Patrick Sia · Qimen Destiny · ChaiBu
Find Your Qimen Birth Palaces (for learning purposes)
Your Qimen Destiny chart has two birth palaces: one for the first stage of life and one for the second. In six short steps you will plot your chart in the M.Qimen app and find both. You only need to find one character, your Day Stem, so you don't need to know the other chart symbols yet. At the end you get a one-page summary to save as a PDF or print.
Step 1 of 6
Set up M.Qimen
Install the free M.Qimen app and match these settings once. Every chart you plot after that will look like the examples on this page.
1Install M.Qimen on your phone
Free. Choose the store for your phone. The link opens in a new tab.
Look for mQimen 奇门排盘 with the blue 奇 icon. On Google Play the developer is Stapplers; on the App Store the seller is listed as Samuel Tan.
2Set up M.Qimen
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✓Check your settings
Open Settings from the app's menu (☰), then tick each item once it matches.
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Step 2 of 6
Check your birth time
Use the time written on your birth record. Clocks in some places, including Singapore, have changed over the years, so we check what the clock meant on your birth date. Your details stay in this browser and are not sent anywhere.
See the historical clock table
| Period | Time offset | What happened |
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Step 3 of 6
Create your birth chart
Open M.Qimen and enter exactly these values on the date screen.
1Enter this in M.Qimen
2Tap Chart
Your chart opens. Keep it open for the rest of this page.
"For Qimen Destiny, there is no need to clean the chart."
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3Find your Day Stem
Look at the small table at the top left of your chart. It has four columns: Hr, Day, Mth and Yr. Your Day Stem is the large character in the top row of the Day column.
Day Stem: top row of the Day column. In this example it is 壬 Ren.
Not this: the character below it (辰 Chen) is the Day branch.
Not these: the Hr, Mth and Yr columns hold the Hour, Month and Year stems.
Step 4 of 6
Find your two birth palaces
Each palace has a top stem and a bottom stem in its right-hand column. Your Day Stem appears once as a bottom stem and once as a top stem. Those two palaces are your birth palaces.
Where do I look? Top stem and bottom stem
- Top stem: middle row, right-hand side (here 戊 Wu).
- Bottom stem: bottom row, right-hand side (here 壬 Ren).
- Ignore the grey stem at the bottom left. It is the hidden stem, even when it is the same character.
- Palace 5 (centre) shows only a bottom stem. In ChaiBu its stem lodges in Palace 2 坤 Kun.
- Now and then a palace shows a second stem at the left of the middle row (like 己 in Palace 4 of the example). It travels with the centre's star 天禽 and also counts as a top stem.
iExample: Day Stem 壬 Ren
First stage, Palace 2 坤 Kun. 壬 sits in the bottom-right corner, so it is the bottom stem. This is the early-life palace.
Second stage, Palace 4 巽 Xun. 壬 sits in the middle row on the right, so it is the top stem. This is the later-life palace.
Careful in Palace 2: a grey 壬 also sits bottom left. That is the hidden stem, so it doesn't count. Always read the right-hand column.
The two stages change over gradually, roughly between age 30 and 40. There is no need to pick an exact birthday when one stage ends.
✎Now tap your own palaces
Early-life palace Roughly birth to age 30–40
Tap the palace where is the bottom stem.
Later-life palace Roughly age 30–40 onward
Tap the palace where is the top stem.
Fuyin chart? If your Day Stem is both the top and bottom stem of the same palace, tap that palace in both boxes. Both stages then use one palace.
This page doesn't calculate your chart. It helps you read two things from the chart M.Qimen plotted for you.
Step 6 of 6
Check for emptiness
Does either selected palace show the emptiness mark, such as 空 or the empty-circle symbol shown in M.Qimen?
Where do I look? The emptiness mark
- Look at the top-right corner of the palace, next to the deity's name.
- M.Qimen shows emptiness as 空○. In this example, Palace 8 is empty, so we refer to its opposite, Palace 2. Record the components in Palace 2 instead.
- A small 马 with a horse picture in the same corner is the Horse, not emptiness.
✎Record the components in your two palaces
Please write down what your own chart shows in your early-life and later-life palaces: the Deity, Door, Star and the stems. Choose each one below. They are saved in your summary, so you can study them later or share them with a Qimen teacher.
