Why the Ground Plate Sets the Tone
Whatever lands in a palace — a door, a star, a stem — takes on the character of that palace first. The ground plate (地盘) is the foundation: like the steel and concrete under a building, it decides what any structure raised on top can become. Miss the palace, and you read a symbol in a vacuum. Read the palace first, and every symbol arrives already tinted by where it stands.
Qimen builds its grid on the Luoshu magic square: nine numbered palaces, each fixed to a compass direction and one of the eight I Ching trigrams. Those trigrams are the source of a palace's meaning. Because the I Ching uses eight trigrams to stand for all things, each palace inherits a whole family of associations — a season, a kind of person, a type of place, a part of the body, even a flavour.
One Symbol, Many Meanings
A trigram is deliberately multi-valent. Qian (乾) is at once "the boss," "the father," "the head of the body," "the northwest," and "autumn." You don't apply all of them at once — you pick the layer that fits the question. That flexibility is a feature, not vagueness.
The Eight Trigrams at a Glance
Here is the whole grid in the Later-Heaven (后天) arrangement Qimen uses for its ground plate. The center, Palace 5, holds no trigram of its own — it is the pivot, and lodges its business in Palace 2.
The eight working trigrams pair up naturally into four father–mother–child relationships, and reading them in pairs makes each one easier to remember. We take them that way below.
Qian & Kun — Heaven and Earth
The two parents of the trigram family, and the two poles of status. Qian is everything high, important and in command; Kun is everything broad, ordinary and supporting. When a question is about power and rank, these two carry the most weight.
☰Qian 乾 · Palace 6Metal · NW
Heaven — the sky, active and firm. The trigram of pure yang: strength, command, and things at the top.
PeopleThe number-one leader, chairman, head of state; the father, elders, the old; famous and official people. In a family, the father; by gender, male; by age, the old.
PlacesCapitals, big cities, commanding heights — high-end, important, superior places.
BodyHead, right leg, lungs, bones, the male reproductive organ.
Reads asSomething big and important. Even a poor person here is no ordinary commoner — they carry status. Matters are weighty, high-stakes, top-level.
☷Kun 坤 · Palace 2Earth · SW
Earth — the ground, yielding and receptive. The trigram of pure yin: patience, breadth, and quiet support.
PeopleThe mother, grandmother, older women; staff and the masses; ordinary folk, country people, the meek. In a family, the mother; by gender, female; by age, the old woman.
PlacesFields, open land, villages, flat ground; things of agriculture, and by extension medical trades.
BodyAbdomen, right shoulder, spleen, stomach, muscle/flesh, the female reproductive organ.
Reads asOrdinary, slow, steady — starting small to build big. Honest, accommodating, broad-reaching. Rarely officials; usually people doing the concrete, grassroots work.
Zhen & Xun — Thunder and Wind
The eldest son and eldest daughter; both are Wood, both are about movement — but of opposite temper. Zhen is a sudden jolt forward; Xun is a hesitant drift back and forth.
☳Zhen 震 · Palace 3Wood · E
Thunder — sudden motion, rousing energy. In the sky: thunderstorms, quakes, eruptions.
PeopleThe number-two in power; the eldest son; drivers, athletes, police, judges, soldiers, pilots, activists, performers, the bold.
PlacesFactories, radio stations, music shops, amusement parks, airports, launch sites, stations, dance halls, busy markets.
BodyFeet, liver and gallbladder, left flank.
Reads asA sudden change — an unexpected opportunity or event arriving out of nowhere. Movement, momentum, making a splash.
☴Xun 巽 · Palace 4Wood · SE
Wind — free movement and penetration. In the sky: gusts, typhoons, gales.
PeopleThe eldest daughter; tech workers, teachers, monks and nuns, spiritual practitioners, business people, salespeople, craftspeople, the free-lancing sort.
PlacesPost offices, pipes and lines, roads, corridors, temples, grasslands, bamboo groves, elevators, conveyor belts — anything long, thin, or conducting.
BodyThighs, upper arms, gallbladder, windpipe, nerves, left shoulder.
Reads asWavering — undecided, drifting, two steps forward and one back. Where Kan is hard but still moves ahead, Xun stalls in indecision.
