BaZi · Glossary
Shen Sha: Auspicious and Inauspicious Stars in BaZi
Deep Oracle Editorial Team · 2026-06-06 · 2 min read
Shen Sha ("spirit-stars") are markers derived from specific stem-and-branch relations — day stem, year branch, month branch — and are divided into auspicious stars and inauspicious ones. They are a supplement to a reading, not its frame.
Categories
This site covers 38 spirit-stars, grouped six ways for lookup: 13 auspicious/nobleman stars, 7 salary-blade-post-horse stars, 4 romance stars, 10 inauspicious or solitary stars, one talent star (Canopy), and three that exist only as day pillars. The grouping is for navigation; it is not a division the classical texts themselves make.
How they are weighed
Spirit-stars are subordinate to the pattern, the Ten Gods and Day-Master strength. An auspicious star helps only when it serves the chart; a restrained inauspicious one need not manifest. The number of stars in a chart says nothing about whether the chart is good. Schools derive them differently — this site's rules match its charting engine.
Sources
Only some of these 38 can be traced to a named chapter in the San Ming Tong Hui, the Yuan Hai Zi Ping or comparable primary texts. A substantial number appear in no identifiable chapter of those texts at all, and their lookup rules survive as mnemonic verses passed down in practice. Each entry page states which of the two it is.
To see the stars in your own chart, use the free BaZi calculator.
Related terms
Auspicious & Nobleman stars: 天乙贵人 · 文昌贵人 · 天德贵人 · 月德贵人 · 天德合 · 月德合 · 德秀贵人 · 天厨贵人 · 天医 · 学堂 · 太极贵人 · 福星贵人 · 国印贵人
Salary, Blade & Post-Horse stars: 禄神 · 羊刃 · 飞刃 · 血刃 · 驿马 · 将星 · 金舆
Romance stars: 红鸾 · 天喜 · 桃花 · 红艳煞
Inauspicious & solitary stars: 灾煞 · 劫煞 · 亡神 · 元辰 · 丧门 · 吊客 · 披麻 · 童子煞 · 孤辰・寡宿
Talent star: 华盖
In the classical texts
Passages in the classical texts held on this site where the term occurs, transcribed from the named edition. The texts do not necessarily use the term the way it is used today.
诸神煞论一
寅人勾绞，卯人丧吊，辰人谓之控神杀，又谓之邀神煞，主阻碍抑塞。
{{SKnotes|此皆言行运所遇之神煞也命前四辰曰四煞乃寅申巳亥四冲之刼煞也命前五辰曰五鬼乃子人见辰亥人见卯也或指辰戌丑未为四煞五行遇尅为五鬼六害寅巳之例七伤亡煞等神或以一吉二宜三生四煞五鬼六害七伤八难九厄皆是三元
主流年泣涕涟如矣造微赋云伏吟返吟孟姜女不胜哭泣白衣有气格如丙辰年土壬辰月水戊戌日木壬戌时水癸未胎木】支干掩击败于天乙之方神煞合并发于空亡之地【击败天乙者命逢干支相击相伤纳音衰败却值天乙贵位此格防中有吉吉乃先防吉中隐防防为吉兆矣鬼谷子云四柱之本禄马徃来须分建破天乙扶持将徳侍卫更辨尊卑又云天乙不守魁罡庚
仍分尊卑上下，筋脉交连，神煞吉凶，以分高下。
逄四煞刼防五鬼相临六害集命斯人也必主七伤之事七伤者伤害父母妻子兄弟自身是也天罗地网乃阳气入墓絶灭之地遇者故多防也然巳上皆神煞之为防或三元九宫五行生旺为福之臻尚可以成吉庆耳盖五行为神煞之先或以值防煞者兼三元九宫五行四柱又在衰败之地所谓祸并危疑者欤是谓煞扶兮速速成灾福抑乃迟迟为庆李仝曰一吉二宜三生四杀五
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