Qi Men Symbols Reference

The Greedy Wolf of the Big Dipper, Water element; governs thieves, strife, and flow. An inauspicious star, favorable for secret and covert action, unfavorable for open and aboveboard matters.

Earth element; governs steadiness, trust, and landed property. An auspicious star, favorable for prudent enterprise, real estate, and solid, lasting endeavors.

Wood element; governs might, swiftness, and valor. An auspicious star, favorable for dispatching troops, seeking medical treatment, and swift action.

Wood element; governs scholarship, study, and edification. A very auspicious star, favorable for reading, exams, documents, and seeking instruction from a teacher.

Fire element; governs culture, ritual, and empty fame. A neutral star, favorable for the arts and promotion, yet fiery and full of vanity, unsuited to long-term schemes.

Earth element; governs illness, petty people, and the teacher-disciple bond. The most inauspicious of disease stars, unfavorable for all things, yet favorable for taking a teacher, learning a craft, and seeking medical care.

Metal element; governs ruin, quarrels, and concealment. An inauspicious star, favorable for retreat, defeating enemies, and hiding, unfavorable for advancement.

Metal element; governs medicine, strategy, and noble benefactors. A very auspicious star, favorable for seeking treatment, devising plans, and gaining a benefactor's aid.

Earth element, resides in the Center Palace; governs authority and uprightness. An auspicious star, favorable for all things, often lodged in the second palace or moving with the Chief Symbol.

One of the three auspicious gates; governs rest, peace, and meeting benefactors. Favorable for resting, visiting friends, seeking treatment, marriage, and audiences with the noble.

Foremost of the three auspicious gates; governs vitality and wealth. Most favorable for seeking wealth, opening a business, job-seeking, real estate, sowing, and long journeys.

Governs injury, harm, and strife. Favorable for hunting, debt collection, and gambling, unfavorable for travel, seeking wealth, and marriage.

Governs obstruction, concealment, and avoidance. Favorable for evading calamity, retreating into seclusion, secrecy, and taking refuge, unfavorable for open undertakings.

Governs documents, information, and firelight. Favorable for exams, petitions, and promotion, but also brings bloodshed and quarrels; neutral with a touch of auspice.

Governs death, stagnation, and punishment. Unfavorable for all things, favorable only for mourning, hunting, severance, and carrying out executions.

Governs fright, quarrels, and litigation. Favorable for catching thieves and prevailing in lawsuits against an opponent, unfavorable for ordinary matters, bringing much alarm and unrest.

One of the three auspicious gates; governs opening up, career, and benefactors. Most favorable for job-seeking, opening a business, travel, audiences with the noble, and taking up office.

Foremost of the Eight Gods, Earth element; governs nobility, leadership, and benefactors. The palace it occupies has the strongest force; with its aid, all things turn auspicious.

Fire element; governs false alarms, strange occurrences, entanglement, and documents. Brings much false alarm, upheaval, and unease; guard against startling disturbances.

Metal element; governs secrecy, shelter, and hidden aid. Favorable for covert planning, gaining the help of a hidden benefactor, and matters of secret protection.

Wood element; governs union, marriage, mediation, and trade. Most favorable for marriage, partnership, negotiation, and matchmaking to a successful close.

Metal element; governs roads, funerals, bloodshed, and fierceness. Brings injury and strife, disputes on the road, yet also favors military posts and seeking medical treatment.

Water element; governs thieves, deceit, obscurity, and flight. Guard against theft, fraud, murky dealings, and entangling quarrels.

Earth element; governs yielding, storing, and solidity. Favorable for defense, concealment, burial, lasting stability, and holding one's position.

Metal element; governs vigor, loftiness, and fame. Favorable for travel, building renown, opening a business, deploying troops, and reaching for lofty goals.

One of the Three Wonders; governs gentleness, women, medicine, and plants. The Sun Wonder is a yin nobility, favorable for hidden aid, women, and seeking treatment.

