Life Palace in Zi Wei Dou Shu: How to Find and Read It
The Life Palace (命宮, Ming Gong) is the first of the twelve palaces and the first place to look in any Zi Wei Dou Shu chart. It describes your basic temperament, how you make decisions and the impression you give, and every other palace is counted from it. It is not your birthday and not a verdict on your life. Below: how it is calculated, how to read it with its opposite and trine palaces, the fourteen major stars in it, an empty Life Palace, the Body Palace and the yearly Life Palace. Add your birth details and the tool marks your own Life Palace and its stars.
- Personality
- Major stars
- Opposite: Travel
- Body Palace
Updated October 26, 2026
Example chart
What's in your Life Palace?
This page shows a sample chart: May 12, 1990 · 14:30 · Taipei.
In the example chart, the Life Palace sits in 丙戌
- 太陰Tai Yin旺 · StrongHua Ke
- Supporting stars
- Bell Star
- Opposite palace
- Travel Palace · Tai Yang
- Decade
- Ages 5–14
The Zi Wei reading reads the Life Palace in chapter 1, Life and Body palaces. See the chapters
Three sides of the Life Palace
Opposite: Travel Palace · Trines: Career Palace, Wealth Palace
This palaceOppositeTrineTap any palace to see its own three sides and four squares.
What the Life Palace means
Also called the natal Life Palace, it is the first palace fixed when a chart is drawn. It describes you as a person: the base colour of your character, your habits of thought and reaction, what you want from life and how others first see you. Classical texts treat it as the summary of the whole chart, because the Siblings, Spouse, Wealth and other palaces are all laid out from it in turn.
Read it as a tendency, not a sentence. Two people with Qi Sha in the Life Palace may pour the same drive into a start-up or onto a sports field. The palace shows the hand you were dealt; how you play it is up to you.
Life Palace lookup: how it is calculated
Only two inputs decide where the Life Palace sits: your lunar birth month and your birth hour. Year and day play no part. Take the Yin square in the lower left corner of the chart as the first month and count clockwise to your lunar month. Treat that square as the Zi hour, then count counterclockwise, one square per two-hour period, until you reach your birth hour. Where you stop is your Life Palace.
An example: eighth lunar month, Mao hour (05:00 to 07:00). Counting months from Yin, the eighth lands on You. Counting hours backwards from there gives Zi at You, Chou at Shen, Yin at Wei and Mao at Wu, so the Life Palace is Wu. Leap months and the late-night Zi hour are handled differently by different schools; the lookup tool on this page converts your Gregorian date and time with our chart rules.
Which major star sits inside depends on more. The year stem sets the Five Elements bureau, the lunar day then places Zi Wei, and the other stars follow. People born in the same month and hour share a Life Palace position, but not necessarily its stars, so a star lookup always needs your full birth data.
How to read the Life Palace in four steps
Judging a whole person from one star is the classic beginner's mistake. Work outward from the core instead.
- 1
Find the major star or stars and check their brightness in that branch: this is the main melody of your character. If the palace is empty, borrow the stars of the Travel Palace opposite.
- 2
Add the three sides and four squares: the Travel Palace opposite and the Wealth and Career palaces in trine show how you come across, how you earn and where you work.
- 3
Check transformations and minor stars: a birth-year Hua Lu, Hua Quan, Hua Ke or Hua Ji here or in the trine, plus helpers like Zuo Fu and You Bi or malefics like Qing Yang and Tuo Luo, add strengths or set tasks.
- 4
Compare with the Body Palace and the timing layers: the Body Palace shows where your effort goes later in life, and the decade and yearly Life Palaces show the theme of each period.
The opposite palace and the three sides and four squares
The Travel Palace sits opposite, and the two form the life and travel axis. The Life Palace is you behind your own front door; the Travel Palace is you out in the world, with its chances, people and demands to adapt. Its stars shine straight into the Life Palace: Zi Wei in Zi or Wu always faces Tan Lang, describing someone quiet at home and surprisingly sociable outside.
The trine palaces are Wealth and Career. Life, Wealth, Career and Travel together are the Life Palace's three sides and four squares: who you are, how you earn, what you do and how you appear. Because the major stars follow fixed patterns, the trine often comes with set partners. With Zi Wei in the Life Palace, Wu Qu is always in Wealth and Lian Zhen in Career; with Qi Sha in the Life Palace, Tan Lang is always in Wealth and Po Jun in Career, the well-known Sha Po Lang pattern.
The 14 major stars in the Life Palace
A short portrait of each major star as your Life Palace star. Each star's own guide covers its six pairings, brightness and transformations in full.
