Scratch and Win, Every Time: On Windfalls
AI translated from the original Chinese.
Happy New Year, everyone. During the holiday I was spending time with family and busy with all sorts of chores, so I haven't posted for a while. Today is the first workday of the year, so my writing is back to work too.
After New Year's Eve dinner, my family suddenly decided to buy scratch cards to try their luck. I immediately cast a divination and found that the odds of winning at that moment weren't high. But a small bet is just for fun, and not everything needs to be decided by divination, so I went along anyway.
Three of us were buying scratch cards: my mother, my younger sister and me. Although the moment we decided to buy had low odds of winning, if our three fortunes had to be ranked, my sister's luck was best, my mother's second, and mine the worst. I figured we'd spend 200 dollars at most and if we lost, so be it. I didn't care much about the result and went along.
We each picked a 100-dollar scratch card first. My sister won 100 dollars; my mother and I won nothing. My sister used that 100 dollars to buy another, which won nothing; then my sister and I decided to buy one more each, and neither of us won. In short:
- My sister: won 100 the first time, nothing the second or third; lost 200.
- My mother: nothing the first time; lost 100.
- Me: nothing the first or second time; lost 200.
Afterwards my mother said my calculation was still accurate: my sister's luck was best, since she did win 100 once; my mother was second, losing 100; and I was worst, losing 200 outright. Thinking about it, she has a point. (wry smile)
Though my luck was poor, it was a different story for a friend of mine. She posted on Facebook about her good luck over the New Year:
Summarized below (all dates by the lunar calendar):
- 庚子 year, 12th month, 30th day: spent 1,500, won 3,200
- 辛丑 year, 1st month, 1st day: spent 1,700, won 1,500
- 辛丑 year, 1st month, 2nd day: spent 800, won 4,600
- 辛丑 year, 1st month, 3rd day: spent 450, won 1,000
- 辛丑 year, 1st month, 5th day: spent 300, won 500
This friend's windfall luck is strong, which I confirmed when I read her chart before. Let's first look at her chart on New Year's Eve. Below is her annual chart for the 庚子 year:
New Year's Eve: a 庚寅 day in the 12th month of the 庚子 year
The 12th month is the 亥 Palace. Let's observe the 丁亥 Palace:
- 太陰 (Tai Yin) is strong in 亥, seeing 昌曲 (Chang Qu), 右弼 (You Bi) and 天鉞 (Tian Yue)
- Two 化祿 in the three sides and four directions
- The 亥 Palace's stem 丁 makes 太陰 become 化祿, raising the 亥 Palace's two 化祿 to three
- The Lu stars see 天梁 (Tian Liang): pleasant surprises.
- The 庚寅 day, stem 庚, makes 太陽 (Tai Yang) become 化祿, triggering the pleasant surprise in the 亥 Palace.
Conclusion: buying scratch cards on New Year's Eve had a good chance of winning.
Fact: bought 1,500, won 3,200, net gain 1,700
Next, let's look at her winning luck in the first month of the 辛丑 year. Her annual chart for 辛丑:
Lu stars concentrate in the 寅 Palace; whenever the 寅 Palace is triggered by a 化祿, wealth luck arrives.
First, by month:
The first month
- The 丑 Palace, stem 辛. 辛 makes 巨門 (Ju Men) become 化祿, waiting beside the 寅 Palace to exert its power. If a Lu star triggers the 寅 Palace, wealth arrives.
Then, by day:
1st day, a 辛卯 day: bought 1,700, won 1,500
- 巨門 化祿 has no effect on the 寅 Palace.
- 文昌 (Wen Chang) 化忌 damages the 卯 Palace of the 1st day, but the damage from a minor star is small, and 卯 is a strong palace.
Conclusion: a small loss of 200.
2nd day, a 壬辰 day: bought 800, won 4,600
- 天梁 化祿, together with the month's 巨門 化祿, flanks the 寅 Palace: very auspicious
- 武曲 (Wu Qu) 化忌 is in the 寅 Palace, but 寅 is a strong palace; it means buying boldly, not read as ill.
Conclusion: gained 3,800.
3rd day, a 癸巳 day: bought 450, won 1,000.
- 破軍 (Po Jun) 化祿 directly transforms the 寅 Palace auspiciously
- 貪狼 (Tan Lang) 化忌 has no effect on the 寅 Palace
Conclusion: gained 550.
5th day, an 乙未 day: bought 300, won 500.
- 天機 (Tian Ji) 化祿 has no effect on the 寅 Palace, but 天梁 化權 and 紫微 (Zi Wei) 化科 benefit it slightly, with little effect.
- 太陰 化忌 has no effect on the 寅 Palace.
Conclusion: a small gain of 200.
My friend asked: can I buy more? For now, the wealth star of the first month, 武曲, already has 巨門 化祿 auspiciously transforming the neighboring palace; as soon as some day puts 武曲 in a strong position, wealth luck will come. Although I don't encourage getting hooked on scratch cards, if inspiration strikes and she suddenly feels like buying, she might win a few more small prizes.
Over the New Year holiday, spending a little to try your luck, some people lose it all, like me; some net 6,050 dollars, like my friend. As for those who ask whether I cast a divination for everything I do to examine the outcome: I don't think it's necessary to work that hard. After reading charts for a long time, your mindset becomes one of going with the flow. Unless there's a major decision, casting a divination at every turn and believing it without question would take a lot of the fun out of life. So this article is hindsight, written for fun; just enjoy it. Ha.