Should you go into business with this person? Reading two partners in Zi Wei Dou Shu

A friend wants to open a shop with you. Three evenings of talk later you're both excited, and nobody has yet said how much each of you puts in, who keeps the books, or what happens if one of you wants out. In Zi Wei Dou Shu, a partnership reading looks at the two palaces in each chart that cover business partners and your team, then at where each person's Life Palace and birth-year transformations land in the other's chart.

The short version:

• Formula: both partners read their own Children Palace and Friends Palace, plus where each Life Palace lands and how Hua Lu and Hua Ji fly between the charts.
• Why the Children Palace: counted from the Friends Palace, it sits in the Career position. It is "your friends' business" and "your friends in business", which is why some teachers call it the partnership palace, or the shareholders palace.
• The single biggest signal: if your partner's Life Palace lands in your Children Palace, or their Hua Ji flies into it, this venture will weigh heavily on you.
• Weight: where each Life Palace lands and how the transformations fly lead the reading; the stars in the two palaces set the tone. A compatibility reading shows how you tend to work together. It does not predict profit, and nothing here is investment advice.

Which palaces, and why

The Children Palace starts with your children. In Volume Two of the Zi Wei Dou Shu Quan Shu ("The Complete Book of Zi Wei Dou Shu"), this palace is about offspring and nothing else. Reading it for partnerships came later, from teachers using palace rotation: count from the Friends Palace to its Career position and you arrive at the Children Palace; count from the Career Palace to its Friends position and you land there again. One teacher's view is that birth-year Hua Ji in the Children Palace means a partnership tends to bring more disputes and setbacks. Read it as a reminder to agree the rules earlier than most people would.

The Friends Palace covers friends and your team. The Quan Shu names it for household servants, and its chapter on this palace goes star by star through whether the people under you are a real help. One line reads:

Lu Cun: many servants; with lucky stars, they guard the master and help build the household.

Plenty of hands, plus lucky stars, and the people around you help you build something. Today that reads as whether your partners and staff can get the business off the ground. One teacher draws a fine line here: a friend who later puts money in with you is read from the Friends Palace, while a boss or employee who later becomes your partner is read from the Children Palace. The same teacher gives the example that Hua Lu in the Friends Palace often means a career lifted by partnering or investing with friends, while Hua Ji there is a cue to take extra care when working with them.

Reading the two charts together

Step one: where each Life Palace lands. Place the other person's Life Palace branch on your chart and see which palace it falls in. In your Children Palace, you want to look after them and build something together.

Step two: the birth-year transformations. Where their Hua Lu lands in your chart is the area they tend to make easier for you. Where their Hua Ji lands is what you're most likely to worry about on their account. Hua Quan is a push, and also a tug over who steers.

Here is one pair, run through our engine. Take you with Tan Lang in the Life Palace, and a partner with Lian Zhen and Qi Sha in theirs:

• The relationship palaces: your Children Palace holds Tian Ji, and your Friends Palace holds Tian Tong with your own birth-year Hua Ji. Their Children Palace holds Ju Men, and their Friends Palace holds Tai Yang.
• Life Palaces: they land in your Children Palace, and you land in their Property Palace.
• Hua Lu: their Tan Lang Hua Lu lands in your Life Palace, so they tend to make everyday life easier for you. Your Tai Yang Hua Lu lands in their Friends Palace, so you tend to make friendships easier for them.
• Hua Quan: their Tai Yin Hua Quan lands in your Siblings Palace; your Wu Qu Hua Quan lands in their Career Palace.
• Hua Ji: their Tian Ji Hua Ji lands in your Children Palace, which the preview words as children and juniors: what you're most likely to worry about on their account. Your Tian Tong Hua Ji lands in their Property Palace, so what they worry about on your account is home.

How to read it: they sit in your Children Palace and their Hua Ji lands there too. In a partnership the Children Palace is also the partnership palace, so this pair can be read as you throwing yourself into the venture and finding it hard to switch off from. You land in their Property Palace, so they tend to see you as someone steady to put down roots with. Your own Hua Ji sits in your Friends Palace, and one teacher's advice for that is to settle the rules and the money in writing before partnering with a friend. Your Wu Qu Hua Quan lands in their Career Palace, so you'll want a say in how they do their part.

Where partners usually get stuck

Managing the money

Cast both charts and open the "Spending and earning" card on the chart page. In the pair above, both people come out as generous spenders who earn by building their own thing. Their Wealth Palace holds Di Jie, so their card adds that speculation and short-term trading don't suit them well. Two people who both spend freely should decide before opening who keeps the books and above what amount both of you sign.

Who makes the calls

The preview doesn't cover this, so cast both charts and look at which side each person's birth-year Hua Quan falls on. One teacher reads Hua Quan in your Life, Wealth or Career Palace as suited to leading in a partnership; in your Siblings or Friends Palace, the other side tends to steer. Hua Lu on your own side means resources tend to come from you. In the pair above, neither Hua Quan falls on either side, so who decides has to be agreed up front. Their birth-year Hua Lu sits in their own Wealth Palace, which on this reading means resources tend to come from their side.

Dividing the work

The preview for the pair above says one clears the way and the other sets the direction, and a clear division of roles keeps it smooth. Splitting by area is the simplest: product belongs to one person, customers to the other, and neither steps into the other's patch.

Deciding when you disagree

Agree how decisions get made before you argue about any one decision. Large sums need both of you; day-to-day calls go to whoever owns that area. When you're truly stuck, wait a week and talk again, or ask someone you both trust.

Agreeing on an exit before you start

The beginning is when you get along best, and the easiest time to talk about leaving. How much notice someone gives to leave, how their share is valued, whether it can be sold to an outsider: put it in the agreement. If Hua Ji sits in your Children or Friends Palace, write these terms out in even more detail.

If one of you puts in the money and the other draws a salary, that's closer to boss and employee compatibility. If you work on projects together without shared money, see coworker compatibility. To see which stars sit in your own Children and Friends Palaces, cast your chart.