- 紫微
Zi Wei in the Life Palace
Zi Wei people carry quiet authority, like to be the one who decides and need to be respected. The trine is easy to remember: Wu Qu always sits in the Wealth Palace and Lian Zhen in the Career Palace, so a practical money sense and a disciplined work style decide whether the emperor really rules. Zi Wei dislikes ruling alone; Zuo Fu, You Bi, Tian Kui or Tian Yue nearby give the emperor ministers.
Zi Wei guide - 天機
Tian Ji in the Life Palace
The adviser type: observant, a planner and a finder of methods, usually with three ways to do anything. Tian Tong always sits in the Wealth Palace, so money tends to come steadily from expertise and ideas rather than brute force. Tian Ji is strongest in Zi and Wu; in Chou and Wei it is dim, and the task is turning a head full of ideas into one decision.
Tian Ji guide - 太陽
Tai Yang in the Life Palace
Warm, outgoing and loyal, like a lamp that wants to light up everyone nearby. Everything depends on the branch: from Yin to Wu the sun is up, and dealings are open and generous; fallen in Hai and Zi it still gives a great deal, with more effort and less recognition. Tian Tong always sits in the Spouse Palace, so a gentle partner often cools this busy sun down.
Tai Yang guide - 武曲
Wu Qu in the Life Palace
Wu Qu is the wealth star: firm, decisive, efficient and sharp with numbers and resources. Zi Wei always sits in the Career Palace and Lian Zhen in the Wealth Palace, so work tends to hand you authority while money comes through discipline and follow-through. Blunt speech and little small talk are part of the package; one soft sentence before business makes people far easier to deal with.
Wu Qu guide - 天同
Tian Tong in the Life Palace
The star of blessings: easy-going, fond of the good life, soft with people and keen to avoid a fight. Tian Ji always sits in the Career Palace, so jobs that use your head, involve planning or serve others suit you. Tian Tong's comforts usually arrive after some early hardship; a lazy streak in youth is fine, as long as you give yourself one goal worth working for.
Tian Tong guide - 廉貞
Lian Zhen in the Life Palace
Lian Zhen is transformed into 'imprisonment': strong principles and strong desires, cool on the surface and intense underneath. Zi Wei always sits in the Wealth Palace and Wu Qu in the Career Palace, a managerial frame that suits rising within institutions. In Yin and Shen it is at its most self-disciplined; fallen in Si and Hai beside Tan Lang, moods and temptations need more care.
Lian Zhen guide - 天府
Tian Fu in the Life Palace
The treasury star and lord of the Southern Dipper: steady, generous, good at keeping what has been built and reassuring to have around. Qi Sha always sits in the Travel Palace and Tian Xiang in the Career Palace, so the world keeps pushing you forward while your heart wants calm. Tian Fu is never fallen; its real risk is being so careful and proud that it misses the moment to change course.
Tian Fu guide - 太陰
Tai Yin in the Life PalaceIn the example
The moon: refined, inward and sensitive, with an eye for beauty and an instinct for money. Tian Liang always sits in the Career Palace, so caring work, managing assets and anything that rewards patience suit you. Tai Yin loves the night and is brightest in Hai, Zi and Chou; fallen from Mao to Si, sensitivity can turn into worry, so build steady sources of security.
Tai Yin guide - 貪狼
Tan Lang in the Life Palace
Gifted in many directions, curious, socially skilled and strongly driven by what it wants. Po Jun always sits in the Wealth Palace and Qi Sha in the Career Palace, so the trine is Sha Po Lang: a fast, changeable life that thrives on competition. At its brightest in Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei, desire becomes skill; fallen in Si and Hai, choose a few interests and go deep.
Tan Lang guide - 巨門
Ju Men in the Life Palace
Ju Men is transformed into 'darkness': analytical, observant, always asking why, and easily misunderstood. Tai Yin always sits in the Spouse Palace and Tian Liang in the Fortune Palace, a hint that under the debating you badly want to be treated gently. Words are Ju Men's best tool: in teaching, law, counselling or research they shine, and spent on complaints they turn into gossip.
Ju Men guide - 天相
Tian Xiang in the Life Palace
The seal star: gentle, upright, fond of order and appearances, a natural mediator who tidies up other people's messes. Tian Fu always sits in the Wealth Palace, so money is handled prudently, and Po Jun in the Travel Palace, so the outside world keeps asking for change. Ju Men always flanks you from the Siblings Palace and Tian Liang from the Parents Palace; a Xin-year Hua Lu on Ju Men makes that a supportive pincer.