Where do I look? Deity, Door, Star and stems
- Deity: top row, middle (here 九地 9Earth).
- Door: middle row, middle, ending in 门 (here 死门 Death). M.Qimen calls it "Gate".
- Star: bottom row, middle, starting with 天 (here 天心 Doctor). If it shows 天芮 with a small 禽, choose 天芮 Problem.
- Top stem: middle row, right. Bottom stem: bottom row, right. Ignore the grey stem on the left.
Each Deity, Door and Star appears in only one palace on a chart, so your two palaces can't share the same one. Fuyin chart? If the top and bottom stems are the same, both stages fall in one palace. Go back to step 4 and tap that same palace for both stages, and you will record it once.
Fanyin chart: two sets of character for your whole life. Your early-life and later-life palaces sit opposite each other. You carry the components of both throughout your life, acting from one set at times and the other at other times. Record both palaces below. If one is empty, still record it: it carries less weight, and the other carries more.
One palace for both stages. Your Day Stem is both the top and bottom stem of this palace, as in a Fuyin chart, so you record its components once.
Learn a little more: Fuyin, Fanyin and Horse
Optional notes. They don't change your two palaces. They describe tendencies to explore with a trained reader, not fixed verdicts about anyone.
Fuyin
How to spot it: in every palace, the top stem and the bottom stem are the same character. Your early-life and later-life palaces will then be the same palace.
In Destiny lessons: often linked with a highly principled, focused and steady character that holds its course.
Fanyin
How to spot it: the stems are reversed into the opposite palace. Each palace's top stem matches the bottom stem of the palace opposite it.
In Destiny lessons: often linked with indecision. The person is likely to change their mind easily.
Horse
How to spot it: a small 马 with a horse picture in a palace's top-right corner (Palace 2 in the example chart).
In Destiny lessons: often linked with an active person who prefers to keep moving rather than stay still.
Step 5 of 6
Check for Fuyin or Fanyin
Now look at the stems across the whole chart, not just your two palaces. This gives your chart one label: Fuyin, Fanyin or neither. Do this before checking emptiness, because a Fanyin chart asks you to record two palaces for your character.
伏吟 Fuyin test · “stopped”
In all 8 outer palaces, is the top stem the same as the bottom stem?
Example: Palace 4 has 壬 on top and 壬 at the bottom, Palace 9 has 丙 and 丙, and every other palace matches too.
反吟 Fanyin test · “reversed”
For all 4 opposite pairs (1↔9, 2↔8, 3↔7, 4↔6), are the stems swapped? One palace's top stem is the other's bottom stem, and the other way round.
Example: Palace 9 (丙 over 壬) and Palace 1 (壬 over 丙) are swapped; Palace 4 (乙 over 辛) and Palace 6 (辛 over 乙) are swapped; and the other two pairs swap the same way.
Neither? If even one palace or one pair does not match, the chart is neither. A partial match still counts as neither, and a chart is never both.
Where are the stems? Top stem: middle row, right. Bottom stem: bottom row, right. Ignore the grey stem on the left.
✎What does your chart show?
All six steps done
Your birth palace summary
Everything you found, on one page. Save it as a PDF or print it, then bring it to your next Qimen lesson or reading.
How do I save it as a PDF?
- Computer: click Save as PDF or print. In the print window, set Destination (or Printer) to Save as PDF, then click Save.
- iPhone or iPad: tap Save as PDF or print, then the Share icon at the top of the print screen, then Save to Files.
- Android: tap Save as PDF or print, choose Save as PDF as the printer, then tap the PDF button.
- Only the summary card is printed, on one A4 page.
Learning note: This page helps you find your two birth palaces from an M.Qimen chart for learning purposes. It doesn't calculate or interpret your chart.
A real reading looks at the whole chart: stems, deity, star, door, Fuyin/Fanyin, Stem and Stem combinations, Grave, Six Punishments, emptiness, horse, element relationships and the question asked.
Explore the palace you found: The 8 Palaces in Qimen
Get trained if you would like to learn how to interpret: Qimen Training
Get your free consultation service: Qimen Consultation
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