Phoenix (朱雀 Zhu Que) is the seventh of the nine deities on a Yang Dun plate and the court's messenger. The name is the Vermilion Bird, guardian of the south in the old four-symbol sky, and the deity keeps the south's nature: fire, light and summer. The flying-palace summary calls it the fire deity of the south and a deity of culture (「南方之火神，文明之神」), eloquent and strong-minded. The plate reads it neutral, because the tradition makes its fortune depend on its placement. In the Flying Plate convention followed here, Phoenix sits only on Yang Dun plates, from the Winter Solstice to the Summer Solstice, six palaces on from the Chief by Lo Shu number, and takes the center when the count lands there; on a Yin Dun plate its seat belongs to Warrior (玄武).
The lettered fire: the classical portfolio
Zhu Que's file is everything that travels by writing or by word. The summary gives it documents and letters, fire and light, and news and information: the charter and the contract, the message sent and the message received, the announcement, the testimony, the examination paper. Its fire is the civilising kind, the lamp by which things are written down and read out, which is why the tradition calls it a deity of culture rather than of destruction. Where Hook holds a matter and Constant dresses it, Phoenix publishes it.
Well placed and out of season
Phoenix is neutral because it has two faces, and the summary names the condition that turns one into the other: 「得地则文书、印信有喜，失时则有口舌是非、兴讼扰乱之事」. Well placed, documents and seals bring good news; out of season, it brings quarrels, gossip, lawsuits and disturbance. The same fire that lights the page also starts arguments, because the word that settles a matter and the word that inflames it come from one faculty. A Phoenix palace is therefore read with its surroundings in view, the door beside it and the matter at hand, before it is read as a favour or as a warning.
Phoenix as your natal deity
A natal Zhu Que is read as the writer's and speaker's signature: fluency, a quick and independent mind, and a gift for putting things into words that others then act on. The reading turns such natures toward writing, advocacy, teaching, publishing, law and every trade of the message. The caution is the other face of the same fire: a sharp tongue that wins the argument and loses the room, and a readiness to quarrel in writing that outlasts the quarrel. The counsel for Phoenix natives is to let the fire do the work of light, saying it clearly and putting it on record, and to keep it from the work of burning.
Meeting Phoenix in a period plate
A Zhu Que hour is a writing hour: drafting, sending, publishing, submitting the application, presenting the case, making the announcement. Well placed, it favours all of these. Badly placed, it is an hour to keep disputes off the page and to read twice before sending, because what is written under Phoenix travels. It stands only on Yang Dun plates, in the seventh seat; through the Yin half of the year its seat passes to Warrior. The counsel compresses to the scribe's rule: under the Vermilion Bird, write what you would be glad to hear read aloud.
References
Canonical sources that inform this guide.
- 易德轩 — 飞宫奇门的神盘用法 (the flying-palace deity plate) · WEBSITE
- 奇門遁甲鳴法 (Qi Men Dun Jia Ming Fa), chapter 1 · BOOK
- Qimen Dunjia · WIKIPEDIA