Tian Ji in the Parents Palace: You and the Generation Above

Tian Ji in the Parents Palace means your parents or elders value talking things through; they reason with you and discuss things rather than simply give orders.

Parents, elders and bosses

With Tian Ji here, the bond with elders runs through the head: they hand you methods and ideas, and they also change their minds. The lesson is that their standards may shift, so learn to make your own call instead of waiting for them to give you the answer.

• With your parents: Clever parents full of ideas, who keep adjusting how they raise you.
• Elders, bosses and teachers: Bosses and teachers who come up with ideas and show you how to do things.
• Rules and authority: You ask "why" before you follow a rule, and you accept one that makes sense.

You and the generation above: the Life and Parents Palaces

With Tian Ji in the Parents Palace, the Life Palace star is not fixed: it can be Tian Fu, Tian Xiang, Qi Sha, Po Jun or Tan Lang, or the Life Palace can be empty.

With Tian Ji in the Parents Palace, the Life Palace star changes with the branch; the table below lists it for each one.

Parents and Mind: upbringing and inner life

Counting one palace forward from Tian Ji always lands on Zi Wei, and the Mind Palace always sits one palace forward from the Parents Palace, so with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace the Mind Palace always holds Zi Wei: the setting and upbringing your elders gave you tends to leave a lasting tint on your inner life. Further reading: Zi Wei in the Mind Palace.

With Tian Ji in the Parents Palace, the Children Palace always holds Tian Tong: with the next generation you are often gentler than your own elders were. The Friends Palace star is not fixed.

Bright and fallen positions

When bright, elders are good teachers who spark a lot of ideas in you. When fallen, elders change their minds often and their standards are hard to read. Brightness by branch, from the table of the Complete Book this site uses: Exalted: Zi, Wu; Strong: Mao, You; Favorable: Yin, Shen; Fair: Chen, Xu; Neutral: Si, Hai; Fallen: Chou, Wei.

The Parents Palace forms a trine with the Children and Friends Palaces (the generation above, the generation below, and friends and team members read as one group), and it sits between the Life Palace and the Mind Palace. Opposite is the Health Palace; we only read it as the star shining into the Parents Palace and make no health readings. The table shows, for each of the twelve branches Tian Ji can occupy in the Parents Palace, the star shining in from opposite and the major stars of the Life, Mind, Children and Friends Palaces.

"Empty palace" means the palace has none of the fourteen major stars; in that case you read it through the stars of the opposite palace.

The six combinations

Tian Ji alone, facing Ju Men (Zi or Wu)

Zi: Tian Ji exalted; Wu: Tian Ji exalted. Shining in from opposite: Ju Men; Life: empty palace; Mind: Zi Wei and Po Jun. About 17.7% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Tian Ji is exalted in Zi and Wu, with Ju Men shining in from opposite: elders are good at reasoning and teach you to think, though discussions sometimes turn into debates.

Tian Ji alone, facing Tian Liang (Chou or Wei)

Chou: Tian Ji fallen; Wei: Tian Ji fallen. Shining in from opposite: Tian Liang; Life: Po Jun; Mind: Zi Wei and Tian Fu. About 16.3% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Tian Ji is fallen in Chou and Wei, with Tian Liang shining in from opposite: elders change their minds a lot, but when something big happens they still step in to look after you.

Tian Ji with Tai Yin (Yin or Shen)

Yin: Tian Ji favorable, Tai Yin strong; Shen: Tian Ji favorable, Tai Yin fair. Shining in from opposite: empty palace; Life: Tian Fu; Mind: Zi Wei and Tan Lang. About 17.3% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Elders are sensitive and clever; they often plan for you and look after your feelings, and they adapt how they raise you to circumstances. Further reading: Tai Yin in the Parents Palace.

Tian Ji with Ju Men (Mao or You)

Mao: Tian Ji strong, Ju Men exalted; You: Tian Ji strong, Ju Men exalted. Shining in from opposite: empty palace; Life: Tan Lang; Mind: Zi Wei and Tian Xiang. About 16.8% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

There is a lot of discussion and reasoning with elders, and nitpicking and debate come easily. Once things are talked through, the relationship ends up on firmer ground. Further reading: Ju Men in the Parents Palace.

Tian Ji with Tian Liang (Chen or Xu)

Chen: Tian Ji fair, Tian Liang exalted; Xu: Tian Ji fair, Tian Liang exalted. Shining in from opposite: empty palace; Life: Tian Xiang; Mind: Zi Wei and Qi Sha. About 17.2% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Elders are like teachers, always ready with advice and reminders. They are very good at coming up with ideas for you. Further reading: Tian Liang in the Parents Palace.

Tian Ji alone, facing Tai Yin (Si or Hai)

Si: Tian Ji neutral; Hai: Tian Ji neutral. Shining in from opposite: Tai Yin; Life: Qi Sha; Mind: Zi Wei. About 14.6% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Tian Ji sits alone with Tai Yin shining in from opposite: elders are clever and changeable, and also gentle and attentive, planning for you while minding your feelings.

Birth-year transformations in the Parents Palace

• Tian Ji with Hua Lu (born in a Yi year): People born in a Yi year have Tian Ji Hua Lu in the Parents Palace: talking with elders flows easily, and good ideas often come from them. In our sample, about 10.5% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace carry the birth-year Hua Lu.
• Tian Ji with Hua Quan (born in a Bing year): People born in a Bing year have Tian Ji Hua Quan in the Parents Palace: elders have firm views about how you should plan your life. In our sample, about 6.8% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace carry the birth-year Hua Quan.
• Tian Ji with Hua Ke (born in a Ding year): People born in a Ding year have Tian Ji Hua Ke in the Parents Palace: elders are learned and put weight on your education. In our sample, about 8.1% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace carry the birth-year Hua Ke.
• Tian Ji with Hua Ji (born in a Wu year): People born in a Wu year have Tian Ji Hua Ji in the Parents Palace: you and your elders can overthink and second-guess each other. If something is on your mind, just ask. In our sample, about 8.3% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace carry the birth-year Hua Ji.

Getting along

Treat your elders' advice as useful input, not the answer key.

About 40.7% of charts with Tian Ji in the Parents Palace also have at least one of the six Sha stars in that palace, about the same as the 41.9% across all charts. Malefic stars in the Parents Palace usually show up as more friction and more differences of opinion with elders or bosses, which calls for more talking things through; they do not mean a bad relationship with your parents.

What our sample shows

How we counted: this site’s engine cast one Zi Wei chart for every day from 1960 to 2005 (birth hour drawn by a fixed-seed random sample), 16,802 charts in all. These figures describe how chart structures are distributed; they do not measure anyone’s parents' fortunes or family bonds.

Other major stars in the Parents Palace