Practice exercise 7 #1 Janey Yin MingGong (method 1)

Hi Karin,

I also have a question about the MingGong Stem calculation (Method 1):

In the calculation formula, you mention:
MG S = (#YS x 2)+ #MG B – 2 for the formula; with the exception of not substracting 2, if the Month Branch is Zi or Chou.
For the 1st Practice Exercice 7; in the case of Janey Yin (born on 20 January 1966 @ 10:46): her Month Branch is Chou.

So, I didn’t substract 2 from the formula and got Ji #6 for the MG Stem, but you have Ding #4?

Why is that so?

Thank you very much in advance for your answer, and thank you for a great and very special book!!!

 

Answer:

Hi Marie, thank you for the question!

Here is the short answer:

Your mistake was a simple misunderstanding of what I see now is my unfortunately unclear explanation of the exception.

The exception to the MingGong Branch formula is that we do not subtract 2 if the MingGong Branch is Zi 子 or Chou 丑.

Here comes the long asnwer:

The MingGong calculation can take some time to get used to, as it requires several separate steps.

• First, you need to calculate the MingGong Branch (MG B = 32 – [#Month Branch + # Hour  (+1 if necessary*)]

*Remember! Add one if the birth time falls after the ZhongQi – you will need to check appropriate the JieQi table in the appendix for this info.

** Remember! If the answer < 12, this is the #EB MG. If the answer ≥ 12, subtract 12 again to find the #EB MG.

In the case of Janey Yin:

MG B = 32 – [Chou 丑 (#2) + Si 巳 (#6)] … no need to add one

MG B = 32 – 8

MG B = 24 – 12 … As 24 is > 12, subtract 12 from 24 and get 12.

Janey Yin’s MingGong Branch is Hai (#12).

Remember! The Branch numbers are found on the Earthly Ring diagram.

• Next you need to calculate the MingGong Stem: MG S = (#YS X 2) + #MG B – 2*

*Remember! Do not subtract 2 if the MingGong Branch is Zi 子 or Chou 丑

**Remember! If the result is > 10, subtract 10 until the result is ≤ 10

In the case of Janey Yin:

MG S = [Yi 乙 (#2) x 2] + Hai 亥 (#12) – 2

MG S = 4 + 12  – 2 = 14. As 14 > 10, subtract 10.

MG S = 14 – 10 = 4

MG S = #4 Ding 丁

Remember! The Stem numbers are found on the Heavenly Ring diagram.

I hope this helps!