Kan & Li — Water and Fire
The middle son and middle daughter; the great opposites of the compass, north against south. Kan is hardship that keeps flowing; Li is brilliance that burns bright and short.
☵Kan 坎 · Palace 1Water · N
Water — the moon; hardship and peril. In the sky: rain, dew, frost.
PeopleThe middle son, middle-aged men; drifters and boatmen, thieves and outlaws, mathematicians, doctors, lawyers, fugitives, con artists, labourers.
PlacesRivers, lakes, seas, ditches, wells, springs, sewers, low ground, bathhouses, cold-drink shops, aquariums, cellars.
BodyKidneys, bladder, the urinary and reproductive systems, blood, the endocrine system, ears.
Reads asTwists and hardship — falling into a trap, obstacles, setbacks. Yet water never stops: difficult, but still edging forward toward a result. Water also signals intelligence.
☲Li 离 · Palace 9Fire · S
Fire — the sun; brightness and beauty. In the sky: clear heat, blazing sun, rainbows, sunset glow.
PeopleThe middle daughter, middle-aged women; mid-level cadres; beauties, beauticians, writers, artists, performers, stars, revolutionaries, painters, editors, investigators.
PlacesSunlit and famous places, churches, grand streets, cinemas, TV stations, galleries, libraries, print shops, ad towers.
Body / objectsEyes, head, heart, small intestine. Objects: writing, paintings, documents, contracts, certificates, cameras, TVs.
Reads asFame and visibility — Fire rules reputation, so things here draw notice and start with a bang. But watch the tail: Li is bright yet short-lived, prone to a strong opening that fizzles out.
Gen & Dui — Mountain and Lake
The youngest son and youngest daughter. Gen is stillness that holds its ground; Dui is speech, exchange, and a hint of flaw in even the roundest outcome.
☶Gen 艮 · Palace 8Earth · NE
Mountain — stillness and stability. In the sky: cloud and mist over the peaks.
PeopleThe youngest son, teenagers, children; construction workers, religious figures, bureaucrats, heirs, guards and gatekeepers, miners, stonemasons, savings-bank / bank staff.
PlacesMountains, hills, high platforms, dams, tombs, temples, buildings, prisons, police stations, warehouses, ancestral halls, mines, banks, storerooms.
BodyNose, back, fingers, joints, left leg, toes, spleen and stomach, colon.
Reads asStop and hold — things move slowly and want to stay put. Don't act boldly here; a bad matter that lands in Gen is winding down. Steady, trustworthy, but slow. Also strongly tied to property and storage.
☱Dui 兑 · Palace 7Metal · W
Lake — joy and speech. In the sky: humid weather, low pressure, drizzle that lingers.
PeopleThe youngest daughter, young girls; anyone who works with the mouth — lecturers, speakers, interpreters, fortune-tellers, matchmakers, singers, musicians, comedians; also dentists and surgeons.
PlacesMarshes, valleys, lakes and ponds, skating rinks, amusement parks, meeting rooms, concert halls, teahouses, restaurants, ruins, mountain passes, caves, wells.
BodyMouth, tongue, teeth, throat, lungs, right flank.
Reads asTalk and friction — negotiations, disputes, words over deeds. Meetings and talks rarely close on the first try. Dui is "the palace of the flaw": however perfect a matter looks, some small crack shows up.
Eight trigrams laid over nine palaces give you enough structure to hold heaven, earth, people, time and place in a single grid.
Reading a Palace in Practice
You never read all of a palace's meanings at once. The question decides which layer you reach for. Testing a person? Use the people row. Testing a place or a direction? Use the places row. Testing health? Use the body row. The trigram is a menu; the question is the order.
And the palace is only the ground. Once you know the tone a palace sets, you layer the door, star, deity and stems that landed in it on top — the palace tells you the terrain, those symbols tell you what is happening on it. For the center, Palace 5: it takes no door of its own and lodges its affairs in Palace 2 (Kun), which is why the center reads through Earth.
Try It Now
Curious what your own question lands in? Cast a free chart and see which palace holds your matter — then read its tone with the tables above. No account required.
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