Jiaxu Tai Sui General Shi Guang

Jiaxu Tai Sui General Shi Guang is one of the Sixty Jiazi Tai Sui deities who assumes duty during the Jiaxu year (e.g., 1994, 2054), overseeing human fortune and misfortune for that year. The zodiac sign for the Jiaxu year is the Dog; folk belief holds that those born in the Year of the Dog experience benming nian (their natal zodiac year) during this period, while those born in the Year of the Dragon encounter conflict with the Tai Sui (chong tai sui). Both groups are traditionally advised to visit Daoist temples to perform the An Tai Sui (‘settling the Tai Sui’) or Bai Tai Sui (‘worshipping the Tai Sui’) rituals, offering reverence to the Tai Sui Star Lord to neutralise adverse influences of the year. The Tai Sui cult originates in ancient stellar chronology centred on the planet Jupiter (the ‘Year Star’ or Sui Xing) and the taboo against disturbing earth where the Tai Sui was believed to reside—hence the saying ‘disturbing earth above the Tai Sui’ (tai sui tou shang dong tu). It is believed that the sixty Tai Sui deities rotate annually, each serving as celestial overseers who monitor human virtue and vice; thus, during years of Tai Sui conflict, devotees offer sincere prayers seeking deliverance from calamity, transformation of misfortune into blessing, and harmonious, peaceful passage through the year.