Introduction on Immortal Lady Ba Zi (天仙夫人八字娘娘簡介)

 
After a long period of resting, finally Jave got some time to resume my posting on Deities.

In here, Jave will like to do a short introduction on Immortal Lady Ba Zi aka Tian Xian Fu Ren Ba Zi Niang Niang (天仙夫人八字娘娘), translated in English is known as Immortal Lady of In-charging of Heavenly Stems (天干) & Earthly Branches (地支 in short known as The Eight Characters).

So who is Ba Zi Niang Niang?

According to Deities’ Record, Ba Zi Niang Niang was born in Song Dynasty (生于宋朝年間) on the 8th Day of Lunar 8 Month (生辰為農曆八月初八日), hometown in Hokkien Province, Quan Zhou City (祖籍中國福建省泉州市), her name known as Huang Xing He (黃杏荷).

At the age of 12, one night while Huang Xing He was in the yard of her house, she saw a Bright Shooting-star landed outside her house. Immediately without hesitation, she dashed towards the spot of the landed Shooting-star and with surprise; she saw a small wooden box.

Slowly, Huang Xing He approached the spot where the small wooden box was standing, with one glance, she was deeply attracted by the scribbles on the box cover and without second thoughts, she opened up the box and in front of her, was a Book.

Carefully, Huang Xing He took the Book out and flipped the Book open. As soon as she open-up the Book, she smelled a very strong scent of Fragrance of mixture of Flowers and just before she could react further, she collapsed on the ground.

At the moment of Huang Xing He collapsing onto the ground, she saw a Taoist Priest walking towards her. As the Priest walking towards her, Huang Xing He struggled herself to get up and with an helping hand from the Priest, Huang Xing He was being lifted up and by looking closely at the Priest, Huang Xing He found him familiar.

By looking back at Huang Xing He, the Priest smiled broadly and asked her whether she can remember him. Huang Xing He shakes her head and again with a smile, the Priest signals her to sit by the Tree besides the wooden box.

Upon sitting by the tree, the Priest told her that he was Xu Xun (許遜) from Nan Chang City (南昌市), the objective of coming to here was to impart her, the Book of the Mystery of Ba Zi (八字集要).

As Huang Xing He was listening to what Xu Xun was saying, suddenly she realised that she saw this Priest before in the Temple where People honoured Heavenly Xu Xun (許天師). Just as she was about to shout out, the Priest disappeared in front of her and for her, she could only hear Xu Xun telling her to study the Book carefully and master it as soon as possible.

Immediately after the voice of Xu Xun subsided, Huang Xing He suddenly woke-up with a shocked and was surprise to find herself in her room. On her hands, she got hold of a Book and this was the Book that she saw in the Dream.

From that Day onwards, Huang Xing He studied the Book carefully and within 3 years, she somehow mastered the Skills inside the Book.

At the age of 16, Huang Xing He was able to read someone’s fortune by looking at the Face Colour and the Aura that oneself emitted out.

One Day, while Huang Xing He was walking along Lao Jun Yan aka Cliff of Lao Zi (老君岩), she saw Priest Xu Xun again. Immediately without any delay, she dashed over to kneel down in front of Priest Xu Xun to pay her respect to her.

This time round, Priest Xu Xun didn’t hide his true identity anymore and with a lift, he assist Huang Xing He up and congrats her for successfully mastered the Heavenly’s Secret – Ba Zi Ji Yao. Huang Xing He looked at Heavenly Master Xu Xun with respect and sincerely request Heavenly Master Xu Xun to accept her as Disciple. With a smile, Heavenly Xu Xun accepted her.

From then, besides revising on the Skills of Ba Zi Ji Yao, Heavenly Master Xu Xun also taught Huang Xing He on Medical Skills and Herbs Theory. By at age of 21, Huang Xing He was able to do prescription of Herbs for Patients.

One Year, while Huang Xing He was on her way to Mountain Wu Yi (武夷山) to look for Special Grass Herbs, she met with a Black Windy Demon (黑風妖). As she was trying to subdue the Demon, she was being swept off by the strong gust of Poison Wind and within a moment, she was being drugged to coma.

