Cast & Chart

Officer

A chart describes tendencies in a traditional system. It cannot decide health, money, law, marriage or children.

In the classical sources

七曰临官，万物既秀实，如人之临官也

Seventh is Officer: all things have come into ear and fruit, as a person takes up office.

三命通會 卷二

About this stage

臨官 is taking up a post, and the plant half of the simile has things solid and on show. Every stem in 三命通會 卷二 has a 祿, an allotment or salary, and it falls on exactly this branch: 甲 at 寅, 丙 at 巳, 庚 at 申, 壬 at 亥. That makes Officer the easiest stage to check against a second table, and 神峰通考 shortens its name to 官.

三命通會 卷三 reports that various writers build a further idea on this position and treat the 臨官 of a person's official star as the 詞馆, the hall of letters. In the ordering of the twelve it is the last step before the peak, an adult at work. The title names the stem's footing at one branch and says nothing about anyone's job. 五行大義 has the same term in the same slot, a sign of how early this part of the list settled.

Where this text comes from

The order of the twelve stages follows 五行大義 volume 2 and 三命通會 volume 2 on Wikisource. The calculator uses that order for wood, fire, metal and water. Works disagree about earth.

The English name follows common modern usage. The wording here is our own plain summary.