When conducting Four Pillars of Destiny or Eight Trigrams Six Yao predictions, the concept of “void” often comes into play. What does “void” mean? “Void” simply means emptiness or absence, with “void” being a homophone for “nothingness,” as the two were interchangeable in ancient times. “Void” does not signify “death” but rather the absence or lack thereof.
For instance, on a “Ren Shen” day, the void of the Six Jia falls on “Xu and Hai,” indicating that within the Jia Zi decade, there are no days represented by Xu and Hai. These days are essentially empty or absent within the Jia Zi decade.
How does one locate these “voids”? Here’s the simplest method: subtract the Heavenly Stem number from the Earthly Branch number. If the result is negative, add 12 before subtracting, and the resulting number will always be even.
For example, if the result is 2, it indicates a void in Zi and Chou; if 4, then void in Yin and Mao; if 6, then void in Chen and Si; if 8, then void in Wu and Wei; if 10, then void in Shen and You; if 12, then void in Xu and Hai. On the day of “丙辰” (Bing Chen), Chen 5 – Bing 3 = 2 Chou, which means the hours of Zi and Chou are empty. Similarly, on the day of “壬申” (Ren Shen), Ren 9 – Shen 9 = 0, implying Xu and Hai are vacant (0 essentially represents 12). Furthermore, on the day of “辛丑” (Xin Chou), Chou 2 – Xin 8 is not sufficient for subtraction. Adding 12 before subtracting, we get 2 + 12 – 8 = 6, where 6 corresponds to Si, indicating the hours of Chen and Si are unoccupied.
