Glossary entry
The twelve palaces (十二宫)
A Zi Wei Dou Shu chart is a square of twelve cells. Each cell is one domain of life, and the stars placed in it are what that domain reads as. The cells do not change between charts; the stars do.
The twelve
Life 命宫, Siblings, Spouse, Children, Wealth, Health, Travel, Friends, Career, Property, Fortune, Parents. Each has a page on this site reading one palace of a real chart, and the free chart on the front page gives one line for every one of them.
How they are read
In pairs: the Life palace with the Travel palace opposite it, Spouse with Career, and so on. Read the Life palace first, then the one across from it, then the decade you are in. Which star landed where sets the tone before anything else is read.
Questions
Is there a best palace and a worst one?
No. Each cell is a domain, and a difficult star in one domain is often what pays for another. The reading states the condition rather than scoring it.
Where can I see one palace read?
The twelve palace pages each carry a reading of one palace of a real chart, and the sample page carries a whole reading from the verdict down.
Zi Wei Dou Shu chart, free See a completed reading first The full glossary