Tian Xiang guide - 天梁
Tian Liang in the Life Palace
The shelter star: mature, principled, protective and fond of giving advice, so people treat you as the older sibling. Tai Yin always sits in the Wealth Palace, which steadies income, and professions, medicine, insurance, public service or consulting suit you. Its protection often shows only when trouble arrives, which is why bad luck tends to turn around. The thing to work on: lecture less, listen more.
Tian Liang guide - 七殺
Qi Sha in the Life Palace
The general: independent, decisive, bold and allergic to being tied down. Tian Fu always sits in the Travel Palace, Tan Lang in the Wealth Palace and Po Jun in the Career Palace, the complete Sha Po Lang frame, so life brings many fresh starts and changes. Qi Sha is never fallen in any branch, so drive is never lacking; the skill to build is thinking one step further before you move.
Qi Sha guide - 破軍
Po Jun in the Life Palace
The star of spending and of new beginnings: unafraid to tear down and rebuild, quick to spot new possibilities inside old systems. Tian Xiang always sits in the Travel Palace, Qi Sha in the Wealth Palace and Tan Lang in the Career Palace, so both earning and spending swing widely. Bright in Zi and Wu it has real boldness; fallen in Mao and You, master the basics before you break anything.
Po Jun guide
An empty Life Palace (no major star)
When none of the fourteen major stars sits in the Life Palace, you borrow the stars of the Travel Palace opposite. Borrowed stars work a little more weakly, and the minor stars and transformations inside the palace weigh more. People with an empty Life Palace tend to be adaptable and shaped by their surroundings; some feel unformed when young, then grow into whatever role they finally commit to.
Which stars you borrow follows the branch. Empty in Zi or Wu, the opposite always holds Tian Tong with Tai Yin; in Chen or Xu, Tian Ji with Tian Liang; in Si or Hai, Lian Zhen with Tan Lang. Empty in Chou or Wei, you borrow Tian Tong and Ju Men, Tai Yang and Tai Yin, or Wu Qu and Tan Lang; in Yin or Shen, Tian Tong and Tian Liang, Tian Ji and Tai Yin, or Tai Yang and Ju Men; in Mao or You, Tai Yang and Tian Liang, Zi Wei and Tan Lang, or Tian Ji and Ju Men. The empty palace guide covers all twelve pairs.
The four transformations in the Life Palace
A birth-year transformation in the Life Palace writes that star's energy straight into your character. Our charts change the year at Lunar New Year, so if you were born before the festival, use the previous year's stem.
祿Hua Lu in the Life Palace
Easy charm, optimism and opportunities that seem to find you. It also loves comfort, so make sure ease does not turn into standing still.
Hua Lu explained權Hua Quan in the Life Palace
Strong opinions and drive that put you in charge naturally. Used well it is responsibility; overused, it becomes stubbornness and control.
Hua Quan explained科Hua Ke in the Life Palace
Composure, order and a good name. When trouble comes someone tends to step in, and expertise and reputation are your best capital.
Hua Ke explained忌Hua Ji in the Life Palace
High standards and deep thinking that can tip into overthinking; the lesson of a lifetime sits with yourself. Learning to go easy on yourself turns it into resilience.
Hua Ji explained
Birth-year Si Hua in the example chart's Life Palace: Hua Ke
Minor stars in the Life Palace: Lu Cun, Gua Su and the malefics
Among the auspicious stars, Zuo Fu and You Bi bring helpers and a talent for leading teams, Wen Chang and Wen Qu add talent and expression, and Tian Kui and Tian Yue mean mentors along the way. Lu Cun in the Life Palace gives a careful, security-minded nature that keeps what it earns. Qing Yang always sits one palace ahead of Lu Cun and Tuo Luo one behind, so Lu Cun here is always flanked by the two: guard first, expand slowly. Tian Ma favours travel and work away from home.
Among the malefic stars, Qing Yang and Tuo Luo make you tougher or more stubborn, and life asks for some tempering; Huo Xing and Ling Xing bring a short fuse and bursts of energy; Di Kong and Di Jie give unconventional ideas and a loose grip on money. Gua Su (寡宿), a minor solitude star, describes someone who prefers to handle things alone and needs private space, not someone doomed to loneliness. Malefic stars often just mean learning to face difficulty earlier than others.
