Gu Xu: the branch opposite a Void, and why it appears so often
Gu Xu (孤虚) is a Symbolic Star, a traditional table label rather than a strength measure. Begin with the decade (旬, Xun) that contains the day pillar: the ten stems pair with twelve branches in rounds of ten, and each round leaves two branches without a stem. Those two empty branches are the Void (空亡, Kong Wang, also called the Six Jia Void). Now take the branch directly opposite each Void branch, six positions away in the twelve branches: those opposites are Gu Xu. Our site checks the year, month and hour branches for a hit. It is reference only and never changes strength, the Useful element or favorability.
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At a glance
| Item | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Gu Xu hit | 844 charts, 42.2% | 100% agreement with the site lookup |
| Void hit | 868 charts, 43.4% | — |
| Both hit | 297 charts, 14.8% | 35.2% of Gu Xu charts |
| Hit branch is the Useful element | 10.7% | Favorable 25.2%, unfavorable 47% |
| Hit branch clashed | 17.3% | — |
| Hit charts strong and weak | 45%, 54.9% | — |
| By position | year 16.6%, month 16.1%, hour 17% | The three are close |
| Ten God high and low | Indirect Wealth 11.2%, Eating God 8.5% | Evenly spread |
- Gu Xu (孤虚)
- The branches opposite the two Void branches of the day pillar's decade
- Decade (旬, Xun)
- Ten stems paired with twelve branches in a round of ten, leaving two branches empty
- Sixty Jia Zi (六十甲子)
- The stem-and-branch cycle that repeats every sixty years
- Void (空亡, Kong Wang)
- The two branches left without a stem in a decade; also called the Six Jia Void
- Six Jia Void (六甲空亡)
- Another name for Void, fixed by the decade of the day pillar
- Opposite branch (对冲支)
- The branch six positions away in the twelve branches
- Symbolic Star (神煞, Shen Sha)
- A traditional table label that does not change strength
- Day pillar (日柱)
- The pillar of the birth day, used to find the decade
- Year, month and hour pillars (年柱、月柱、时柱)
- The pillars for the birth year, birth month and birth hour
- Ten Gods (十神)
- Ten categories that describe how every other character relates to the Day Master
- Indirect Wealth (偏财)
- The element the Day Master controls, with the same polarity
- Direct Resource (正印)
- The element that generates the Day Master, with the opposite polarity
- Indirect Resource (偏印)
- The element that generates the Day Master, with the same polarity
- Direct Officer (正官)
- The element that controls the Day Master, with the opposite polarity
- Seven Killings (七杀)
- The element that controls the Day Master, with the same polarity
- Direct Wealth (正财)
- The element the Day Master controls, with the opposite polarity
- Companion (比肩)
- The same element and polarity as the Day Master
- Rob Wealth (劫财)
- The same element as the Day Master, with the opposite polarity
- Eating God (食神)
- The element the Day Master generates, with the same polarity
- Hurting Officer (伤官)
- The element the Day Master generates, with the opposite polarity
- Useful element (用神)
- The element that supplies what a weak Day Master lacks or drains what a strong one has in excess
- Favorable element (喜神)
- An element that works with the Useful element and helps the Day Master
- Unfavorable element (忌神)
- An element that works against the Day Master and should be avoided
- Strong and weak (身强、身弱)
- Whether the Day Master carries too much or too little force
- Support and pressure (扶抑)
- Judge strength first, then support the weak or drain, spend and control the strong
- Scoring
- Year stem and year branch 0.5 each, month branch 2, every other position 1; hidden stems share the points by rank
Common mistakes
- Gu Xu means loneliness and thin family ties: it is only a table marker with a 42.2% hit rate, too common to carry that meaning. Its branch was the Useful element in 10.7% and unfavorable in 47%.
- Gu Xu always comes with Void: the two often pair but not always. In the Gu Xu charts, 35.2% also carried a Void.
- Gu Xu is worse than Void: neither enters strength or favorability here, and the hit branch was the Useful element in only 10.7%. There is no basis for ranking them.
- An hour-pillar Gu Xu is the most feared: year 16.6%, month 16.1% and hour 17% are almost the same. The hour pillar is not special.
