Before Galileo invented the telescope in 1609, humanity could only see these 5 planets with the naked eye. Their orbital paths (prograde, retrograde, stationary) were the foundation of ancient astrology.
Suixing (Jupiter) Virtue: Righteousness
Retrograde Motion: Occurs when the Earth overtakes Jupiter in its orbit.
Astrological Meaning: Governs Spring and the Wood element of the East. If its movement is normal within a state's designated sector, that state will be victorious in war. If it is delayed, the state faces sorrow and peril.
Yinghuo (Mars) Virtue: Propriety
Astrological Meaning: Governs Summer and the Fire element of the South. 'Yinghuo' means 'Sparkling Delusion', reflecting its erratic red light. It often heralds rebellion, cruelty, disease, famine, and war.
Tianxing (Saturn) Virtue: Integrity
Astrological Meaning: Governs Late Summer and the Earth element of the Center. It symbolizes the Yellow Emperor and the Empress. Because it moves slowly ('Tian' implies settling), the sector it occupies brings profound blessings to that state.
Taibai (Venus)
Aliases: Morning Star (Qiming), Evening Star (Changgeng).
Astrological Meaning: Governs Autumn and the Metal element of the West. It presides over warfare and executions. Its irregular appearances or disappearances were closely linked to military outcomes and usurpations.
Chenxing (Mercury) Virtue: Punishment
Astrological Meaning: Governs Winter and the Water element of the North. It oversees penal laws. Being closest to the Sun, it frequently appears and vanishes, making it hard to observe. If it fails to appear in all four seasons, widespread famine ensues.
The 'advancing and shrinking' and 'retrograde' motions observed by the ancients (such as Mars lingering in the Heart constellation) are known in modern astronomy as 'Apparent Retrograde Motion'. This is not the celestial body actually moving backward in the universe, but rather because Earth's orbital speed is faster than that of outer planets (like Mars or Jupiter). When Earth 'overtakes' them on the inner track, from Earth's perspective, the outer planets appear to move backward in the starry sky. The ancients interpreted this purely orbital parallax phenomenon as a severe warning from Heaven regarding the governance failures of earthly kings.
Calendrical and Horological Translation: Jovian Orbital Calendar
The Tianguan Shu calls Jupiter the 'Year Star' (Sui Xing) because the ancients accurately measured that Jupiter takes about 11.86 years to orbit the sun, which is very close to 12 years. Therefore, they divided the night sky's ecliptic into twelve equal stellar stations. Jupiter moves to a new station roughly every year, which is the physical basis for the Chinese Zodiac and the 'Jovian Orbital Calendar'. The ancients utilized the orbital period of this giant planet to build a massive and extremely stable cosmic clock in the sky.
The remaining sections of 'Shiji: Tianguan Shu' detail divinations based on the Three Lights (Sun, Moon, Stars) and Five Energies (halos, eclipses, clouds, winds). Before the Qin Dynasty unified China, different tribes and states had their own distinct astrological rules.
Sima Qian compiled ancient texts to establish a unified astrological standard for the Han Dynasty (e.g., mapping star mansions to specific provinces). However, from a modern scientific and historical perspective, these divinations are inconsistent and often inaccurate. Therefore, this chapter omits tedious divinatory details, focusing instead on preserving the core concepts and cultural heritage of the Five Planets' movements.