After she woke-up, she found herself resting in a Icy-stone platform (寒冰台), in front of her was a Lady.

Without hesitation, she step down from the platform and approached the Lady that seems to preparing some Herbs.

As she paid respect to the Lady, the Lady turned around and greeted her back with a smile. Huang Xing He found her familiar again, knowing that Huang Xing He was puzzle; the Lady immediately told her she was Chen Jing Gu (陳靖姑), whom was one of the Disciples of Heavenly Master Xu Xun.

Huang Xing He was shocked to know that the Lady standing in front of her was Chen Jing Gu and with a sincere bow, she paid her respect again to Chen Jing Gu. Chen Jing Gu returned back her respect and asked her not to do so in the future, as both of them were classmates.

Soon, Heavenly Master Xu Xun entered into the Cave and saw the 2 Ladies. As Heavenly Master Xu Xun approached Huang Xing He, he happily proclaimed that the Celestial Palace (天庭) had made an Order to summon Huang Xing He back to the Heavenly Realm (天界).

Upon hearing the news, Huang Xing He was delighted and Chen Jing Gu congrats her for her succeed in gaining the Immortal-hood.

On 9th Day of Lunar 10 Month (農曆十月初九日), Heavenly Master Xu Xun, Madam Chen Jing Gu and Huang Xing He returned back to the Celestial Palace, in-order for Huang Xing He to accept her Official Bestowing from Jade Emperor of Heaven (玉皇大天尊).

By going through the Records (功過格) of Huang Xing He again, Jade Emperor of Heaven summoned Heavenly Marshal Jin Jia (九天金甲神) to announce the Official Title of Huang Xing He as Jiu Tian Si Ming Zhi Zhang Qian Kun Ba Zi Tian Xian Fu Ren Niang Niang (九天司命執掌乾坤八字天仙夫人娘娘), in-charging of the Combination of new born Mortals’ Ba Zi aka Eight Characters (配對八字) and also, the changing of Luck for the Living Beings in the Three Realms.

From then, Huang Xing He was being addressed as Ba Zi Niang Niang (八字娘娘) in short and assist her Master – Heavenly Xu Xun in the releasing of Blessing in Luck-changing Rituals (補運祭改) and also, to work closely with Madam Chen Jing Gu, Madam Zhu Sheng (註生娘娘) & Heavenly Marshal Gao Yuan (監生高原天君) in the task of Protecting Babies (護嬰保童).

Some misconceptions of Ba Zi Niang Niang:

1 – A lot of People tend to mistaken her as Madam Zhu Sheng (註生娘娘) or The Immortal Maiden of Ninth Heaven aka Jiu Tian Xuan Nv (九天玄女)

2 – Mis-treat her as the Deity that can change Oneself’s Ba Zi to become a better person, but actually is not. The Ritual that she in-charge is only Enhancing and not Changing

3 – She is a newly Made-up character in Taiwan, which is not true, cos in Qing Dynasty Religious Records known as Qing Jia Lu (清嘉錄), her Title and History are being recorded.

So during Rituals/Ceremonies, how Oneself can honoured Ba Zi Niang Niang in-order to get the Luck enhanced?

According to Qing Jia Lu, before Oneself starts to honour Ba Zi Niang Niang, Oneself shall prepared the following Items:

1 – Fold the Gold Incense-Papers into Bucket-form, the remaining Paper to be folded into Ingot form and placed them inside the Bucket

2 – Use a Red-paper to write down the Name of Oneself, Address, Date of Birth and Time of Birth. After completion, placed the Red-paper inside the Bucket

3 – During Honouring, hold onto the Bucket and sincerely make report to Ba Zi Niang Niang for Luck-enhancement

4 – Straight after the reporting, proceed with the Burning-off of the Bucket

5 – Once the Bucket is Burnt, do not turn the Head to look at the Burning and immediately leave the Temple

Once the above procedures are being observed, meaning that the Honouring is being Done successfully and within 40 Days, some changes will be seen.