Ziwei Notes › Palaces
The Twelve Palaces
A twelve-square diagram holding every affair of a life
If the stars are the vocabulary, the palaces are the settings. The same sun star:
in the Life Palace it speaks of a person's outwardness and responsibility; in the Career Palace, of social role and reputation;
in the Happiness Palace, of whether the inner light is bright. The palace decides "whom this sentence is addressed to".
1. Overview of the twelve
| Palace | What it governs | What to look for |
|---|
| 命宫 Life (Ming) | The self: character, temperament, basic pattern | The hub of the chart. Major stars set the tone, trine and opposite set the depth, transformations set the direction. |
| 兄弟宫 Siblings | Brothers and sisters, peers, partners; also cash flow | Old texts counted siblings; today it is often extended to partners and short-term money. |
| 夫妻宫 Marriage | Spouse, marriage, long-term partnership | It shows "how one relates", not what the other looks like; read against the Life Palace to see complement or clash. |
| 子女宫 Children | Children, juniors, students; also works and investments | Once about offspring, now also what one creates, invests in, and the people under one. |
| 财帛宫 Wealth | Sources of money, how it is managed and spent | It shows how money comes and goes — not the size of a bank balance. |
| 疾厄宫 Health | Body, constitution, health tendencies | Innate physique and susceptibilities; any actual illness must be judged by medicine. |
| 迁移宫 Travel | Going out, distant travel, the outer environment, how others see one | The palace opposite the Life Palace: a mirror of life outside the door. |
| 仆役宫 Friends | Friends, subordinates, colleagues, popularity | Also called the Associates Palace: whether the people one relies on are capable. |
| 官禄宫 Career | Work, study, social role and achievement | Also called the Career Palace: how one works and what stage one works on, not merely a job title. |
| 田宅宫 Property | Home, real estate, family and roots | Dwelling, family relations and "where one settles"; extended to inner security. |
| 福德宫 Happiness | Inner world, interests, fortune, feeling | How a person treats himself; read with Life and Wealth to see "what is sought and what is gained". |
| 父母宫 Parents | Parents, elders, superiors; documents and institutions | Relations with authority; extended to heredity, schooling, contracts and paperwork. |
2. The order of the palaces
The twelve are laid out in a fixed sequence (clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on the chart style),
running from the Life Palace: Life → Siblings → Marriage → Children → Wealth → Health → Travel → Friends → Career → Property → Happiness → Parents,
and back to Life. The position of the Life Palace is derived from birth month and hour (see Basics).
The order itself carries meaning: neighbouring palaces tend to pull at one another.
Life next to Siblings and Parents speaks of "where I come from";
Marriage next to Children speaks of "with whom I travel and what I leave behind";
Wealth next to Health was understood by the ancients as "body and money cannot be separated".
3. Trine and opposite
The two relations that matter most between palaces are the trine and the opposition. Taking the Life Palace as the example:
- Trine palaces: the two palaces four places away. Life's trine is Wealth and Career — a person, his money, and his work seen as three faces of one thing.
- Opposite palace: the palace six places away, directly facing. Life's opposite is Travel: one inner, one outer, surface and lining to each other.
- The four cardinals: the palace itself + two trine palaces + the opposite palace, together "san fang si zheng" — the four positions that must be consulted when weighing a palace.
You cannot read a palace by its own stars alone. Lucky stars in Life while the trine is full of harm: a man sitting alone in a high hall with wind through every wall.
Harm in Life while the trine is flanked by good: a man in a narrow lane whose house is full of guests.
The other trine sets follow the same rule: Siblings–Health–Property, Marriage–Travel–Happiness, Children–Friends–Parents.
These groups are used constantly in practice and are worth knowing by heart.
4. Points for reading a palace
1. Major stars first, then auxiliaries
Major stars set the tone; auxiliaries and harmful stars set the circumstance and the trouble. An empty palace (no major star) borrows the stars of its opposite — the old "borrowing stars to settle a palace".
2. Look at brightness, not headcount
Many lucky stars do not mean a good chart; what matters is whether each is in its place. One bright star beats three fallen ones.
3. Notice where the transformations land
Transformations are "what is happening now". The palace that receives Lu is usually where things run smoothly and connections begin;
the palace holding Ji is usually where the heart hangs and cannot let go. See The Four Transformations.
4. Read palaces against each other
Work means Career, but also Wealth (what is gained) and Happiness (what is wanted);
marriage means the Marriage Palace, but also Life (how this person relates) and Happiness (inner need). Judging from a single point is where errors begin.
On health: the Health Palace is a description of constitution within a traditional cultural framework. Any physical complaint should be diagnosed by qualified medicine — this is not a substitute for seeing a doctor.