Wu Qu in the Life Palace: What the Wealth Star Says About You

Wu Qu is the main wealth star and also a general. People with Wu Qu in the Life Palace are practical, decisive and strong on execution; they value efficiency and results and are unusually sharp with numbers and resources. Their money is mostly the kind earned by skill: hard work, but real.

The Wu Qu personality

Wu Qu’s hardness is both its strength and its lesson. It speaks bluntly, is not good at showing feelings and does not take detours; the classics call it “lonely and harsh”. A modern reading: in friendship and love Wu Qu has to learn softness on purpose, or it will be mistaken for coldness.

• Career: Finance, accounting, engineering, the military and police, management, sales and any work that needs execution and a head for numbers.
• Money: With the wealth star in the Life Palace, money management comes more naturally; values savings and real assets, but should not let money come before people.
• Love: Practical rather than romantic in love, and takes commitment seriously; tends to “solve your problem” instead of “sitting with you and talking it through”.

Bright and fallen: where Wu Qu is strongest

A bright Wu Qu is resolute and decisive, strong at both managing money and getting things done. Wu Qu has no fallen position. In a neutral position it is more impatient, and money comes and goes more unevenly. By the brightness table of the Complete Book used on this site: Exalted: Chou, Chen, Wei, Xu; Strong: Zi, Wu; Favorable: Yin, Shen; Fair: Mao, You; Neutral: Si, Hai.

The table shows, for each of the twelve branches where Wu Qu can sit in the Life Palace, its brightness, the major stars sharing the palace, and the major stars of the opposite, Wealth and Career palaces. These positions are fixed by the placement rules: once Wu Qu is placed, every other major star follows, so Wu Qu in a given branch always has the same palace group.

“Empty” means that palace has no major star; in a reading you borrow the major stars from its opposite palace and pay extra attention to the minor stars and transformations inside it.

The six combinations of Wu Qu in the Life Palace

The twelve branches clash in opposite pairs, and each pair holds the same major stars, so Wu Qu in the Life Palace comes in only six combinations. The two branches of a pair differ in brightness and in how things look from the Travel Palace.

Wu Qu with Tian Fu (Zi or Wu)

Zi: Wu Qu strong, Tian Fu exalted; Wu: Wu Qu strong, Tian Fu strong. Opposite: Qi Sha; Wealth: Lian Zhen; Career: Zi Wei and Tian Xiang. About 16.5% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace fall into this group.

The wealth star with the treasury star: two money stars in one palace, strong at both managing and keeping money, a very steady financial combination suited to finance, accounting and management. Practical, conservative and security-minded; the downsides are stubbornness, a dislike of risk, and difficulty expressing feelings. Further reading: Tian Fu in the Life Palace.

Wu Qu with Tan Lang (Chou or Wei)

Chou: Wu Qu exalted, Tan Lang exalted; Wei: Wu Qu exalted, Tan Lang exalted. Opposite: empty; Wealth: Lian Zhen and Po Jun; Career: Zi Wei and Qi Sha. About 15.6% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace fall into this group.

The wealth star with the star of desire: ambitious and sensitive to money, suited to business, sales and investment. The classics say “Wu Qu and Tan Lang do not prosper the young”, meaning this pair usually takes off after thirty, while youth tends to be restless with money spent fast. With Huo Xing or Ling Xing it forms the Huo-Tan or Ling-Tan pattern, which the classics see as a sign of sudden success. Further reading: Tan Lang in the Life Palace.

Wu Qu with Tian Xiang (Yin or Shen)

Yin: Wu Qu favorable, Tian Xiang exalted; Shen: Wu Qu favorable, Tian Xiang exalted. Opposite: Po Jun; Wealth: Lian Zhen and Tian Fu; Career: Zi Wei. About 16.5% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace fall into this group.

The wealth star with the seal star: practical and law-abiding, suited to finance, administration and trades that run on trust. Wu Qu’s hardness is softened by Tian Xiang’s mildness, making it easier to get along with than Wu Qu alone. This pair sits in Yin and Shen with Po Jun opposite, so the environment changes a lot, and wealth is best built on steady expertise. Further reading: Tian Xiang in the Life Palace.

Wu Qu with Qi Sha (Mao or You)

Mao: Wu Qu fair, Qi Sha strong; You: Wu Qu fair, Qi Sha strong. Opposite: Tian Fu; Wealth: Lian Zhen and Tan Lang; Career: Zi Wei and Po Jun. About 16.2% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace fall into this group.