Two real charts
Jia Shen (甲申) · Bing Yin (丙寅) · Gui Hai (癸亥) · Wu Wu (戊午) (male, Feb 14, 2004, 13:15, Beijing)
Here Gu Xu falls on the hour branch, while the Day Master is clearly weak. True solar time was 12:46. The birth came after Start of Spring, so the month pillar is Bing Yin. The Day Master is Gui Water, born in a Yin month.
The day pillar Gui Hai belongs to the Jia Yin decade, whose Void branches are Zi and Chou; Gu Xu is therefore Wu and Wei. The hour branch Wu is a direct hit. The stems are Jia Hurting Officer, Bing Direct Wealth and Wu Seven Killings. The branches are Shen, Yin, Hai and Wu. Output, Officer/Killings and Wealth all carry weight; support 1.117 against pressure 5.883 makes the chart weak by points.
The Useful element is Water, favorable Metal, unfavorable Wood and Earth. Wu is Direct Wealth to Gui Water, and Fire is not the Useful element. Gu Xu on the hour branch is noted, but the weak Day Master still takes Metal and Water. The word Gu Xu does not start a separate favorable list.
Yi Mao (乙卯) · Xin Si (辛巳) · Xin Wei (辛未) · Wu Xu (戊戌) (female, May 25, 1975, 20:00, Beijing)
This chart carries both Gu Xu and Void, and the two labels stay separate. True solar time was 19:48. The birth came after Grain Full, so the month pillar is Xin Si. The Day Master is Xin Metal, born in a Si month.
The day pillar Xin Wei belongs to the Jia Zi decade, whose Void branches are Xu and Hai; Gu Xu is therefore Chen and Si. The month branch Si hits Gu Xu, while the hour branch Xu is itself Void. The stems are Yi Indirect Wealth, Xin Companion and Wu Direct Resource. The branches are Mao, Si, Wei and Xu. Support 4.3 against pressure 2.7 makes the chart strong by points.
The Useful element is Water, favorable Wood and Fire, unfavorable Earth and Metal. Si is Direct Officer to Xin Metal, and Fire is favorable. One chart can show Gu Xu and Void at the same time; read each label on its own, then let support and pressure have the final say.
The rule: fix the decade, then cross the two Void branches
Gu Xu starts from the decade, not from one fixed branch. The day pillar sits in a decade of ten stem-branch pairs. That decade leaves two branches empty. Flip each empty branch to its opposite, and those opposites are Gu Xu.
Take the Jia Yin decade as an example. Its Void branches are Zi and Chou. Zi faces Wu, Chou faces Wei, so Gu Xu is Wu and Wei. If the year, month or hour branch is Wu or Wei, the chart is marked.
Our site checks only the year, month and hour branches. The day branch is the one that fixed the decade, so it is not used to mark itself as Gu Xu.
In the 2,000 charts we cast, 844 hit Gu Xu, 42.2%, matching the site lookup on all 2,000. The marker is listed and adds no points to strength.
How common it is: almost the same as Void
Gu Xu is not a rare mark; it is about as common as Void itself. In 2,000 charts, Gu Xu hit 844, 42.2%, and Void hit 868, 43.4%. Both sit around four in ten.
The two often arrive together. A total of 297 charts, 14.8%, carried both. Within the Gu Xu group, 35.2% also had a Void.
The lookup explains the frequency: each decade empties two branches, and each has an opposite, so there are four target branches. Three positions have a good chance of meeting one. Seeing the word Gu Xu is no reason to think of loneliness or thin family ties.
Something this common cannot work as a fate label. At 42.2%, it is a traditional reminder, not a verdict on a person.
Ten Gods on the hit branch: an even spread, no fixed character
Gu Xu shows almost no preference for one Ten God. Indirect Wealth 11.2%, Direct Resource 11.1%, Direct Officer 10.6%, Indirect Resource 10.4%, Rob Wealth 10.3%, Seven Killings 10.1%, Direct Wealth 9.8%, Hurting Officer 9.4%, Companion 9% and Eating God 8.5%.
The highest and lowest are close together. Unlike some stars that cluster on Wealth or Officer, Gu Xu lands across the whole range.
So you cannot read Gu Xu on Wealth as money loss, or Gu Xu on Officer as a bad marriage. A Ten God is read first by whether it helps the Day Master, then by whether the chart is strong or weak.
