Hi Jiyou, excuse me for the delay, but I've been a bit busy.
Well, I see that you have some confusion regarding of the Useful Energy Yòng Shén 用 用 rating. I am going to give you two imaginary examples, I recommend that you make the annotations on a paper of these examples separately, so that you can visualize the method and clarify doubts (anyway, if something is not clear to you, do not worry you can ask me, at Sometimes I take time to answer, but I try to help you assimilate the technique).
In the two examples, we are going to see two specific cases in the nucleus of two Natals Charts. One will carry the Mixed Qi Zá Qì 杂 气 and the other will not carry the Miscellaneous Qi. But as we have already discussed, there are many different examples (I think they are like half a million different natal charts and it would be impossible to describe them all). As long as you are clear about the Body of Doctrine, you can practice and practice with various graphics, until you can detect the Useful Energy. We are not going to read any Natal Chart either, it is simply enough to obtain the Yòng Shén 用 Useful Energy, and the rest will come in addition.
EXAMPLE ONE: INCLUDES MIXED QI
Let's imagine that we have the Pillar of the Day is: Dog Xū 戌 of Yang Fire Bing 丙, that the Pillar of the Month is: Monkey Shēn 申 of Yin Water Gui 癸 and in the Pillar of the Year we have the Earthly Branch of the Dragon Chén 辰. At the moment, we would not take into account the Pillar of the Hour and the Celestial Stem of the Year, which we the add after finding the Useful Qi.
If we accommodate the Energies of these 2 Palaces (Day and Month) and of the Earthly Branch of the Year, and we organize them from greater quantity to less quantity, we will find the following eleven elements (for the moment we will not take into the yin polarities yang):
4 Waters (here we add the Celestial Stem of the Month)
3 Earths
2 Woods
2 Metals and
1 Fire
Here we say that the Water Excels, because 4 Waters outnumber the 3 Earths.
Now, we are going to discriminate the 4 Waters, and we see that we have: Three Yin Water Gui 癸 versus One Yang Water Rén 壬. In this case, the Yin Water Gui癸 outnumbers the Yang Water Rén 壬. In other words, it is a Frame of Yin Water Gui 癸, or better yet, it is a Direct Officer Structure and that Yin Water Gui 癸 will be the Yòng Shén 用 神 Useful Energy.
This will ensure that this person will be famous and smart. However, when we analyze the entire Charter in its Totality, we will see the prestige potential of that person.
Because we have 3 Waters in the Tomb or Storage Layer we say that the command of the Useful Energy is transferred to the Local Magistrate Dìfang Xíngzhèng Zhangguan (地方 行政 长官) and he will govern the Charter.
A detail that we should not overlook: when analyzing a Mixed Energy, the Celestial Stem of the Month Tiāngān 天干 will always have priority because it is a Dynamic Qi.
After that, we are going to look at which Gatherings are going to involve the Dìzhī 地支 Earth Branch of the Month. On the one hand, we see the Yang Metal Gēng 庚 Combination of the Dominant Qi exerting a Control with Balance on the Yin Wood Yi 乙 of the Residual Qi of the Year. And also in the Deep Layer of the Hidden Stem, another Interaction between the Yang Earth Wù 戊 of the Tomb of the Month is observed exerting another Control with Balance on the Yin Water Gui 癸 of the Marriage Palace. In both cases, the Tcheu Interdominance Cycle is very favorable. In the first reading, the Indirect Wealth Piān Cái 偏 财 balances the Seal Zhèng Yìn 正 印, and in the second instance, the Nutrition Factor Shí Shén 食神 harmonizes the Indirect Resource Piān Yìn 偏 印.
We could even include the Yin Wood Yi 乙 Meeting as a Shi Gàn Lù 干 祿.
Should the case arise, let the Heralds: 1. Cháng Shēng (长生) Birth; 5. Dì Wàng (帝 旺) Imperial Prosperity or 9. Mù (墓) Tomb, if any of them, were present in any of the Four Pillars, they would give greater power to the Master Element, since they would favor the Meeting Sān Hé 三合 (3 Units). Even more, they would be more positive when are presented in the Year Xìng Nián 幸 年 or in the Deanery Yuàn Zhang 院長: Rat Zi 子.
Here we would not say that Sān Hé 三合 (or the Seasonal Combination Sān Huì 三 会, or the Media Triangular Combination Bàn San Hé 合 if they were to appear), change or modify the essence of Useful Energy. Rather, we could define it as creating nuances when reading the graph.
As the Natal Chart really is divided like an onion, later we add the Pillar of the Hour and the Celestial Stem of the Year and that would be the appropriate technique to analyze the second layer of the onion.
In the Third Layer of the Onion we add, the Heralds. In the Fourth Layer of the Onion we will see the Seasons Jìjié 季节 and the Stars Shen Sha 神煞, etc. It's like when you're drawing an oil painting, you use a color palette to bring the painting to life, and in this case, the Natal Chart.
EXAMPLE TWO: DOES NOT INCLUDE MIXED QI
Well Jiyou, let's do an assessment of another imaginary Natal Chart.
Suppose that the Terrestrial Branch of the Day is Pig Hài 亥; In the Palace of the Month, we will draw a Horse Wu 午 of Yang Fire Bing 丙 and in the Earth Branch of the Year, a Chou Buffalo 丑 will appear. As in the previous example, for the moment we will not look at the Pillar of the Hour, nor the Celestial Stem of the Year, we include them a little later so as not to get confused. And the Decree of the Month Yuè Lìng 月 令 will be Rain Water Yu Shui 雨水: Yang Wood Jia 甲.
In this case, we see the following Elements without Polarities:
2 Fires (here we include the Celestial Stem of the Month)
2 Waters
2 Lands
1 Metal
As we see a balance of Energies (2 Fires, 2 Waters, 2 Earths), we say that the Qi: DOES NOT stick out. In that case, how do we solve the equation? We look for the Useful Qi, in the Yang Wood (Jia 甲), that is, in the Decree of the Month Yuè Lìng 月 令. As this Wood is not transformed then we can say that the Useful Qi will be the Yang Jia Wood 甲.
Here we could affirm that the Yang Jia Wood 甲 is softened with the Nián Tu 粘土 Moist Earth of the Chou Buffalo 丑 and with the Yin Fire Dīng 丁 of the Residual Qi of the Month. In this sense, this person will not be stubborn and will conform to the surrounding circumstances.
One detail, when Energetic Transformations are presented, that will cause duplications of the Useful Energy, the diagnosis will become a little more complex, and thus, we would have to be a little more careful when making any judgment.
After doing all this and we have already defined the Useful Energy, then we do add the Pillar of the Month and the Celestial Stem of the Year to read the Four Pillars, and we add everything else: Shocks, Damages, Meetings, Heralds, Stars, Seasons, Na Yin… Including the Empty Sky and Kong Wang, when they appear.
These are two examples, of the most frequent. Here I did a slow and step by step outline, so that you have an understand of the method. In my case, I make these same assessments in a direct and simplified way, because I already have practice.
By the way Jiyou, and just out of curiosity, what country and city do you live in?