The Empty Palace: the fifteenth kind of owner

Why there are Empty Palaces

Fourteen main stars for twelve rooms sounds like two too many. But main stars often share a cell in pairs, like Zi Wei and Tian Fu, Wu Qu and Tian Xiang, or Tian Ji and Tian Liang, so there are always a few cells left over.

The arithmetic is simple: every shared pair takes up one less room. With k shared pairs, the main stars occupy 14 − k cells, so the number of Empty Palaces is 12 − (14 − k), which is k − 2. Count the shared pairs and you know how many cells are empty.

Twelve charts, and how many each leaves empty

Whichever cell Zi Wei falls in, the other thirteen main stars follow, and so does the number of shared pairs:

• Zi Wei in Yin or Shen: only two shared pairs, Zi Wei with Tian Fu and Lian Zhen with Tian Xiang, so the fourteen stars fill all twelve cells exactly, with none empty. The "Chart for Placing Tian Fu" in volume two of the *Quan Shu* says that "only in Yin and Shen do Zi Wei and Tian Fu share a palace", describing exactly these two charts.
• Zi Wei in Si or Hai: six shared pairs, Zi Wei with Qi Sha, Lian Zhen with Po Jun, Tian Tong with Tai Yin, Wu Qu with Tan Lang, Tai Yang with Ju Men, and Tian Ji with Tian Liang, leaving four empty.
• The other eight: four shared pairs each, leaving two empty.

So the vast majority of charts have Empty Palaces. They aren't rare at all.

Whom to borrow, and how many

An Empty Palace borrows the main stars of its opposite palace, and on all twelve charts the palace opposite an Empty Palace does have main stars, so there's always something to borrow.

An example: on a chart with Zi Wei in Mao, the empty cells are Shen and You. Opposite Shen is Yin, home to Tian Ji and Tai Yin; opposite You is Mao, home to Zi Wei and Tan Lang. So Shen reads with a Tian Ji and Tai Yin flavor, and You with a Zi Wei and Tan Lang flavor.

You might borrow one star or a pair that shares a cell; if it's two, read them together. Borrowed stars keep their personality, but since they aren't seated there themselves, their strength is discounted a little, like looking through a pane of glass.

An Empty Palace isn't Xian

Two terms that often get mixed up:

• Empty Palace: the room has no main star; the stars are borrowed.
• Xian: the room has a main star, just sitting in an awkward position. Its traits are still there, expressed more awkwardly.

A star at Xian is your own, and you learn to live with it; an Empty Palace's stars are borrowed, and what you need to read is the whole San Fang Si Zheng.

What the classics say

When volume two of the *Quan Shu* discusses the Children Palace, it teaches the borrowing method in passing:

If this palace has no stars, look only at what stars are in the opposite palace.

That is, if the cell has no main star, read the stars across the way.

And an empty Life Palace? The "Tan Xing Yao Lun" in volume three says:

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

The ancients didn't simply call an empty Life Palace bad; they told you to look at whether good stars shine in from the Wealth and Career Palaces.

Common misunderstandings

Some people see an empty Life Palace and say the person has no opinions of their own. In fact an Empty Palace just means no star sets your tone in advance; it doesn't mean no personality. The auxiliary and minor stars are still there, and surroundings and luck periods have a more visible effect, so a common picture is someone adaptable, good at fitting in, who changes with the setting.

When you read an Empty Palace, treat the borrowed stars as "how you often are", not the only way you can be. For more on Empty Palaces, go back to Chapter 1, "Empty Palaces, borrowed stars and the Origin Palace", which covers the empty Life Palace and the Origin Palace in more detail.