The wealth star with the marshal star: tremendous drive and decisiveness, willing to take risks, suited to the military and police, engineering and fiercely competitive industries. The classics say “Wu Qu and Qi Sha in Mao or You are robbed because of money”, a warning that this pair earns in a hard-charging way and can lose out through money or impulsiveness; with Sha stars, risk control matters especially. Further reading: Qi Sha in the Life Palace.

Wu Qu alone, facing Tan Lang (Chen or Xu)

Chen: Wu Qu exalted; Xu: Wu Qu exalted. Opposite: Tan Lang; Wealth: Lian Zhen and Tian Xiang; Career: Zi Wei and Tian Fu. About 18.5% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace fall into this group.

Wu Qu exalted in Chen or Xu, with Tan Lang opposite. Chen, Xu, Chou and Wei are the four tomb palaces, and the classics say Wu Qu and Tan Lang there are “poor first, rich later”. Firm, practical and clear about goals, with a real method for making money; Tan Lang opposite brings ambition and a need for social life. With Huo Xing or Ling Xing it can also form the Huo-Tan or Ling-Tan pattern.

Wu Qu with Po Jun (Si or Hai)

Si: Wu Qu neutral, Po Jun neutral; Hai: Wu Qu neutral, Po Jun neutral. Opposite: Tian Xiang; Wealth: Lian Zhen and Qi Sha; Career: Zi Wei and Tan Lang. About 16.7% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace fall into this group.

The wealth star with the expenditure star: willing to gamble and charge ahead, with money coming and going in big waves, suited to pioneering, technical or nerve-testing work. This pair sits in Si and Hai, where neither star is at its strongest, and the classics are cautious about it, saying “wealth and imprisonment are at odds”. A modern reading: rely on professional skill rather than speculation, and the money stays. Further reading: Po Jun in the Life Palace.

Birth-year transformations in the Life Palace

• Wu Qu with Hua Lu (born in a Ji year): Wu Qu with Hua Lu gives the wealth star its prosperity: strong earning power and good financial luck, suited to business and finance. In our sample, about 7.8% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace have the birth-year Hua Lu there.
• Wu Qu with Hua Quan (born in a Geng year): Wu Qu with Hua Quan adds even more drive and control, suited to managing money or leading a team, though it becomes more forceful too. In our sample, about 10.5% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace have the birth-year Hua Quan there.
• Wu Qu with Hua Ke (born in a Jia year): Wu Qu with Hua Ke manages money in an orderly way and has good credit, suited to finance roles that need a professional image. In our sample, about 10.9% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace have the birth-year Hua Ke there.
• Wu Qu with Hua Ji (born in a Ren year): Wu Qu with Hua Ji cares intensely about money, easily worries about finances, and may clash with people over it. Avoid high-risk investments and guaranteeing other people’s loans. In our sample, about 11.3% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace have the birth-year Hua Ji there.

Men’s and women’s charts

Men: The classics call a man with Wu Qu “firm and decisive”, suited to military or financial posts. A modern reading: he values the practical and the result, a reliable executor; in love he is no smooth talker and shows care through actions.

Women: The classics call a woman with Wu Qu “solitary” and “hard-natured”, an old, conservative view of strong women. A modern reading: she is independent, capable and financially self-reliant, suited to professional and management roles; in love she needs a partner who respects her decisiveness.

The classics were written in a traditional society, and their comments on men’s and women’s charts often carry the gender expectations of their time. We give the classical sayings alongside a modern reading, but we read charts for tendencies of character and never rank people by gender.

With auspicious stars, with Sha stars

With auspicious stars: With Lu Cun, Hua Lu or Tian Fu, finances are steadier; with Zuo Fu and You Bi, drive plus goodwill makes it a natural team leader.

With Sha stars: With Qing Yang, Huo Xing or Ling Xing it is hardness on hardness, prone to impulsive head-on clashes; with Di Kong or Di Jie money comes and goes, so be especially careful with investment risk.

In our sample, about 40.6% of people with Wu Qu in the Life Palace have at least one of the six Sha stars there, about the same as the 41.8% for all charts. Sha stars are normal; what matters is which star they sit with and how bright it is. See the six auspicious and six Sha stars.

What the data says

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 say nothing about whether anyone’s destiny is good or bad.

Other major stars in the Life Palace