One of the Three Wonders; governs light, authority, the sun, and documents. The Moon Wonder is fierce and illustrious, able to dissolve danger and avert misfortune.

One of the Three Wonders; governs documents, starlight, able-bodied men, and women. The Star Wonder governs culture, favorable for documents, exams, and hidden aid.

Of the Six Instruments, hides Jia-Zi; governs wealth, capital, and mountains. The root of the wealth star, governing weighty assets and foundations.

Of the Six Instruments, hides Jia-Xu; governs fields, change, obscurity, and writing. Governs secret transformation and roundabout matters.

Of the Six Instruments, hides Jia-Shen; governs obstruction, roads, strong foes, the husband, and rivals. Brings much hindrance, conflict, and upheaval.

Of the Six Instruments, hides Jia-Wu; governs faults, errors, jewels, and renewal. Governs mistakes, yet also reform, ornaments, and precious gems.

Of the Six Instruments, hides Jia-Chen; governs flow, treachery, drifting, and gestation. Governs turbulence, disputes, and the trouble of imprisonment.

Of the Six Instruments, hides Jia-Yin; governs obscurity, snares, secrecy, and women. Governs enveloping, murk, and tangled confusion.

Palace 1, the middle son; governs wisdom, peril, water, the ears, and the north.

Palace 2, the old mother; governs the multitude, compliance, earth, the belly, fields and dwellings, and the southwest.

Palace 3, the eldest son; governs movement, the feet, thunder, and the east.

Palace 4, the eldest daughter; governs wind, entering, the straight line, the thighs, and the southeast.

Palace 5, the supreme central palace; governs the center and the pivot, lodged in Kun (Palace 2).

Palace 6, the old father; governs the sovereign, the head, heaven, benefactors, and the northwest.

Palace 7, the youngest daughter; governs joy, the mouth, the marsh, and the west.

Palace 8, the youngest son; governs stillness, mountains, narrow paths, the hands, and the northeast.

Palace 9, the middle daughter; governs beauty, the eyes, fire, culture, and the south.

Bing over Wu. Sun and moon in power, benefactors lending aid; undertakings succeed easily and misfortune turns to blessing. A very auspicious pattern.

Wu over Bing. Like a bird entering its nest, joy arrives at the door, plans go smoothly, and wealth and aid are gained. A very auspicious pattern.

Yi over Xin. Flight and loss, wasted wealth, servants betraying their master; governs ruin and dispersal. Inauspicious.

Xin over Yi. Roads broken, blades and bloodshed, peril on long journeys; governs disaster and calamity. Inauspicious.

Ding over Gui. Documents and quarrels bogged down, news cut off, seals and papers lost; governs misfortune in documents.

Gui over Ding. False alarms and strange events, unease of mind, firelight and fright; governs entanglement and false alarm. Inauspicious.

Bing over Geng. Mars enters Venus; governs thieves invading and gates falling; better to hold than to attack.

Geng over Bing. Venus enters Mars; governs my defeating the foe, the guest prevailing and the host losing; favors the guest, not the host.

Geng over Gui. All things obstructed, roads impassable, travelers failing to arrive; plans much delayed. Inauspicious.

Geng over Ren. Travel hindered, comings and goings delayed; undertakings go awry. Mildly inauspicious.

Geng over Ji. Official summons, punishment and prison, entanglement in disputes; governs penal injury and lawsuits. Inauspicious.

Geng over Geng (the Hidden-Palace pattern). Two strong forces vying, locked in combat, obstruction piled on obstruction; governs strife. Inauspicious.

Geng over Ding. To stay or go undecided, caught between advance and retreat, matters full of reversals; neutral with a touch of worry.

Yi over Geng. Yi and Geng transform into Metal and unite; governs union, marriage, and cooperation; yet Geng carries an obstructing aspect, so guard against constraint within the union.