The hit branch was the Useful element in 10.7%, favorable in 25.2%, unfavorable in 47% and clashed in 17.3%. Both sides of favorability are well represented, which means the marker itself does not decide good or bad.
Gu Xu and Void: paired often, but read separately
They are close relatives, not the same label. Void is the two empty branches of the decade. Gu Xu is their opposites. One sits in the empty position, the other across from it.
One chart can show both, and example 2 does. Its month branch Si is Gu Xu while its hour branch Xu is Void. Each label is recorded on its own position.
Gu Xu does not change the Void conclusion, and Void does not change the Gu Xu conclusion. Both are reference points. The reading still ends with Day Master strength and the favorable elements.
Position does not create a ranking either. Year 16.6%, month 16.1% and hour 17% are nearly identical. The hit charts were 45% strong and 54.9% weak, with no lopsided lean.
Data: 844 Gu Xu charts with a wide spread
Gu Xu hit 844 of the 2,000 charts, 42.2%, matching the site lookup on all 2,000. Void hit 868 charts, 43.4%.
Both appeared in 297 charts, 14.8%; within the Gu Xu group, 35.2% also had a Void. The hit charts were 45% strong and 54.9% weak.
By position: year 16.6%, month 16.1%, hour 17%. Ten Gods from high to low: Indirect Wealth 11.2%, Direct Resource 11.1%, Direct Officer 10.6%, Indirect Resource 10.4%, Rob Wealth 10.3%, Seven Killings 10.1%, Direct Wealth 9.8%, Hurting Officer 9.4%, Companion 9% and Eating God 8.5%.
The hit branch was the Useful element in 10.7%, favorable in 25.2%, unfavorable in 47% and clashed in 17.3%. Both favorable and unfavorable cases are common, so Gu Xu alone cannot judge fortune.
Simulated charts: our BaZi calculator generated 2,000 random birth times (birth years 1950–2010 uniformly random, random birth time, half male/half female, Beijing true solar time), cast each chart and judged strength and the Useful element by traditional rules, then counted the results. These are simulated results, not a survey of real people and not a measure of prediction accuracy. Gu Xu was found by fixing the day pillar's decade, taking its two Void branches, and then taking each one's opposite branch; only the year, month and hour branches were checked. Favorability of the hit branch follows this site's lists for that branch's element. Calculation version: our BaZi calculator after the Oct 15, 2026 update (the same rules the site uses now; rechecked with site version v73 on Oct 20, 2026), random seed 20261014. To reproduce: rerun the same version with the same seed and the results match exactly; you can check any single chart by entering the same birth time in our BaZi calculator.
FAQ
How is Gu Xu found, and how does it relate to Void?
Find the decade of the day pillar, note the two branches it leaves empty, and take the branch opposite each one. Those opposites are Gu Xu. Void is the empty pair itself; Gu Xu is their reflection. The two often appear together but are separate labels. Our site checks only the year, month and hour branches.
Does Gu Xu in my chart mean I will be lonely?
No single marker can say that. Gu Xu is a traditional label that hit 42.2% of the 2,000 charts we cast, so it is very common. Its branch was the Useful element in 10.7% and unfavorable in 47%. Loneliness is a lived experience, not something one table entry can settle.
Is Gu Xu the same as Four Great Voids?
No. Gu Xu uses the Void branches of the day pillar's decade and then takes their opposites. Four Great Voids uses the year's Na Yin, a separate naming system for the sixty pairs. The lookups differ, and here neither one enters strength or favorability.
What if Gu Xu falls on the month pillar?
First ask whether the month branch's element is favorable or unfavorable for that chart, then choose the Useful element from Day Master strength. The month hit rate is 16.1%, close to the year and hour rates. A month position alone cannot decide career or family, and one factor cannot decide a life.
Common view vs. our view
| Common view | Our view | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Gu Xu means loneliness and thin family ties | Treat it as a table marker and check the hit branch | The hit rate is 42.2%, too common to work as a fate label |
| Gu Xu always comes with Void | They often pair, but not always | 35.2% of Gu Xu charts also had a Void |
| Gu Xu is more severe than Void | Neither enters strength or favorability on this site | The hit branch was the Useful element in only 10.7% |
| Gu Xu on the hour pillar is the worst | The three positions hit at similar rates | Year 16.6%, month 16.1%, hour 17% |