Black Tortoise, beast of the north
The Black Tortoise, Xuanwu (xuan wu, 玄武), is the beast of the north: a tortoise wound with a snake. Its seven mansions run from Dipper (dou, 斗) to Wall (bi, 壁), the stars of the winter sky. The Huainanzi pairs the north with Shui, winter and the planet Mercury (chen xing, 辰星).
Deep-end energy: calm on the surface, a lot going on underneath. It is the rest before the next spring.
Shui, the phase behind it
Shui is the phase of flow: settling, gathering and finding a way through. In a chart it shows up as ideas, intuition and adaptability.
| Direction | North (北方) |
|---|---|
| Season | Winter |
| Phase | Shui (水) |
| Day stems | 壬 and 癸 |
| Planet | Mercury (chen xing, 辰星) |
| Lunar mansions | Dipper (dou, 斗), Ox (niu, 牛), Girl (nü, 女), Emptiness (xu, 虛), Rooftop (wei, 危), Encampment (shi, 室), Wall (bi, 壁) |
| Color | deep blue |
| Numbers (He Tu, 河圖) | 1, 6 |
The Huainanzi (淮南子, 2nd century BCE), in its chapter on the patterns of heaven (Tianwen xun, 天文訓), gives each of the five directions a phase, a season, a planet and a beast. The four quarters carry the four beasts that ancient sky-watchers drew across the 28 lunar mansions (er shi ba xiu, 二十八宿); the centre carries the Yellow Dragon.
Who has the Black Tortoise?
Your guardian follows your favorable phase (xi yong shen, 喜用神): the phase your BaZi chart needs most to stay in balance, worked out from your birth date, time and place with simplified strength-balance (fu yi, 扶抑) rules. When Shui is your favorable phase, the Black Tortoise is your beast and your color is deep blue. Two people born in the same year can have different beasts.
Collect the five
Each beast holds one corner of the sky, and the set of five covers all of it. The Guardian Figure is an 8 cm collectible printed to order with an engraved base ($39).
The other four
- Azure Dragon, beast of the east (Mu, growth)
- Vermilion Bird, beast of the south (Huo, rising heat)
- Yellow Dragon, beast of the centre (Tu, steadiness)
- White Tiger, beast of the west (Jin, refining, edge)
All five beasts · The five phases
The five beasts are star-lore symbols of the four quarters and the centre, not deities. Our figures are designed collectibles: not blessed or consecrated, and nothing here promises luck, protection or any outcome.