LESSON L01 / 01 OF 36
Palaces, branches and stars
Learn to recognise three things on the chart: palace names, branches and star names. This lesson is recognition only, not meaning.
Original app lesson · free on the web
This lesson has been self-reviewed and is awaiting final sign-off. The classical passages have been checked word by word; the plain-language text and the exercises are written by this project.
Opening a chart for the first time, full of cells and words: where do you start?
Fictional birth data · teaching example · not a real person's chart · 2026-10-12
What is on the chart
A chart is twelve cells around an empty centre. Each cell carries three things: a palace name, a branch and star names. The palace name tells you which part of life the cell is about; the Wealth Palace, for example, is about money coming in and going out. The branch is the cell's fixed position marker; there are twelve of them and they never move. The star names are the stars that fall in that cell; some cells have them and some do not.
What the text says
The Tai Wei Fu says the stars share a path and the method has its own divisions: a star is read together with the position it sits in. That is the floor of this course: it teaches you to read the chart, and does not judge it for you.
Compare with your own chart
Open the Chart tab, pick any cell, and read it out in order: the palace name, the branch, and the stars listed. Being able to read it out is enough. If you have no chart yet, practise on the teaching example.
An everyday example
Think of the chart as a map of life topics. The palace names the topic, the branch marks its address, and stars provide reading cues. A star in the Partner palace is not a label for your partner: first identify the topic you are reading.
Name the palace, branch and star separately first.
CHECK YOURSELF
Now, try it yourself.
Answer both questions correctly to complete the lesson. The original explanation appears after each answer.
FIND IT IN THE CHART
Find it on a chart.
Pick any cell and say its palace name.
Open my chart ↗Classical sources
星有同躔，數有分定，須明其生剋之要，必詳乎得垣失度之分。
Stars share the same path, and the method has its own divisions; one must understand how they generate and restrain one another, and look closely at whether a star sits in its own place or out of it.
Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu, Volume 1, "Tai Wei Fu"; traditionally attributed in received editions
Classical texts provide cultural context. Everyday examples and exercises are written by this project.
YOUR STUDY / L01