Zi Wei Dou Shu 12 Palaces Explained

The twelve palaces are the grid of life domains. Where a star sits describes the baseline and ease of that domain—not an abstract character of the star alone. Charting, main stars, and sihua: Charting, Fourteen main stars, Sihua.

Twelve palaces

From Life Palace, one palace per domain counterclockwise:

Life Palace: character, appearance, talent, life direction. Most readings start here.

Siblings Palace: siblings, peers, partnership.

Spouse Palace: partner traits, marriage, stability.

Children Palace: children, juniors, interests; some peach-blossom topics are also read here.

Wealth Palace: earned income, money habits, how income comes—not a one-word “rich or poor.”

Health Palace: health, accidents, mental load.

Travel Palace: going out, relocation, development away from home.

Friends Palace (Servants Palace): friends, subordinates, colleagues, social circle.

Career Palace: work, position, suitable industry.

Property Palace: real estate, home, ancestral assets, savings.

Happiness Palace: inner satisfaction, hobbies, later-life mindset.

Parents Palace: parents, elders, bosses, early upbringing.

Body Palace

Body Palace is not a thirteenth cell. It overlays one of Life, Spouse, Wealth, Travel, Career, or Happiness (set by the birth hour). Life Palace leans innate; Body Palace leans acquired effort. Tradition often says Body Palace weights more from midlife; there is no ancient rule of a fixed “switch at thirty.”

• Life and Body same palace: innate and lived path align more closely.
• Body in Wealth: later life tends to weight money management.
• Body in Career: career load rises with age.

Compared with Jyotish and Qizheng Siyu

All three use twelve palaces, and domains roughly line up (for example the 7th near Spouse, the 10th near Career), but they are not the same house system in translation.

Indian astrology (Jyotish) charts from real bodies and the ascendant (Lagna), stressing planets, planetary periods, and karmic lessons. Qizheng Siyu also follows live sky positions and often uses fixed house lords. Ziwei is led by virtual stars, year-stem sihua, and palace-stem flight. It has no Western-style fixed house lords; an empty palace can be read from opposite and sanfang stars.

Friends Palace is closer to the Jyotish 6th (“servants”) than to the 11th (“friends”). Matching names does not mean matching method.

Do not read one palace alone

1. Sanfang sizheng: the palace under discussion plus its sanhe and opposite. For Life: Life, Wealth, Career, Travel.
2. Sihua flying stars: who flies to whom between palaces.
3. Empty palace: borrow opposite and sanhe to fill in.

Next, compare natal, major-luck, and annual palaces. Hidden uses, opposite palaces, and rooms in the house: Hidden palace meanings. Or locate all 12 palaces with the free Zi Wei Dou Shu calculator.