Four-Pillar Palaces in Bazi (四柱宮位)
Learn how Year, Month, Day, and Hour positions become palace lenses, which domains schools associate with them, and how to avoid literal family claims.
Overview
Four-pillar palaces are traditional positional associations assigned to the Year, Month, Day, and Hour columns. Common mappings connect them with ancestry or wider context, parents or development, self and spouse, and children or later outcomes. These mappings organize questions; they are not additional calculated stars and do not supply biographical facts without the chart’s actual stems, branches, relations, and real evidence.
At a glance
- Year lens
- Origins, ancestry, wider context
- Month lens
- Development, parents, social environment
- Day lens
- Day Master and spouse seat
- Hour lens
- Children, output, later development
- Status
- Interpretive position, not a new chart object
- Limit
- Mappings vary and require corroboration
Treat palace mappings as an explicit school framework
Classical root, seedling, self-seat, and flower-fruit images support a broad positional sequence. Later teaching systems expand these images into detailed family and life-area maps.
Because assignments can vary, publish the mapping being used. Do not merge several incompatible lists and present the result as a deterministic engine fact.
- Name the source or school.
- Keep the mapping versioned and visible.
Read the symbols occupying each position
A palace does not have meaning without its stem, branch, hidden stems, Ten Gods, season, roots, and interactions. Position scopes the question while the symbols supply the actual evidence.
The same Ten God in Year and Hour may emphasize different contexts, but it remains the same calculated relation to the Day Master.
- Separate position from occupant.
- Preserve the underlying Ten God calculation.
Cross-check stars, palaces, and timing
Family-star methods and pillar-palace methods describe different analytical layers. Agreement can strengthen a hypothesis; disagreement should remain visible rather than being forced into a single claim.
Luck cycles and annual pillars can activate natal positions, but they do not replace the natal occupant or prove an event occurred.
- Record converging and conflicting evidence.
- Do not use timing as retroactive proof.
Palaces do not reveal private facts about relatives
A difficult symbol in a parent, spouse, or child position cannot diagnose that person or establish their behavior, health, wealth, or relationship with the reader.
Use the framework for reflective context and further chart study. Real family decisions require direct evidence, consent, and appropriate support.
- Avoid third-party character judgments.
- Never infer abuse, illness, or fertility from a palace.
Sources and editorial basis
- 《淵海子平》 (Yuanhai Ziping)「看命入式」以根、苗、花、果及六親分配建立柱位象意，但同時告誡不可拘執A foundational Ziping reference for branch months, hidden stems, roots, and stem-branch relationships.
- 《三命通會》 (Sanming Tonghui)卷二按年月日時分層比較干支作用，宮位只在完整命式中提供位置脈絡A historical compilation covering stems and branches, Ten Gods, Nayin, Shen Sha, and multiple classical pattern systems.
- OpenFate Editorial Methodology宮位資料與可計算干支分欄呈現，避免把位置象徵當成家族傳記或固定人生事實OpenFate separates deterministic chart calculation, traditional interpretation, and modern editorial explanation.