White Tiger, beast of the west
The White Tiger (bai hu, 白虎) is the beast of the west. Its seven mansions run from Legs (kui, 奎) to Three Stars (shen, 參); Turtle Beak (zi, 觜) and Three Stars, in the stars we call Orion, were read as the tiger itself. The Huainanzi pairs the west with Jin, autumn and the planet Venus (tai bai, 太白).
Minimalist with an edge: sharp taste, clear boundaries, zero clutter. It is the harvest and the edit.
Jin, the phase behind it
Jin is the phase of refining: cutting back, sorting and keeping what has value. In a chart it shows up as standards, decisions and structure.
| Direction | West (西方) |
|---|---|
| Season | Autumn |
| Phase | Jin (金) |
| Day stems | 庚 and 辛 |
| Planet | Venus (tai bai, 太白) |
| Lunar mansions | Legs (kui, 奎), Bond (lou, 婁), Stomach (wei, 胃), Hairy Head (mao, 昴), Net (bi, 畢), Turtle Beak (zi, 觜), Three Stars (shen, 參) |
| Color | white & gold |
| Numbers (He Tu, 河圖) | 4, 9 |
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 White Tiger?
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 Jin is your favorable phase, the White Tiger is your beast and your color is white & gold. 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)
- Black Tortoise, beast of the north (Shui, flow)
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.