What is Empty Palace?

An Empty Palace in Zi Wei Dou Shu is a palace on the birth chart with none of the fourteen main stars in it, and the classical way to read it is "borrowing stars": read the main stars of the palace directly opposite. An Empty Palace isn't bad, and it isn't empty either. Minor and lesser stars still live there; what's missing is the owner who sets the palace's tone. Most charts have Empty Palaces; after you draw your chart, look for the palaces with no main star.

The short version:

• Formula: Empty Palace = no main star in the palace, so borrow the opposite palace's main stars and read them at a discount.
• How many: with Zi Wei in Yin or Shen, none; in Si or Hai, four; in the other eight layouts, two.
• Always something to borrow: the palace opposite an Empty Palace always holds two main stars; two empty palaces never face each other.
• How to read it: treat borrowed stars as a reference, give the minor stars more weight, and read the whole San Fang Si Zheng.

Why Empty Palaces happen

Fourteen main stars sharing twelve palaces sounds like two too many. But main stars often double up, such as Wu Qu with Tian Xiang, Tian Ji with Tian Liang, or Zi Wei with Tian Fu, and with enough pairs, some rooms are left empty.

The main-star layout is set by where Zi Wei sits, giving twelve layouts, and how many palaces are empty, and which, is fixed for each:

The borrowed stars follow the order of the empty branches, in short form: with Zi Wei in Zi, Chou borrows Tong-Ju (Tian Tong and Ju Men) and Mao borrows Yang-Liang (Tai Yang and Tian Liang). With Zi Wei in Yin or Shen, Zi Wei and Tian Fu share a palace and the fourteen stars fill all twelve palaces exactly. Volume two of the Quan Shu says Zi Wei and Tian Fu share a palace only in Yin and Shen; on these charts the only pairs are Zi Wei with Tian Fu and Lian Zhen with Tian Xiang.

So the great majority of charts have Empty Palaces. The full twelve layouts are in the lesson the basic chart layouts. For the actual shares (about two charts in three have two Empty Palaces, and about one in six has an Empty Life Palace), see chart statistics.

Borrowing stars: read the main stars opposite

When a palace has no main star, it borrows from its opposite palace. The Quan Shu explains this in volume two, under the Children Palace:

If the palace itself has no stars, look only at which stars are in the opposite palace.

That is, when a palace has no main star, read the stars directly opposite. Later practitioners applied this to every Empty Palace.

The borrowed stars keep their character, but since they don't sit in the palace themselves, their strength is discounted; practitioners often describe it as looking through a pane of glass. For example, if your Spouse Palace is empty and the Career Palace opposite holds Tai Yang, read how you are in love through Tai Yang's character, only a little fainter than if Tai Yang sat in the Spouse Palace itself.

Which stars an Empty Palace can borrow

Lay the twelve layouts side by side and the palace opposite an Empty Palace always holds one of these twelve pairs, and the two are always borrowed together:

This also shows why there's always something to borrow: turned around, the palace opposite each of these twelve pairs is always empty. Every other main star always faces a main star, so two empty palaces never face each other.

Three keys to reading an Empty Palace

• Minor stars stand out more. With the owner away, the minor and lesser stars living there have more presence. Wen Chang or Wen Qu in an Empty Palace gives it a bookish touch; Qing Yang or Tuo Luo adds more push and pull.
• Read the whole San Fang Si Zheng. Don't only borrow from the opposite palace; read the two trine palaces too. See San Fang Si Zheng.
• It's highly flexible. An Empty Palace is more affected by surroundings and luck periods, so the matters of that palace tend to change with the people and the period.

Empty Palaces can hold transformations too

Most of the Four Transformations land on main stars, so an Empty Palace might seem to have nothing to do with them. But in a few year stems a transformation lands on a minor star, and when that minor star sits in an Empty Palace, the palace carries the Lu, Quan, Ke or Ji:

For someone born in a Ji year, if Wen Qu Hua Ji sits in an Empty Palace, that palace's worry stands out more than the borrowed main stars, so deal with it first. The other way round, a Bing-year Wen Chang Hua Ke in an Empty Palace adds a little reputation and order. The full rules are on flying stars and self-transformation.

Time layers are read the same way: when a Decade Luck or Annual Luck reaches an Empty Palace, that period's Life Palace borrows the main stars opposite, with that period's transformations laid on top.

An empty Life Palace in the classics

The Quan Shu says more about an empty Life Palace. Volume three:

If the Life Palace has no main star, and auspicious stars shine in from the Wealth and Career Palaces, wealth and honor are complete.

When the Life Palace has no main star, don't jump to conclusions. Look at the Wealth and Career Palaces; if good stars shine in from there, things can go just as well. The same passage adds: "If there is no main star or auspicious star, but the three directions are auspicious, it is the next grade below the top." An empty Life Palace with good stars in its trines was still rated near the top.

Empty, Fallen, or a main star at home

An Empty Palace isn't the same as Xian (Fallen). A fallen main star is present but works poorly in that branch, see star brightness; an Empty Palace has no main star at all and borrows from outside.

Reading one chart

Say Zi Wei sits in Zi and the Life Palace falls in Mao. From the table above, Mao is empty, and the opposite palace, You, holds Tai Yang and Tian Liang, so the Life Palace borrows them. Then the trines: the Wealth Palace in Hai holds Tian Ji, and the Career Palace in Wei holds Tian Tong and Ju Men.

• Borrowed Tai Yang and Tian Liang: warm and caring, but since they're borrowed, fainter than if they sat in the Life Palace. The first impression is often easy to be around and quick to adjust to the room.
• Wealth: Tian Ji: earns through thinking and planning, often weighing several options.
• Career: Tian Tong and Ju Men: sensitive and plain-spoken at work, suited to jobs that need communication and care.

Together: someone who blends in, warm-hearted and a little meticulous. An empty Life Palace doesn't mean no personality; it means a personality that adapts more to the surroundings. When reading it, give the trines more weight.

Common misunderstandings

• An Empty Palace doesn't mean that area doesn't matter. An empty Spouse Palace is often misread as a cool love life or little chance of romance. Really, no star has set your tone in advance, so how you are in love changes more with the person: with a blunt partner you become blunter; with someone slow to warm up, you slow down too.
• An Empty Palace isn't the same as Fallen. See the comparison table above.
• Borrowed stars describe how you often are, not the only way you are. Treat them as a reference, not a label.

People whose Life Palace is empty are often described as easy to get along with and good at fitting in. We call them the Traveler; see the Empty Life Palace page. Empty Palaces and the Origin Palace are taught together in the lesson Empty Palaces and the Origin Palace.