Duì

Dui (兌) is number 7. 說卦傳 calls it true autumn, the season in which things are pleased, and 星厯考原 sets it in the west. The Ming house book 陽宅十書 counts it as metal, like 乾, and the imperial almanac 協紀辨方書 gives it the compass points 庚, 酉 and 辛.

The third 60-year span begins at Dui for men: the 甲子 that opens the 下元 puts a man at 7. In the scheme our sources describe, that span runs from 1984 to 2043, so men born in 1984, 1993 and 2002 get Dui, and women born in 1992, 2001 and 2010. The texts we collected divide the 180 years into three spans of 60 and into nothing shorter.

Dui is part of the West Four. Read around the ring of palaces by the method we use, the verse 生禍延絕六五天 gives it 生氣 at 乾, 延年 at 艮 and 天乙 at 坤. Its other four names, 禍害, 絕命, 六煞 and 五鬼, fall on 坎, 震, 巽 and 離, which together make up the entire East Four.