Today marks the 5th day of the 7th Lunar Month, which is also called the 'Ghost Month'. But what is the logic behind it? This is actually related to Feng Shui, the Chinese art of arranging living and working spaces.
The above diagram shows the '鬼门线' or 'line of the Ghost Doors', which passes through the North East 艮 (Gen) & South West 坤 (Kun) sectors of any flat. These are considered inauspicious positions. It is not recommended to build doors that open towards these directions. It is also not recommended for these sectors to be master bedrooms, kitchens, or have office / working tables. These sectors should remain static and movements should be minimised.
These directions / sectors also indicate certain periods that are part of one entire year when the Sun revolves virtually around the Earth. In 奇门遁甲 (Qi Men Dun Jia), 死门 (Death Door) in its natal position resides in the 坤 (Kun) sector.
If you are able to read Chinese, the above picture actually mentions that the Death Door appears TWICE, one in the Kun palace and the other in the central 5 palace. According to '转宫法' (the Rotating Palace method), the central palace must remain empty, so the Death Door is 'pushed' into the Kun palace. So it's a double whammy. Death appears twice in Kun. Even if you subscribe to '飞宫法' (the Flying Palace method), Death Door appearing once is already bad enough.
Among all the doors, the Death Door in QMDJ is considered the most inauspicious. In the QMDJ sequence, the Fear Door is always followed by the Death Door, but the irony is, the Fear Door should not be feared as much as the Death Door. Perhaps there is a lesson to all this. Once you don't fear Death and accept the lessons that Death has to teach you, the Fear Door no longer needs to be feared.
The Death Door (Kun) is represented by a time frame: from 立秋 until 秋分, which lasts 3 solar terms, from 申 Shen to the middle of 酉 You month if you use the Earthly Branches to calculate. This time period almost always coincides with the 7th lunar month, but its duration lasts longer - roughly 45 days - instead of roughly 30 days in a lunar month.
We cannot immediately see that the Death Door in 坤 is related to 7th month as QMDJ uses 8 palaces. If we use the 12-palace theory, it becomes obvious.
There are 十二地支 or 12 Earthly Branches. If we count from the Earthly Branch 寅 Yin, 申 Shen is number 7. (Notice the similarity between 坤 & 申.) If we count from the Heavenly Stem 甲 Jia, 庚 Geng is also number 7. Regardless of which day master we belong to, we are told that 七杀 - the 7 Killing star - must be handled with care. Both stems are always of similar polarity and one fiercely attacks the other. That's why 7K is always associated with death.
There is an inauspicious QMDJ formation called '五不遇时' (5 Must Not Meet the Hour) and it is actually related to the 7 Killings Star. If you count the heavenly stems from 1 to 7, there are 5 heavenly stems in between. Based on Bazi, if the day master meets its 7K star at the hour stem, '五不遇时' is activated. It is recommended NOT to engage in any important activity as all consequences will be negative.
In 大六壬 (Da Liu Ren), the term '官鬼' (Officer Ghost) can be seen in 三传 (the 3 Transfers). '官' is Direct Officer in Bazi. '鬼' is the 7 Killings star.
Conclusion: There is no need to be afraid of the 7 Killings star or the Ghost month but you do need to take certain precautions, especially if you are a weak 甲 Jia Day Master (based on Bazi) and 庚 Geng appears somewhere in your chart, particularly in the Hour Pillar. Keep a low profile. Practise spirituality. Do good deeds.