Life Palace vs Body Palace
Every chart also has a Body Palace, set by birth hour. It can fall in only six places: the Life Palace itself for the Zi and Wu hours, Fortune for Chou and Wei, Career for Yin and Shen, Travel for Mao and You, Wealth for Chen and Xu, and Spouse for Si and Hai. In the Mao-hour example above, counting clockwise from the month square puts the Body Palace in Zi, the Travel Palace opposite a Life Palace in Wu.
The usual reading: the Life Palace is your innate character and starting point, the Body Palace is where you put your effort, and it shows more clearly with age. When the two share a palace, what you see is what you get, and the Life Palace's strengths and flaws are both amplified. A Body Palace in Career, for instance, makes work the main stage on which you become yourself.
The Bazi Life Palace is not the Zi Wei Life Palace
Bazi also has a Life Palace, likewise worked out from birth month and hour, but its months follow the solar terms and the counting is different. The result is a stem and branch pair used as a supporting reference; most Bazi readings rest on the four pillars and the Ten Gods. In Zi Wei Dou Shu the Life Palace is the core of the chart: stars, transformations and decades all hang on it.
So one person can get different branches from the two systems, and both answers are right within their own system. For a full Bazi chart, use the Bazi calculator; everything on this page refers to the Zi Wei Life Palace.
Yearly and decade Life Palaces
Your natal Life Palace never moves; the decade and yearly Life Palaces do. Decades change every ten years, and the first one starts in the natal Life Palace at an age set by the Five Elements bureau: 2 for Water, 3 for Wood, 4 for Metal, 5 for Earth and 6 for Fire. Yang men and yin women then move clockwise, yin men and yang women counterclockwise. Whichever palace a decade occupies becomes that decade's Life Palace, and its Siblings, Spouse and Wealth palaces are counted from there.
The yearly Life Palace is easier: it is the palace whose branch matches the year. 2026 is a Bing Wu year, so the yearly Life Palace is the Wu square; in 2027, a Ding Wei year, it moves to Wei. Read that palace's stars with the year's transformations (Bing: Tian Tong Hua Lu and Lian Zhen Hua Ji; Ding: Tai Yin Hua Lu and Ju Men Hua Ji) layered over the natal and decade charts. Generate your chart to see where this year's Life Palace falls for you.
Derived palaces: what your Life Palace is to the others
Derived palaces treat any palace as a new Life Palace and count the twelve again. Turn the question around and ask what your own Life Palace is from the other palaces' point of view. It is the Wealth Palace of your Career Palace and the Career Palace of your Wealth Palace: you yourself are the capital of your work and the engine of your income, so a steady Life Palace gives money and career their roots.
It is also the Property Palace of your Children Palace, read traditionally as your children seeing you as home; the Travel Palace of your Travel Palace, so however far you roam the road leads back to you; and the Spouse Palace of your Fortune Palace, making you your own closest companion. Use these once the palace itself is familiar.
When the decade or year reaches the Life Palace
Everyone's first decade runs from the Life Palace. Depending on the bureau it covers ages 2 to 11 at the earliest and 6 to 15 at the latest, counted the traditional way with age one at birth, so it is mostly childhood and early adolescence. Its theme is becoming yourself: personality sets, a sense of self forms, and family and school leave their deepest marks.
A year whose branch matches your Life Palace comes round every twelve years and is often a year of rethinking yourself, with a strong urge to change direction or lifestyle. If that year's Hua Lu or Hua Ji also lands in the Life Palace, the feeling is sharper.
Life Palace: common questions
Short answers to what people search for most. The sections above go deeper.
Zi Wei AI reading
Your whole chart, read palace by palace
Seven chapters written for your chart. The first, your Life and Body palaces, is free with a free account.
Free to start
- 1Life and Body palacesFree
- 2Personality
- 3Career
- 4Money
- 5Love
- 6Family and wellbeing
- 7Decades and years
Draw your own Zi Wei chart
Enter your birth date and hour to draw all 12 palaces, the 14 major stars with their brightness, your Si Hua, and the decade and year layers. Free, no sign-up.
Draw my chart freeMore free tools
- Zi Wei Dou ShuThe Purple Star chart of twelve palaces.
- Zi Wei Dou Shu guideThe 14 stars, 12 palaces and Si Hua in plain words, each read against your own chart.
- Zi Wei readingA full sample Zi Wei reading: all twelve palaces, decades and years. Then read your own.
- Bazi CalculatorFour Pillars, ten gods, hidden stems, element balance and luck pillars. Free, and no sign-up.
- Five Elements CalculatorFind your element, the balance of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water in your chart, and what is missing.
- The ten godsFriend, Eating God, Seven Killings and the rest: what each of the ten gods means and how to find yours.