The Twelve Palaces
The Twelve Palaces are arranged counter-clockwise around the Earthly Branch palaces: Life → Siblings → Spouse → Children → Wealth → Health → Travel → Friends (Servants) → Career (Profession) → Property → Fortune → Parents.
| Palace | Governs | Key Points for Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Life Palace (命宫) | Innate structure, core personality, overall theme of life | Examine the main star combination + Trinity (三方四正) to set the tone for the whole chart |
| Siblings Palace | Siblings, peer support, cash flow turning points | Also look at business partners beyond close relationships |
| Spouse Palace | Spouse type, marriage pattern, attitude toward romance | Stars reveal spouse traits; malefic stars and Hua Ji reveal turbulence |
| Children Palace | Bond with children, juniors, subordinates, sexual life | Also look at romance/peach blossom (read together with the Spouse Palace) |
| Wealth Palace | Ways of earning, money management ability, cash flow | Look at "how you earn money"; read together with the Fortune and Career Palaces |
| Health Palace | Constitution, health vulnerabilities, emotional inner wounds | Five-Element attributes correspond to internal organs |
| Travel Palace | Luck when going out, social image, changes in circumstances | Travel horse / restlessness and upheaval are seen here |
| Friends Palace | Friends, colleagues, subordinates, quality of network | Many malefic stars or Hua Ji means be cautious with people |
| Career Palace | Career structure, vocational inclination, way of achieving success | Forms a Trinity with the Life and Wealth Palaces, defining the career pattern |
| Property Palace | Real estate, home environment, wealth vault | The vault position — whether you can hold onto wealth |
| Fortune Palace | Inner spiritual world, interests and enjoyment, longevity and blessings | The source of inner happiness |
| Parents Palace | Bond with parents, elders and superiors, documents and academic credentials | Also shows your relationship with authority / institutions |
The Trinity (三方四正)
The palace itself + the trine (counting four positions clockwise and counter-clockwise from the palace — i.e., Wealth and Career relative to Life) + the opposite palace (the clash). When interpreting any palace, you must look at the total star energy and the ratio of malefic to auspicious influences across its Trinity. The Trinity of the Life Palace = Life, Wealth, Career, Travel — this determines the main structure of life.
Body Palace (身宫)
It resides in one of the Life, Spouse, Wealth, Travel, Career, or Fortune Palaces, and governs the postnatal focus of development and the direction of life after middle age. Whichever palace the Body Palace falls in, that is where the focus of the second half of life lies.
Lai Yin Palace (来因宫)
The palace where the birth-year Heavenly Stem is located; in the Northern School it is regarded as "the source of life's lessons" — the Si Hua (four transformations) are issued from the Heavenly Stem of this palace, making it the entry point for explaining life's karmic issues.
Empty Palaces
A palace without main stars ≠ empty of content: interpret it by borrowing the main stars of the opposite palace, but the strength is discounted and carries a sense of changeability. On this site's chart page, empty palaces will display the phrase "borrowed X X" in a faded tone — what is borrowed are the main stars of the opposite palace.