Chief

The first of the eight deities, and the one standing furthest up the ladder — whoever holds the authority in a matter, and the cover that comes with their backing. Wherever the Chief lands, trouble tends to scatter rather than gather. And when something is urgent enough that there is no time to weigh the options, the old instruction is simply to move in the direction the Chief occupies.

• Patrons and people in charge — the boss, the rung above, the judge and the examiner, and also the side holding the money: banks and lenders.
• Things going through — approval granted, someone standing behind the matter, a road that is actually open; there is a sense of blessing and luck about it.
• High and genuine — applied to goods, this is the premium item, the real article, the fine and the branded.
• Bearing — unwilling to sit below others, organised and influential; the sort who ends up at the centre of the room without ever asking to be.

Start here when reading the deity layer: the Chief is the anchor of it. The other seven are counted out from wherever the Chief falls, so locating it is the first move, not one of the later ones. One thing to keep straight while you do — three separate roles on a chart share the character 符 and are easy to swap by accident. The Chief (值符) is a deity. The leading star of the ten-day period (值符星) is a star. The duty gate that carries the work out (值使门) is a gate. Similar names, three different layers, three different things.

Nature

The person involved carries a private measuring stick, and what it measures is who ought to be in charge of what, and in which order things should happen. Titles matter to them, and so do rules. When a situation comes apart, the instinct is not to move first but to step back to the centre and put everyone back where they belong — outwardly unruffled, while quietly carrying more of the weight than anyone else in the room.

Style

Above board, always: set the rule, follow the procedure, and only then argue about speed. No tricks, and only one question that really counts — will this still stand up in three or five years. The shakier things get, the more obvious it becomes that the person involved is the one holding the room steady.

Strength

Setting direction and deciding what comes first. When a dozen people are talking past each other, the person involved can pick out the main thread, move resources and responsibilities back to where they belong, and get a stalled system turning again. Leading, deciding and coordinating are the roles that fit.

Impression

Upright to look at and weighty to listen to — the person involved stands in a room the way a central pillar stands in a building. Not much flair, and yet people hand over things that matter without hesitating. Spend long enough around them and what is really being offered becomes clear: they will carry it.

Pitfall

Treating steadiness as the only correct answer. Keep a rule long enough and the reason it was made in the first place gets forgotten. The person involved starts reacting to change half a beat late, guarding the position instead of reading the moment — and the seat that was rightfully theirs stiffens into a seat they are merely stuck in.

In a building, the Chief marks the spot with the most authority in it — the square where it is settled who calls the shots.

• Indoors: the corner office, the principal desk, the seat at the head of the table, and also the altar, the front desk and the meeting room.
• Outdoors: banks, financial centres, government buildings and courts, along with upmarket addresses and other places built to look imposing.
• Objects: seals, tokens of office and badges — the things that stand for the right to decide.

The same room carries a gate, a star and a deity all at once. Three layers, three separate symbols, sitting side by side without cancelling each other out.

Also considered as a secondary indicator for: Job / Interview.