Lu Cun

Lu Cun is Earth (己土), the Northern-Dipper star of 'rank, salary, nobility and longevity', ruling earned wealth, provision, and preservation. It is the 'treasury' type of wealth star: unlike Hua Lu's flowing opportunity, Lu Cun is money that stays — a careful, frugal nature that gathers and guards an estate. But it has a fated trait: the palaces on either side are always Qing Yang and Tuo Luo (the Blades flanking Lu Cun), giving solitude — self-reliant, cautious, asking nothing of others. Lu Cun loves to meet Hua Lu (the Double Lu) and Tian Ma (Lu and Horse galloping), both signs of great wealth.

In the Self palace, Lu Cun gives lifelong provision and a gift for gathering and guarding wealth — careful, conservative, single-minded, frugal, hands-on — but a solitary streak, low-key, self-reliant in all things. It lends the main star wealth and stability, and a measure of solitude. Because it is always flanked by the Blades, it needs auspicious stars (especially Hua Lu, the Assistant pair, or the Noble pair) to soften the solitude into self-sufficiency. In the Wealth or Property palace it is strongest, filling the treasury.