Qimen Choosing the Focus and Timing: Reference

The four constant focus points

Choosing the focus (用神, yong shen) means deciding which symbols on the chart to read. The four constant ones are below; stems are looked up on the earth plate, and when the day stem is Jia the decade-head ceremony stem is used.

Common focus points: what to read for each question

Day-stem palace versus focus palace

Four steps: clarify the question, fix the main focus and the day stem (three at most), write down everything in each palace, then work out the palace relations before reading details.

Birth year (an optional third focus)

Only the earthly branch of the birth year is used, by the palace it falls in:

Choosing a time: the active use of Qimen

Once a time is chosen, the direction of the palace holding the target gate is the direction to act in (south at the top).

Six steps to read a chart

• Choose the focus
• Write out every symbol in the focus palaces
• Work out the palace relations
• Mark strength, and sort into favorable and unfavorable columns
• Layer on patterns and special conditions
• Conclude only after listing everything (if there is a void, work out the timing)