Age 68, 77: the Yǐ Mǎo Decade

During the forward sequence of xeir luck pillars, Magpie moved through a decade governed by Yǐ Mǎo, Wood over Rabbit, a chapter colored by Seven Killings, the pressure and testing that comes from outside demands or authority figures pressing against one's boundaries. This was a time when Magpie's own Earth nature was in the Ailing stage, meaning xeir vitality was more fragile, more inward-turning, less able to resist or push back hard. Yet the Wood element that defined this decade proved favourable to xeir chart overall, softening what could have been a harsh period into one of necessary refinement rather than crisis. The pressures that came, whether from others, from circumstance, or from xeir own need to adapt, likely taught Magpie something about letting go of control, about yielding where resistance would have cost too much. Looking back, this chapter probably feels like a time when xe learned xeir own quiet strength, not through force but through patience and the wisdom of knowing when to bend.