What Is Monthly Luck?
Monthly Luck (Liu Yue) is the method of projecting monthly fortune using the current month's Month Pillar Stem-Branch. Building on the natal chart, Luck Cycle, and Annual Luck, Monthly Luck further refines temporal analysis for determining in which month an event will occur.
Calculating the Monthly Luck Stem-Branch
Monthly Luck uses Solar Terms as boundaries (not the lunar calendar's first day of the month). The pattern of Month Pillar Stem-Branch:
- Month Branch is fixed: Yin (1st month), Mao (2nd month) ... Chou (12th month), cycling through the twelve Earthly Branches.
- Month Stem is derived from the Year Stem (Five Tiger Year-Starting Month Method):
| Year Stem | Yin Month Starts |
|---|---|
| Jia, Ji years | Bing-Yin |
| Yi, Geng years | Wu-Yin |
| Bing, Xin years | Geng-Yin |
| Ding, Ren years | Ren-Yin |
| Wu, Gui years | Jia-Yin |
Functions of Monthly Luck
Monthly Luck is primarily used for:
- Determining the response timing: When the Luck Cycle and Annual Luck already indicate an event that year, Monthly Luck further pinpoints which month it occurs in.
- Refining auspiciousness: When a month's Month Pillar forms unions or clashes with the natal chart, it is often a signal of change in that month.
- Supplementing Annual Luck analysis: When Annual Luck alone is insufficient to judge specific timing, Monthly Luck provides refinement.
How to Judge Monthly Luck
When the Monthly Luck Stem-Branch enters the natal chart, the judgment approach is similar to Annual Luck:
- If the Month Stem and Branch are the chart's Favorable God, that month proceeds smoothly.
- If the Month Stem and Branch are the chart's Unfavorable God, that month has more obstacles.
- If the Month Stem and Branch punish or clash with the natal chart, that month has change events.
Limitations of Monthly Luck
Monthly Luck's scope of influence is approximately one month and serves only as a supplementary tool for judging specific time points. One should not over-rely on Monthly Luck alone for judgment; comprehensive analysis combining the natal chart, Luck Cycle, and Annual Luck is necessary.
Relationship with Daily Luck and Hourly Luck
Monthly Luck -> Daily Luck -> Hourly Luck: the degree of refinement increases sequentially, but accuracy decreases correspondingly. In general Destiny Analysis, reaching Monthly Luck is sufficiently practical; Daily Luck and Hourly Luck belong to highly refined advanced applications.