Zi Wei in the Parents Palace: You and the Generation Above

Zi Wei in the Parents Palace means the parents or elders you remember carried weight and had firm opinions; the house rules were usually theirs to set. From early on you knew exactly who had the final say.

Parents, elders and bosses

People with Zi Wei here tend to meet elders and bosses with status and influence. They can give you a real leg up, and they also come with expectations. The lesson is balancing respect with independence: take their advice seriously, but keep the direction of your life in your own hands.

• With your parents: Parents with strong views who value rules and expect a lot of you.
• Elders, bosses and teachers: Bosses and teachers who usually have standing and vision, and are willing to invest in you.
• Rules and authority: You know how to behave around authority, and you care about winning an elder's approval.

You and the generation above: the Life and Parents Palaces

With Zi Wei in the Parents Palace, the Life Palace always holds Tian Ji: you are quick and think a lot, while the generation above you carries weight and often makes decisions for you.

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

Parents and Mind: upbringing and inner life

With Zi Wei in the Parents Palace, the Mind Palace star is not fixed; the table below lists it for each branch.

With Zi Wei in the Parents Palace, the Children Palace always holds Wu Qu and the Friends Palace always holds Lian Zhen. Zi Wei, Lian Zhen and Wu Qu always form a trine, and the Parents, Children and Friends palaces happen to be that trine.

Bright and fallen positions

When bright, elders are a powerful backer who open doors for you. In a neutral position, elders expect a lot but have less to back it up, and the pressure tends to slide onto you. Brightness by branch, from the table of the Complete Book this site uses: Exalted: Chou, Wu, Wei; Strong: Yin, Mao, Si, Shen, You, Hai; Favorable: Chen, Xu; Neutral: Zi.

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 Zi Wei 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

Zi Wei alone, facing Tan Lang (Zi or Wu)

Zi: Zi Wei neutral; Wu: Zi Wei exalted. Shining in from opposite: Tan Lang; Life: Tian Ji; Mind: empty palace. About 15.1% of charts with Zi Wei in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Zi Wei sits alone in the Parents Palace with Tan Lang shining in from opposite: elders carry weight and also enjoy life and company. In Wu, Zi Wei is exalted and elders show the most natural authority.

Zi Wei with Po Jun (Chou or Wei)

Chou: Zi Wei exalted, Po Jun strong; Wei: Zi Wei exalted, Po Jun strong. Shining in from opposite: Tian Xiang; Life: Tian Ji; Mind: empty palace. About 17.2% of charts with Zi Wei in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Elders carry weight and also want to reform things, so the house rules keep being rewritten. Your relationship with them adjusts as the family changes, and grows a little more mature each time. Further reading: Po Jun in the Parents Palace.

Zi Wei with Tian Fu (Yin or Shen)

Yin: Zi Wei strong, Tian Fu exalted; Shen: Zi Wei strong, Tian Fu favorable. Shining in from opposite: Qi Sha; Life: Tian Ji; Mind: Tai Yin. About 17.1% of charts with Zi Wei in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Elders are steady and well placed, a solid backer. The catch is that they expect a lot and arrange a lot, and you need room of your own. Further reading: Tian Fu in the Parents Palace.

Zi Wei with Tan Lang (Mao or You)

Mao: Zi Wei strong, Tan Lang fair; You: Zi Wei strong, Tan Lang fair. Shining in from opposite: empty palace; Life: Tian Ji and Tai Yin; Mind: Ju Men. About 16.5% of charts with Zi Wei in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Elders have vision and enjoy life; home looks good and is full of people. Their social life and tastes often set the mood at home. Further reading: Tan Lang in the Parents Palace.

Zi Wei with Tian Xiang (Chen or Xu)

Chen: Zi Wei favorable, Tian Xiang favorable; Xu: Zi Wei favorable, Tian Xiang favorable. Shining in from opposite: Po Jun; Life: Tian Ji and Ju Men; Mind: Tian Liang. About 18.2% of charts with Zi Wei 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: Tian Xiang in the Parents Palace.

Zi Wei with Qi Sha (Si or Hai)

Si: Zi Wei strong, Qi Sha neutral; Hai: Zi Wei strong, Qi Sha neutral. Shining in from opposite: Tian Fu; Life: Tian Ji and Tian Liang; Mind: empty palace. About 15.8% of charts with Zi Wei in the Parents Palace fall into this group.

Elders like to take charge and want you independent and successful. The relationship has force, and it easily turns into a tug-of-war over authority. Further reading: Qi Sha in the Parents Palace.

Birth-year transformations in the Parents Palace

• Zi Wei with Hua Quan (born in a Ren year): People born in a Ren year have Zi Wei Hua Quan in the Parents Palace: elders or bosses like to take charge, so practise voicing your own view while staying respectful. In our sample, about 8.4% of charts with Zi Wei in the Parents Palace carry the birth-year Hua Quan.
• Zi Wei with Hua Ke (born in a Yi year): People born in a Yi year have Zi Wei Hua Ke in the Parents Palace: elders are well regarded and well mannered, and the family upbringing has a certain polish. In our sample, about 13.8% of charts with Zi Wei in the Parents Palace carry the birth-year Hua Ke.

Getting along

Thank your elders for the support, and let them see that you have judgement of your own.

About 42.5% of charts with Zi Wei 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