法Primary / tradition source
Public-domain rules for transmission selection; associated predictions are not modern evidence.