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

Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace means your parents or elders value manners and rules; the upbringing has a sense of proportion, and appearances matter to them.

Parents, elders and bosses

People with Tian Xiang here learn tact and how to mediate from their elders, and they usually have a steady relationship with bosses. The lesson is caring too much about keeping the peace on the surface, so your real thoughts tend to go unsaid.

• With your parents: Parents who value manners and rules; a careful upbringing.
• Elders, bosses and teachers: Fair bosses and teachers who care about team harmony.
• Rules and authority: You respect systems and procedures and are used to doing things by the book.

You and the generation above: the Life and Parents Palaces

With Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace, the Life Palace always holds Ju Men: you think critically and speak directly, while the generation above you values manners and tact.

This is built into the chart: counting one palace backward from Tian Xiang always lands on Ju Men, and the Life Palace always sits one palace backward from the Parents Palace. Further reading: Ju Men in the Life Palace.

Parents and Mind: upbringing and inner life

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

With Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace, the Children Palace always holds Tian Fu: with the next generation you are a steady, thoughtful backstop. The Friends Palace star is not fixed.

Bright and fallen positions

When bright, elders are fair and dependable, and the family culture is good. When fallen, you often find yourself caught between elders. Brightness by branch, from the table of the Complete Book this site uses: Exalted: Zi, Chou, Yin, Wu, Shen; Favorable: Chen, Si, Wei, Xu, Hai; Fallen: Mao, You.

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 Xiang 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

Lian Zhen with Tian Xiang (Zi or Wu)

Zi: Tian Xiang exalted, Lian Zhen neutral; Wu: Tian Xiang exalted, Lian Zhen neutral. Shining in from opposite: Po Jun; Life: Ju Men; Mind: Tian Liang. About 18.1% of charts with Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Elders value principle and stick to the rules. Watch for Tian Xiang being squeezed between a punishment star and a Ji: the relationship can be pulled around by outside events. Further reading: Lian Zhen in the Parents Palace.

Tian Xiang alone, facing Zi Wei and Po Jun (Chou or Wei)

Chou: Tian Xiang exalted; Wei: Tian Xiang favorable. Shining in from opposite: Zi Wei and Po Jun; Life: Ju Men; Mind: Tian Tong and Tian Liang. About 15.7% of charts with Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Tian Xiang sits alone with Zi Wei and Po Jun shining in from opposite: elders value rules and also have the nerve to reform. In Chou, Tian Xiang is exalted and the upbringing is steadier.

Wu Qu with Tian Xiang (Yin or Shen)

Yin: Tian Xiang exalted, Wu Qu favorable; Shen: Tian Xiang exalted, Wu Qu favorable. Shining in from opposite: Po Jun; Life: Tian Tong and Ju Men; Mind: Tai Yang and Tian Liang. About 15.3% of charts with Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Elders are practical and principled, teaching you how to get things done and how to conduct yourself. Further reading: Wu Qu in the Parents Palace.

Tian Xiang alone, facing Lian Zhen and Po Jun (Mao or You)

Mao: Tian Xiang fallen; You: Tian Xiang fallen. Shining in from opposite: Lian Zhen and Po Jun; Life: Tai Yang and Ju Men; Mind: Tian Ji and Tian Liang. About 14.9% of charts with Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Tian Xiang is fallen in Mao and You, with Lian Zhen and Po Jun shining in from opposite: elders' rules are often disrupted by outside forces, and the family goes through many changes.

Zi Wei with Tian Xiang (Chen or Xu)

Chen: Tian Xiang favorable, Zi Wei favorable; Xu: Tian Xiang favorable, Zi Wei favorable. Shining in from opposite: Po Jun; Life: Tian Ji and Ju Men; Mind: Tian Liang. About 19.3% of charts with Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Elders value rules and appearances, and the upbringing is strict. In Chen and Xu, Heaven's Net and Earth's Snare, the early relationship feels confined and loosens as you grow up. Further reading: Zi Wei in the Parents Palace.

Tian Xiang alone, facing Wu Qu and Po Jun (Si or Hai)

Si: Tian Xiang favorable; Hai: Tian Xiang favorable. Shining in from opposite: Wu Qu and Po Jun; Life: Ju Men; Mind: Tian Liang. About 16.7% of charts with Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Tian Xiang sits alone with Wu Qu and Po Jun shining in from opposite: elders know where the lines are, but the family goes through more upheaval.

Birth-year transformations in the Parents Palace

Under the Four Transformations table of the Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu, Tian Xiang never transforms, so Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace never carries a birth-year Hua Lu, Hua Quan, Hua Ke or Hua Ji of its own. For transformations in how you get on with elders, look at any other star sharing the palace, at Lu Cun, and at the star shining in from opposite.

Getting along

Beyond good manners, let your elders hear what you really think.

About 42.4% of charts with Tian Xiang 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