Qi Men Dun Jia Basics: Nine Palaces, Eight Doors, Nine Stars and the Stems
A beginner-friendly guide to the Qi Men chart: nine palaces, eight doors, nine stars, and how the stems are arranged.
Updated 2026-08-21
Qi Men Dun Jia is a time-space model that compresses the current heaven, earth and human factors into a nine-palace chart.
1. The Nine Palaces
Each palace corresponds to a direction and element:
- Kan 1: North, Water
- Kun 2: Southwest, Earth
- Zhen 3: East, Wood
- Xun 4: Southeast, Wood
- Center 5: Earth (usually placed in Kun 2)
- Qian 6: Northwest, Metal
- Dui 7: West, Metal
- Gen 8: Northeast, Earth
- Li 9: South, Fire
Every symbol lands in one of these palaces, so the first clue is always "which palace does the useful god fall into?"
2. The Three Wonders and Six Honours
Yi (乙), Bing (丙) and Ding (丁) are the Three Wonders — flexibility, opportunity and brightness. Wu (戊), Ji (己), Geng (庚), Xin (辛), Ren (壬) and Gui (癸) are the Six Honours — structure, rules and resistance.
In Yang Dun the Six Honours move forward through the palaces; in Yin Dun they move backward.
3. The Eight Doors
The doors describe the quality of the matter:
- Rest: recovery, harmony, patronage
- Life: growth, wealth, opportunity
- Harm: competition, injury, action
- Block: secrecy, skill, stagnation
- View: documents, reputation, surface
- Death: endings, land, stillness
- Fear: shock, litigation, speech
- Open: beginnings, work, public affairs
For a job question, look at Open Door and Zhi Fu; for wealth, look at Life Door and Wu.
4. The Nine Stars
The stars represent the external climate:
- Tian Peng: bold, risky, disruptive
- Tian Ren: steady, diligent, persistent
- Tian Chong: fast, impulsive, changing
- Tian Fu: culture, support, gentle
- Tian Ying: bright, famous, hasty
- Tian Rui: problems, illness, learning
- Tian Zhu: argument, destruction, support
- Tian Xin: medicine, management, calm
- Tian Qin: center, balance
Start by identifying the useful god palace and its relationships. You do not need to memorise every symbol to read most of the chart.
Disclaimer: This page introduces traditional Chinese metaphysics for reference only. It is not professional advice.
FAQ
Do beginners need to memorise every symbol?
No. Learn the basics of palaces, doors and stars first, then focus on the useful god and elemental relationships.
Is Qi Men Dun Jia superstition?
It is a time-space symbolic model that can be used as a decision-support tool. The final choice is always yours.
Will the same time always produce the same chart?
Yes. As long as the same method and region are used, the same hour produces the same chart structure.