On Taking the Useful God from Mixed Qi (Za Qi Ru He Qu Yong)

The Four Storages and How to Choose

The four storage branches hold more than one stem, so the useful god there is not single. Shen's rule is short: whatever is revealed in the stems or gathered by meeting in the branches is the one to use, and one may use several at once. He then sorts the outcomes by feeling — revelation and meeting that complete each other are auspicious, those that run against each other are not. The last two sections show how a promising combination can fail and a hostile one can end well.